Sinkhole insurance is a home insurance endorsement (i.e., an addition to your policy) that can help pay for structural damage sinkholes cause. This coverage applies to your home and your personal property.
Simply put (because this can get complicated fast), a sinkhole is a depression in the surface of the ground caused by the sudden collapse of the land’s surface layer. When a sinkhole occurs near a home, its effects can be devastating.
That’s why sinkhole insurance is so important in regions that experience sinkhole activity, like Florida. If the ground collapses and cracks your home’s foundation, it can cost tens of thousands of dollars to repair the damage. And that’s if your home isn’t completely destroyed.
Sinkhole insurance offers a way forward after the unexpected strikes. It can help pay for necessary, expensive repairs, such as:
If you have sinkhole coverage, it applies when your home sustains structural damage. Usually, that means your property shows signs of:
A professional engineer who can identify sinkhole activity according to state testing standards must confirm the loss was caused by a sinkhole.
When you draw on this coverage, a sinkhole deductible applies. Usually, it’s 10 percent of your dwelling insurance limit.
Depending on your insurance, some exclusions apply. For example:
Before issuing a sinkhole insurance policy, some insurance companies require a professional engineer to visually inspect the home. The homeowner is often required to pay the inspection fee.
You, the policyholder, are not legally obligated to add sinkhole insurance to your homeowners insurance policy. But certain states require home insurers to offer catastrophic ground collapse coverage as part of their homeowners insurance, while others require earth movement to be made available as an optional extra.
Even if you don’t buy sinkhole coverage with Kin, we still provide catastrophic ground collapse coverage as part of your standard homeowners insurance.
Catastrophic ground cover collapse applies to some geological activity, but its coverage is less robust than sinkhole insurance. In order for catastrophic ground coverage collapse insurance to apply, all of the following conditions must be met:
By contrast, sinkhole coverage does not require the government to condemn the structure (a very high threshold to meet) in order to cover a sinkhole loss.
Lastly, it can be difficult to find coverage if your home has unrepaired or remediated sinkhole damage. Kin currently does not offer coverage for these homes.
If you have questions about your home’s sinkhole protection, talk to a Kin representative today.
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