Why it is worth insuring your home and how to properly arrange insurance

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

We figure out in what cases it will be possible to compensate for losses, how to choose an insurance company and what to do if an insured event occurs.

How home insurance works

This type of insurance comes in handy when you own a property and want to protect yourself in case something happens to your home. Fire, gas explosion, robbery, natural disaster, neighbors forgot to turn off the tap in the bathroom - in all these situations, you risk incurring serious losses and even completely losing your house or apartment. Insurance helps to compensate for losses in part or in full.

To do this, you conclude an agreement with an insurance company, which will state:

• what exactly do you insure;
• what cases will be considered insured;
• how much do you want to insure your home for.

Then you pay your dues regularly. If an insured event does occur, the company assesses the damage and pays you the amount specified in the contract. That is, everything works in much the same way as with any other insurance.

What can be insured in an apartment or house

Everything: from entire housing to decoration, furniture and other interior items. Usually, insurance companies offer the following options for insurance objects:

• structural elements - floor and ceiling, walls and partitions, balconies and loggias;
• engineering equipment - pipes, meters, wiring and other communications;
• interior decoration - floor and ceiling covering, wallpaper, paint or decorative plaster, windows, doors and any part of the decor;
• movable property - appliances, furniture, valuable personal belongings;
• title to property - such insurance is called title insurance and helps to reduce losses if you encounter fraudsters when buying a home.

It is important to remember that home insurance does not cover all movable property. Do not expect that you will be compensated for the cost of all your clothes, jewelry, children's toys and grandmother's service for 12 people. You can insure some of the things dear to your heart, but everything will depend on the insurance.

What can you insure your home against?

According to a survey by the Levada Center, the following troubles mainly occur with real estate in Russia:

• neighbors poured water;
• burst drain or sewer pipe;
• the house was robbed;
• there was a fire.

Therefore, first of all, it is worth insuring a house or apartment against these risks. But this is certainly not a complete list. Insurance companies offer several more options:

• natural disasters;
• gas explosion;
• design defects;
• man-made accidents;
• actions of animals;
• falling of aircraft and their parts;
• lightning strike.

In addition, it is possible to insure your civil liability. Such insurance helps to compensate for damage if someone else's property was damaged through your fault, for example, you flooded your neighbors.

Also, the insurance company can cover the costs of temporary accommodation and storage of things, cleaning the territory, processing and paying for documents and certificates that are needed to restore housing.

Each insurer offers a choice of its own list of risks or package options that include everything at once.

How to get insurance

1. Choose a reliable insurance company

It is important that the insurer has a license from the Central Bank of Russia. You can check this on the official website. You should also pay attention to tariffs and other conditions. For example, for the company to indicate in the contract all insurance risks that are important to you.

2. Carefully read the terms of the contract

You need to understand that the main goal of the insurance company is to make money, and not to save you from ruin. Therefore, the information on beautiful websites of insurers and in calculators of the cost of insurance may slightly differ from reality and smooth out not very convenient conditions. It is important to clarify for yourself as accurately as possible:

• what exactly the company considers an insured event;
• when she may refuse to pay you;
• how is the procedure for assessing and compensating for damage;
• what documents will be required when an insured event occurs;
• what is the exact amount of insurance premiums.

For example, you want the company to reimburse you for damages in the event of a flood. But if you carefully read the contract, it may turn out that only a situation when neighbors flooded you, and a pipe break or flood will not be considered an insured event. The story is the same with fires: some companies do not compensate for damage if the fire happened due to wiring defects or breakdown of electrical appliances.

3. Estimate the value of the property

You yourself choose how much to insure your home and what is in it. This is what the insurance company will pay you if something happens. But the cost of your insurance directly depends on the same amount.

The sum insured cannot exceed the value of immovable and movable property. Therefore, it makes no sense to insure an apartment for 15 million rubles, which with all the furniture and appliances costs 10 million, does not make sense - you will only overpay for insurance.

4. Find out if you can use a franchise

A deductible is the amount you are willing to invest in home restoration yourself. Using a deductible helps to reduce the cost of your insurance policy. It is of two types.

• Conditional: you will only be reimbursed for damage if it is higher than a certain amount. For example, your conditional deductible is 5,000 rubles. If the damage is less than 5,000 rubles, you deal with the situation yourself, if more, the insurance company will reimburse it. Let's say your neighbors flooded you, an insured event occurred. The repair will cost you 15,000 rubles. This amount will be paid in full by the insurer.
• Unconditional: you set the amount, which in any case you compensate yourself, and the insurer will add the rest to you. If your unconditional deductible is 5,000 rubles, and repairs after being flooded by neighbors will cost 15,000, then the insurance company will reimburse you 10,000 rubles.

5. Read reviews

Sometimes insurance companies happily conclude contracts and accept money from clients, but they themselves are in no hurry with payments. They delay the process, make them collect papers and stand in queues during working hours, and significantly underestimate the amount of damage when assessing.

It is difficult to foresee such a development of events during the conclusion of the contract, all this is not a violation of the law, and it will be more expensive to challenge the decision of the insurance company. So it's worth turning to someone else's experience and finding out in advance what its customers write about the company.

6. Bring all the necessary documents and sign the contract

Usually, a passport and a document confirming the ownership of the property will be enough for you. Some insurance companies may ask for additional documents, such as an extract from the USRN.

How to get insurance payment

If an insured event occurs, you need to do the following:

• Report everything to the insurance company as soon as possible. Usually, the contract stipulates a period during which you must do this. Sometimes it is three days, sometimes a day. If you are late, money may not be paid.
• Contact a service that will record what happened. This could be the police, the Ministry of Emergencies, a management company. They are required to provide a document confirming what happened, for example, a certificate of fire, a decision to initiate a criminal case in the event of a robbery, and so on.
• Submit the necessary documents to the insurance company. As a rule, this is a valid insurance policy, receipts for payment of insurance premiums and papers confirming that an insured event has occurred.
• Wait for the decision of the insurer. The company will call an appraiser, make a decision and, if it is positive, will fully or partially compensate the damage.

In what cases the insurance may not be paid

Such situations are listed in the insurance contract, and each company has its own. Typically, you may be refused for several reasons.

• Your situation is not considered an insured event: you insured your home against a natural disaster and a lamppost fell on it.
• Everything happened through your fault: you left the iron on and went to work, and a fire started in the apartment.
• You violated the terms of the contract: for example, they did not pay insurance premiums on time or later applied to the insurance company.

If the insurance company refuses to pay you compensation for no apparent reason, you can file a complaint with the Central Bank.