How to properly insure an apartment/house

 8 tips on how to insure your apartment or house reliably and without unnecessary financial costs.

TIP 1: INSURANCE FOR THE FULL COST

If you want to receive monetary compensation from the insurance company, which will be as commensurate as possible with the actual amount of damage that was caused to your apartment or house (as a result of flooding, fire, household gas explosion, or just robbery), then you must insure your property for the full value. Therefore, various truncated insurance programs (express programs) that insure your apartment/house for a certain part of its market value will cover only a part of your real damage.

 

TIP 2: NO EYE INSURANCE

If you do not know or are not sure about the market value of your apartment or house, then the insurance agent does not know it either. Do not rely on his "competent" assessment of what you have acquired through hard work. Before contacting an insurance company, you should call an independent appraiser to determine the market value of your apartment, and this applies to both the cost of the “box” itself and interior decoration (repairs, wallpaper, parquet, drywall, etc.) and movable property in the apartment (furniture, TV, etc.). The choice to insure only the “box” or even the interior decoration and movable property depend only on you.

Having documentary evidence of the market value of your apartment/house (expert assessment) in your hands, you will not only save yourself from insurance “by eye”, but also from possible problems when determining the amount of insurance compensation by the insurance company. Based on an expert assessment of your property, you will determine the actual amount of damage and the amount of compensation due to you for restoration repairs.

 

TIP 3: INSPECTION OF THE APARTMENT/HOUSE

To save yourself from disputes with the insurance company regarding the fact that before the conclusion of the insurance contract you had streaks on the wall or after that, sign an inspection report of your property with the insurance agent with photo fixation of all damage or their complete absence.

 

TIP 4: CHOOSING COATING

Almost all apartment/house insurance programs allow you to choose at your discretion the list of risks against which you want to insure. You estimate the probability of occurrence of each of them for yourself based on your situation. For example, if you have an apartment on the top floor, then the probability of flooding with water from the roof is much greater than three floors below. Just like if you know that neighbors live above you, who have had flooding cases more than once.

The standard package of risks offered by the insurance company is quite sufficient to compensate you for all losses in the event of an insured event. Experiments to reduce the cost of insurance by eliminating "minor risks" (natural disasters, aircraft crashes, collisions with movable vehicles, etc.) usually do not lead to significant savings of your funds. Therefore, do not skimp on matches, no one knows where lightning will strike.

 

TIP 5: INSURANCE PERIOD

You can insure your apartment/house for less than a year. Such programs offer insurance coverage of 1 month or more. Therefore, if you are planning a trip or vacation, you can insure for a much shorter period, which will allow you to save money and secure yourself for the period of maximum risk. But given the time and financial costs of an expert assessment of property, the choice of an insurance company, the selection of an insurance program, and the study of the terms of the contract, it is better to go through it once and sleep peacefully for 365 days.

 

TIP 6: CHOOSE YOUR FRANCHISE 

Its size determines how much of the amount of insurance compensation will be retained by the insurance company. The higher this percentage, the cheaper such a policy is. It is advisable to choose a franchise within 0.5-1% of the value of your property. Insurance with a zero deductible is more expensive and does not make much sense, just like insurance with a deductible of more than 1% does not lead to significant savings on your money.

 

TIP 7: CIVIL LIABILITY

Most insurance companies offer third-party liability insurance as an additional option in their apartment/house insurance programs. In this case, we are talking about compensation by the insurance company for material damage that you caused to the property of third parties (neighbours). If you know that your neighbours have made renovations, etc., then you can safely take advantage of this option by adding it to your insurance coverage.

 

TIP 8: DON'T BE LAZY 

If you have already decided to spend money and time on an expert assessment, the choice of a company, and an insurance program, then do not be lazy and read the entire insurance contract. There can sometimes be many unpleasant surprises that will pop up when you least expect them. Ask the insurance agent to send you a draft insurance contract in advance for review. Spend a few evenings reading it thoughtfully, or better yet, give it to an intelligent lawyer for evaluation. Although in most cases, insurers are not willing to change the text of the insurance contract, however, with a little pressure and reasoning from your side, they can meet you and change the controversial clauses of the contract.

Also read: how-to-choose-right-travel-insurance