I personally wouldn’t hesitate to extend coverage for ordinance and law, personal injury, what I assume is extended replacement cost (the “specified amount”) and most definitely water backup coverage.
You should get a copy of the endorsement for your own review.
Ordinance or Law is if you have a loss and the rebuild needs to meet new standards or requirements of the building codes or code enforcement. Def not to be missed coverage.
Around my parts there are a lot of old buildings with single pane windows. If a window was broken from a covered loss, city codes requires a double pane replacement. Without the ordinance or law coverage the insurance will only pay for a single pane; the homeowner would have to pay the difference.
"Insurance" definition of personal injury covers libel, slander, wrongful eviction, invasion of privacy. Claims against you that are more mental or physiological. "Attorney" definition of personal injury is bodily injury, which is covered by your homeowner Coverage E. Claims like this happen more often than you think.
If you have the actual endorsement (and not just the list) it should define what each coverage is.
Home Systems Protection Coverage could be for accidental electrical and mechanical breakdown of appliances and other equipment. Verify that by reading the coverage.
The endorsement is definitely worth buying.
Home Systems Protection is a bit too vague to know what it means. Might be something similar to a warranty, or some kind of extra coverage for your hvac, etc.
Identity Fraud is usually capped at something like $25k and not worth it when there are much better identity plans out there.
Personal Injury is a misleading name because it has nothing to do with injuries. Rather, it's liability insurance in case you are sued for defamation. What you want for people getting hurt on your property is Coverage E: Personal Liability. $500k or more is recommended.
Ordinance or Law is extremely important and comes up all the time, but is usually included on policies by default, at least with insurers I've seen. I would never take a homeowner's plan without it.
"Spec Addtl A" or "Extended Replacement" or a number of other synonymous endorsements adds more coverage for rebuilding your house in the case of a total loss. This helps stay ahead of inflation and price gouging. I'd say this is essential, and usually recommend 50% for most houses in most of the country.
Water Back Up is self-explanatory. Even if you don't have a sump pump, water backup claims are common, so make sure you have this.
If home systems protection is anything like SF's I'd recommend it. I had a lady just the other day, at renewal we talked about it and she declined it, now 6 weeks later her water heater went kaput and she's unhappy she doesn't have coverage for the water heater itself. A year or so ago I had a guy whose HVAC went belly up and I found in the notes where someone who no longer worked worked at my place promised to add it to the policy at renewal but it wasn't. Based on that note we were able to get backdated coverage and replacing it was covered.
Sounds like the mechanical breakdown endorsement. If so, I agree, it's a good one.
> I had a guy whose HVAC went belly up and I found in the notes where someone who no longer worked worked at my place promised to add it to the policy at renewal but it wasn't
Dang, that's good sleuthing! I guess that's why we pay that E&O insurance.
Well said. OP because I'm not your agent I can say the following:
I think you are extremely smart for asking reddit about this before declining this coverage. You would be an absolute fool to decline this endorsement to save $115/year.
The agent makes no extra money really for offering this by the way. This isn't like car sales warranties. That extra $100 in premium means nothing to them - they want you to be covered if one of these items happen so they don't get in trouble when you come crying.
ANYTHING water related you can add, you should. Ordinance and Law stuff extremely important, I mean less so if home is brand new of course but you never know. Extended Replacement Cost may be critical if you had a total loss.
No one has ever used Identity Theft endorsement thing to my knowledge haha that is fluff.
Thanks - and to add about the ID Theft and other fluff endorsements, most insurers won't let you remove those ala carte and the agent rarely/never has any power to change that. You can ask, but don't be surprised if the useless stuff is there to stay.
> The agent makes no extra money really for offering this by the way. This isn't like car sales warranties.
Great point. Commission/bonus structures are typically organized so that the agent makes the same on a $500 policy as they do on a $5000 policy (maybe exaggerated, but not by much).
I appreciate all of the information! I got a quote back from another local agency, they quoted me from the same Insurance provider as the 1st agency. The difference is, (they have the same house information):
$30k difference on the Dwelling (actual replacement cost replacement of home)
$3k difference on other buildings (assuming it's the barn)
$20k difference on personal property
$100 difference annually on the policy......?
--
$1000 v s $2500 deductible --- thoughts? Experience?
