What If My Garage Burns Down?
Written by
Ryan Hanley is a public speaker, podcaster and author of the Amazon best-seller, “Content Warfare.” Ryan has over 15 years of insurance expertise.
Reviewed by
Ryan Hanley is a public speaker, podcaster and author of the Amazon best-seller, “Content Warfare.” Ryan has over 15 years of insurance expertise.
Q: What If My Garage Burns Down? Will My Homeowner's Insurance Cover Damages to My Car?
If my house were to be hit by lightning, and everything including the garage burned to the ground, would the damage to my car be covered by my homeowner's insurance?
A: Simply put: no. Homeowners insurance policies expressly exclude motorized vehicles from their contents coverage, though exceptions are made for certain kinds of vehicles, such as lawnmowers and snow blowers.
Coverage for damages to your car, in this case, would need to be handled by your auto insurance and would require that you have comprehensive (also called “other than collision”) insurance included as part of your policy. If you have only purchased coverage at the state-mandated minimums, you will not have this extra insurance and will not be able to get compensation for your loss.
I would like to point out that this is a primary example of why it is a very good idea to combine your home and auto insurance with the same company. It is possible that in a situation like this, your auto insurance provider may go after your home insurance company to cover a portion of the costs.
As a result, compensation may be delayed in being sent to you as the insurance companies battle it out. When you have both policies handled by the same company, this ceases to be an issue, and you may even get some significant discounts.