The condo or condo is a place of affection, a safe haven where you can find shelter from the frenzy of everyday life and share beautiful moments with loved ones. For these reasons, it must be protected from damage by taking special precautions and keeping it in good condition. Sometimes, however, events beyond our control can damage our condo and the things inside it. To limit the consequences of these events and face them with greater serenity, it is advisable to take out condo insurance that will come to our aid in case of fire, theft, or other harmful episodes.
By signing a Condo policy, that is the contract that proves the stipulation of the condo insurance- you will have the possibility of obtaining compensation - that is a sum of money paid by the company with which the policy was stipulated - in the event of a harmful event covered from the insurance, called "accident."
Important Tips Before Purchasing Condo Insurance
Let's start with the most important tips.
CHOOSE THE POLICY BASED ON THE PRICE
Today, price is the main ingredient that leads most people to choose one Condo insurance.
There are a lot of websites that compare policies based on price. You enter the site, enter the required data, the guarantees you need, and you get a list of policies from the cheapest to the most expensive.
In these cases, 90% of people choose the policy at the top of the list (the cheapest one) without worrying about the various exclusions and limitations; on the other hand, if they have entered that site, it is ONLY to save and to be able to say that their condo has insured., without knowing how.
This approach to choosing a condo policy has derived from:
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little or no knowledge of the subject
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little consideration of the importance of having a condo policy
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false beliefs about condo insurance
PURCHASE A STANDARD POLICY
The second important tip is choosing a policy that the company customizes according to your needs. Standard policies were almost disappearing from the market because all the insurance companies in their range of products had customizable condo insurance policies. Therefore, it would have been useless to sell "over the counter" condo policies when the insurer had a product that they could customize from time to time. Time depends on the customer in front of them. Moreover, customers increasingly prefer to buy a policy that they could customize to their liking.
DON'T CONTACT A GENERAL INSURER
This is undoubtedly one of the most common mistakes and one that can create a lot of problems for you. First of all, let's clarify what I mean by generalist insurer.
General insurer = "I SELL ALL TO ALL"
He's the classic guy who's already got your car insured, and when you ask him:
"Do you also make accident insurance policies?"
He replies:
"Of course, we do everything: accidents, life, condo, illness, everything."
He is probably also smart, but believing he can do everything, he finds himself messed up and occupied with a thousand different chores, and so he will have very little time left to devote to customers studying what is best for them.
The big problem of the generalist insurer is to provide you with advice that is based solely on the characteristics of the product it wants to sell you when instead it should provide you with a complete analysis of your needs and highlight the areas that need more insurance protection.
The generalist provides you with advice for all insurance branches/sectors depending on the policy you are interested in, sells policies from any existing branch/sector, and manages all types of claims.
SO WHAT RISKS DO I RUN IN INSURING MY CONDO WITH A GENERALIST?
The main risks are these:
1 - You would purchase insurance that would ONLY partially solve your problem: some important guarantees could be underestimated and the less important ones included in the policy
2 - After the purchase every year, you will renew your policy under the same conditions, even if your needs have changed: on average in insurance agencies, the proposals for contract reform (changes following changes) are made ONLY EVERY 7 YEARS!
You understand that your needs can change in such a long period, perhaps even several times ...
3 - If you were to suffer damage that requires a large financial outlay, the management of the claim would NOT be in good hands: as long as it concerns common and small claims, the only problem you could have with generalists is the long wait to receive reimbursement of the damage.
INCLUDE LEGAL PROTECTION IN THE POLICY
Suppose you find yourself involved in a proceeding. In that case, you will have to incur considerable expenses to get the assistance of a lawyer or to request the intervention of an expert to assert or defend your rights.
This type of insurance is very important due to the fact that many times we avoid asserting our rights by calling into question the person responsible for the damage we have suffered because we are afraid of losing the case and as you probably know, who loses the case in addition to the fee of his lawyer will also have to pay that of the lawyer of the other party.
With legal protection insurance, you could always count on the assistance of a lawyer to summon the perpetrator who caused you unfair harm and defend yourself in the event that you have been brought to trial.
DON'T ESTABLISH AN EXPENSE BUDGET
When hardly anyone decides to insure a house, they fix an expense budget in mind. Maybe someone thinks about it but doesn't tell their insurer because they are shy and maybe ashamed. Because they think that if they "reveal" to the insurer his big budget, that places him the most expensive policy he can find on the market without worrying about his needs.
The insurer, on the other hand, in order not to be intrusive and not to appear to be the one doing the accounts in the customer's pocket, always avoids asking him if he has thought of a budget for the purchase of his condo policy.
Then obviously, since the proposal of their insurer was not convincing enough and left more doubts than certainties. They started the tour of the insurance agencies in search of quotes and above all an expert who understands their real needs.
Final words
You can make various mistakes when buying a condo insurance policy, but there are some that, if made, can seriously compromise your future and that of your loved ones.
Turn off the television, your smartphone quit Facebook, and concentrate only on this piece of note; by dedicating a few minutes of your time, you will become more experienced than most of the bank and postal employees who sell condo insurance policies.
You will avoid finding yourself in unpleasant situations and committing the same mistakes others made before you didn't know much about insurance; don't worry; this article will help you.
