Dwelling pays if your house is damaged or destroyed by a covered loss.
Personal property pays if the items in your house (such as furniture, clothing, and appliances) are damaged, stolen, or destroyed.
Other structures pays to repair or rebuild structures not attached to your house, such as detached garages, storage sheds, and fences.
Loss of use pays your additional living expenses (housing, food, and other essential expenses) if you have to temporarily move because of damage to your house from a covered loss. Your policy will pay either a percentage of the amount of your dwelling coverage (typically 10 to 20 percent) or for a specific period after the loss (such as 24 months).
Personal liability pays to defend you in court against lawsuits and provides coverage if you are found legally responsible for someone else’s injury or property damage.
Medical payments pays the medical bills of people hurt on your property. It might also pay for some injuries that happen away from your home, such as your dog biting someone at the park. A basic homeowners policy pays $500 in medical bills, but you may buy up to $5,000 in medical payments coverage.
Insurance companies in Tennessee may sell several types of policies. If a company offers you a policy with less coverage than you’d like, ask if other policies are available. You may also be able to buy additional coverage by adding endorsements to your policy.
Two types of policies sold are:
All-risk policies (also known as a comprehensive coverage or open perils coverage). These policies offer you broad protection and cover all causes of loss unless the policy specifically excludes them.
Named perils policies (also known as specified perils coverage). These policies offer narrower protection than an all-risk policy and cover only the causes of loss specifically named in the policy.
Policies typically provide replacement cost or actual cash value coverage:
Replacement cost is what you would pay to rebuild or repair your home, based on current construction costs. Replacement cost is different from market value and doesn’t include the value of your land. Ask your insurance company if you aren’t sure how much it would cost to rebuild your house.
Actual cash value is what you would pay to rebuild or replace your property minus depreciation. Depreciation is a decrease in value due to wear and tear or age. If your home is destroyed and you only have actual cash value coverage, the insurance company will not pay enough to completely rebuild your home.