General Insurance Information

General Insurance Information

If you ever hear the term “general insurance”, it means anything other than life insurance coverage.  In other words, general insurance is comprised of protection coverage against things such as burglary, fire, and so on.  In addition, this type of insurance could personal insurance to include accident and health, as well as liability, which is actually a type of legal insurance that would be used by professionals against errors and omissions.

Companies that sell general insurance provide various policy types, even those that provide protection for the home.  In this case, coverage would include allied perils, fire, inundation, earthquake, flood, storm damage, etc.  In addition, general insurance would cover your home from a break in, theft, and other such damages.  Interestingly, general insurance also has policies for machinery should any of them break down.

Then, general insurance covers marine issues.  Under the Marine Cargo policy, any type of goods being transported on the water, by air, or by road would also be protected from theft or damage.  Additionally, automobiles would be covered under different policies for general insurance and in fact, of all the different types of policies available, automobile coverage accounts for the majority of this insurance type.

One important note when it comes to general insurance and property protection.
Only the real value of the property can be purchased in the form of an insurance policy.  If someone were to take out a policy of greater value, risk of being charged with a hefty fine is likely.  By law, insurance coverage cannot be more than actual value so in this case, there could be some legal consequences.

In addition, for general insurance you would be required to insure a property for the value and not less.  If you did not carry enough insurance and something were to happen, you as the policyholder would have the brunt of responsibility for what is referred to as “ratable proportion of loss.”  In other words, if a home were appraised at $200,000 but you only insured it for $100,000, if damage were done to the home to the full amount of the policy, being $100,000; the policy would only pay out $50,000 because you carried 50% less insurance than required.  Of course, if the property were underinsured for 25%, 30%, 40%, or some other amount, the policy would match that on a claim.

Then for personal accident and health, this too would fall under the general insurance policy.  For insurance, you would have coverage if ever hospitalized in the form of cashless or reimbursement.  Individuals could also take out a general insurance policy for accident and health just as for groups.  In this case, insurance protection for an individual would be for one person but for group coverage, it would be for employees in the form of employer provided coverage.

Even liability is a part of general insurance.  Some of the policy types in this case would include motor third-party liability and worker’s compensation.  With so many different types of coverage, general insurance is without doubt important.  With this, people can have the type of coverage needed to enjoy life while being protected.