I'm evaluating my insurance for my cars and I figured I might as well do the same for my home owners.

I have been with State Farm for decades and one reason l like them is that my policy is a "All risk" policy. I do have to wonder if it is worth the added expense. After 30 yrs of home ownership, I have never had to declare anything that was not on a named peril list. Not to say it wont happen but so far not yet.

Has anyone here had to make a claim that was denied because it was not covered on a named peril policy?

For those of you unfamiliar with the policy types, her are a few primers.

Named Perils vs All Risk Homeowners Policies | The Truth About Insurance.com

Named Peril or All-Risk Insurance: What's the Difference and Which is Better in a Given Situation? : Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog

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- With out god, life is everything.
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- You can pray for me, I'll think for you.
- When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

Many years ago, I had a "replacement value" policy from Allstate. The house was a 29 vintage English Tudor, with tons of plaster cornice and hardwood detail. Came home fom vacation to find icicles hanging from the windows. A pipe had broken, the neighbors called the FD when water started pouring out everywhere. Too late, the entire first floor was a ruin. Cslled Allstate, they sent an appraiser. After two years of wrangling, they offered $2,500. Sued them, ended up recovering half the $50,000 cost. Does that answer the wuestion?

Replacement is something else. That has to do with what the insurance will pay once they agree to pay. I'm talking about what they will agree to pay for.

In other words, it you had a named peril policy and busted piped were not one of th3 named perils, they would not cover it. If it were open risk, and busted piped were not listed as an exception you would be covered.

How much is covered is a different story.

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Sent from an agnostic abacus

2014 C250 21,XXX my new DD ** 2013 GLK 350 18,000 Wife's new DD**

- With out god, life is everything.
- God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance that's getting smaller and smaller as time moves on..." Neil DeGrasse Tyson
- You can pray for me, I'll think for you.
- When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

Thanks for the linked articles. Both were a good read.

I wanted to know how one could determine what kind of policy they have and found the following quote answers the question

So which insurance is the better choice? If you’re paying a mortgage, it is unlikely that you will have a choice. Most lenders require that you carry a comprehensive policy to protect its investment.

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Toyota is a leader only because their drivers block everyone behind them. Oh what a feeling.

Was this the type of policy which applied depreciation to the value of an item or which would replace it at current costs?

I had an incident recently where a neighbor’s obviously rotted and dying tree fell on my house during a storm. My insurance company said that the roof had no value due to its age, but they paid for the damage the tree did to everything else. Fortunately only a couple of shingles were involved. The insurance company refused to go after the neighbor claiming that the neighbor would only state they were unaware of the problem or that it was an act of god. Naturally, they had no problem raising my rates due to the claim.

Insurance organizations are the sleaziest fraud machinery of culture.

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Toyota is a leader only because their drivers block everyone behind them. Oh what a feeling.

To figure out what you have either read through all the policy stuff they send you (hard) or call them (easy) and ask.

Better is relative. I have yet o talk to anyone who has been denied a claim because the event was not covered by the policy. Even the named perils are pretty broad. Now if you are near an airport and a piece of a plane crashes through your house you might be up the creek. Hopefuly the plane owner is covered.

As far as I am aware, even named peril are accepted by lenders as it covers most of what can happen to your home. You have to have insurance to cover their investment but I do not believe you are limited to just open risk policies. I have never been asked/told about that by my lender.

Your example of the tree may have been a situation where you have a named peril policy. They cover wind but not a tree. An open risk may have covered you if a tree falling on a house is not excluded. With open risk, the insurance company has to prove you are not covered. If they did not put a tree falling on the house as an exclusion, you more than likely would have been covered.

If you call your insurance company and find out I'd be interested to know the result. I have a very large tree in my back yard and I'd be a bit worried if it fell. Pretty sure it will cause several 10's of thousands in damage.

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Sent from an agnostic abacus

2014 C250 21,XXX my new DD ** 2013 GLK 350 18,000 Wife's new DD**

- With out god, life is everything.
- God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance that's getting smaller and smaller as time moves on..." Neil DeGrasse Tyson
- You can pray for me, I'll think for you.
- When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

I'm a former property insurance adjuster and I am still employed in the insurance business. My personal opinion, for what it's worth, is that all-risk is almost always worth the premium over named perils policies. I had to deny a few claims on named perils policies that would have been easily covered on all-risk.

Of course, as with anything, exceptions do exist; there are some commercial (and perhaps unique residential) risks that either simply do not qualify for an all-risk policy or are just very expensive that way. In that case, it seems best to go with the most comprehensive named perils form ("Special causes of loss," it's usually called) and buy any endorsements that you think are necessary for your situation. When it comes to commercial insurance, it's actually possible to buy named perils policy with special causes of loss form, coupled with a few endorsements and you end up with coverage that's actually more inclusive than the so called "all-risk" form.

In the industry we really shy away from using the "all risk" terminology because it doesn't cover all risk - it's usually called "Open Perils" or "Open Perils less exclusions" now.

That was very helpful. Thanks.

Not to put you on the spot but are there companies you hate/like? I have State farm for everything right now. I'm going to dump them for auto as their prices are over $1k higher than Gieko, Progressive and a few others.

So far no one has been able to quote me an open peril policy that is competitive with State Farm.

__________________
Sent from an agnostic abacus

2014 C250 21,XXX my new DD ** 2013 GLK 350 18,000 Wife's new DD**

- With out god, life is everything.
- God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance that's getting smaller and smaller as time moves on..." Neil DeGrasse Tyson
- You can pray for me, I'll think for you.
- When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.