Property insurance encompasses a category of insurance policies that protect physical property, and the category is as diverse as the different kinds of property that people and businesses own are. Here are just a few of the more common types of property insurance.
Homeowners Insurance
Homeowners insurance is one of the most widely purchased types of property insurance, since almost everyone who owns a house needs a homeowners policy.
Within a homeowners policy, there are several property-specific coverages that might be available:
- Structural coverage protects a home itself.
- Secondary structures coverage protects other structures (e.g. fences) on a property.
- Personal property coverage protects personal belongings kept within a home.
In most policies, these property protections are combined with personal liability coverage, which is a non-property protection.
Renters Insurance
Renters insurance is a lot like homeowners insurance, except it's meant for people who lease a residence rather than own a house.
The property insurance protection that renters insurance provides is personal property coverage. As is true with homeowners policies' version of this coverage, the protection might insure anything from clothing and silverware to jewelry and electronics.
Jewelry Insurance
Jewelry insurance is a specific form of personal property insurance that protects only jewelry. While homeowners and renters insurance policies provide adequate jewelry coverage for most people, anyone who has an especially valuable piece of jewelry might want a jewelry-specific policy for the item.
Commercial Property Insurance
Commercial property insurance is a standard form of property protection that many businesses get. Depending on a commercial property policy's terms and conditions, this type of insurance can protect buildings, equipment, supplies, inventory, and other items that a business might keep on the business' premises.
Earthquake Insurance
Homeowners, renters, and commercial property insurance policies all detail the precise risks that they protect against — and the vast majority of these policies exclude earthquake damage from their list of covered risks.
Individuals and businesses that want coverage for earthquakes must purchase an earthquake insurance policy. This kind of policy can be adapted to cover a wide array of different properties, but the only risk it covers is earthquakes. Because the risk coverage is so limited, a policy is bought in conjunction with another form of property insurance.
Flood Insurance
Floods are also commonly excluded from homeowners, renters, and commercial property insurance policies. Individuals and businesses that need protection from floods must get coverage through a flood insurance policy.
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