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Look into this |
| 1. |
You can add other perils -- such as windstorm hail smoke explosion
vandalism and malicious mischief -- to your basic fire insurance for a
relatively small fee. |
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| 2. |
If you need comprehensive coverage your best buy may be one of the
special cause of loss contracts that offers the broadest available protection
for the money. |
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| 3. |
You may buy coverage that will indemnify you i.e. compensate you
for your losses in one of several ways: (a) it may pay actual cash value of the
property at the time of loss (b) it may repair or replace the property with
material of like kind and quality or (c) it may take all property at the
agreed-upon or appraised value and reimburse you for your loss. |
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| 4. |
You can insure property you don't own. You must have an insurable
interest -- a financial interest -- in the property when a loss occurs but not
necessarily at the time the insurance contract is made. For instance a repair
shop or dry cleaning plant may carry insurance on customers' property in the
shop or you may hold a mortgage on a building and insure that building although
you don't completely own it. |
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| 5. |
When you sell property you cannot assign the insurance policy
along with the property unless you have permission from the insurance company. |
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| 6. |
Even if you have several policies on your property you can still
collect only the amount of your actual loss. All the insurers share the payment
proportionately. Suppose for example that you are carrying two policies one for
$20,000 and one for $30,000 on a $40,000 building and fire causes damage to the
building amounting to $12,000. The $20,000 policy will pay $4,800 or 20,000
divided by 50,000 or 2/5 of $12,000, and the $30,000 policy will pay $7,200 or
30,000 divided by 50,000 or 3/5 of $12,000 |
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| 7. |
Special protection other than the standard fire insurance policy
is needed to cover the loss by fire of accounts bills currency deeds and
evidence of debt money and securities. |
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| 8. |
If an insured building is vacant or unoccupied you must notify
your insurance carrier promptly. |
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| 9. |
If either before or after a loss you conceal or misrepresent to
the insurer any material fact or circumstance concerning your insurance or the
interest of the insured the policy may be voided.
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| 10. |
If you increase the hazard of fire the insurance company may
suspend your coverage even for losses not originating from the increased
hazard. (An example of such a hazard might be renting part of your building to
a dry cleaning plant.) |
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| 11. |
After a loss you must use all reasonable means to protect the
property from further loss or run the risk of having your coverage canceled. |
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| 12. |
To recover your loss you must furnish within 60 days (unless an
extension is granted by the insurance company) a complete inventory of the
damaged destroyed and undamaged property showing in detail quantities costs
actual cash value and amount of loss claimed.
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| 13. |
If you and the insurer disagree on the amount of loss the question
may be resolved through special appraisal procedures provided for in the fire
insurance policy. |
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| 14. |
You may cancel your policy without notice at any time and have
part of the premium returned. The insurance company also may cancel at any time
with proper notice to you. |
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| 15. |
By accepting a coinsurance clause in your policy you receive a
reduction in premiums. A coinsurance clause states that you must carry
insurance equal to 80 or 90 percent of the value of the insured property. If
you carry less than this you cannot collect the full amount of your loss even
if the loss is small. What percentage of your loss you can collect will depend
on what percentage of the full value of the property you have insured it for. |
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| 16. |
If your loss is caused by someone else's negligence the insurer
has the right to sue that negligent third party for the amount it has
reimbursed you under the policy. This is known as the insurer's right of
subrogation. However the insurer will usually waive this right upon request.
For example if you have leased your insured building to someone and have waived
your right to recover from the tenant any insured damages to your property you
should have your agent request the insurer to waive the subrogation clause in
the fire policy on your leased building. |
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| 17. |
A building under construction can be insured for fire lightning
extended coverage vandalism and malicious mischief. |
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