December 11, 2006
Know Your Perils
--By Priya Jestin, Staff Writer
A homeowner's insurance policy provides coverage against different types of disasters, or as insurers would put it, perils. So what exactly is a peril? As a definition, perils are a certain group of events that have the potential to cause damage. These perils may or may not be covered by your policy.
There are basically two groups of perils. The first group of perils, which totals 11, comprise of most of the accidents and damage causing incidents that we are generally used to:
- Fire/ lightning
- Windstorm/ hail
- Explosions
- Riot/ civil commotion
- Damage caused by aircraft
- Damage caused by vehicles
- Sudden/ accidental damage from smoke
- Vandalism
- Theft
- Volcanic eruption
- Damage by glass/ safety-glazing material that is part of a building
And then there are certain perils that may not be everyday occurrences but still do cause a lot of damage. For instance damage caused by objects falling from the sky like meteorites, or airplanes. Other perils include:
- Weight of ice, snow, or sleet
- Accidental discharge/ overflow of water from plumbing
- Freezing of plumbing
- Sudden and accidental tearing, cracking, burning or bulging of a steam or hot water heating system
- Electrical surge damage
Different types of policies cover these various perils. Next time, we will discuss the various policies.
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