One of the most misunderstood coverage’s, for Floridian’s especially, is the sinkhole coverage on their homeowner’s policy. With all the major sinkholes that have been in the news over this past year, people are really concerned about making sure they are properly covered. It is important to know that all homeowners’ policies have catastrophic ground cover. So if you have, what’s called, a stand form homeowner’s policy, you are covered for sinkhole insurance.
Now what has to be present are four things for a catastrophic ground cover collapse to be applicable and to actually be able to be paid out on your insurance. All four elements have to be present. These elements are:
1. There has to be an abrupt collapse of the ground cover.
2. There has to be a depression in the ground cover that is clearly visible by the naked eye.
3. There must be structural damage to the building, including the foundation. So just because there is a hole in your lawn, that does not cover it. Because we are only insuring the home itself.
4. The insured structure has to be condemned by the appropriate authorities in that community.
If those four things happen, then you have a sinkhole, and your policy will cover you. Now, what’s most often misunderstood is that there is an endorsement that is possible for you and it is called Sinkhole Endorsement. That’s for if these things weren’t present but you might see the start of step cracking along your block or you have a crack inside your house on your dry wall. That would be covered under the sinkhole endorsement, but not many policies in Florida are offering that anymore.
So you’re going to have to be mindful. If you have the option to get the sinkhole coverage, you might want it. Often times the insurance companies will require you to have a sinkhole inspection done before they offer it to you. This might be something to consider getting.
We will have a link on our website for you and any questions you have feel free to contact us here at Most Insurance.
