What’s the excess?
With many general insurance programs, you have got to pay the 1st part of any claim – called the surplus – if something goes belly up. The level of the surplus can vary significantly. For a travel cover, it could be £25 – £50 while for an auto policy it might be £100 or even more.
Infrequently insurers will impose a large excess if you have already claimed for something and you’re sure to do so again ,eg for flood damage or subsidence ( which is when a building develops cracks as the foundations have moved ). General guidelines Other beliefs have an application to all types of insurance : Insurance can offer compensation for the particular price of property.
It can’t cover the loss of soft value for instance. There should be a big number of similar hazards so the chance of a claim can be spread among other customers. It has to be possible for insurers to work out the likelihood of loss so a premium can be set which matches the danger. Losses mustn’t be deliberate and not unavoidable. Clearly, you might not buy fire insurance for a place which was burning nor life assurance for somebody on his or her deathbed. Finally , there are some risks which have money implications so gigantic that they can be handled only by the state. These hazards ( generally those coming from war or the major escape of nuclear or radioactive material ) are usually not insurable.