Risk mitigation is at the heart of insurance coverage. Individuals and small businesses can use insurance as a means of protecting themselves against financial loss, but insurance companies have interests of their own to protect. Typically, insurance policies will include exclusions based on this so that they don’t cover every scenario. They are interested in insurance exclusions, and why do insurance companies exclude exclusions from their policies? Here’s the answer.
What Are Insurance Exclusions?
A policy exclusion provides a way for an insurer not to cover certain risks, such as an unexpected loss. It is a way to restrict the scope of coverage for risks they are unwilling to protect. As a result, policy exclusions contribute to the overall definition of the policy. What is the reason? Ultimately, it would help if you kept in mind that an insurance company is a business. Events are covered; many insurers would be discouraged from entering the market or remaining excluded. So, what are the reasons for exclusions?
Reasons For Insurance Exclusion
Use exclusions for various reasons in insurance policies, but most relate to the risks listed below.
A Cataclysmic Event
Catastrophic events make certain risks uninsurable. War is an example. Your commercial property insurance coverage does not cover a bomb destroying your business property in a war situation. Military action and war are almost universally not included in property insurance policies.
If Previously Covered By Another Policy
In many cases, the exclusions are risks covered by one policy from another. For example, a general liability policy excludes auto liability claims from coverage since a commercial auto policy covers them. Workers’ compensation insurance covers any benefits an employer must pay under workers’ compensation laws. Liability and auto policies exclude benefits payable under workers’ compensation laws.
Maintenance Of a Car Or Property
Wear and tear, for example, are excluded because they are natural occurrences and controlled by the policyholder. Both physical damage coverages for commercial properties and autos exclude wear and tear-related damages. Also, prevent rust, corrosion, and insect infestations risks through regular maintenance.
Deliberate Actions
Businesses and people purchase insurance to protect themselves from misfortune, accidents, and other unforeseen circumstances. In such cases, most policies won’t cover the losses if the insured deliberately causes the damage. For example, suppose a driver experiences road rage and deliberately drives into another vehicle. In that case, their auto insurance policy probably will not cover the damage to the insured’s car, even if it has comprehensive coverage. In another example, if a contractor deliberately damaged a client’s property to evade payment, the provider wouldn’t cover the impact.
Illegal Actions
Many policies do not cover crimes, law violations, and deliberately caused injuries against public policy. Due to this, liability policies do not cover claims arising from the insured’s deliberate, harmful acts such as firing a gun. As the first step in evaluating an insurance claim (under any policy), an insurance company determines if the event caused the loss is fair to count as an “occurrence.” A claim will not be counted as an occurrence most of the time if a crime is underlying it.
Exceptions To Exclusions And Buybacks
In many exclusions, there is a limit of coverage given back. An example of this exclusion is the contractual liability exclusion in a general liability policy, which exempts the company from liability under a contract. In some instances, there is an exclusion, which requires coverage for liabilities assumed under an insured contract (as described in the policy). You can remove a few exclusions if you are willing to pay an additional premium. For example, the standard general liability policy excludes injuries caused by employees against each other. In many cases, businesses purchase coverage for co-worker claims.
