Did you know that all water damage isn’t the same, and is covered differently on your home policy? Depending on how the water entered your home, and where it came from, determines how it’s covered (or not covered) by your home insurance. Even if you’ve done everything to prevent a flood in your home, sometimes Mother Nature has other plans – so it’s important to know how your insurance covers you. We’ve recruited our own expert and licensed Insurance Advisor, Matt, to explain the difference between general water damage incidents and damage from sewer backup or overland water.
[Percussive upbeat music]
[Title: Ask Sonnet]
[Subtitle: Water Damage]
[Sonnet HOME + AUTO branding / wordmark]
[Speakers Name: Matt / Job Title: Customer service hero]
> Matt: Hi, my name is Matt I'm a customer service hero at Sonnet, and today we're gonna be talking about water damage because I love talking about sewage.
[laughter]
>>Matt: Cut that.
When it comes to home insurance it's protecting, arguably, one of the biggest assets you're ever gonna own in your life. General water damage that is typically included in your standard home insurance policy,
[heading: General water damage / subheading: Included coverage]
[graphic of a home filling with water due to appliance malfunction]
and that's things like your dishwasher suddenly malfunctioning and causing a flood in your home and causing some serious damage. Further to that there's some more optional coverages like sewer back up and over-land water coverage.
[heading: Sewer back up / subheading: Optional coverage]
[graphic of a home filling with water due to sewer back up]
Sewer back up coverage is actually an event that occurs when the sewer drains back up into someone's house. Not only is it really difficult and expensive to clean up but it can also pose health risks.
[heading: Overland water / subheading: Optional coverage]
[graphic of a home filling with water from outside]
When it comes to overland water coverage, that's for events like excessive rainfall or spring runoff maybe even a snow melt. It doesn't actually include the escape of coastal water or salt water that would not be an event that's covered by overland water coverage.
We get a lot of questions at Sonnet about whether or not they need those optional coverages of sewer back up and overland water coverage. Those events can be quite common and they can also be quite costly if they do occur. So making sure you have the right water damage protection that's available to you is of paramount importance, especially for those situations that can sometimes be pretty messy.
[Sonnet HOME + AUTO branding / wordmark]
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