Bizarre Scenarios Aren't Always Covered by Insurance
What happens to your insurance coverage if your neighbour's kid starts a fire and the fire leaps the fence and destroys your deck?
What if your tenant brings a lawn mower into your living room, starts it and accidentally chops off his foot?
What if your cash-only house cleaner falls in the bath tub and she's not legally allowed to work in the country?
What if a nuclear rod falls from the sky and lands in your garage?
What if your basement gets flooded with sewage?
What if your babysitter is assaulted during a home invasion on your property?
The more bizarre your questions, the greater the likelihood you'll understand the full scope of your insurance coverage....AND amidst a crises is not the time when you want to find out that your insurance coverage is null.Straight up, the chance of a disaster happening to you or a loved one is higher than you think; statistically every seven years. Generally you won't have a problem accessing your insurance policy; you've spent years paying into it, right?Sometimes that's not the case.Deep in your policy is the fine print. No jokes, the font size is so tiny that an extra bazillion characters can fit onto these pages; and these pages just happen to be the most important parts of your policy. It's here that you'll find the exceptions to your coverage and special "riders" that include or exclude coverage. If you look closely, some of the exceptions are laughable, but if nuclear holocaust does indeed happen, you'll want to know if your coverage is sufficient.
Here's a few tips so you don't get caught off-guard by some erroneous insurance exclusion when you need coverage the most.
- Read your policy carefully and any updates that come in the mail.
- Flag areas within your policy that you don't understand.
- Call your insurance provider once a year to ask questions and review your coverage.
Sadly, insurance, like so many other things, is sold based on what IS included in the policy. Where you're risks are actually present, however, are in the areas where you don't have coverage. So, challenge your insurance provider or broker to walk you through what is NOT included. Then you can determine whether you need to amp-up your coverage.