When something goes wrong with your home, your first inclination is to make a claim against your homeowners insurance. If there is a nasty wind storm outside and a branch flies through your window, then you may be inclined to call your insurance company to have an adjuster come to your home. But before you make that call, you will want to consider the possibility that even if your insurance covers the broken window, it might not be worth using.
Named Versus Open Peril
There are two types of window coverage on most homeowner policies; named peril and open peril. A named peril policy has a specific list of situations where a broken window would be covered, while an open peril policy is much more liberal in its coverage. Most open peril policies still have exclusions, but they are not as restrictive as named peril. For example, if the paperboy throws your newspaper threw your window and breaks it, then you might be covered with an open peril policy, but coverage is doubtful with a named peril agreement.
Getting Past Your Deductible
Let’s say a branch goes through your kitchen window and you want to make a claim. It is important to remember that once you insist on an adjuster coming to your home, the claim will officially be made against your policy. If the adjuster estimates the damage to be $200.00 and you have a $500.00 per incident deductible, then you will have to pay the costs for the repairs out of your pocket. In this instance, it is not worth it to use your homeowners insurance.
Claims Can Cause Your Premiums To Rise
Once the adjuster informs you that the damage does not exceed your deductible, the adjuster will then make a report back to the insurance company. You will be issued a claim, but you will still have to pay for the damage yourself. Whenever you make a claim against your homeowners insurance, your insurance company considers that to be a bad mark on your policy. If you collect too many claims, your premiums could go up or your insurance company could drop you.
More than likely, your homeowners insurance allows for some type of coverage for a broken window. But in most cases, the cost of a broken window does not exceed the policy deductible, and making that claim could cost you more money on insurance in the long run. Even though your insurance probably covers the broken window, you are better off doing the repairs yourself.
Jim Treebold is a North Carolina based writer. He lives by the mantra of “Learn 1 new thing each day”! Jim loves to write, read, pedal around on his electric bike and dream of big things. Drop him a line if you like his writing, he loves hearing from his readers!