If you’ve ever thought some insurance coverage sounded fake, this quiz is for you. Put on your detective cap to find out which of these coverages are fake and which are real. Good luck!
1. An alien abduction might be a joke, until you’re in the middle of one. Thankfully, you can buy alien abduction insurance. When you find an agency that sells it, they’ll gladly walk you through the details.
Covered, or not?
2. You recently acquired a sugar glider (a gliding possum) as a pet. One night, it escapes its cage and leaps off your second-story balcony. It glides for a while, then crashes into a flagpole it mistakes for a tree. You rush it to the vet for emergency treatment. Fortunately, your exotic pet health insurance pays for most of the emergency medical care.
Covered, or not?
3. Your pet wallaby escapes the backyard enclosure of your two-acre Arizona estate. Like its larger counterpart, the kangaroo, the wallaby kicks when it feels threatened. It gets spooked by your neighbor’s barking dog, and kicks your neighbor and the dog. Your homeowners insurance has a liability policy that covers you for injury and damage caused by pets.
Covered, or not?
4. You discover carpenter ants have damaged your deck. You’re not worried because standard homeowner policies cover decks. Your policy will pay up when it’s time to repair the damage.
Covered, or not?
5. A straight-line wind blows down your neighbor’s 50-foot tree, and most of it ends up on your property. It doesn’t damage anything. Your neighbor’s insurance pays for it.
Covered, or not?
6. After years of work, you finally realize your dream of owning a comedy club. Stage, lights, bar: the works. One night, as you stake out your spot in the back of the room, you hear screams and laughter. It’s all good until you hear someone shouting to call an ambulance. One of the patrons is lying on the floor. Medics take him to the hospital, where he later dies. Soon after, you receive a notice that the deceased patron’s family is suing you for laughing him to death. You have a death-by-laughter policy, so you’re not worried.
Covered, or not?
7. You’re taking a cross-country road trip to see the sights. You load your car the night before so you’ll be ready to start at daybreak. You’ve packed your new clothes and electronics, all hidden from sight. Besides, your apartment has a secure parking lot. The next day, you discover your car’s been stolen. Your road trip plans and belongings sped away overnight. You call the police and file a claim with your auto insurance company. Your full-coverage policy will replace everything.
Covered, or not?
8. Fantasy football season is in full swing. You’re leading the boards until one of your top picks gets injured. You don’t know if your player is down a few games or out the rest of the season. You’re crushed but not decimated; you’ve got fantasy football insurance to cover your losses.
Covered, or not?
9. You popped the question: the wedding is on! Parents on both sides put down a flurry of sizeable deposits and payments for lavish gifts. Hard stop. Turns out, your soon-to-be significant other is not what they seem. You call off the wedding. Some of the gifts and deposits were nonrefundable. Thankfully, you said “I do” to a change-of-heart policy. Your insurance company will reimburse the costs.
Covered, or not?
10. You open a home business making organic clothing for kids. You create your clothing in your crafting studio in the basement of your home. Your home catches fire. Half of your home is damaged. Even though your basement studio was spared, everything smells from smoke damage. You have to throw away all your creations and refund pending orders. You have home insurance and documentation to prove ownership of all you lost. No problem.
Covered, or not?
Answers:
1. Covered. You can legitimately buy alien abduction insurance, but it might be bordering more on a joke. One agency sells alien abduction insurance for a one-time premium of $20. The payout is $10 million upon abduction. Sounds reasonable. However, the catch is in the payout. You’d only get $1 per year for 10 million years, a stark reminder to always read the contract before signing.
2. Covered. You probably know that insurance companies offer pet health insurance for cats and dogs. A few major insurance companies provide exotic pet health insurance. Your exotic pet’s insurance rates are based on preexisting conditions, age and overall health. The older and less healthy your pet is, the more expensive your premiums will be. Most pet health policies offer emergency, injury, and illness care, but limit or exclude preventive health coverage. Policies don’t cover illegal, mixed-breed, permit-only, venomous or endangered pets. Your insurance agent can help you understand the coverage and exclusions.
3. Not. Your homeowners or renters policy excludes exotic pets like wallabies. Many homeowners and renters policies cover liability if your pet causes injury or damage. But there are exclusions, and some dog breeds aren’t even covered. While owning a wallaby as a pet in Arizona is legal, you’d need a separate insurance policy from a specialty insurer.
4. Not. Homeowners insurance indeed covers decks. However, it doesn’t cover pest infestations or the damage they cause, especially if you knew or should have known about the issue. Insurance companies view infestations as preventable. This is because the damage happens over time, and you have time to remedy it. They expect policyholders to maintain and protect their property.
5. Not. The tree is on your property, so it’s your responsibility. Since it didn’t damage anything, you’ll probably have to pay to remove it. Your homeowners insurance would have responded if the tree fell on your home or car, or blocked an access way like a sidewalk or road. Trees can be tricky. Call your agent if you have questions.
6. Covered. Death-by-laughter insurance is a thing. And yes, laughing to death is possible. Death-by-laughter insurance is a form of liability insurance for entertainers and venues that might cause relentless hilarity. But the patron’s family still has to prove you’re at fault. An underlying condition like asthma, heart disease or hypertension typically accompanies laughing to death. Proving hysterics caused the death isn’t easy, but if they do, your death-by-laughter insurance policy will respond.
7. Not. Your full-coverage auto policy will replace your stolen car, but not your belongings. You’d need home or renters insurance for that. You’d make two claims: one on your auto policy for your car, and another on your home or renters policy for your personal belongings.
8. Covered. Fantasy football insurance is available. Your top player must be on the list of players covered by your insurance carrier. You’ll get a payout if your player misses a significant portion of the season due to injury on or off the field. Payout amounts vary.
9. Covered. Change-of-heart coverage is real. It has a lot of restrictions, though, so you’ll need to be clear on the details. Generally, the more expensive the wedding, the more this insurance will cost you. (That’s assuming a costly wedding will have many moving parts, vendor deposits and gifts that might be nonrefundable.)
Policies have strict time constraints on when you can cancel the wedding and still be covered. For example, some policies require you to cancel a year before the big day. Others base it on events, like before the rehearsal dinner. And you can’t cancel the wedding and collect on payouts only to reschedule it later. It has to be a proper breakup, or you might be reunited again in a lawsuit for insurance fraud.
10. Not. Most home insurance policies don’t cover home-based businesses. Just because your business is located in your home doesn’t mean your home insurance covers it. Your clothing, materials, sewing machines and other supplies won’t be covered. You’ll also lose income from refunding customers and downtime. Ask your agent about adding home business insurance, or a business owners policy. This can help with liability, business materials and income replacement.
How’d you do? Next time you call your agent for insurance advice, you can impress them with your knowledge of what insurance policies do and don’t cover.
