Deductibles are payments toward a loss before your insurance company pays a claim. The higher your deductible, the more money you save on premiums. Most insurance companies require a deductible of at least $500 but if you raise it to $1,000 you could save up to 25%. If you are in an at-risk area, your insurance may have a separate deductible for specific kinds of damage. For example, if you live in a state where hail storms are common, you will have a separate deductible for hail, or if you live in an earthquake-prone area, your earthquake policy has a deductible.

According to researchers, it is only a matter of time before another disastrous hurricane strikes the US coastline. With the increase in population and improvement of economies in the coastline, there will be greater financial loss.

AIR Worldwide Corp. listed the top ten places for hurricane to strike, which includes areas in Florida, New York State, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Massachussets, Missouri, South Carolina and Virginia.

A worst-case scenario, according to Landsea, would be a Category 5 hurricane that hits Miami directly, swerves off to slam New Orleans that will cause severe flooding along the Gulf Coast. With this scenario, the US could experience losses of up to two $100 billion at once.

(source: insure.com)

If buildings insurance covers the main structure of the house, what does it not cover? Here is a list of common exclusions to buildings insurance:

1. General wear and tear, corrosion, mechanical/electrical breakdown
2. Computer viruses or loss of computer data
3. Damage resulting from acts of terrorism
4. War, invasion, act of foreign enemy, hostilities whether war be declared or not, civil war, rebellion, revolution or military/usurped power.
5. Radioactive contamination from nuclear fuel or nuclear waste.
6. Radioactive, toxic, explosive or other effect of any nuclear equipment.
7. Loss of value of an item following the payment of a claim
8. Some types of chemical or biological pollution or contamination