How To Avoid Duplicating Home Insurance Coverage

It's risky to live without home insurance coverage, but once you buy coverage, you should be careful not to duplicate it in some areas. For example, you shouldn't buy separate flood insurance if your policy already covers you against the risk of flooding. Here are a few tips to help you avoid coverage duplication:

Understand Your Policy's Benefits

The first thing is to understand all the covered risks and exclusions of your current home insurance policy. There is no way you will know whether you are duplicating coverage or not if you don't even understand your current policy. Here, you need to scrutinize the named risks and the named exclusions and then consult your agent for further information. This last bit- consultation with the agent or insurance carrier is important because your policy may not list all the possible lists in the world that your home may face. At the same time, you shouldn't make any assumptions as far as your coverage and exclusion are concerned.

Check Coverage from Other Sources

Your insurance company isn't the only potential source of compensation in case something happens to your house or your personal belongings; in fact, insurance carriers aren't the only sources of compensation. There are professional organizations or credit providers who may also offer you some level of protection. For example, some credit card companies will reimburse you for losses stemming from theft, damage or loss of items purchased with their credit cards. Therefore, you may not need to increase your personal items coverage if you have bought most of your personal items with such a credit card.

Double Check When You Switch Carriers

It is easy to duplicate coverage when switching carriers. This is because many people assume that home insurance companies all have the same inclusions and exclusions, but this is not true. Making such an assumption may cause you to pay extra coverage, after switching carriers, for a risk that your new policy already covers.

Buy Only What You Need

Lastly, it is also easy to make a mistake and buy duplicate coverage if you are on a mission to completely protect yourself from all possible risks. Insurance is supposed to make your financial life easy by reimbursing for certain losses; it is not practical to cover all the risks in the world. Going on a coverage buying spree is a good way to duplicate them. The best thing is to sit down and assess your risk exposure so that you can buy only the coverage you need. Contact an agency, like Oliveira Insurance Agency, for more help.