Does Homeowners Insurance Cover Lightning Strikes?

Standard homeowners insurance policies cover several types of damage and destruction to your property as a result of lightning strikes, which is generally considered a covered peril.

Various categories of a standard homeowners insurance policy offer protection against lightning strikes. This includes dwelling coverage, personal property coverage and additional living expenses coverage.

Dwelling coverage is the part of a homeowners insurance plan that covers the repair or reconstruction of the home's physical structure after the damage. This is often the maximum limit of coverage in a homeowner's insurance policy.

A lightning strike can start a fire inside or outside your property, destroy essential equipment, break electronic appliances, harm cabling within the structure and even harm you or your family members. However, lightning strikes and lightning-caused fires are covered perils in nearly every standard homeowner's insurance policy.

Lightning damage is usually covered by most homeowners insurance policies. For instance, your dwelling coverage will compensate for any impairment to your home's structural system.

In addition, standard homeowners insurance policies cover items like home appliances, deck and electrical systems. Moreover, loss of use coverage is included in most policies, and it pays for any additional living expenses incurred while your house is being repaired due to a covered claim.

Since all of these things are covered by a standard homeowners policy, you won't need to get any supplemental lightning coverage.

Near-miss lightning strikes may not be covered by your insurance company. Near-miss lightning strikes do not harm your home or other structures directly.

In addition, your insurer may also not cover a ground surge. When lightning hits a certain place, an electrical ground surge occurs, which can result in voltage spikes. These types of strikes may be difficult to track down and prove in your insurance claim because they did not instantly harm your property.

Although the best homeowners insurance companies cover lightning strike damages, there are certain things you can do to prevent or limit the damage in the first place. You can install devices such as a lightning protection system, smoke detectors and surge protector devices if you reside in an area prone to hurricanes and thunderstorms.

You can buy homeowners insurance from many insurance companies, including State Farm and GEICO. Several smaller insurance companies, such as Lemonade and Hippo, also provide homeowners insurance. MoneyGeek suggests shopping around for homeowners insurance and evaluating quotes from various companies to find the best policy.

In the United States, the average monthly premium for homeowners insurance is $175. However, your actual rate may vary. You can use the personal property calculator on MoneyGeek to determine the cost of an insurance.