Common information about property insurance

Property insurance is a type of voluntary insurance. Object of the insurance is the commitment of the insurer arising from the concluded contract. It consist of the promise of the insurer to indemnify the insured for damage to the object of the insurance caused by covered under the policy risk.

Object of the property insurance is property in its substantive sense. Outside the scope of the product is only this property, for which exist other specialized insurances (e.g. car, technical, agricultural, marine and transport insurance). So defined the object covers a wide group of real property (almost all without land, namely: buildings or parts of them, other buildings, greenhouses, sheds, fences or equipment-wind generators, collectors, bridges, roads, etc.), almost every property (machinery, equipment, furniture, goods, materials, antiques and other valuables, money, etc.

In property insurance the coverage may be defined as: coverage of all risks and coverage of specifically listed risks. In the first case, the commitment of the insurer is for any damages arising from any risk, except the expressly included, while according to the second only the listed in the policy damages can be covered. The minimum set of risks, for which may be concluded property insurance covers: fire, lightning, explosion and impact of aircraft, parts of it or its cargo. This minimum is required for any property policy. In addition to the insurance one or more of the following risks can be covered:

-Natural disasters (one or more), including storms, heavy rain, hail, frost, flood, natural weight of snow;
-Earthquake (although earthquake is a kind of natural disaster due to the specifics of manifestation of risks-its offering is low);
-Landslide or collapse of earth layers;
-Implosion;
-Water accidents or accidents with other facilities designed to carry water or stream;
-Malicious acts of third parties (malicious firing or explosion);
-Short circuit or electric shock;
-Hit by a vehicle or animal;
-Theft (with the differential coverage of burglary, using technical means or robbery).

In addition to the direct physical damages, the coverage of property insurance can be extended to cover of financial or other intangible losses resulting from:

-Third party liability;
-Loss of income (due to interruption of activity or loss of rental income);
-Accident to persons who do not always live on the address of the insured property;

The property insurance may also include indirect losses like:

-Costs for cleaning debris, dismantling or demolition;
-Costs for damage control, relocation, protection or preservation of the affected property;
-Costs for alternative accommodation or transport;
-Costs for emergency repairs and many others.

For specific categories of property like electronic equipment, for example, the coverage may be extended both in scope (coverage of certain intangible assets like software licenses) and due to covered risks (moisture, induction, installation errors, defective materials, data loss, etc.).

To see how you can find out if fire insurance is included in your home insurance, read this article. To read even more about home insurance, go here.