You might have various appliances scattered throughout your home. Stoves, refrigerators, microwaves, washer/dryers and other items help make your life easier and they are often a reasonably expensive investment. It’s perfectly reasonable to want to protect them under your homeowners insurance. In many cases, you will find coverage available. However, you will need to check the terms and conditions of your policy to make sure you qualify to make a claim.

Possessions Insurance for Homeowners Policies

Most homeowners policies cover contents and possessions of the home. Appliances have coverage in these circumstances. So, when an unexpected or unavoidable hazard occurs on the property and damages your belongings, you can receive compensation for the lost items.

To choose the appropriate coverage for your household contents, you’ll need to properly appraise the value of your belongings. This will mean adding the cost of your appliances into the value of other possessions in your home. Once you have your cumulative property value, you’ll have a better idea of what the full limit of your contents coverage should be. You will indicate this limit when you buy your policy.

When Possessions Coverage Pays

Your contents coverage will pay for damage in the event of an unexpected, unpreventable or unavoidable accident. Your policy might pay for damage after:

• Fires
• Burst Pipes
• Severe Weather Damage
• Vandalism
• Hail
• Falling Objects
• Explosions

Additionally, some possessions coverage will include protection for equipment breakdowns. Therefore, if an item malfunctions, then you can receive coverage to repair it.

However, all policies will cover different types of hazards, and in most cases they will exclude certain damage. For example, your policy will almost never pay for flood damage when floods arise from weather events. You’ll need to get this coverage from a specific flood insurance policy. Additionally, your policy will not pay for damage done by the owner, normal wear & tear and age.

How Much it Pays

All possessions coverage will include limits on how much they will pay for appliance damage. Deductibles will apply. Additionally, many policies pay for damage based on an item’s actual cash value. Coverage for cash value pays for items based on their depreciated value that factors in years of use. As a result, you won’t receive compensation for the full value of these items even if your policy covers them.

However, in many cases, you can ask if your agent can increase your coverage to include replacement cost protection. This coverage will upgrade your protection to pay for damaged appliances based on the like-new value of the items. Therefore, you’ll receive compensation that is much closer to the amount you’ll need to replace the items that you lost.