(Finance) – In the last year around 5 million Italians have suffered damage to their homes caused by bad weather or natural disasters. Of these, only 1 in 3 had a personal insurance policy to protect the property. This is what emerges from asurvey commissioned by Facile.it to mUp Research and Norstat. Analyzing more closely the responses of those who declared that they had suffered damage to their homes linked to atmospheric events – we read in the survey carried out on a representative sample of the national population – it emerges that the most common harmful phenomenon was the hail, indicated by 49% of respondents, followed by damage from wind (directly or by things transported) indicated by 39.7% of those injured. Another element that created serious problems was thewaterfall: 23.3% of those damaged declared they had suffered damage following a flood, while 18.1% due to flooding. Closing the ranking are i earthquake damage, indicated by 8.6% of respondents, and those by frost (2.6%).
Home insurance – In Italy, 78% of properties are built in areas at hydrogeological risk and the increase in highly intense atmospheric phenomena has expanded the number of homes potentially exposed to damage from bad weather; despite this, however, Italians are confirmed to be a people who insure themselves little. Looking at the results of the survey, it emerges that just over 1 in 3 injured people had, at the time of the accident, insurance coverage taken out to protect themselves from events, while 27% were only able to benefit from the condominium policy. It is also worrying to know that almost 4 out of 10 injured people, equal to around 1.8 million Italians, have not been able to count on any coverage. The only positive note: 8 out of 10 respondents, following the damage, decided to insure their home against atmospheric events and natural disasters; 28% have already taken out a policy, 53% are looking for it and intend to get it.
The costs of home insurance – To analyze the costs of home policies, Facile.it examined a 100 square meter apartment, worth 200,000 euros, located in Milan, Modena and Bari. The prices for a home insurance policy to cover damage to the building caused by bad weather start from 54 euros per year (Modena), 67 euros (Milan) and 94 euros (Bari). If you also want to add content damage coverage, you can find policies with a starting price of 94 euros in all 3 cities examined. Adding the earthquake coverage goes up to 110 euros per year (Milan), 162 euros (Bari) and 214 euros (Modena). Be careful though, because earthquake coverage covers damage suffered by the building, not damage to the contents, and there are different levels of coverage that offer more or less high reimbursements in the event of a seismic event and the price varies considerably based on these parameters. Also adding flood coverage, the cost would rise to 312 euros per year in Milan, 624 euros in Bari and 636 euros in Modena; In the case of flood damage coverage, these are policies that are not very widespread and often tailor-made, therefore the premium could vary significantly depending on the insurance company.
“The advice, when you are struggling with the choice of a home insurance policy, is to carefully look at the conditions offered, the limits, the presence of deductibles or overdrafts and the exclusions, i.e. those types of claims that do not they are covered by insurance – he explains Andrea Ghizzoni, Managing Director of insurance at Facile.it –. The guarantees offered can vary greatly from one company to another; speaking of home policies against damage from atmospheric events, for example, it is good to know that in some cases phenomena such as flooding, inundation and earthquakes are explicitly excluded, while in other cases they are covered only by activating specific ad hoc coverage”.