Friday, August 30, 2013

Guaranteed Replacement Cost Coverage

By Brentz Walker


You may have heard of "guaranteed building replacement" at one time, but what does it mean?

The majority of home insurance policies provide this important type of coverage. Basically, it means that if your home is destroyed by an insured peril, the insurance provider guarantees that they will rebuild your home, even if it costs more than the limit of insurance on your policy.

It appears that you are completely protected, correct? In most cases, there are specific conditions that apply here, in order for this coverage to be approved:

You need to insure the home to 100% of its replacement cost as determined by the insurance company. There are evaluation tools that your insurance agent will use, along with your knowledge of the home, to calculate the replacement cost.

You are responsible to inform your insurance agent if you do renovations to your home that increase it's replacement value. Your insurance policy will be adjusted to the new replacement value of your home after you complete the basement, or make a new addition to your property, for example.

Each year, your policy will be adjusted, and you agree to this. If inflation or other factors have caused the cost to rebuild your home to go up, your insurance company may need to increase the coverage on your home to keep the values up to date.

If there is a tragic loss of your home, it will be rebuilt on the same site.

Standard policies do not generally cover the cost of damages that are caused by earthquakes or flooding. Other exclusions can include neglect, intentional loss, earth movement, general power failure and even damage caused by war. A costly exclusion is the ordinance or law exclusion, which refers to changes in building codes that can drive up the cost of rebuilding or repairing. Thus, if you discover when replacing damaged property that current law requires a higher grade of electrical wiring, the difference in cost between the old wiring and the new wiring is your responsibility.

These restrictions may vary from one company to another, so it's important to review your specific policy with your agent. Your policy will have an amount shown, and this will be the limit of your protection if the conditions set forth were not complied with by the homeowner. You can only hope that the costs of your home's reconstruction will be fully covered. If it isn't, you could face a huge out-of-pocket expense.

Insurance providers don't always allow vacation or rental properties to be covered by guaranteed building replacement; the policy will have a limit shown, and this will be the highest amount paid in damages.

Premiums will generally go up around 10 or 15 percent if the policy is upgraded from cash value to replacement coverage. In the case where your home is damaged beyond repair by a natural disaster or a fire, replacing your home and contents suddenly is not a cost that most people could afford. Your home and property are likely your most valuable possessions, so protect them adequately and go over your policy to ensure that you have the best insurance you can get.




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