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Homeowner's Insurance: What's covered?
Homeowner's insurance is NOT cut and dry. There are TONS of policies and endorsements that are automatically included or excluded, covered or not covered. You cannot characterize your home insurance by saying it has "full coverage" because NO homeowner insurance policy covers everything.
What's a Peril?
First, let's define a peril. A peril is any event or happening that causes physical damage to your personal or real property. A homeowner policy begins with describing the types of perils that ARE covered under the policy.
Basic Form
The basic form is a basic perils policy provides coverage for the bare minimum. It only covers damages from fire, lightning, removal, and internal explosion. So if you're paying around $20 per month for your homeowner's insurance, this may be what you're paying for.
Extended Coverage (EC)
Because the basic perils policy offers so little coverage, insurance companies typically offer coverage extensions for the following perils: wind, hail, volcanic eruption, riot, civil commotion, aircraft, physical contact with non-owned vehicles, and smoke.
Vandalism and Malicious Mischief (V&MM)
Vandalism and Malicious Mischief coverage is offered as an additional coverage. This does not include theft, larceny, burglary, or glass breakage.
Broad Form
The broad form policy combines the basic form, the extended perils, vandalism and malicious mischief, and also includes damage by burglars (but not theft), weight of ice, snow, and sleet, accidental discharge or overflow of water or steam, freezing of plumbing, heating, A/C, or sprinkler systems, falling objects, artificially generated electric current, and tearing apart, cracking, burning, and or bulging of steam or water system. It also extends coverage for smoke from the fire place and vehicles that damage your fence, driveway, or walkway driven by someone other than you or your family member.
Special Form
The special form provides much broader coverage encompassing all perils imaginable unless specifically excluded from the policy.
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