Home Emergency Insurance

Home emergency insurance provides financial protection against many of the domestic incidents that aren't covered under standard home insurance policies. This optional form of cover is extremely useful if you have a plumbing or heating emergency or another incident that can't be categorised as one of the covered perils on your policy. As an extra benefit, your emergency policy may include access to 24 hour telephone assistance, so that you can ring your home cover provider for help with emergencies if necessary.

Although it's crucial to protect your home against floods, fire and smoke damage, water or oil escape, explosions, burglary and other major incidents, sometimes it's the minor emergencies rather than the covered perils that end up costing a fortune. If these incidents aren't covered under your policy, you may end up paying for repairs out of pocket, which may prove extremely costly. Home emergency insurance fills in the gaps in your cover by protecting you against the mishaps or breakdowns that can cause expensive repairs.

Standard Covered Perils

A standard home insurance policy includes cover against certain perils. Named peril policies insure the structural components of your building -- including its foundation, flooring, walls, ceilings and built-in fixtures -- against a set of perils which ought to be listed clearly in your contract. Multi peril policies insure your building against all possible perils, with the exception of a list of excluded hazards that are spelled out in your policy documents.

All peril home insurance is still available from some providers, but this level of protection is becoming increasingly difficult to find. All peril cover includes protection against any possible hazard. This degree of coverage is too costly for most home owners to afford, and too costly for most insurance providers to offer. Most owners are satisfied with multi peril protection for a house and its valuable contents. With added emergency coverage in place, you can prepare for those routine events that can cause extraordinary inconvenience or danger.

Home emergency insurance policies step in to protect you against the incidents that can make your residence uncomfortable, place your family at risk or inconvenience the members of your household. Although you may find water escape from broken pipes covered under your policy, smaller plumbing accidents that can lead to severe damage may not be covered. A gas failure places your family in serious danger and must be resolved as soon as possible. An electricity failure may lead to injury, distress and inconvenience.

With access to a 24 hour emergency telephone line, you can call for service and have your repairs covered by authorized contractors within a short period of time. Your benefits will pay out to cover the cost of services -- such as repair of your heating system, electrical wiring or plumbing -- up to a certain limit. To find the maximum home emergency insurance protection at the smallest prices, compare a quote from multiple providers to add an emergency option to your contract.

Additional Home Insurance Options

As any property owner can tell you, there's more than one type of expensive domestic emergency. In addition to home emergency insurance, consider adding accidental damages insurance to your contract. An accidental damages option pays out to repair or replace a carpet, piece of furniture, glassware, china or other personal belonging against day to day mishaps. Combined with home emergency insurance, an accidental damages option can provide comprehensive protection for your house and its belongings against the ordinary incidents that can occur at any time.

You can protect the valuable content in your house during family parties or holidays with special occasion cover. This form of protection extends your contents coverage to insure the high value items that may fill your dwelling during the holiday season, a wedding or a birthday. If damages or theft occur, a special occasion option in combination with home emergency insurance will ensure that your house and valuable possessions are protected.

Personal possessions coverage may enhance the value of your coverage by insuring your belongings when you're away from the house. Mobile phones, laptop computers, watches, cameras and jewellery may be covered under a personal possessions plan. Many property owners don't realise the value of the items that they carry to work or on business trips until one of these possessions is lost.

Rather than choosing the same house and contents product that insures every residence in your neighbourhood, compare quotes for a tailored product that addresses your specific requirements. Home emergency insurance can give you greater peace of mind, along with access to 24 hour assistance with household crises. With home emergency insurance added to your contract, you can rest assured that gas, electricity, plumbing or heating failures will be addressed promptly. Because life is unpredictable, it pays to prepare for any eventuality ahead of time.