Sit in the chair and think about it
As insurance brokers and independent insurance agencies advise, in the case of home insurance, one of the worst things you can do is to run as soon as possible to the first insurance company and sign the presented contract. This solution may cause more problems than benefits. That's why it's best to sit comfortably in an armchair or at the table with your family and think about our home. Where is? What is the neighborhood like? In what climate zone does it occur? Are there rivers, mountains nearby? Is our water and electrical installation new, who installed it? What kind of roof do we have at home? Do windows and doors, blinds in our house protect against wind and thieves? Are there old, large trees in the yard? What kind of neighbors do we have around us? And so on. There are plenty of questions, but the more we ask ourselves and try to answer them reliably, the better we will know in which areas we should protect ourselves. Of course, let's not fall into paranoia, we don't have to expect a war or an alien attack, but showing a certain amount of pessimism during such preparations is most advisable.
The events of 2008, when a category 8 tornado passed near Strzelce Opolskie, wiped out some villages from the face of the earth. Previously, no one expected tornadoes in this area, because there were no such phenomena, and hardly anyone insured against such an eventuality.
Reading comprehension
If we already know what we can expect and against what we would like to insure our apartment, it is worth taking a look at the offers. We can do it at home via the Internet or collect leaflets from individual insurance companies, but the best solution here is to use the services of experts in home insurance. Specialists will prepare for us a comparative list of offers from various insurance companies, they will indicate the differences, advantages and disadvantages of each of the proposals. Nevertheless, even the help of home insurance specialists does not relieve us from thinking and carefully reading the contract.
The contract is not equal, sometimes even depending on the package, the same insurance company can define risks differently. That's why it's so important to read it from start to finish. Let's take it home, let's take it easy. The decision we make concerns saving our lives.
There is no smoke without fire, but there is fire without smoke
The above subtitle is not at all about total combustion or other chemistry tasks. When reading the General Terms and Conditions of Insurance, we can sometimes come across really interesting definitions of some phenomena. Most of us can understand compensation for losses due to fire as compensation for property damaged in such an accident. Nevertheless, it does not have to be like this at all and when it comes to paying compensation, it turns out that we received only a fraction of the amount we were counting on. Why? It is enough that only those caused by fire are counted for losses due to fire. So we will get money only for those elements that burned down. Furniture that smelled of smoke or a soot-scorched room no longer count towards this definition. The same as losses caused by flooding during extinguishing.
This is why it is so important to read contracts carefully. Remember that insurance companies also want to make money and they never give anything for free or almost for free.