Knowledge Mondays – Do You Know What Your Insurance Deductible Is?

When choosing a homeowner’s insurance policy to protect your property, it is important to understand the deductible that is included. A deductible is the amount of money that you as a homeowner are responsible for paying in case of a loss.

Almost every homeowner’s policy includes a regular deductible that is either a specific dollar amount or a percentage of the total amount that your house is insured for. This means if you suffer water damage in your house and your deductible is $2,000, you are responsible for the repair costs up to $2,000. Anything above the $2,000 repair cost will be covered by your insurance company. As a homeowner, you would not have to pay your deductible amount to your insurance company, instead your insurance company will just reduce the amount that it is providing for the loss by the amount of your deductible.

In Florida, your homeowner’s insurance policy will most likely also include a hurricane deductible. Hurricane deductibles are usually higher than your normal homeowner insurance deductible. The hurricane deductible applies only to damages that occur from the time the National Hurricane Center issues a hurricane watch or warning to 72 hours after the last hurricane watch or warning is lifted by the National Center for any part of Florida.

A benefit of your hurricane deductible is that it will only be paid once within a calendar year. This means that if your house suffers damages from two hurricanes within a calendar year and you have stayed with the same insurance company, your insurance company will only deduct your hurricane deductible from your payment once. For your loss during the second hurricane, your insurance company will either deduct the amount leftover from the hurricane deductible if your first loss did not exceed the hurricane deductible or it will deduct your normal homeowner’s insurance deductible, whichever is greater.

When choosing the right homeowner’s policy for your home it is important to ask how much your deductible will be as this affects your premium and the amount your insurance company will have to pay during an insured loss.

If you would like to discuss how your deductible will affect your insurance claim, schedule a consultation with the experienced attorneys at Alvarez Law Group today. Call us at (786) 620-2820 or email assistant@alvarez.legal to schedule a consultation.

*Disclaimer: this blog post is not intended to be legal advice. *

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