What Are Insurance Endorsements, Riders and Exclusions?

Have you ever opened your insurance renewal and read through all the pages? Maybe not, but you may have noticed that many of the pages show your endorsements or exclusions. Here’s what you should know about them.

Insurance Endorsements

Insurance endorsements are used on property and casualty insurance. You may have seen them on your home, auto and other personal policies. An insurance endorsement is an addition to the existing policy contract. Here’s what an endorsement can do:

• Add to the coverage of your insurance policy
• Limit or delete coverage of a policy
• Add or delete people and locations on your policy

Simply put, the purpose of an insurance endorsement is to make a policy change. Many insurance endorsements are offered as optional coverage you are able to add to your policy. If you are choosing to add an endorsement to your insurance policy, there may be a premium adjustment. Some endorsements can be added mid-term.

Here are some examples of our common insurance endorsements:

Residential Equipment Breakdown

This coverage helps protect appliances, electronics and electrical systems in your home.

Water Backup of Sewers or Drains

This coverage helps cover the cost to clean up and repair in case of a sump pump failure.

Auto Repair or Replacement Cost

If your car is less than four model years old and is totaled in an accident, this optional coverage can replace it with a similar new vehicle.

Emergency Roadside Assistance Coverage

Use our toll-free number to get assistance with battery jump starts, fuel delivery, flat tire service and lock-out service.

Livestock Freezing or Smothering

This coverage can help cover livestock for loss caused by freezing or smothering in blizzards or snowstorms.

Riders

A rider is similar to an endorsement but instead of being used for property and casualty insurance, they are used on surety or fidelity bonds. You may occasionally hear the two terms used interchangeably.

Exclusions

Exclusions eliminate coverage for some type of risk. Most insurance policies are very broad and not too specific, they use exclusions to take away coverage for unwanted risks. Here are some reasons coverage may be excluded:

• Catastrophic – war is a common exclusion, as it will likely affect a huge number of people, damage caused by war would not be covered.
• Covered elsewhere – if a cause of loss is covered by another type of policy, the insurance company will avoid double coverage.
• Easy to control – if the damage could be easily prevented by an insured, that may be excluded. A common example would be excluding damage to personal property left out in the open caused by rain, snow, ice or sleet.
• Not accidental – Most policies will not cover damage caused on purpose.
• Wear and tear – if proper maintenance or replacement would have prevented the damage, normal wear and tear is not covered.

It is important to review your policy and ask your agent any questions you have about coverage. It can be hard to know exactly the type of coverage you need or want so just be upfront with your agent about your concerns. Schedule a SuperCheck with your Farm Bureau agent to make sure you are properly covered.