Most homeowners know how important it is to have home insurance, but they don’t always know exactly what their policy covers. It’s easy to go online, choose a policy based on the price and purchase it without reading the small print. Unfortunately, this can lead to rejected claims and financial loss in the future.

If you want to ensure you’ve got the cover you need, take a look at these three things to check when you purchase home insurance:

1. Deductibles

The deductible on your home insurance policy is how much you have to pay if you need to make a claim. If your property has sustained damage and requires repairs costing $20,000 and you have a deductible of $5,000, for example, you’ll need to pay the first $5,000 and the insurance company will pay the outstanding $15,000.

Setting a high deductible can reduce the cost of your insurance premium but it’s important to ensure that your deductible will be affordable. If you do need to make a claim, you’ll need to be able to fund the deductible, so don’t set yourself an unachievable target.

2. Named Perils

Home insurers often cite particular ‘perils’ that are covered on your policy. This refers to the things that could cause damage to your home, such as a storm or flooding. Most people assume that home insurance covers every type of damage, but take a look at your current insurance policy, and you’ll be surprised at how much isn’t covered.

Paying a little more for a policy that covers more named perils or taking out an ‘open peril’ policy can be a savvy way to increase you cover. To learn more about how these types of policies can affect window damage on your property, take a look at the linked blog post and check your insurance policy now.

3. Maximum Claim Value

It’s not uncommon for insurance companies to set a maximum claim value when you take out a policy. However, you’ll need to ensure that the maximum claim value will be enough to cover the costs of repairing or rebuilding your home if it’s seriously damaged. A maximum claim value of $100,000 might sound fairly high but when you begin to consider the costs of repairing structural damage or rebuilding a section of your home, it’s unlikely to be enough.

Again, the cost of your insurance policy can be affected by the maximum claim value. It might be tempting to reduce the maximum value to secure lower premiums but, in the long-term, this could prevent you from accessing the financial assistance you need, if your home is damaged in some way.

Finding the Best Home Insurance Policy

Although you can purchase home insurance in seconds, it’s important to take the time to compare policies and find the right cover for you. This will help to ensure that your policy provides the level of cover you need, while still being cost-effective. As well as ensuring that you’ll have access to the funds you need if something does go wrong, having the right home insurance in place will also give you peace of mind.