WILL HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE COVER WINDOW REPLACEMENT?
Anyone who is planning to purchase a home needs to know that insurance is one of the first things they should get before anything else. A homeowners insurance can help you carry the costs of repairs and replacements due to damages. It can even help your pay for accidental damages to other people’s properties.
If you want to know whether your policy will cover damaged windows, here’s what you need to know:
Things that Can Make Window Replacement Necessary
In insurance jargon, you will encounter the ‘perils’ which refers to risks covered by your policy. Such perils include natural occurrences such as hail and wind, accidents such as fires, and incidents such as vandalism and theft. If you find yourself dealing with a broken window, then you need to check if the cause is listed in the perils covered by your insurer.
Perils and Policies
The thing about insurance is that just because you filed a claim does not mean that it will be approved by your insurer. There are various aspects that need to be considered. The firm will analyze the claim to see whether your claim is valid and covered by the contract.
Now, keep in mind that you will have to choose the type of policy to get in the process of applying for coverage. You can choose an open-peril policy, which will cover many kinds of risks unless the particular peril is explicitly excluded. You can also choose a named-peril coverage which will only cover damages caused by a specific list of perils.
You should also consider that things such as deductibles and coverage limits exist in insurance. A deductible is the amount which you need to cover out of your own pocket. Any amount in excess after your deductible will be covered by the insurer. So, if your window repair costs $1,100 and you have a deductible of $500, you will need to pay the $500 yourself while your insurer covers the remaining $600. If the cost is $300, then you will have to pay for the repairs yourself as it falls within your deductible.
Coverage limit is the maximum amount the coverage company will cover. If your insurer has a coverage limit of $500, the given example means it will be covering only $500, while you cover $100 plus the deductible.
So, Will Homeowners Insurance Cover Window Replacement?
The simple answer to this is it depends. If the source of the damage is covered by your policy, then the company will pay for part of the amount given that there is excess after your deductible. However, if the cost of the replacement is lower than your deductible, then you will pay for the repairs yourself.
What’s the Next Step?
Whether your repairs are covered by your homeowners insurance or not, you need to make sure that you replace your openings with hurricane impact windows for your enhanced protection and security. So, make sure to choose impact-resistant window replacement in the event that your window gets broken due to perils.