HO3 Home Insurance Insurance

HO3 Home Insurance Policy

The HO3 Home Insurance Insurance Policy is the most common home insurance policy in the United States. It provides excellent coverage for your home and good coverage for your personal property. It is considered a hybrid policy, though it doesn’t run on gas and electricity like a hybrid vehicle.  What makes it a hybrid is because of what it does cover under a mix of an open perils and named perils type policy. 

Huh? You may be asking; let’s jump in and review.  An open perils policy type lists the thing that your coverage doesn’t cover; where a named perils policy type lists all the things that your policy does cover.  For instance in the HO3 policy your home structure itself is covered on an open peril basis, and the contents are covered on a named peril basis.

Name, non-named, open what?  Ok. It’s easier to understand if we start naming names.  And let’s start in the reverse order just for simplicity sake.  The open perils are the perils which EXLUDE the coverages for your home in an HO3 policy; they are the following; Earth Movement this is something that you can get earthquake coverage for, but it  may include mud slides; check your policy for details.

Ordinance or Law exclusion; some coverage may be provided, but it may be an endorsement you have to get as well; for instance if an ordinance is passed and you are grandfathered in, but your home is subject to calamity, proper coverage may enable you to rebuild under the ordinance if you have the coverage; if you don’t you may end up eating it, and trust me, bricks and lumber aren’t a good dinner.

Water Damage (Sudden & Accidental Water Damage is automatically included that as part of HO2 coverage); what this means is flood, you are not covered by flood unless you have flood insurance.

Power Failure is excluded; this may mean if you are out of power for a week and you lose all your food in the freezer the claim will be denied.

Neglect and Intentional loss are also an exclusion,  and for good reason; if you for instance know of a dead or diseased tree that imperils your home but your refuse to cut it, and it falls on your house, it may be considered neglect, and it will not be covered; check with your agent and on your policy for further details. Intentional loss would never be covered, meaning that if you pulled a stunt and caused intentional loss; sorry no coverage.

War, huh, what is it good for? Went the song…well, if you have a destructive loss that is considered war, or perhaps an act of terrorism, it too is excluded. As is Nuclear Hazard which may include anything related to nuclear. Government Action is also not covered, which means that if the government whether local, state, or federal seizure or destruction, except when the destruction is to prevent the spread of fire.

Sudden collapse of the ground is not covered, though you may have this included in your policy automatically if you live in Florida.

Theft to a dwelling under construction; this is excluded; however you can buy a builders risk policy which would cover this exclusion. Vandalism and Malicious mischief which is included in HO1 and HO2 is excluded IF the property is vacant more than 60 days. Mold, fungus and wet rot, smog, rust, corrosion is excluded, and mold claims made in the Nineteen Nineties caused huge losses to companies; that is one of the reasons they exclude those coverage’s. Wear and tear, deterioration are excluded, as is smoke from agricultural smudging, and industrial operations, for instance if the smoke stacks in your area are causing your white house to turn black, sorry, not covered.  Discharge, dispersal, seepage of pollutants is not covered, nor is settling, shrinking, bulging or expanding; which in the latter case sounds like a problem with pants size.

Birds, vermin, rodents, and insects are excluded; nope you cannot get coverage for your pet termite colony that lives in your walls; nor can you claim damage from the squirrels in your attic. Also excluded in HO3 is the coverage for any animals that you won, whether it’s a parakeet or a wolfhound.

What you are covered for also known as perils:

The 16 perils that your belongings are protected from are:

1. Fire or Lightning
2. Windstorm or Hail
3. Explosion
4. Riot or Civil Commotion
5. Aircraft
6. Vehicles
7. Smoke
8. Vandalism or Malicious Mischief
9. Theft
10. Volcanic Eruption
11. Falling Objects
12. Weight of Ice, Snow, or Sleet
13. Accidental Discharge or Overflow of Water or Stream
14. Sudden & Accidental Tearing Apart, Cracking, Burning, or Bulging
15. Freezing
16. Sudden & Accidental Damage from Artificially Generated Electric Current

What the HO3 Lacks

The HO3 is not the best policy money can buy. There are two reasons for this:

Water Damage - This policy does have Sudden & Accidental water damage, but it omits any water damage relating to water backup, foundation, or slow leaks. Most of these, however, can be endorsed on the policy for additional premium which may be a small amount but cover great things.

Open Perils on Contents - this policy does cover your home on an open perils basis, but only covers your contents for the 16 perils listed above.  

Wondering who to get this HO3 Policy from, and what it costs: just click on www.homeinsuranceinsurance.com to find out more.


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