Insurance Policy Exclusions

Why do insurance policies have exclusions? Do insurance companies convince you to buy insurance, then send you a policy with so many exclusions, it is almost impossible to be paid for a claim? Are there bad insurance companies with more exclusions than other, more reputable insurance companies? You buy auto or home insurance to insure your property, why should there be ANY exclusions in your insurance policy? Are insurance policy exclusions another way insurance companies rip you off?

A psychological benefit of buying insurance is it gives the buyer peace of mind. If you buy homeowners insurance, you don’t have to worry about the financial consequences of something bad happening to your house. If you buy auto insurance, and ask for “full coverage,” you don’t have to worry about paying for damage to your car.

A wise insurance buyer does not rest that easy. All insurance policies have exclusions and limitations, and you need to know them, to make sure you are buying the coverage you need.

Unfortunately, home insurance & auto insurance do not cover you for everything that can happen to your car or home. But insurance policy exclusions are not arbitrary to avoid paying any claims. Exclusions are used by insurance companies to avoid covering things the policy, and the policy rates, were not designed to cover.

For example, homeowners insurance excludes damage to your home caused by vermin, such as rats, or insects, such as termites. Auto insurance excludes damage to your car caused by mechanical break down.

Rodent infestation, or termite damage to a house,  are home maintenance issues easily in control of the homeowner. Likewise, with car insurance, it is the responsibility of the car owner to maintain their car. Because these things are excluded by your auto & home insurance, the costs involved are not considered in the insurance rates. Imagine how expensive car insurance would be if the car insurance company picked up the bill every time a car broke down. There are other financial products, such as car warranties, to help people cover these expenses.

In addition to excluding causes of damage resulting from common maintenance issues, insurance companies exclude damage from events, where the damage is so catastrophic and expensive, they would bankrupt the insurance company.

For example, your homeowners insurance covers the cost of damage to your home from riot or civil commotion, but the costs involved to the large number of customers from war or nuclear contamination are too excessive, so damage to your home from war or nuclear contamination are excluded from homeowners insurance.

Sometimes exclusions, or policy limits on coverage, are used to remove the cost of claims not applying to the average customer.

Homeowners insurance liability doe not cover you for the use of an aircraft. Unless you fly planes, this exclusion is not a problem for most homeowners and their families.

Homeowners insurance policies limit how much they will pay for the theft of jewelry, because not everyone has jewelry, and they shouldn’t have to pay more for homeowners insurance for expensive jewelry claims which will never apply to them.

Do some insurance companies have different exclusions than other insurance companies? Yes, but insurance companies have many of the same exclusions, and insurance companies use very similar wording in their insurance policies.

There have been a lot of court cases & verdicts over the years, to determine exactly what the policy wording means, involving many claims situations open to interpretation. When insurance companies deviate from the usual phrasing, they may open themselves to pay for claims not intended to be covered. Policy language can also change based on new court decisions and new issues involving unexpected claims, such as the issues and costs involved with the illness and property damage associated with toxic mold.
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Most insurance companies used to use a standardized policy form (or their own version of it), published by the Insurance Service Office. Some insurance companies still use these forms, but many insurance companies use their own policy forms now, which effects how the customer is covered.

When it comes to auto insurance, in my opinion, there is still very little difference among insurance companies’ policies, when it comes to covering claims.

Auto insurance policies may vary as to what conditions they will cover a rental car, or a newly purchased car, or how they will cover a friend driving your car. For most customers, these differences do not matter much, and won’t result in huge unpaid claims other car insurance companies would cover.

The more important factors for most people buying auto insurance are price and customer service. I strongly believe in shopping for the best combination of price and customer service for car insurance, which you can find by going to my website home page.

However, with homeowners insurance, there can be BIG differences in coverage available, exclusions, and policy language, which can create a situation where a large lawsuit is covered by one insurance company, and not covered by another insurance company.

For example, some insurance companies exclude coverage under their homeowners insurance policies for “concurrent causes of loss.” If one of the causes of loss is excluded, all the damage caused by the concurrent causes of loss is not covered.

Using the situation of Hurricane Katrina to illustrate this exclusion, many homes sustained flood damage from a flood surge, as well as wind & storm damage from the hurricane. Since flood damage is excluded by homeowners insurance, there would be no coverage for ANY of the damage, whether caused by the winds of the hurricane or the flood surge, if you have the concurrent loss exclusion in your homeowners insurance policy.

The effect of different policy language and exclusions in homeowners insurance becomes apparent for those few people experiencing a large property loss or liability lawsuit.

Although many homeowners are likely to never need the broader protection available from some home insurance companies, the costs of not having the proper coverage can be catastrophic for those who end up needing it.

Because these differences come up infrequently, many insurance agents are not aware how much homeowners insurance coverage can vary among insurance companies. Many agents may tell you all homeowners insurance is the same, but some insurance companies have better prices or service.

If you own a home, don’t play Russian roulette with your biggest financial asset — find knowledgeable insurance agents knowing the difference in homeowners insurance policies, and shop to find the best coverage you need at a reasonable price.

Do you know what’s excluded in your insurance policies? Tell me about it. Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.