Homeowners insurance is greatly misunderstood by many UK policyholders

Homeowners Insurance and Storm Damage

These customers face high risks as the harsh winter weather approaches.

Now that the potentially damaging winter weather is getting closer, the risk associated with letting homeowners insurance go unpaid has increased significantly, but this hasn’t stopped many United Kingdom customers from doing so.

A recent study has Homeowners Insurance and Storm Damageshown that sixty percent of policyholders do not understand their storm coverage.

This research was conducted by Onepoll in September 2012 and involved the participation of 2000 U.K. homeowners insurance customers. What was determined was that these policyholders had a large number of misunderstandings regarding the coverage that they have for their homes in case of damage from winter storms.

One in 20 homeowners insurance storm claims is turned away due to improper prevention actions.

Far too many customers are not realizing that they must maintain their homes in order to be eligible for the payments that their homeowners insurance companies will make on the policies. Many homes are damaged by winter storms not because of the weather, itself, but because of a lack of maintenance. In those cases, the policies will not provide coverage.

The recent study showed that almost two thirds (59 percent) of homeowners insurance customers are not aware of this fact. This means that they may not be making the correct efforts to ensure that their homes will be covered against damage that could happen over the winter. They are under the impression that regardless of the state of repair of the home, the insurer will pay them for weather related damage.

Another 23 percent of the participants in the survey stated that they felt that their coverage would protect them against damage to the structure that is caused by general wear and tear.

Nearly one in four homeowners insurance policyholders have experienced some form of winter weather related damage to their homes, such as from strong winds, flooding, or the weight of snow collapsing roof or gutters. However, among the respondents who have lived in their homes for five or more years, 31 percent have not checked the condition of the roofs within the last five years and 11 percent have never checked on the condition of the roof at any time.

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