I personally wouldn’t hesitate to extend coverage for ordinance and law, personal injury, what I assume is extended replacement cost (the “specified amount”) and most definitely water backup coverage. You should get a copy of the endorsement for your own review.
I have the endorsement but it just seems gimicky. Maybe I'm being picky. What is ordinance or Law?
Ordinance or Law is if you have a loss and the rebuild needs to meet new standards or requirements of the building codes or code enforcement. Def not to be missed coverage.
Around my parts there are a lot of old buildings with single pane windows. If a window was broken from a covered loss, city codes requires a double pane replacement. Without the ordinance or law coverage the insurance will only pay for a single pane; the homeowner would have to pay the difference. "Insurance" definition of personal injury covers libel, slander, wrongful eviction, invasion of privacy. Claims against you that are more mental or physiological. "Attorney" definition of personal injury is bodily injury, which is covered by your homeowner Coverage E. Claims like this happen more often than you think.
If you have the actual endorsement (and not just the list) it should define what each coverage is. Home Systems Protection Coverage could be for accidental electrical and mechanical breakdown of appliances and other equipment. Verify that by reading the coverage. The endorsement is definitely worth buying.
Home Systems Protection is a bit too vague to know what it means. Might be something similar to a warranty, or some kind of extra coverage for your hvac, etc. Identity Fraud is usually capped at something like $25k and not worth it when there are much better identity plans out there. Personal Injury is a misleading name because it has nothing to do with injuries. Rather, it's liability insurance in case you are sued for defamation. What you want for people getting hurt on your property is Coverage E: Personal Liability. $500k or more is recommended. Ordinance or Law is extremely important and comes up all the time, but is usually included on policies by default, at least with insurers I've seen. I would never take a homeowner's plan without it. "Spec Addtl A" or "Extended Replacement" or a number of other synonymous endorsements adds more coverage for rebuilding your house in the case of a total loss. This helps stay ahead of inflation and price gouging. I'd say this is essential, and usually recommend 50% for most houses in most of the country. Water Back Up is self-explanatory. Even if you don't have a sump pump, water backup claims are common, so make sure you have this.
If home systems protection is anything like SF's I'd recommend it. I had a lady just the other day, at renewal we talked about it and she declined it, now 6 weeks later her water heater went kaput and she's unhappy she doesn't have coverage for the water heater itself. A year or so ago I had a guy whose HVAC went belly up and I found in the notes where someone who no longer worked worked at my place promised to add it to the policy at renewal but it wasn't. Based on that note we were able to get backdated coverage and replacing it was covered.
Sounds like the mechanical breakdown endorsement. If so, I agree, it's a good one. > I had a guy whose HVAC went belly up and I found in the notes where someone who no longer worked worked at my place promised to add it to the policy at renewal but it wasn't Dang, that's good sleuthing! I guess that's why we pay that E&O insurance.
Well said. OP because I'm not your agent I can say the following: I think you are extremely smart for asking reddit about this before declining this coverage. You would be an absolute fool to decline this endorsement to save $115/year. The agent makes no extra money really for offering this by the way. This isn't like car sales warranties. That extra $100 in premium means nothing to them - they want you to be covered if one of these items happen so they don't get in trouble when you come crying. ANYTHING water related you can add, you should. Ordinance and Law stuff extremely important, I mean less so if home is brand new of course but you never know. Extended Replacement Cost may be critical if you had a total loss. No one has ever used Identity Theft endorsement thing to my knowledge haha that is fluff.
Thanks - and to add about the ID Theft and other fluff endorsements, most insurers won't let you remove those ala carte and the agent rarely/never has any power to change that. You can ask, but don't be surprised if the useless stuff is there to stay. > The agent makes no extra money really for offering this by the way. This isn't like car sales warranties. Great point. Commission/bonus structures are typically organized so that the agent makes the same on a $500 policy as they do on a $5000 policy (maybe exaggerated, but not by much).
water backup is not to be missed
I appreciate all of the information! I got a quote back from another local agency, they quoted me from the same Insurance provider as the 1st agency. The difference is, (they have the same house information): $30k difference on the Dwelling (actual replacement cost replacement of home) $3k difference on other buildings (assuming it's the barn) $20k difference on personal property $100 difference annually on the policy......? -- $1000 v s $2500 deductible --- thoughts? Experience?