What Is Covered By Your Homeowner’s Policy in Warwick

You just bought your first home in Warwick, Rhode Island. Congratulations! Now it’s time to find the right homeowner’s insurance policy. Choosing the correct policy can be difficult and you must choose wisely. What’s a peril? What happens if my home gets hit by a tornado? You’ll need to know what is covered by your policy when your Warwick, RI home has a loss. Don’t worry! Here’s what you need to know:

Some of the most common perils in your Warwick policy include:

• Water Damage

• • Damage from water is only covered when a pipe bursts and empties these three types of water (Category 1, Category 2, and Category 3) within your home. Water damage is also covered when you have a fire in your home and emergency services have to put it out with water.

• Explosions

  • An explosion from gas may not be something that happens ofter, but when it does, it can be covered.  If a gas explosion occurs on your property and causes damages within it, you can submit a claim to your insurance company.

• Fire Damage

  • When your house catches on fire due to lightning, electrical fires, or while you are cooking, your policy will cover you for the damages.

• Smoke Damage

  • Once the fire is put out, there could be thousands of dollars worth of smoke damage lingering around your home. Smoke can affect carpets, furniture, walls, and anything it touches!

• Wind Damage

  

  • Tornados, hurricanes, winter storms, and any time winds hit 50+ MPH, your home could be in danger of wind and storm damage.

• Theft

  • If your Warwick property becomes the target of a theft, you are not only left with missing valuables but most likely you will have physical damage to the property as well. During this unfortunate circumstance, your insurance company will be able to hopefully cover the loss.

• Hail Damage

  • Hail forms when thunderstorm updrafts are strong enough to carry water droplets well above the freezing level. This will form hail! When the hail becomes too heavy for the updrafts to support it and it falls to the ground. The falling ice will cause damage when they hit items such as a roof, windows, and vinyl siding! If your property has any damage from hail within the last 10 years, give Performance Adjusting a call.

• Vandalism

  • Whether it’s spray paint, bricks thrown through your windows, or a tenant that trashed your property, you can file a claim and be compensated for the damages done.

• ALE (Temporary Relocation/Additional Living Expenses)

  • If your home becomes inhabitable, your insurance company will be able to cover the expenses of a hotel or short-term housing option, along with payment for living expenses, the insurance company can even cover your meals.

• Ice Dam Damage

  Ice dams are very common here in New England. When snow that has fallen freezes on the edge of the roof, and ice dam may accrue. When the ice begins to melt, the water will begin to leak through your ceilings and cause a copious amount of water damage. This is classified as “ice dam damage” and can be covered.

• Contents

  •  Personal items are very important to homeowners, if personal items are damaged during a covered loss, the policy should be able to cover cleaning to full replacement of the items. With Performance Adjusting, we will create a full content list ourselves to ensure our customers that they are getting paid fairly for the damages that occurred.

• Vehicle Damage to Home

  • When a vehicle causes damage to your commercial or residential property your insurance company can cover the loss. With Performance Adjusting’s assistants not only will we work for you to gain the money to restore the property back to prior loss, but if the damage causes a loss in revenue, we will be able to help collect the money that would have been made, if you weren’t going through a claim process.

• Liability

  • If you or one of your family members become injured on your property or someone else’s, liability will cover you against a lawsuit. This will also include coverage if someone is bitten by your dog on your property.

Some types of damage aren’t on every Warwick insurance policy:

• Sewer Backup

  •   If your sewage pipe bursts, it may not be covered by your policy. Make sure to look at it carefully! In most cases, it will be covered. There are times where a sewer loss will not be covered. This occurs when it comes from a town or city sewer pipe.

• Mold Damage

  • Although your policy will cover water damage, it might not cover all the components and cleanup of mold damage that could form if water damage is left untreated or occurs without the homeowner knowing.

Warwick insurance policies won’t cover everything. In some instances, you need to buy separate coverage to get disasters covered:

• Floods

  • Most people assume this is covered in a standard homeowner’s insurance policy. Floods and other types of groundwater will not be covered unless you add separate coverage (supplemental insurance).  Make sure you check to see if you are in a flood zone, if you are, make sure to purchase supplemental coverage.

• Earthquakes

  • Earthquakes are more common in some areas than in others. If you lived in a state like California or Alaska, it’s very recommended to get earthquakes listed on your policy. States like Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut can probably do without the coverage!

• Sinkholes

  • Sinkholes aren’t covered in the typical homeowner’s policy but can be added for an extra cost. This would be good if you lived in a state like Florida.

That’ll bring us to the perils that are NOT covered by your Warwick insurance policy. These are things where if they happen on your property, your insurance does not have to pay for the damages:

• Termite Damage

  • These little insects can do a lot of damage! Unfortunately, the damage they do won’t be covered by your policy. But if they decide to chew through some wires and cause fire damage, you can get that covered!

• Trampolines

  • You wouldn’t think you’d want this to be listed in a policy but there are a lot of injuries caused by jumping on (or off) a trampoline! Sadly, these injuries are not covered by property insurance.

• War

  • If your home gets in the way of war, your insurance company will not pay for the damages. Very unfavorable but it does make sense to them since war would do unbelievable amounts of property damage.

• Homeowner Neglect

  • If you haven’t replaced your roof in 45 years and a storm blows it clean off, you cannot submit a claim to get it covered. You must maintain your property if you want to be covered!

Whether you just purchased your home insurance policy or you’re a home-owning pro, it is vital to know what exactly is and isn’t covered in your homeowner’s insurance policy in Warwick. Property damage happens to at least 5 out of 100 homes in the US with an average cost of $10,000. You want to make sure that money doesn’t come out of your pocket by opening a claim with your insurance company. To ensure that you get every penny needed to fix that damage, call Performance Adjusting at 401-724-9111 and we’ll fight to get you the money you need!

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