Home Insurance-Things to Consider and Advice for NRIs
by Kim Gill WriterHouse is one of the most expensive assets a person attains
in his life. And it’s important to protect your asset against a variety of
reasons. The home insurance policies cover the home against natural disasters
like flood, earthquake, fire, lightning, explosion, aircraft damage, cyclone,
storm or landslide.
Apart from the natural disasters, a home insurance policy
covers many other assets as well, which are equally important for house owners.
There are two types of insurance: building and valuables
inside. You can choose both or either one as well.
Many NRIs invest in property in India for rental purpose,
and they have to hire a caretaker to look after the house or either hires a NRI
property services provider to cater their needs. But even then there’s every
possibility of theft or burglary, fire and allied perils, or breakdown of
mechanical or electrical equipment etc. So, it becomes even more so important
for landlords to insure property against damage caused by tenants.
What does policy
covers?
Policy for home insurance has many sub-divisions and the
premium varies according to the category you pick. For example:
Section 1: Fire and allied perils
Section 2: Burglary and theft
Section 3: Jewellery and precious items
Section 4: Electronics and gadgets
Section 5: Personal accident
The loss and reclamation are different for each section and
every company has a different price for these sections.
The policy generally covers the building of your home and
contents against:
• Fire,
Lightning, Explosion/ Implosion
• Earthquake, Storm, Cyclone, Typhoon,
Hurricane, Tornado, Flood and Inundation
• Riot or Strike
• Terrorist
attack
• Damage by
rail/road vehicle or animal
• Landslide
including Rockslide
• Damage by
Aircraft
• Missile
operations
• Overflowing of
water tanks, or bursting of apparatus and pipes
Premium Payable
The premium depends upon the plan you choose and products
you’d like to insure. For insurance, you should consider insuring the place
according to the future cost and not the current value, also book according to
the market value and not the paper value.
For instance, if your home is valued at Rs 70 lakhs and your
belongings such as appliances, jewellery and furniture cost an added sum of Rs
10 lakhs, then the amount payable as premium would be Rs 4800 per month.
But you don’t need to cover such high amount; check if the
region you're buying in has any history of natural disasters. For cities like
New Delhi, which is in the middle of the land, will not get floods, and also
don’t have much history of earthquake or cyclone.
Also, the price of the land is much higher than the cost of
construction. So, choose cover according to the construction cost, if you
aren’t concerned about building but valuables inside, you can choose the cover
according to the valuables.
Process of Claim
Process of claim can be hectic and time consuming in time of
exigency. Therefore, having good relations with an agent always comes in handy.
Even then you must inform the agency or company in case you need to claim the
insurance.
Save the initial documents you’ve received saved on your
mail, since it’s most possible in case of a fire or earthquake, you won’t find
them anyways.
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Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.