NAGICO is echoing the warnings of the Office of Disaster Management (ODM), for residents not to be complacent this hurricane season as the 2011 Atlantic Hurricane Season have already recorded five storms and is expecting to see an increase in activity over the remaining four months of the season.
Given this prediction, NAGICO is urging residents to use this opportunity to understand what the NAGICO Homeowners’ Policy covers against, and to pay attention to the main types of exclusions, conditions and limitations you must be aware of.
Homeowner’s policy covers Building, Contents, Furniture, Garage, Pool and other components of a home. Over 90% of Homeowners’ policies cover certain types of losses or perils, the common perils are; Hurricane, Earthquake, Flood, Volcanic Eruption, Fire, Lightning, Explosion, Riot/Strike, Bursting Pipe, Damage from Aircraft to Aerial Device, Theft, Impact with Building, Tornado, Subsidence/landslip and Malicious Acts. NAGICO’s Homeowners’ also covers Loss of Rent or Additional Expense of Alternative Accommodation up to 10% of the sum insured for Building and contents combined. This cover will come in useful when your house suffers a loss that makes it uninhabitable and NAGICO will pay for stay at a Hotel or Guest house until your house is repaired or when the amount paid reaches to the 10% limit.
Another type of coverage under the Policy is Public Liability, which protects homeowners against losses to Third Parties or visitors to their home. The simplest fall, could cause serious injury, or a pet could injure a visitor to your home, leaving you with medical bills that you may not be in a position to pay. There may be times when you do not feel, you are responsible for an injury or loss to a visitor to your home and you wish to contest Liability in court. In such cases the Policy would cover Attorney fees with the approval of the Insurance Company..
Home invasions and robberies are becoming ever so frequent in the region, the Homeowners policy offers a Death Benefit if the Policyholder dies by a Fire or as a consequence of robbery at the home. This is a unique and small life insurance protection attached to the NAGICO Homeowners’ Policy.
Important conditions that Policyholders have to comply with are:
1. Give notice of a loss immediately to NAGICO;
2. Take steps to safeguard the property from further loss or damage;
3. Notify NAGICO about all known facts concerning the property; E.g. A change in the construction or a new business in the building;
4. Do not attempt to defraud the Insurance Company; Experts can usually spot a fraud.
5. Maintain the Sum Insured equal to the re-construction value of the house at all times. This is crucial to your cause, because it is common for construction costs to increase due to inflation (i.e the cost of materials and labor increases). Underinsurance penalties can be applied and this will directly impact your ability to rebuild or repair, as your claim payout will be proportionately reduced. Often-times claimants are told that they are under insured as a result of this omission. Enquire from NAGICO or your agent about a policy to protect against this.
6. “Board up” or cover up all openings against Hurricane/Windstorm winds.
Under exclusions, “Outdoor Properties” (Air Condition Units, Satellite Dish etc) are not covered against Hurricanes and other Natural Disasters. Most property insurance policies exclude loss from War or Nuclear perils. Another exclusion of note is the “un-occupancy exclusion” whereby no cover is available for Burst Pipe losses if there is no one in the house for more than seven (7) consecutive days. The same applies for Theft except that the amount of days of un-occupancy is increased to seventeen (17) consecutive days.
Policyholders and prospective policyholders are urged to read their homeowners policies thoroughly either before they buy the policy or immediately upon receipt of the same, to ensure that policy terms and conditions are clearly understood. Agents and Brokers have a key role to play in this process and should make a special effort to inform their clients about the policy they sell to them on behalf of the Insurance Companies. If they have not offered a proper explanation of your policy, please ask them to do so.
Residents, businesses and government must survive and recover from a disaster as quickly as possible which would ensure that the economy can be up and running and our way of life returns to a semblance of normality.