Homeowners' insurance is not just for replacing your home if you have a fire or some other damage to the home. Most policies offer you protection for the things in your home as well. There are some things that you need to do to protect yourself and to get the most from your insurance plan.
Get the Right Coverage
Getting the right coverage for your home is not too difficult. The place you need to start is with the insurance company. Give them some information about your home or property and they can help you figure out how much coverage you are going to need and what will fall under the policy. If you have antiques or a large collection of something valuable, you may need to add some specific policy riders, but the agent will help you figure it out.
The amount of coverage you need is not always cut-and-dried. The dollar figure for your coverage may not be exact, but having more insurance than you need is better than not having enough insurance when you need it.
Do an Inventory
The first thing you need to do is to inventory everything you own and make a list of the items and the value of the items if you can do it. Not everything will have a value that is easy to track, especially if it is something that has been around a while. For those items, you will need to look at the replacement value at today's prices.
Photograph Your Items
If you can take pictures of all the items that you are including in the inventory, it is a good way to document the condition of the items before anything happens to them. The images can be stored on a thumb drive or external hard drive and then placed in a fireproof box or an off-site safety deposit box.
Store the inventory offsite as well so that there is no chance of it getting lost if there is a major loss of the home or contents. You can send the inventory to the insurance company to be put in your file but keep another copy in a safe place just in case you need it.
Ask About Personal Injury Coverage
You may want to ask your agent about adding personal injury coverage to your homeowner's policy. If you have a pool or other recreational equipment outside your home, be sure to ask about coverage for those, too. If someone gets hurt in the pool or falls off a trampoline or jungle gym, you want to be sure you can get them medical treatment without them having to pay for it on their own.
For more information on homeowners' insurance, contact a company like Philadelphia Contributionship.
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