Personal Injury – Personal injury coverage on a homeowner’s insurance policy provides protection against claims arising from non-physical injuries to others, such as defamation, libel, slander, invasion of privacy, wrongful eviction, or false arrest. Unlike bodily injury coverage, which addresses physical harm, personal injury coverage deals with offenses that impact an individual’s reputation or rights. This optional coverage is often added through an endorsement to the standard policy. It helps pay for legal defense costs, settlements, or judgments if the homeowner is found liable for such claims. Including personal injury coverage in a homeowner’s policy can offer peace of mind and financial protection in today’s litigious environment.
Insuring Valuable/High Value Items –Often, there are restrictions on certain classes of items within a homeowner’s policy when it comes to how much coverage is present and the types of losses they would or would not be insured against. You can elect to insure those items on what is known as a personal articles policy or you can elect to insure them through a valuables endorsement on the homeowner’s policy.
Personal Articles Policy – A personal articles insurance policy provides coverage for valuable items not fully protected under standard homeowner’s or renter’s insurance policies. It is often used for items like jewelry, fine art, collectibles, electronics, or expensive cameras, covering them against risks like theft, loss, or accidental damage. This policy typically offers worldwide coverage with few exclusions, ensuring protection even outside your home. Personal articles policies often require appraisals for high-value items and allow for specific coverage limits tailored to the insured property. ***A claim made under this type of policy is not seen as a claim on your homeowner’s policy, so should not impact your homeowner’s insurance rates.
Valuables Endorsement– A valuables endorsement on a homeowner’s insurance policy is an optional add-on that provides extra coverage for high-value items, such as jewelry, artwork, or antiques, which might exceed the policy’s standard limits. It ensures these items are protected against risks like theft, loss, or accidental damage, often with fewer exclusions than the base policy. This endorsement allows you to specify individual items and their values, often requiring appraisals for accurate coverage. Adding a valuables endorsement helps fill coverage gaps, giving homeowners peace of mind for their most prized possessions. There are two ways to endorse these types of valuables and those have been explained below. ***A claim made under this coverage because it is directly covered on the homeowner’s policy, can have an impact to your future homeowner’s insurance rates.
Itemized (scheduled) coverage – the ultimate protection with no deductible
- Enhanced protection. This option allows customers to get specific coverage based on the individual value of each of the items listed on their policy.
- Agreed value and no deductible. With an agreed-upon value for each scheduled item (fine art and jewelry) and no deductible, the claims experience is straightforward and simple.
Additional classes of property. Many different types of items can be covered on a policy, including stamp and coin collections, musical instruments, hearing aids, cell phones and other valuable items.
Grouped (unscheduled) coverage – easy with a low deductible.
- Broad protection. Blanket coverage for a variety of risks without having to itemize each of the items they want to protect.
- No modifying schedules. Customers can easily increase or decrease the limit as the amount of total property changes, without having to modify schedules.
- No proof of ownership or appraisals. Your customers can easily add or remove items from their policy without proof of ownership or appraisals.
High limit, low deductible. High coverage limits are available, subject to a maximum per-item limit that varies by carrier.
Roof Schedule vs Replacement Cost Roof Protection – There are two common ways most insurance companies offer protection for roofs. One is through a roof schedule and the other is known as replacement cost. A lot of times the coverage being offered depends on the age of your roof.
A roof payment schedule is a provision in some homeowners insurance policies that determines how claims for roof damage are paid. Instead of reimbursing the full replacement cost, the insurer pays based on the roof’s age and condition at the time of the loss. Older roofs may receive depreciated or actual cash value payments rather than full replacement costs. This schedule helps insurers manage risk while encouraging homeowners to maintain or replace aging roofs.
Replacement cost for a roof refers to the amount it would take to replace the roof with a new one of similar kind and quality at current prices, without factoring in depreciation. It is a coverage option in many homeowner’s insurance policies that ensures the policyholder receives enough compensation to fully rebuild or repair their roof after covered damage. This type of coverage typically costs more than actual cash value coverage but provides greater financial protection. Replacement cost coverage is especially valuable as it ensures the homeowner will not have to pay out-of-pocket for depreciation in addition to their deductible.
Percentage Deductibles – A percentage deductible on a homeowner’s insurance policy is a deductible calculated as a percentage of the insured value of the home, rather than a fixed dollar amount. This type of deductible is commonly applied to claims for specific risks, such as windstorms, hailstorms, hurricanes, or earthquakes. For example, if a home is insured for $300,000 and the policy has a 2% deductible, the homeowner would pay $6,000 out of pocket before insurance covers the rest. Percentage deductibles are often used in areas prone to natural disasters, helping insurers manage large-scale risks while requiring homeowners to share more of the financial burden. However, they are becoming increasingly common across the state of Colorado regardless of your exact location.
Loss of Use – Loss of use coverage, also known as additional living expenses (ALE) coverage, is a provision in a homeowner’s insurance policy that helps pay for temporary living expenses if your home becomes uninhabitable due to a covered loss, such as a fire or severe storm. This coverage can include costs for hotel stays, restaurant meals, transportation, and other necessary expenses incurred while your home is being repaired or rebuilt. Loss of use coverage ensures that you and your family can maintain a reasonable standard of living during the displacement period. However, it typically has coverage limits based on a percentage of your policy’s dwelling coverage or a specific dollar amount, so it is important to understand your policy’s terms.
