Would Your House Be Protected In A Disaster? [AUDIO]

Hurricanes, fires, wind damage. Both car and home insurance deductibles are going up and are not covering as much as they used to.

Coverage is changing big time as insurers start to put more risk on consumers by capping how much they will pay to repair damage, according to the Consumer Federation of America.

“That’s happened particularly with catastrophes where the insurers have imposed separate insurance deductibles especially along the coast” said Robert Hunter, insurance director at the Consumer Federation of America.

Overall, both car and homeowners deductibles are rising. Auto is now between $500 and $1,000 and homeowners have moved toward $2,500, a standard in most east coast states.

“There are a lot of little trap doors that are built into the policies that people don’t understand and the policies are worth much less than they used to be” said Hunter.

He says monitor your policy carefully. Play “what if” with your agent so you know exactly what’s covered. Ask them questions like, “what if a pipe breaks, what if my roof collapses?”

Make a claim wisely. One large claim will affect you far less than multiple small ones.

“More and more of the cost of fires and damages are being paid for by people rather than insurance companies, so homeowners have to look out for themselves” added Hunter.