When it comes to your home, making sure you’re adequately insured is of the utmost importance. Despite this, many homeowners are unaware of the “80% rule” for home insurance and, as a result, find themselves underinsured when trying to replace their personal property after a loss. Understanding the 80% rule—and following it—can help you protect yourself and your home.
The Basics
There are two valuation options available when purchasing insurance on your home. Typically, homeowners can elect to insure their home and personal property on an Actual Cash Value basis or at replacement cost.
- Actual Cash Value refers to the amount needed to repair or replace an item, minus depreciation (the decrease in the value of your home or personal property due to normal wear and tear).
- Replacement cost refers to the amount needed to repair or replace your damaged property with materials of similar kind and quality without deducting for depreciation.
Most insurance companies require homeowners to purchase replacement cost coverage worth at least 80% of their home’s replacement cost in order to receive full coverage. For example, if you bought your home for $275,000, you would need to have insurance for at least $220,000 for the insurance company to fully cover any potential claims.
Many homeowners follow the 80% rule when first purchasing their home but are unaware of the importance of adjusting their coverage to keep up with the changes inflation and home improvements can make to their home’s overall replacement cost. As a result, these homeowners are surprised after a disaster or loss when an insurance company doesn’t cover the total cost of replacing their home. Without having at least 80% of the replacement cost of your home insured, your insurance company may only pay the difference between 80% of the replacement cost of your home and the amount of coverage you purchased.
The 80% Rule in Action
Following the example above, let’s say you secured insurance for $220,000—or 80% of the replacement cost of your home—when you first purchased it. Then, you renovated your home, and these improvements significantly raised the replacement cost of your home to $350,000. For your insurance company to fully cover claims, you’d need to increase your insurance coverage to reflect 80% of the new replacement cost of your home, which would be $280,000 in this case. A storm causes $100,000 of damage to your home, but because you increased the amount of insurance on your home to $280,000, the insurance company covers the total cost of the repairs, minus your deductible.
Let’s say you didn’t adjust your insurance coverage, so you only had $220,000 in coverage for your home that is now worth $350,000 to replace. Instead of having at least 80% of the new replacement cost of your home insured, which would be $280,000, you only have 62.86% of the total cost insured. In the event of a claim, the insurance company would divide the amount of coverage you purchased ($220,000) by 80% of the replacement cost of your home ($280,000) and only cover the difference between those two amounts. So, in the same scenario from above, instead of the insurance company paying the full $100,000 (minus your deductible) to repair the damage caused by the storm, they would only pay roughly $78,570, as the difference between the amount of insurance you purchased and the 80% replacement cost was 78.57%. You would then be responsible for paying the remaining $21,430 in repair costs, plus your deductible.
As you can see, failing to adjust the amount of insurance you have on your home to ensure you’re following the 80% rule can be extremely costly. Regularly reviewing your coverage amounts, especially after you’ve done home renovations, can help you make sure you’re properly covered, even if your home’s replacement cost increases.
What Affects the Replacement Cost of My Home?
Because the 80% rule is directly affected by any changes to your home’s replacement cost, it’s important to understand what can affect the replacement cost value of your home. While every policy varies, some of the most common things that affect your home’s replacement cost value are:
- Square footage of your home
- Home renovations and improvements (e.g., changing flooring, appliances and fixtures; updating a roof; or installing new windows)
- Cost of replacing materials
- Labor costs in the event repairs are needed
- Value of interior and exterior components
It’s important to note that the market value of your home does not necessarily affect your home’s replacement cost. As such, things like curb appeal, the condition of your home and the value of comparable homes in your area may not affect your replacement cost value. Be sure to talk to your representative at Deeley Insurance Group, LLC so you can understand what may affect the replacement cost value of your home under your policy.
Making Sure You’re Not Underinsured
Securing adequate coverage for your home, especially as the replacement cost value changes over the years, is essential in protecting your home and your wallet. Contact your Deeley rep to make sure you have sufficient coverage under the 80% rule for homeowners insurance.
FAQs
When it comes to insuring your home, the 80% rule is an important guideline to keep in mind. This rule suggests you should insure your home for at least 80% of its total replacement cost to avoid penalties for being underinsured.
