Whether or not your home insurance provides coverage for hurricane damage all depends on the damage type, and policy limit. Many home insurance policies only offer coverage against wind damage on your house structure and belongings and not the corresponding water damage or flooding that often accompanies a hurricane disaster. If you are not sure, you should ask your insurance agent as he will be able to tell you.
Usually, a home insurance that provides coverage for wind damage has a separate deductible. This deductible has a higher limit than the standard deductible. If your home insurance does make provision for coverage on wine damage, you should check with your insurance agent on the coverage limit to make sure the limit is enough to cover the damages.
Although many standard home insurance offers coverage against wind damage, it does not offer coverage against flood damage no matter if it is caused by a rain storm or swollen river. On the other hand, if your house is damaged by flood due to the damages a strong wind has done to your house, you may be able to qualify for compensation. If you live in a high risk area that is prone to flood, you should buy flood insurance from the National Flood Institution Program instead of relying on your home insurance.
The flood insurance cost depends on the flood risk of your property. On average, the flood insurance premium will cost about $700 per year. One way to offset the cost of the flood insurance is to choose a higher deductible. Higher deductible means you need to pay more cash upfront before the insurer will release the compensation.
Before buying the flood insurance, make sure you go through all the terms in the policy so that you know what it cover or not cover. If you don’t understand the policy, you must not hesitate to ask your insurance agent to explain it to you. In addition, you should check whether the flood insurance provides replacement cost coverage or cash value coverage for the flood damages.
As a rule of thumb, you should always take photos or videos of your valuables. You can backup the photo and video on a cloud or thumb drive. The flood insurance may not provide coverage on all types of valuables so you should find out from the insurance agent what types of valuables it covers. Some valuables like jewelry and art are not covered by default.
To get coverage for jewelry and arts, you need to purchase the rider which is add-on provision at an additional fee. It is important to keep all the receipts of the valuable items you purchase. If they ask for proof of the valuable belonging, you can show them your receipt.
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