Understanding Content Coverage

1/31/2018 (Permalink)

The best way to determine if you have enough content coverage is to conduct a home inventory.

Everyone has homeowners insurance right? It’s one of those things you have and hope you never have to use right? So, what happens if you do have to utilize coverage because of a damage?

Unfortunately, because homeowners insurance is necessary many homeowners rely solely on their agents to choose a policy that is right for them. This is totally fine, and works in many cases, but being educated on what your policy includes and doesn’t include is important.

Most policies are written and cover to repair or rebuild your home after damage. But what about ALL of the personal belongings inside of your home? Generally, your content coverage is 50 to 70 percent of the coverage that you carry on the structure of your home. In most cases this is a sufficient amount to cover personal items that are damaged, but in some cases it isn’t.

The best way to determine if you have enough content coverage is to conduct a home inventory. This is a much easier task thanks to modern technology. Walk through your home room by room and photograph all personal belongings. (TIP-If you picked your home up and turned it upside down, all items that would fall out are considered contents.) Open drawers and closets to photograph all items inside. You can catalog these items and keep them at an offsite location or you can download an app such as DreamVault and access it from any mobile device. This particular app is designed to house photos and information pertaining to each individual item, such as price, model and serial number. There is also a speech to text feature to help with documentation.

If you have jewelry, collector’s items, art or firearms, sometimes your coverage can fall short. Keep that in mind when documenting all items and reviewing your policy. If you find that your coverage is lacking you can generally purchase additional coverage or a rider for certain items.

When you have had damage to your home and personal belongings, you don’t want to worry with the added stress of insufficient coverage. Ensure that you are covered.

If you have damage to your home and/or personal items we are here to help.  Call our office and we will walk you through the process and make your damage “Like it never even happened.”