Additional Living Expenses and Homeowners’ Insurance

Another standard aspect to homeowners’ insurance is additional living expense (ALE) coverage. This is a typical cost in your homeowners, condo or renters’ insurance policies that helps pay for increased costs you might incur if you cannot live in your home. The purpose of additional living expense coverage is to help you maintain your lifestyle that you previously had while temporarily living away from your current home or apartment. This means, ALE coverage could protect your incurred costs like hotel bills or restaurant bills that would exceed your typical in-home expenses. Ready to learn more? Well, Advisors Insurance Agency in South Carolina is ready to help.

What Does Additional Living Expense Cover?

When consulting our team about homeowners’ insurance, you might hear us talk about “perils,” which basically means any aspect of your home that is damaged by an unforeseen accident. Additional living expense policies are meant to protect homeowners from unforeseen costs based on these perils. Covered perils include:

• Fire and smoke damage or destruction
• Windstorm damage
• Explosions or bursts
• Falling objects or crushed infrastructure due to snow or ice
• Vandalism
  
  

If any of these perils forces the homeowner and homeowners’ family to temporarily seek alternative housing, ALE coverage can pay for hotels and rental fees, restaurant bills and boarding costs for pets.

How Much Coverage Do I Need?

ALE coverage does have a limit, which is the maximum dollar amount that your policy will pay for increased living expenses. The limitation is usually set based on a percentage of other coverage limits on your homeowners’ policy, specifically property (dwelling) insurance. ALE coverage also usually only provides protection for a set period of time. Because of these limitations, its vital to work with an insurance agency to help you manage your policies and best explain coverage.

What is Not Covered with ALE?

Additional living expense coverage doesn’t pay for your personal items and belongings if they were damaged in peril, instead, you would need personal item coverage to help pay for those replacements. Since homeowners’ insurance is a blanket statement that encompasses multiple aspects of your policy, you can expect to have dwelling coverage, personal item coverage, liability coverage and more within your homeowners’ policy. If your home were damaged in peril, your property protection (dwelling) coverage could help pay for repairs, personal items coverage would help pay for item replacements (like furniture) and additional living expense coverage would help pay for your displacement costs.

Learn More About Homeowners’ Insurance in Greenville SC

Does this seem all too much? Advisors Insurance Agency can help! Our team of insurance experts have helped hundreds of homeowners and families across the state of South Carolina understand their insurance policies. Our comprehensive multi-step approach to risk management can help you best understand what policies you can afford to have versus which policies you can afford to scrap. We also work with multiple lenders across the state to ensure we get you the best rate then we help manage your portfolio so you aren’t missing renewal deadlines or missing out on what you’re owed if a peril should occur. Reach out to us today to get started!