10 Unbelievable Events Homeowners Insurance Actually Covers

Home insurance actually covers a variety of damages that many homeowners do not know about!

Homeowners insurance covers a lot of perils, most of which are fairly common and well known. Your policy will definitely step up if your home is damaged during a storm, burns down or suffers hail damage but it also covers a variety of damages that many homeowners do not know about.

Here is a quick overview of a few things that your homeowners insurance will cover: 

Spoiled Food

If your food is spoiled due to a power outage or a major storm knocks out power for days, your homeowners insurance will cover the cost of the spoiled food, up to a certain limit. While the limit varies between insurers, a $500 cap is fairly common.

Toilet Ice

Also referred to as Blue Ice, this is the chunk of frozen toilet waste that drops out of airplanes and occasionally makes it to earth. If a large chunk of it comes crashing through your roof, you should be covered by your homeowners policy.

This can certainly be an expensive repair, especially if a large portion of your roof is damaged and while suing the airline (if you can figure out who dropped it) is possibly an option, in most cases you will need your insurance company to write a check.

Volcano Eruptions

The residents of Hawaii will be happy to hear that damage from volcanic eruptions is covered by a standard homeowners policy. You should be protected against lava entering your home and doing damage. In addition, many policies will also protect you if lava starts your home on fire and it burns down.

Most standard homeowner policies will cover all perils except those that are specifically excluded in the policy.

Death and Murder

Hopefully you will never have to test this section of your policy but in most cases, cleanup from a death, suicide or even murder should be covered. There can be coverage caps for this type of claim so make sure you check with your agent before booking the cleaners to come out.

Headstones

This is sort of a weird one, if someone damages a family headstone by tipping it over or even smashing it, the cost to replace it is covered by your homeowners policy. You will have to prove that you are the primary caretaker of the headstone when making a claim.

My Dog Ate My Ring

Coverage for this one may vary by the situation and your insurance company but it is possible that your insurer will pay to replace jewelry eaten by a dog or other pet. If your dog gobbles down your favorite ring or necklace call your insurance agent before you have the vet perform an expensive operation.

Legal Defense

While your homeowners insurance isn’t going to pay for your defense if you are caught embezzling millions of dollars from your company, it will pay your legal bills for certain lawsuits, if you have an umbrella policy.

Defamation, libel and in some cases wrongful death lawsuits may be covered by an umbrella policy. These policies up your liability coverage and are usually sold in $1million increments. Umbrella policies offer a lot of bang for your buck and are very affordable for the protection they offer.

Riots

While everyone wants to get out and celebrate when the hometown team wins the Super Bowl, if the partying gets out of hand and your home is damaged or destroyed due to a riot, you are covered. A standard homeowners policy covers damage caused by rioting.

Satellites and Meteorites

Much like the blue toilet ice, falling objects such as satellites and meteorites are also covered by your homeowners policy. While extremely rare, one of these things falling out of the sky can cause tremendous damage to your home.