Extended Dwelling Coverage – An additional percentage of the Dwelling A coverage amount should repair or replacement exceed the original dwelling coverage amount displayed on the declarations page. Homeowners coverage is designed to reconstruct a home under normal conditions after a total loss. But in the event of a catastrophe, soaring demand for building materials and labor could cause reconstruction costs to increase, leaving policy limits inadequate. That’s where this coverage would kick in.
Loss Assessment – A coverage which results from a peril covered under the policy which are charged during the policy period against the insured by the association of property owners up to the limit of liability stated in the Policy Declarations. Primarily for an HO-6 condo or townhouse policy where insureds are responsible for the “walls-in” of their dwelling and the HOA is responsible for the exterior of the dwelling.
Building Ordinance & Law Coverage – Increased limits are available to comply with any ordinance or law that regulates the construction, repair or demolition of the dwelling following a covered loss to bring the dwelling up to current building code requirements.
Matching Undamaged Siding, Roofing, Windows – An optional coverage that will cover the replacement of undamaged siding, roof surfacing materials and/or windows to match the siding, roof surfacing materials and/or windows of a repaired area due to the replacement materials being unavailable or obsolete, or when the replacement material do not match due to fading, weathering, oxidizing, texture or dimensional difference. This coverage does not apply unless the damage is caused by a covered peril.
Personal Property Replacement Cost – Personal Property (Coverage C) is extended on a replacement cost basis to most items of personal property. For just a small percentage of additional premium, Personal Property Replacement Cost coverage extends full replacement cost coverage to personal property like televisions, stereos and computers. It’s an important upgrade from a standard homeowner’s policy, which takes into account depreciation and settles personal property losses on an actual cash value basis.
- Full Replacement Cost – Covered losses are settled for either the cost of an identical item, or a comparable item if the lost item is no longer manufactured, with no deduction for depreciation.
Home Sharing Endorsement – also known as Short-Term Rental Insurance, provides property and liability coverage when the residence premises is used for short-term rentals. This coverage protects hosts who let visitors stay in their principal residence or a portion of it on a temporary basis for fewer than 30 days at a time. The host of the home sharing often uses Airbnb or Vrbo to promote their property and charges a per-night occupancy fee.
*Water Damage Coverages
Service Line Coverage: Optional coverage for physical loss or damage to covered service lines on the residence premises that is the direct result of a service line failure (limit and deductible apply). Covered losses include, but are not limited to, wear and tear, rust and corrosion, mechanical breakdown, freezing or frost heave, and tree or other root invasion. Coverage is limited to that part of the service line running from the point of connection to the main service or utility line up to the dwelling.
- Broad Coverage – Covered service lines include exterior underground piping and wiring providing one of the following services to the residence: communications, compressed air, drainage, electrical power, heating, waste disposal, and water.
- High Limit and Low Deductible – Coverage up to $12,000 and a deductible of just $500.
- Environmental Improvements – After a covered loss, provides coverage for the additional cost to replace with materials that are better for the environment, safer, or more energy or water efficient than the materials being replaced (up to an additional 50% of the cost to repair or replace).
- Excavation Costs – After a covered loss, provides coverage for the necessary and reasonable excavation costs that are required to repair or replace the damaged covered service line.
- Expedited Repair or Replacement – Accelerates recovery by paying the necessary and reasonable extra costs to expedite repair or replacement.
- Coverage for Outdoor Property – After a covered loss, provides coverage for outdoor property (including but not limited to trees, plants, lawns, walkways, and driveways) that is damaged as a result of a service line failure.
The cost of this coverage is approximately $65 per year, depending on the carrier.
Sewer and Water Back-Up for Building and Contents: Provides coverage for building and personal property when a loss occurs caused by water which backs up through, or overflows from, a sewer, drain, sump, sump pump, or any system on the residence premises designated to remove subsurface water from the foundation area. This coverage does not apply if the loss is flood induced.
Coverage amounts available: $5,000-$50,000. The cost of this coverage is approximately $52-132, depending on coverage amount chosen and carrier.
Water Seepage or Leakage: Provides coverage for direct physical loss or damage caused by accidental, repeated, or continuous seepage or leakage of water or steam from within a plumbing, heating, air conditioning system, or household appliance.
Coverage amounts available: $10,000-$25,000. The cost of this coverage is approximately $52-$128, depending on coverage amount chosen and carrier.
Mold Remediation Coverage: This endorsement provides coverage for the cost to remove fungus, mold or mildew from covered property as well as the costs to tear out and replace any part of the building as needed to gain access to the fungus, mold or mildew.
Coverage amounts available: $5,000-$50,000. The cost of this coverage depends varies, depending on the coverage amount chosen and carrier.
Flood Insurance. Flood is defined as: A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of two or more acres of normally dry land area or of two or more properties; Unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source. Due to this definition of flood, a person may have a water damage claim that is actually considered a flood event.
Coverage amounts available: Flood insurance is usually a separate policy that costs $500+, depending on the property’s flood zone and amount of coverage chosen-dependent on the value of the property to be insured.