The death benefit or face value is the amount of money the insurance company guarantees to the beneficiaries identified in the policy when the insured dies.

The deductible is what you pay before the insurance company will start paying your claim if you have a loss. The deductible only comes into play if you are the injured party. You do not have to pay a deductible for a liability claim. That is not always true if you have a commercial liability policy. I should also mention that since Katrina there are some insurance companies that have two deductibles on their homeowners’ policies: 1) Wind/Hail deductible; 2) Deductible for everything else. Let me take a second of your time to let you know how having two deductibles on your policy works. Let’s say you have a Wind/Hail Deductible of $10 and the other Deductible is an additional $10 (You thought that I did not have a sense of humor-$10 (LOL)). If lightning hit your home and a fire burned your house down, your deductible to would be $10. If there was a windstorm that blew off a portion of your roof and water seeped into your home through the hole that the roof now has in it. Your full deductible would be $20 because the leading cause of the loss was the windstorm, so you would have to pay both deductibles.

In my own words, the dwelling amount (or dwelling coverage or dwelling insurance) is the portion of insurance that covers the rebuilding of your home if it gets damaged by what insurance companies call a peril. If your agent uses the term “Coverage A”, they are still talking about the dwelling amount.

Examples of perils are fire, lightning, explosion, smoke, windstorm, hail, riot, civil commotion, aircraft, vehicles, vandalism, sprinkler leakage, sinkhole collapse, and volcanic action.

One thing to point out is that a peril is not the wear and tear of your home. You are responsible for your own home maintenance. For example, if your roof shingles start to “curl up” like eyelashes over time that is wear and tear and you responsible for that. On the other hand, if a rain and windstorm comes through your town and blows half of your shingles off the roof all at once, that would be a valid loss where we should notify your insurance company.

A certificate that verifies the elevation data of a structure on a given property relative to the ground level. The Elevation Certificate is used by local communities and builders to ensure compliance with local floodplain management ordinances and is also used by insurance agents and companies in the rating of flood insurance policies.

Some companies offer what is called roadside assistance.  This coverage generally covers the costs of towing and labor for up to one hour. If your car breaks down or can’t be driven, the insurance company will cover these costs: Mechanical, on-scene labor.

The federal agency within the Department of Homeland Security that is tasked with responding to, planning for, recovering from, and mitigating against man-made and natural disasters.

A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of two or more acres of normally dry land area or of two or more properties (at least one of which is the policyholder’s property) from one of the following:
• Overflow of inland or tidal waters
• Unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source Mudflow
• Collapse or subsidence of land along the shore of a lake or similar body of water as a result of erosion or undermining caused by waves or currents of water exceeding anticipated cyclical levels that result in a flood as defined above

Official map of a community on which the Mitigation Division Administrator has delineated both the special hazard areas and the risk premium zones applicable to the community.

A geographical area shown on a Flood Hazard Boundary Map or a Flood Insurance Rate Map that reflects the severity or type of flooding in the area.

Any land area susceptible to being inundated by floodwaters from any source.