A house is so much more than four walls and a roof — for most Americans, it is the single largest investment they will ever make. Homeowners insurance is the number one tool to protect that investment.
When hunting for your homeowners insurance, finding the right price is important, but it isn’t everything. It’s more important to guarantee that your home is protected in an emergency. Saving a few dollars a month does NOT make up for finding yourself in a catastrophe without the safety net of good homeowners insurance to cover you.
What Your Homeowners Insurance Should Include
Homeowners insurance is absolutely worth shopping around for. Not only can you secure a great price, but you can ensure that your home investment is backed by the best plan possible.
Here’s what your homeowners insurance policy should include:
1. Truly Comprehensive Coverage
First and foremost, you want a comprehensive perils policy for your homeowners insurance.
A named-perils policy provides coverage ONLY for the select types of damage named in the specific policy. While it does cover the most common issues such as fire and theft, ANYTHING that isn’t explicitly named is omitted.
On the other hand, a comprehensive perils policy covers EVERYTHING with a few specific exceptions. Let’s say you’re trying to blast a particularly nefarious bug with a can of insecticide, but accidentally grab some spray paint instead. With a comprehensive coverage plan, you’re covered. Simply put, a comprehensive plan keeps you truly protected.
Beyond just being covered for more incidents, another reason you want comprehensive is because it makes getting the insurance to cover ANY incident easier. With a named perils policy, you need to first PROVE a named peril did the damage.
2. The Right Price
Notice, we didn’t say the lowest price. If a homeowners insurance quote is too good to be true, it probably is. While the sought-after comprehensive plans can cost more money, that isn’t always the guarantee. However, in our book, it is worth paying a little more each month for iron-clad coverage.
In addition, an extremely low price can be the result of an extremely high deductible or another drawback. While saving money on insurance is something we love, don’t do it at your home’s expense.
An extremely high deductible can result in cheap plans.
3. A Single, Easy-to-Understand Deductible
Any good homeowners insurance plan should come with a simple deductible that you feel comfortable paying if you need to. We’ve seen homeowners get into trouble when they sign up for plans, with unreachable deductibles only for disaster to strike and their high-deductible to keep them from the coverage they need — and paid for.
An example of a type of deductible to avoid: some homeowners insurance plans feature separate deductibles for certain types of coverage, like tropical storms. Once again, that kind of plan can leave homeowners paying MORE than their fair share of repair costs. Generally speaking, the best homeowners insurance plans feature simple, easy deductibles — find one like that.
4. Personal Injury Liability
In addition to paying for home repairs after a catastrophe, your homeowners insurance also keeps you protected from potential personal injury lawsuits.
Most people just assume their homeowners insurance does it. That assumption can be COSTLY if it doesn’t. While including personal injury liability insurance is common enough, sometimes that benefit needs to be endorsed separately. If you don’t know if your homeowners insurance plan includes it for certain, find out now. Accidents do happen — one of the worst follow-ups is getting sued by a friend for an innocent mistake or oversight.
5. Guaranteed Replacement Cost on Dwelling
Beyond just being that big investment we’ve talked about, your house is also where you live and where your children grow up. That’s why getting your home replaced regardless of the cost is a must-have in homeowners insurance plans. What this clause will guarantee is that the insurance company will pay to FULLY replace your home regardless of whether that cost exceeds your limits.
Many companies limit the amount they will pay in an emergency and you’re left making up the difference. You shouldn’t have to downgrade or settle for half-completed repairs because your company doesn’t want to 100% stand behind you. Before you buy your policy, make sure that this crucial component is included.
6. A Good Agent Behind the Plan
Finally, since homeowners insurance is complicated, make sure you have a good agent to explain the ins-and-outs to you. This blog is just the tip of the iceberg of everything we’ve learned at Unruh Insurance over 40 years of doing business. We’re more than happy to put that to work for you when selecting your plan — and in the event of an emergency.
Plus, since we have two Lancaster County offices, we’re always available for one-on-one in-person conversation. Work with us to ensure you get everything you need from your homeowners policy — as well as a great price!
Learn more about the benefits of a local insurance agent.
Free Homeowners Insurance Quotes from Unruh
Just like with car insurance there is plenty to be gained from shopping around. At Unruh Insurance, we back our comprehensive insurance plans with competitive rates.
Want to see what we mean? Contact us for a free homeowners insurance quote today.
