What kinds of disasters are covered by apartment insurance?

If there’s a fire, lightning storm or a hailstorm and your property gets damaged, apartment insurance will pick up the bill. It also covers riots and explosions, damage caused by vehicles, vandalism, theft, volcanos, falling objects as well as damage caused by appliances or by voltage spikes.

What kinds of disasters are not covered under most apartment insurance plans?

If you neglect your property and something bad happens to it or if you damage it on purpose, the home insurance company will deny your claim. Apartment insurance also doesn’t cover damage caused by war, floods or nuclear accidents.

I paid N200,000 for my TV back in 1997. Will I get paid the full amount if someone steals it tomorrow?

Probably not because most apartment insurance plans cover only the actual cash value of whatever it is you lost. Of course, the value of your belongings tends to decrease as time goes on. Electronics quickly become obsolete, for example. Even everyday use can lower the price of what someone might have been willing to pay for your possession at the time of the theft.

What’s a naira limit?

A naira limit puts a cap on the amount the insurance company must pay if you lose a particular type of property. Typically insurance companies put caps on the amount they’ll pay for missing or damaged cash, for example. Other common dollar limits include limits on jewelry, firearms or silverware. If you own expensive items that aren’t covered under the standard apartment insurance plan, check with an agent to see if you can attach a rider. Riders may raise the cost of your premium, but the extra money may be worth it.

Don’t underestimate the total cost of your belongings

Lying to the insurance agent about the total price of all your personal possessions may help you get a lower premium in the short term, but in the long run if something happens and you lose all your stuff your payout will be less. If you’re going to get apartment insurance, you might as well do it the right way and get the full benefit. Give your agent an accurate estimate of your personal worth.

Break out the camera and take some pictures

It makes sense to take lots of pictures of your belongings and save all your receipts. After you collect all the information, you should upload all the data you have about your possessions to the cloud so that you can access your documents from anywhere. If something unexpected happens and your apartment gets destroyed in aftermath of a disaster, you’ll be able to get a large enough claim to replace all your stuff if you saved a copy of your documents somewhere online.