Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Flooded basement: Are you covered by insurance? Probably Not.

I feel it’s important that I bring up this topic because in the 2+ years I’ve been in the insurance business, probably 85% of the claims I’ve seen are water backup claims. Someone leaves town, a pipe breaks and floods their basement. Or their sump pump overflows and leaves raw sewage all over the place, ruining their drywall, carpets, hardwood, etc…, sometimes resulting in thousands of dollars in damage.

We discussed this briefly in one of our videos, but because it’s so common I feel I need to bring it to your attention. If you’re a homeowner and you don’t know if you have water backup coverage, find out. If you don’t have it, call your agent immediately and ask them to add it. If your insurance company doesn’t offer it, find one that does.

Most insurance companies offer an endorsement to the policy that includes $5,000 in water backup coverage. By endorsement, I mean that it doesn’t come with the policy automatically; it has to be added by the agent. Most agents out there are trying to get the best price possible and don’t even think to add this coverage. However, as I said, this is the most common claim I see and is often quite expensive. In fact, I would recommend adding at least $10,000 of water backup coverage, as claims are often higher then $5,000.

Don’t be stuck with a huge claim without any coverage. Talk to your insurance agent and make sure you have adequate coverage.

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