Facts To Know About Home Insurance In A Hurricane Zone

If you live in a hurricane zone, you need to take the time to check your home insurance policy.  You need to ensure that you are properly protected in the event of a hurricane. You also need to know what exactly is covered and what is not. This is why you need to understand certain facts about home insurance for hurricane zone residents.

Are You Covered?

The first point you need to consider when looking at your home insurance is whether or not you are covered for a hurricane. The good news is that the standard home insurance policy will cover you for a natural disaster including a hurricane. The problem comes with some insurers who exclude coverage for hurricane damage.  

These insurers will not provide coverage for damage done by the hurricane such as wind damage and flooding. There are also certain insurers who will limit the coverage that you have and you need to be aware of this. You should never wait until a hurricane warning has been announced to check your insurance.

The reason why you should check now before hurricane season is the fact that many insurers will limit the purchase of hurricane coverage when there is a warning. This means that if you are not covered, you will not be able to get the coverage you need because of the hurricane warning.  After all, insurance companies are trying to make money and letting people get insurance just before they need it will not work well for their profits.

Check Your Policy Limits

If you are covered for hurricanes, you need to check your policy limits. All home insurance policies will have specific limits regarding their payouts. There are a few areas that you want to focus on at this point.

The first is whether or not the insurance coverage will pay out enough to rebuild your home. A hurricane can be devastating and many people have to rebuild their homes. The cost of repairing and rebuilding your home will vary based on a number of factors that you need to consider. It is also important to note that the real estate value of your home and the cost of a rebuild are not the same.  

To determine if your insurance policy covers the costs of a rebuild, you will have to do some research. You will have to get a rough estimate of what it would cost to hire local contractors to rebuild your home. You also need to determine the potential costs of materials for the rebuild. It might be worth talking to a building contractor about this to get the best idea of what the actual costs will be.  

Understand Your Deductibles

When you live in a hurricane zone, your deductibles will look a bit different from someone who does not. This is due to the fact that insurers for these areas will often have a separate deductibles list for hurricanes and windstorms. This is something that you need to check and you cannot assume that your standard deductible will be valid for a hurricane.

It is important to note that the hurricane deductible will only apply to hurricanes while the windstorm deductible will apply to any type of wind. If your home insurance policy has a hurricane deductible, it should also have a clearly stated trigger. This trigger is the point when this deductible will come into effect and you will not be using the standard or windstorm deductible.  

These deductibles will not be presented in the same manner as a standard deductible. The standard deductible is generally shown as a set dollar amount. These deductibles will be shown as a percentage, generally between 1 and 5. The percentage refers to the percentage of the insured value of the structure of your home that you will need to pay as a deductible.  

The higher the risk of a hurricane in the zone you live in, the higher the percentage is going to be. This means that if you live on the edge of a hurricane zone, you will have a lower percentage than someone in the middle of the zone. Of course, there is the chance that your insurer will allow you to get a lower deductible if you pay higher monthly premiums.  

Understand The Flood Coverage

While disasters are covered by standard home insurance, floods will generally be excluded.  This is a major issue when you live in a hurricane zone, because these storms generally bring flooding. It is important that you check that your insurance does exclude this and then consider your options.

The best solution in these situations will be to get separate flood insurance. If you are in a hurricane zone, this is a must or you will be out of pocket for any flood damage. Flood damage is not the only exclusion that you need to consider.

Sewer backups are also a common exclusion and will not be covered by your flood insurance either. Hurricane-prone areas will also be prone to this issue and you need to be aware of that.  This is why you also need to consider getting sewer backup insurance if your other policies do not include this.

If You Live In A Condo Or Co-Op Apartment

If you live in one of these types of properties, you need to check with your management company and the bylaws of the area. They will be able to tell you about what the building’s master insurance policy will cover. If something is not covered by the master insurance policy, you will need to cover this yourself.  

Of course, you should also find out what the limits on the insurance payments are and how this will be dispersed between the residents. You should be able to easily get this information from the management company.  

There are a lot of points that you need to consider if you live in a hurricane zone.  Your home insurance may cover this natural disaster, but there are some that do not. You also need to know what the exclusions are and what additional insurance from http://procominsurancecompany.com/  you need to get.