What does 80% coinsurance mean in a homeowners policy? ›
Coinsurance is a property policy requirement that means you must insure your home or office to a specific value, often 80% of its replacement cost at the time of the loss. Contact us today so that we can review your current insurance and help you decide if you should increase your property limits."
What does 80 percent coverage mean? ›
The 80% rule means that an insurer will only fully cover the cost of damage to a house if the owner has purchased insurance coverage equal to at least 80% of the house's total replacement value.
What clause requires that the homeowner have insurance that is equal to 80% of the home's replacement value? ›
Most coinsurance clauses require policyholders to insure 80%, 90%, or 100% of a property's actual value. For instance, a building valued at $1,000,000 replacement value with a coinsurance clause of 90% must be insured for no less than $900,000.
What is the 80 percent rule? ›
The 80% rule was created to help companies determine if they have been unwittingly discriminatory in their hiring process. The rule states that companies should be hiring protected groups at a rate that is at least 80% of that of white men.
What not to tell a homeowners insurance adjuster? ›
Admitting Fault, Even Partial Fault.
Avoid any language that could be construed as apologetic or blameful.
How does insurance work if your house is destroyed? ›
The simplest approach is for your insurer to pay you the full amount, up to your policy limits including all extensions that you would have to spend to rebuild your destroyed home. This assumes that you have provided a reasonable scope of loss as well as proof of your intent to actually buy a different home.
Should you insure your home to its full value? ›
When buying homeowners insurance, property owners must decide on their policy limits. In most cases, it makes sense to buy a policy that provides coverage for the full replacement value of the house. That's what it would cost to rebuild.
What does it mean when a 100000 house insured on a policy with an 80% coinsurance requirement? ›
Final answer: Given a 80% coinsurance requirement on a $100,000 house, the owner should have $80,000 coverage. But he has only $60,000 coverage, giving a ratio of 0.75. Hence, for a damage of $40,000, he can collect 75% of it, amounting to $30,000.
Is replacement cost home insurance worth it? ›
Replacement cost homeowners insurance may be worth considering for the contents of your home if you want to replace older items with newer ones. Like dwelling replacement cost, contents replacement cost usually has a coverage limit maximum as defined in your home insurance policy.
The 80 percent rule in homeowners insurance means that you must insure your home for at least 80 percent of the replacement cost for an insurer to cover the damages.
What is considered good coverage? ›
For example, if your net worth is $90,000, then a good car insurance policy for you might be structured as $50,000/$100,000/$50,000, giving you $100,000 in total bodily injury coverage per accident.
What is the 80% rule in property insurance? ›
The 80% rule dictates that homeowners must have replacement cost coverage worth at least 80% of their home's total replacement cost to receive full coverage from their insurance company.
Is 80 coinsurance better than 90? ›
Common coinsurance is 80%, 90%, or 100% of the value of the insured property. The higher the percentage is, the worse it is for you. It is important to note, as a way of preventing frustration and confusion at the time of loss, coverage through the NREIG program has no coinsurance.
What is excluded from coverage in a homeowners policy? ›
Termites and insect damage, bird or rodent damage, rust, rot, mold, and general wear and tear are not covered. Damage caused by smog or smoke from industrial or agricultural operations is also not covered. If something is poorly made or has a hidden defect, this is generally excluded and won't be covered.
What is the 80 20 rule imposed on insurers by the Affordable Care Act? ›
The 80/20 Rule generally requires insurance companies to spend at least 80% of the money they take in from premiums on health care costs and quality improvement activities. The other 20% can go to administrative, overhead, and marketing costs.
What does having 80/20 coverage mean? ›
Simply put, 80/20 coinsurance means your insurance company pays 80% of the total bill, and you pay the other 20%. Remember, this applies after you've paid your deductible.
What is the 80/20 split in an insurance policy? ›
The “80/20” of 80/20 insurance policies refers to the amount of money to be paid by either the insurance company or the policyholder. Per the 80/20 split, your insurance company will pay 80% of your medical bills while you cover the other 20% out of pocket.
What is the 80 20 co insurance benefit? ›
Here's an example of how coinsurance costs work: John's health plan has 80/20 coinsurance. This means that after John has met his deductible, his plan pays 80% of covered costs, and John pays 20%.
