Fine Print Guide

Understand what your insurance covers.

Plain answers about US insurance: what a policy is for, what it pays for, what it leaves out, and what all those letters and codes mean. No selling, no jargon without an explanation.

I have a policy

Pick the kind you have to see what it usually covers and doesn't.

All personal insurance · Business insurance

Something happened

A pipe burst, a flight was cancelled, a customer slipped. See the usual answer and why.

All 43 examples · What counts as a peril

Start from my life right now

Step-by-step guides: what to sort out, in order, and what's actually required.

See how it all fits together

The insurance tree goes from personal and business lines, through property, liability and people, down to single perils like a hurricane's storm surge or a burst pipe.

Open the insurance tree

Six ideas that explain most policies

  1. Premium and deductibleThe premium is the price of the policy. The deductible is the part of each loss you pay yourself.
  2. LimitsA limit is the most the policy pays. Anything above it is yours.
  3. Covered causesPolicies pay for damage from certain causes, called perils, and exclude others, like flood.
  4. New for old, or what it was worthReplacement cost pays for new. Actual cash value subtracts wear and age.
  5. Your losses, and harm you causeSome coverage pays for your things and bills. Liability pays for harm you cause other people.
  6. Claims leave a recordClaims, even small ones, are logged in a shared industry database and can affect your price.

New to all this? See how it all fits together in the insurance tree, browse the whole map of policies, or learn how to read your policy.