If you end up making a claim on a Grapevine home insurance policy, you will probably wonder how your claim will get settled.
You'll also want to know whether your entire claim or a portion of it will be covered.
Homeowners insurance policies have limits for dwelling coverage and personal property coverage.
But, what you may not know is that some claims fall into categories where a sub-limit is specified for a certain coverage.
What does this mean? Unfortunately, additional rules when it comes to covering your claim.
How does this affect you?
The main impact has to do with specific personal property having to do with your home insurance. Think special collection or items. Do you have a vintage comic book collection? Jewelry? A rifle or gun collection? There will be certain maximum amount an insurance carrier will pay for either a single item or an aggregate of the items.
But my policy says I have coverage up to $150,000. Why can't I spend that all on 1970's disco vinyl albums?
Number one, that's just wrong. Number two, that would throw insurance premiums out of whack if everybody who suffered a loss like this behave in this manner.
There has to be a limit on what can be replaced and in what amount and that limit is called a sub-limit. This prevents abuse.
But what about the family heirloom, say your mother's antique diamond ring passed down through the ages? If you don't schedule it separately, you may find a fraction of the payout for what it is worth. You'll probably want what we call a "stand alone floater" to protect this item.
Sub-limits and personal property. We hope this makes sense. But what about this type of impact on your home itself? It applies.
Optional coverages on your policy introduce sub-limits. For instance, sewer and drain backup has what we call a "hard dollar cap" that will be covered and determined at the time the policy is put in place.
Foundation water coverage on the other hand is an item on your policy that in recent years has sub-limits up to the dwelling amount limit.
You'll want to know what your policy covers, especially when it has to do with sub-limits putting a cap on what your policy will pay for certain items.
You can get in the weeds quick with this. We're here with a big, Texas-sized machete of insurance knowledge to see you through.
Let's review and dig out any sub-limit that could prevent you from realizing proper coverage in the event something happens.
