Over the past few years, California has experienced more fires than ever before! With this increased risk, it’s even more important to review your home policy on a yearly basis to make sure one of your biggest assets and personal property is properly covered as building costs (labor and materials) can increase yearly.
Is your home under insured?
Einhorn Insurance has several types of policies to protect your property from fire, water damage, lightening, wind, hail, theft, broken pipes, vandalism, smoke (if sudden and accidental), falling objects, vehicles, riot and aircraft.
Is your property correctly insured?
Do you have the correct coverages? Were you once living in a home or condo and decided to rent it out? Did you convert your home or condo into a vacation rental? Do you have a property that is suddenly vacant due to a death or loss of occupancy? These are all important things to consider when insuring your property. In the event of a claim, if your policy type doesn’t match the appropriate risk/occupancy type, your claim may not be covered. It’s best to be prepared before the unexpected happens.
California home insurance consists of, but is not limited to several main coverages:
- DWELLING provides coverage to rebuild your home. Other Structures coverage consists of structures on your property that are not attached to the main structure (pool, fence, retaining walls, sheds, granny flat, detached garage, built in BBQ, Gazebo etc.)
- PERSONAL LIABILITY covers unintentional damage you do to others, including attorney fees and medical expenses you need to pay to the injured party. Examples of situations where the liability portion of your policy would step in would be:
- A friend comes over, slips and falls and gets hurt.
- You accidentally hurt someone (not while driving your car). For example, you are pushing a cart at a grocery store and knock someone over.
- Your child accidentally hurts another child.
- You are golfing and the club or ball accidentally hit and injures someone.
- You pet accidentally hurts another person or animal*
*Coverage varies from state-to-state and may not cover all dogs.
PERSONAL PROPERTY: provides coverage for your personal belongings (clothes, furniture, kitchen items, sporting goods, electronics, rugs, tools, etc.) that you would pack up and take with you if you moved.
LOSS OF USE: If your home needs repair (due to a covered claim) and you are unable to live in it, this coverage provides compensation for food and housing while your property is being fixed.
EXTENDED REPLACEMENT COVERAGE: Your home is covered at a specific Dwelling limit. If this amount isn’t enough to repair/rebuild your home, most home policies often include a “pad” which gives you an additional 10, 25, 50 or even 100% of additional dwelling coverage.
BUILDING ORDINANCE: This is also known as coverage for “building code upgrades.” Many homes were built years/decades ago when building code requirements were different. The following are just a few examples where codes have changed over time: roof, electric, plumbing, HVAC, materials used, interior sprinklers, etc. Building ordinance coverage helps bring your house up to code in the event of a covered claim. A designated percentage (10, 25 or 50%) of the Dwelling coverage is allocated to bring your property up to code.
A FEW MORE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT HOME INSURANCE
Home insurance does not cover your personal belongings in the event of a Flood (a body of water coming from an external source of water) or Earthquake. Flood Insurance and Earthquake Insurance are separate policies.
Most home insurance policies included limited coverage for specialty items (jewelry, watches, furs, computers, guns, silverware, coin or stamp collections, business property, cameras and musical instruments). It’s important to be aware of the limits on your policy.
Almost all home insurance carriers exclude certain dog breeds. Dog liability claims account for approximately 1/3 of all home claims. Make sure your dogs are covered. If not, Einhorn Insurance can assist you with dog liability insurance for any breed of dog to fill the coverage gap.
We understand you’ve worked hard to obtain the assets you own. Don’t let one incident put everything at risk.
For a California Home Insurance Quote, please complete the information below. Our goal is to respond to you within 24 business hours.