It is critical to understand your house insurance coverage. It’s especially crucial to understand what your coverage does and does not cover. Many people question if their insurance covers home equipment such as the dishwasher, washing machine, or oven. Below, we explain all you need to know about home insurance and household appliances.
Insurance and appliances for the home
What you should know about house insurance and appliances is that in some cases, your property insurance policy will cover your home’s appliances. This is only true if the damage to your appliances was caused by a stated risk in your policy, such as fire or theft. Most property insurance policies, whether homeowner’s insurance, condo insurance, or even tenant insurance (see our tenant insurance guide), exclude wear and tear and manufacturer flaws. Furthermore, most standard house insurance policies do not cover electrical or mechanical breakdowns of appliances, but some insurers may provide this coverage as an add-on in the form of equipment breakdown coverage. Purchasing a second home warranty that reimburses homeowners for the expense of repairing or replacing broken down appliances due to more typical conditions, such as wear and tear, may be a useful alternative to secure your protection.
How do house insurance policies cover appliances?
Under the contents coverage component of the policy, basic house insurance is likely to offer protection for the appliances in your home:
Coverage for contents and personal property
Contents coverage, often known as personal property coverage, is an important part of nearly every house insurance policy. This sort of coverage is intended to safeguard the policyholder’s personal possessions within the home. These possessions might include electronics, jewelry, clothing, athletic equipment, and even certain appliances. Personal property coverage is likely to cover items that can be connected into an outlet, such as your refrigerator, oven, microwave, or dishwasher. Depending on whether you own or rent your house, you may be able to have these goods covered under your tenants policy; nevertheless, it is essential to confirm this information with an insurance broker. If a policyholder’s personal items are destroyed or lost as a result of an insured danger stated in your policy, your insurer may reimburse you for the cost of repairing or replacing the missing item. Fire, lightning, smoke, theft, wind, car/aircraft impact, explosion, and falling items are the most typical types of covered risks included in house insurance plans. For example, if theft is a stated danger in your home insurance policy and a thief breaks in and steals your microwave, your insurance company may reimburse you. Keep in mind that if you have high-value objects in your house, such as artwork, vintage wine, musical instruments, or even top-of-the-line appliances, you may need to consider high-value home insurance.
Dwelling protection
Home insurance policies frequently include dwelling coverage. It protects your home’s physical structure from harm caused by an insured danger. Fire, lightning, smoke, theft, wind, car/aircraft crash, explosion, and falling items are all common insured dangers. This implies that if a fire broke out on your property and destroyed the walls, doors, and windows, your insurance provider would assist cover the costs. Though you may believe that your home insurance does not cover appliances, some types of appliances, namely built-in appliances, are frequently protected under this section of your policy. Heating systems such as furnaces and hot water heaters are examples of built-in appliances.
Coverage of detached buildings
Finally, if your house insurance policy includes other buildings coverage, often known as detached structures coverage, some of your appliances may be protected. The coverage for other structures is intended to safeguard a policyholder’s personal property that is not physically related to the principal property. To put it another way, it protects detached properties against damage caused by insured dangers such as fire, smoke, and theft. It, like housing and contents coverage, excludes normal wear and tear. Sheds, gazebos, detached garages, guest homes, mailboxes, and other detached structures may be insured under the other structures coverage provision of homeowner’s insurance policy. You may be asking how appliances fall into this category. If you have built-in appliances in a detached structure on your property, such as a guest house, detached garage, workshop, or shed, your other structures insurance may cover them.
Coverage for equipment breakdown
If you do not believe your existing home insurance coverage is enough for your household appliances, you may need to change your home insurance.If you don’t want to cancel your current insurance and locate a new one, one alternative is to update it by adding coverage to it. A BrokerLink insurance broker can assist you with this procedure and even advise you on the best form of additional coverage to add if you want to safeguard your appliances: equipment breakdown coverage.
Equipment breakdown coverage is intended to safeguard a policyholder’s household appliances in the event of a mechanical or electrical breakdown. This sort of coverage may be added as an endorsement or rider to an existing homes insurance policy, enhancing coverage for your household appliances immediately. Refrigerators, dishwashers, washing machines, stoves, HVAC systems, and even televisions are typically covered by equipment breakdown insurance. Equipment breakdown insurance may cover the following sorts of damage:
- Mechanical failures, such as rupture or bursting produced by centrifugal force
- Pressure systems fail
- Circuit breaker failures
- Incorrect installation
- Power outage
If an appliance in your house stops operating as a result of the aforementioned reasons, and your policy includes equipment breakdown coverage, you can make a claim with your insurance provider, and they would most likely pay you for the cost of repairing or replacing the damaged piece of equipment. Even better, some insurance firms provide intelligent or high-efficiency replacements for household goods such as Energy Star water heaters, air conditioners, or refrigerators.
When are appliances excluded from house insurance coverage?
There are a few instances where your home insurance policy will not cover your appliances. First, keep in mind that if you only have basic home insurance coverage that includes dwelling, personal property, other buildings, and personal liability coverage, your home appliances will only be covered if they are destroyed by a designated risk. If they are damaged by a risk not covered by your policy, your insurance provider will not reimburse you for any losses incurred as a result of the damage. Flooding, earthquakes, tornadoes, slow water damage, and damage caused by pets or tiny critters are all examples of risks that are typically excluded from house insurance coverage. To add these dangers in your policy, talk to an insurance broker about the house insurance endorsements or riders that are available to you.
Next, house insurance policies do not cover regular wear and tear on appliances, as well as equipment that fail due to age or lack of maintenance. Cosmetic damage and preventable accidents are unlikely to be covered as well.
Finally, your home insurance coverage may not cover appliances that are broken while your property is unoccupied or under development. For example, if you leave for a two-month vacation without notifying your insurance provider or having a caretaker check on your home on a regular basis, and someone breaks into your home and steals your appliances, your insurer may refuse to reimburse you, even if theft is a named peril in your policy. Similarly, if you remodel your home but do not notify your insurance company, and your household appliances are damaged during construction, the insurance company may refuse your claim.