Don’t Leave Coverage on the Table

When searching to find insurance coverage for a new or existing home, it can be tempting to make a decision based solely on price. However, a more important consideration to make is whether or not the policy provides the correct coverages for your needs.

For example, did you know that an unendorsed Homeowners policy doesn’t include adequate coverage for several types of water related claims? Many homeowners don’t realize this until after they file a claim and find out that their policy doesn’t cover the loss at all, or that there is a very small amount of coverage available. Water claims can be very costly, and the worst time to find that out is when you’re left footing the bill.

AFM offers two endorsements on our Select Homeowners program that can help further protect insureds against common types of water damage: Water Back Up & Sump Discharge or Overflow and Inland Flood Coverage. While these two endorsements won’t cover every type of water related claim, they do provide a way to help fill in coverage gaps at a reasonable premium.

While Water Back Up & Sump Discharge or Overflow is available in all locations, Inland Flood Coverage is not available in areas designated as being in a flood plain. However, underwriting for the Inland Flood Coverage is automatically done behind the scenes, so agents know right away when they quote a policy if the location is eligible for the endorsement.

While AFM strongly recommends adding both of these endorsements to every Select Homeowners policy where they are available, we realize that the best source of advice on coverage options is your insurance agent. We find that many of our agents are already adding the Water Back Up & Sump Discharge or Overflow endorsement to all of their quotes, and a smaller percentage are adding Inland Flood Coverage to all qualifying properties as well.

One of these agents, Corissa Evans, explains why she feels that adding the Inland Flood Coverage is important: “Inland flood is an awesome way to add coverage to a property that is not in a flood zone but may be susceptible to rising water that would not be covered under a homeowner's policy. This is a great way to add a layer of protection for the insured that they may not even know they need.”

For more information regarding these endorsements, we urge insureds to contact their agent, and for agents to contact the Underwriting Team.