Earth Movement Coverage & Your Home Insurance Policy

Earth Movement Coverage & Your Home Insurance Policy

Throughout Florida, you hear about different sinkholes where entire homes are swallowed. Additionally, you see how sidewalks become cracked because of earth movement. This is an important aspect to consider, and you need to look at whether your homeowner’s insurance policy in Florida covers it.

What's Typically Covered

Home insurance in Florida generally covers several things. You will have liability, dwelling coverage, and coverage on all of the belongings that are within your home. Depending upon your policy and the insurance company itself, there may be additional items covered.

You need to familiarize yourself with the inclusions and exclusions of the policy. This will require reading the fine print so that you know more about what your policy contains so that you don’t end up with any surprises. Insurance companies will often list scenarios where you aren’t covered – and this is when you need to look at extra insurance to cover various things.

Shifting or “Earth movement” is not generally included in a standard insurance policy. This doesn’t mean you can’t be covered, however. It simply means that you need to look at adding it to your policy.

Why Earth Movement Coverage is a Necessity

Earth movement is generally considered an exclusion on a home insurance policy in Florida. It’s referred to as Earth movement as opposed to earthquakes because it covers more things. This means that you aren’t necessarily purchasing earthquake insurance. You don’t live in California, you live in Florida – and the earth moves over here as well.

All sorts of things can happen. Earth movement coverage will protect you against such things as:

  • Rising
  • Contracting
  • Expanding
  • Shifting
  • Sinking

Not all policies will define the movement in the same way, so you want to look at how it is defined and what it will take care of.

When the earth moves, it can end up damaging the foundation as well as the house itself. Should something happen, you will want to file a claim so that you can quickly get the situation under control.

This is not a type of coverage that is required. However, it’s in your best interest to add it to your policy so that you are protected. You never know whether your home is sitting on property that suffers from erosion or poor compaction. Further, the ears can move at any time, causing rising, shifting, or even expanding.

It’s going to be much easier to file a claim with an insurance company than to take care of all of the home repairs on your own. The cost of adding this to your home insurance policy in Florida may be less than you think. The few extra dollars it will be can end up being the best money that you spend in the event you ever do have to file a claim.