What is your insurance deductible? Do you know it and what it means? Understanding how it affects your premium can help you save money. Be sure to know your insurance deductible to avoid a big surprise when you have a claim.
A deductible is basically the amount you pay first of an insured loss. Your deductible is “deducted” from an insured loss. It is what you self-insure or pay for. Deductibles are necessary to keep the premiums affordable. Deductibles have been an essential part of the insurance contract for many years and represent a sharing of the risk between the insurance company and the policyholder. When repairing your home or replacing personal possessions, the amount of the deductible would come out of your own pocket.
A deductible can be either a specific dollar amount or a percentage of the total amount of insurance on a policy. Generally speaking, the larger the deductible, the less a consumer pays in premiums for an insurance policy. Deductible amounts can be found on the declarations (or front) page of standard homeowners and auto insurance policies.
Here is how it works: if you have a $500 “dollar deductible,” that $500 would be deducted from your claim. So, if your insurance company has determined that you have an insured loss worth $10,000 you would receive a claims check for $9,500.
Percentage deductibles are calculated differently. They are based on a percentage of the home’s insured value. So if your house is insured for $100,000 and your home insurance policy has a 2 percent deductible, $2,000 would be deducted from the amount you are reimbursed on a claim. In the event of the $10,000 insurance loss, you would be paid $8,000.
Deductibles in many parts of the country have been going up. In hurricane prone states, where there is a greater risk of a major catastrophe, special deductibles may apply for homeowners insurance claims when the cause of damage is attributable to a hurricane. These deductibles are generally higher and may take the form of a percentage of the policy limits.
Deductibles for property damage work differently than, for example, a typical health insurance policy where there a single annual deductible for the policy. With an auto or homeowners insurance policy, the deductible applies each time you file a claim.
Raising Your Deductible Can Save Money
One of the best ways to save money on a homeowners or auto insurance policy is to raise the deductible. For example, for auto insurance, increasing the dollar deductible from $200 to $500 can reduce collision and comprehensive coverage premium costs by 5 to 30 percent. But, remember that if you have a loss, this amount will be deducted from your insurance claim and that you will be responsible for the difference.