Why does my policy have more than one deductible?

A policy commonly carries a flat deductible for most claims and a separate percentage-based wind and hail deductible in storm-exposed states like Georgia.

Does my own insurance cover me when I stay in an Airbnb or VRBO?

The host's short-term rental policy protects the host, not you. As an Airbnb or VRBO guest, your own homeowners or renters insurance usually covers your belongings and personal liability away from home, within policy limits, while travel insurance covers trip-specific risks neither the host nor your home policy will.

Does homeowners insurance cover flood damage?

No. Standard homeowners policies exclude all flood damage regardless of cause.

What does uninsured motorist coverage do?

If you are hit by a driver with no insurance or not enough insurance, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage pays your medical bills.

When do we use Selective for flood coverage versus NFIP?

Selective private flood wins for Zone X and moderate AE properties where it beats NFIP on price and offers higher limits with ALE coverage.

Who is liable if someone is injured on my vacant Georgia property?

All FAQs

Quick answer: As the owner, you can be held responsible, including for a trespasser drawn in by an attractive nuisance such as an unfenced pool. Georgia uses modified comparative negligence and bars recovery once a claimant is 50 percent or more at fault (O.C.G.A. 51-12-33). The liability coverage on a vacant home policy can respond if you are found partly at fault.

As the property owner, you can be held liable if someone is hurt on your vacant Georgia property, even if that person had no right to be there. This includes a trespasser drawn in by an attractive nuisance, a legal concept describing a hazardous feature, such as an unfenced pool, a collapsing porch, or an open construction pit, that is likely to draw in and injure a child or another trespasser who investigates it.

Georgia uses modified comparative negligence to divide fault after an injury. Under O.C.G.A. 51-12-33, a Georgia court assigns each party a percentage of fault, and a claimant found 50 percent or more at fault recovers nothing. Below that threshold, the claimant's award is reduced by their own percentage of fault. That means an owner is not automatically cleared of responsibility just because the injured person was trespassing.

For example, a trespasser climbs a fence around a vacant home's unfenced backyard pool and is injured diving in. The owner never invited the trespasser onto the property, but because an unsecured pool is a recognized attractive nuisance, a Georgia court could still assign a meaningful share of fault to the owner for leaving the hazard unsecured. If the court finds the owner 30 percent at fault, the liability coverage on the property's policy would need to respond to that share of the claim.

Whether the home is vacant or only unoccupied affects this risk in practice, since an empty, unmonitored property deteriorates faster and unsecured hazards go unnoticed longer; see the difference between a vacant and an unoccupied home in Georgia. Liability coverage itself is not exempt from a policy's vacancy provision, the clause that can suspend certain coverages once a home has sat empty past a set number of days; see how long a Georgia home can sit empty before coverage is affected and does Georgia require vacant home insurance for how that requirement interacts with a lender.

Vacant home insurance is built to keep liability protection active during exactly this kind of extended vacancy. A coverage review can confirm whether the liability limits on an existing policy carry over once a property is reclassified as vacant.