It is almost too easy to get insurance policies approved. Without ever really proving anything it is possible to sign up to an insurance policy online. Whether this is home insurance or auto insurance there is a significant problem when people don’t always understand what they are actually signing up for. We all know the saying about always reading the fine print before signing, but few of us actually do this when it comes to things like insurance policies. In addition to ensuring that you receive your certificate of insurance, it is also essential that you understand what is included in the policy. This article considers what you need to look for in your policy statement.
Exclusions
Exclusions are a part of every insurance policy and there is good reason for many of the exclusions to be there. Sometimes, however, something you thought was covered will turn out to be excluded and this will leave you with a huge bill to pay. An example of an exclusion could be that your life insurance will not pay out if you die in a cycling accident. Knowing this may enable you to insure yourself against such, but if you don’t know this then you will likely continue to cycle on gaily until an accident does happen. Understanding the exclusions is extremely important because in many cases they can make a policy useless to you without you even realising it.
Extent of Coverage
The extent of coverage is the inverse of exclusions. This section will list every eventuality you will be covered for and it is important that you understand this. Anything not listed in the extent of your coverage could potentially still happen so it is important to weigh up the odds of different eventualities and cover yourself against them. In some cases, for example, pet insurance may not include the sustaining of animals on a life support machine. As this is the most expensive part of emergency animal care, this is something you really do want to be covered. Whilst in this case it is not directly excluded, it is still not covered by the insurance you have taken out.
Included Features
Within an insurance policy’s coverage there will be elements which are and are not included. Regarding car insurance, for example, fire and theft should be included. The extent of this cover, however, is important to consider. For example, if the car is recovered after having been stolen then only certain aspects of the damage will be covered. The insurance company may only cover the damage to the outside of the car and completely neglect to make any arrangements to clean up the mess created by the drug addicted homeless person who stole the car. In this case you may get the car back, but there will certainly be some cleaning to do before it can reasonably and safely be driven again.
Agreed or Market Value
It is important to consider whether the insurance you have is for the agreed or the market value of the property or vehicle. Agreed value means that the insurance company will pay out the agreed sum of money if anything should happen to the item. Market value, however, depends upon the condition, the mileage and on the sale value at the time of loss, damage or theft. At market value you can end up receiving far less from your insurance company than you would have expected.
