Property Coverage While Traveling

Home insurance, also known as hazard insurance is designed to protect private homes. This comes with different types of personal insurance protections that can protect a homeowner from loss or damage of property and its contents due to theft, vandalism, natural calamities and other named perils. It can also be combined with liability insurance for instances where damage or loss occurs at home or through the hands of the home owner.

There are two general types of home insurance policies.

The “All Risk Insurance” covers your home and its contents from loss unless otherwise specified in your coverage. It is important to understand the terms of the home insurance policy and the language used in the said policy. The second type is the “Named Peril Insurance” which specifies the causes of loss the insurance company will cover. You need to be very thorough in discussing these terms with your agent, have him/her specify the named perils so you can come with an understanding.

What are named perils?  It is a list of causes that you can be protected from. Examples would be anywhere from, theft, vandalism, damages due to aircraft or other vehicles, varied effects of temperatures on home and property and sometimes, natural calamities. I mentioned “sometimes” since some policies would have exclusions on the coverage.

The question often asked by homeowners is; will my home and property be protected while I am on vacation or traveling? The answer is YES.

This is called an Away From Home cover. This often comes with an additional premium and you would need to check your policy schedule as well. An Away from Home cover only protects the homeowner from certain causes or perils.

The nature of a home insurance is to aid homeowners with the financial difficulties that they might face due to effects of unforeseen and sudden events to their homes. This however, does not cover loss or damage due to predictable events. This is often termed as uninsurable perils.

An example would be damage due to freezing of indoor plumbing. The homeowner needs to take precautions prior to traveling. If damage occurs despite these arrangements then it is possible that the policy will cover the expenses.

Another would be if you left your clothes in the dryer and the clothes shrunk. This will not be covered by the policy. However, if through this a fire spreads through the home, then the damages and loss due to the fire will be covered.

An Away from Home policy will cover your home and other personal property that you own or use while traveling. This comes with the clause that the said property is something you normally keep at home. If you own a storage unit, your property can be covered from theft without any time limit. Coverage from other perils will depend on the terms of your policy. Be sure to inform or notify your insurer when leaving your home, there are certain timelines that insurance companies follow to determine whether your property can still be covered or not. The usual time frame would be 30 days.

Your house and everything in it is valuable to you and your family and knowledge to protect your property is essential!