Does your home insurance cover include standard benefits?

Sure you’re unlikely to get stuck on the side of the road with your home, but that doesn’t mean you don’t get insurance cover benefits for it. Insurance cover for your home and contents protects the items (the structure of the home and the movable possessions within the home) from accidental damage, theft, fire and other natural disasters (depending on the insurer).

Most insurance companies, however, include insurance cover benefits for other less perilous risks to make their products more appealing. When comparing insurance cover, make sure to compare the benefits as well, as they may be used more than the cover itself. Some standard home insurance benefits include the following:

Emergency home assistance

Insurance companies are not the police. The emergency home assistance benefit for your home insurance cover refers to more pedestrian emergencies than violent crime. Emergency home insurance cover usually refers to plumbing and electrical emergencies. If a pipe bursts and is flooding your home, or a short circuit trips keeps you in the dark, an emergency plumber or electrician will be sent to your home from a list of approved specialists.

The benefit does not usually cover the whole callout, but perhaps the first hour. Sometimes it may include the whole callout, but the insured only receives 5 callouts a year. Check your policy insurance document to determine the extent of the benefit.

Pet insurance

Your pet may not be a possession, but it can be included in your insurance cover benefits. If your pet is injured in a car accident, then the veterinary costs may be included in the cover. (Note: pet insurance as an insurance cover benefit is not a comprehensive policy. This usually excludes veterinary expenses for injuries caused by fights with other animals, vaccines, planned medical procedures etc.)

Groceries

Since Eskom’s random load shedding began, insurers have been offering grocery or spoilt food benefit for perishables in the fridge and freezer that go off. This may not seem like a big enough expense to warrant insurance cover, but you might not have a family of 12 to feed.

Money

That’s right, insurers such as OUTsurance include theft of money and personal documents in their home insurance cover. Money does not only include cash ,but credit and debit cards that are stolen from the home. They also include cover for fraudulent use of debit and credit cards up to a value of R2,500.