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Most Singaporeans know that their home insurance offers fire, renovations, building and contents coverage. However, since every policy is different, there are certain things you may be surprised to see covered—or not covered. Below, we explore some lesser-known coverages and offer tips to make the most out of your home insurance policy.
Home Insurance May Pay for Your Hotel Room
If your home gets damaged by a fire or any other insured event (lightning, explosion, impact by foreign object, theft, flooding, malicious acts or bursting/overflowing of domestic water tanks), your home insurance company may offer to pay for temporary relocation. This means that your insurer will pay for your stay at the hotel up to the limit of cover offered. However, there are a couple stipulations to this benefit.
First, you have to pay for the accommodation expenses first before filing a claim. Second, your insurer will not pay for non-lodging costs incurred at the hotel for food, beverages, phone calls, laundry or hotel entertainment.
Nonetheless, this can be a useful and cost-saving benefit to have since hotel prices in Singapore are one of the most expensive in Asia Pacific, and housefires, though declining, are still one of the greatest (and most expensive) threats to your home.
Home Insurance with Pet Coverage
It is common knowledge that home insurance will cover your family and your contents—however, some home insurance plans even offer coverage for your pets. It may be beneficial to know that your home insurance may pay up to S$1,000 as a one-time payment for death or for medical expenses due to an insured accident at home.
Since owning a pet in Singapore can cost up to S$20,000 over the course of 10 years, it can be comforting to know that your insurer may offer some financial help if something happens to your furry family member. However, you should know that if someone you know abuses your pet or it gets sick on its own, you will not be able to file a claim against your home insurance policy.
Theft & Break-Ins May Not Be Covered
Unfortunately, if something from your home is stolen or was damaged due to theft, your home insurance won't cover it unless there was a clear evidence of a forceful break-in. This means you won't be covered if your family member or friend stole something from you while you were in your home.
The same goes for situations where your domestic worker or renter stole something from you (although there are maid insurance policies that do cover theft by foreign domestic workers, under which you can file a claim). Additionally, as a general rule of thumb, your home must not have been unoccupied for more than 14 days around the time of the incident.
Home Insurance May Not Cover Accidents at Home
With most elderly and child-related accidents occuring at home, you'd think that your home insurance coverage will provide flexible options for claiming for personal or family accident or medical expenses.
However, your personal accident and medical coverage will only offer cover if you or your family were injured due to an insured event. You will not be able to claim for injuries that occurred if your elderly relative or child suffers a fall and requires hospitalisation.
Additionally, even if you did suffer an injury from an insured event, your home insurance plan will only pay out only for permanent disablement or death. This means if you suffered severe burns in a fire but were expected to fully recover, you may not be able to file a claim. In these instances, your best bet will be to file a health insurance claim.
Water Damage is the Most Common Claim
According to Aviva, the most common home insurance claim was due to water damage. This makes sense because Singapore does have its fair share of flooding and aging housing infrastructure.
However, your home insurance will only cover water damage due to flooding as a weather event, or caused by burst water tanks, apparatus and pipes.
This means that you will not be covered if the cause of water damage was due to wear and tear of older pipes. Additionally, damages during repairs or cleaning are not covered (for example, if the water damage occurred when you were repairing a faulty pipe, your insurance you will not be able to claim for damages).
Adjust Your Home Insurance Coverage Regularly
Unless the real estate market crashes or stagnates, your home will usually be an appreciating asset. Additionally, as you get older and progress in your career, your wealth should increase as well. This increase in household wealth means that after a certain point, you may want to purchase more expensive items, invest in artwork or undergo renovations.
Following this, if your household contents change drastically, you should consider upgrading your home insurance policy when it comes time to renew. If your current home insurance plan doesn't provide it, other insurers may offer coverage for artwork, valuables, electronics and documents coverage and higher renovation and contents coverage limits.
What you should avoid, however, is ignoring dramatic changes to your home as you risk under-insuring. If your home insurance company penalises you for under-insuring, you may end up getting your claims rejected and paying for your damages out of your own pocket.
This article was originally published on ValueChampion.