Home insurance simply explained
Home insurance is now mandatory for tenants and needed in order to obtain a bank loan. As a result, 98% of French people have home insurance without always knowing what it provides.
Is it because home insurance is mandatory that insurers make so little effort to keep things simple?
Faced with the lack of clarity of current insurance offers, it is often easier to trust an old established insurer or take the so-called “good plan” proposed by your banker rather than decypher the mumbo-jumbo of insurers’ policies.
At Luko, our mission is to provide you with simple and transparent insurance. And to properly choose an insurance, you must first understand the guarantees that exist today in the market.
Let’s start with the basics…
🏡 Multi-risk home insurance: In France, home insurance often called the “Multirisk home” (MRH). It covers a multitude of guarantees for your home, what it contains, and its occupants. Your plan could cover the damage caused by a fire, an explosion, a burglary or a natural disaster but also the damage caused by an electrical surge on your household appliances, even to the contents of your fridge … 🤔
The home multi-risk also includes a liability component, covering the damage you may be responsible fo r (eg you clumsily break the window of the neighbor).
In short, a Multirisk home plan is a maze, difficult to navigate. We will help you discern whats imperative, useful and totally futile.
✅ Guarantee: It is a commitment made by an insurance company to provide a refund or a service in case of accident (called disaster) linked to a hazard (a risk). Ex: botched cosmetic surgery operation, an injury of Kylian Mbappé’s foot …👮 Insurance policy: an insurance contract.
the amount of your payments to the insurer.💸 Deductible: The deductible is the amount of money that will be deducted from your future reimbursements when you file a claim. In other words, the deductible is your contribution to repaying your claims: “In case of disaster, I agree to pay X euros out of my pocket and my insurance will pay the rest.” For example, choosing a deductible of 150 € means that if you file a claim of 1000 € and that it is approved, your insurance will refund you 850 €.Depending on the insurers and the guarantees included in your home insurance plan, the deductible varies between 75 € and 500 €. The higher your deductible, the lower your premiums (and vice versa). In France, the deductible in the event of a natural or technological disaster is set by law at € 380.
What is covered by your insurance?
Compulsory guarantees There are guarantees that are mandatory in the home insurance (for tenants). They cover the damage caused by a fire, an explosion, a water damage, a storm, hail, snow, frost, natural and technological disasters, an attack and the damages for which you are responsible (Civil Liability).
See if the damage caused by firefighters 🚒 is included in your warranties.
The term “water damage” is the subject of 17,000 Google searches per month in France! Indeed, 1 disaster out of 2 today is a water damage and, for the majority of people, it is also synonymous with nightmare.
If you accidentally break the florist’s window at the bottom of your building, wound a passer-by with your electric scooter, or cause a fire in your neighbor’s’ house by leaving a pan in the over, your civil liability insurances covers you. Warning this liability excludes intentional damage: if you hit a Croatian leaving a football match, your home insurance does not cover the repair of his nose …
If the liability of a third party is engaged (eg your neighbor), this guarantee allows you to turn against the latter to obtain what is due to you.
The recommended guarantees
👨✈️ Theft and vandalism: A burglary is always traumatic. When you sign up for your insurance, pay attention to the amount of property guaranteed, it represents your maximum repayment. A little advice, avoid leaving your keys in the mailbox. You are not covered if the burglar has the key!
🔨Glass breakage insurance:Ex: Your fire alarm sounds and your neighbor warns firefighters who break a window to get in. Without this guarantee, you are not covered. At Luko, we think it is indispensable in a good home insurance! This warranty also includes the repair of a sink, a bathtub, a toilet bowl …Assistance: services that make a differenceLocksmithing, relocation, childcare …
If you accidentally break a glass, window or door at home, the repair is covered by the guarantee “Break of Glass”. 🕵️ Emergency Return and Guardianship: Your apartment is burgled while you’re traveling? This guarantee takes care of bringing you back home (on horseback, by train or plane) and The guarantees “marketing” Beware of some marketing guarantees designed to scam you! a security guard is sent to monitor your home until you return. This guarantee is often optional in conventional home insurance offers but is a costly and complicated daily accident to manage alone.
The promise of transparency
Option n°1: Sleep outside until the double of the keys you left with your parents in Lyon is brought to your home as if by magic.
Option n°2: Squat at your neighbor’s house until one of the 43 locksmiths you have called come to save you for the modest sum of 770 € … Beware of scams!
Option n°3: you have a home insurance with a good locksmith service that sends you a craftsman to open your door 24/7 and reimburses your expenses.
Can’t sleep at home? The assistance covers a hotel fee for 48 hours, as well as an emergency bag (clothing and toiletries). She also sends a cleaning service to allow you to resume your normal life as soon as possible.
This guarantee is rather expensive because it is very prone to fraud (people use it to replace a broken TV or computer out of warranty …). For this reason, insurers often combine this guarantee with a long list of exclusions. The risk of lightning is almost zero in an apartment and the French electricity network is very good.
At Luko, we prefer to prevent rather than fix. If you want to cover yourself against this risk, just install anti-lightning plugs in your home. It’s more efficient and cheaper.
If you are daredevil and love extreme sports (climbing, canyoning, diving …), be careful to cover yourself with specific and reliable insurance.
Because it is important to understand the risks for which you are covered, transparency is at the heart of Luko’s model. The guarantees are clear and adapted to your needs. There is no bad surprise!
☞ Change my insurance💙
Originally published at https://www.luko.eu on July 17, 2018.
