…so why wouldn’t you want to have it protected correctly? 

The old stories of how home insurance does not cover anything is based off of homeowners making an uneducated purchase that has minimum coverage built into the policy. 

Each home insurer has written their own policy with some being ‘Named Peril Policies’ in which only cover the perils that are specifically named in the policy. 

The other type is ‘Open or All-Peril Policies’ in which provide the most comprehensive coverage excluding things that typically fall under FEMA like Flood. 

The annual cost of a home insurance policy is greatly affected by what type of policy you select (more coverage typically cost a little more), the amount of the deductibles (higher the deductible, lower the annual cost), and by any additional endorsements you may select to have (ex: replacement cost on your roof vs the standard depreciated value). 

Most marketing and information typically given is to direct the buyer to only look at the policy limits, deductibles and how much you’re paying.  This is to sell cost only and not a value with of true coverages. 

This is because the limits and deductibles only matter to covered claims – if the policy doesn’t provide coverage for the peril, then it won’t matter what the limits and deductibles are because the damage won’t be covered anyways. 

So, it is important to not price shop for home insurance but to be mindful of what you are purchasing so that you have affordable coverage in the event of an unexpected loss.

The price you pay in the event of a claim can be greatly managed by the annual cost you mitigate on your time and terms so the unexpected is not a scary time of uncertainty.