Get Illinois condo insurance quotes, cost & coverage fast. Condo insurance protects your personal property and any parts of your unit that aren’t covered by your IL condo association’s policy.
Okay, you own a condo, that’s similar to owning a home, right? In some ways yes. However, when it comes to determining how much coverage you need, and what you actually have to insure, there is a difference. So, what should you consider when choosing a Illinois condo insurance policy as a new owner? Let’s go through a condominium insurance policy and what is included – before you get a quote.
Condominium or cooperative unit owners own the inside of their units, with the outside owned by the condominium association or the cooperative. The unit may be owner-occupied, leased, or rented to others. The condominium or cooperative bylaws define ownership and identify which party (unit owner or association) is responsible for purchasing property insurance for particular property items, such as built-in cabinetry, interior doors, or wall coverings.
The bylaws also determine the unit-owner’s liability exposure. This type of shared ownership is expanding to include “landominiums” where the structures are entirely owned by the unit owners but all land is owned and maintained by the association and “dockominiums” where watercraft are owned by the unit owners but the docks and piers are under association ownership.
When it comes to owning a home, you are responsible for everything. You have to insure the property, interior, the exterior, and liability. With a condo, you aren’t responsible for all of this. In fact, your HOA (home owners association) is usually going to cover the exterior (building, parking lot, sidewalks, exterior, etc.). Yes, you do pay an HOA fee, but when choosing a Illinois condo insurance policy, you usually don’t have to purchase protection for halls in the hallway, carpeting, or the light fixtures. So, you are simply insuring the interior (your dwelling) and the belongings in it.
A IL condo policy has a few major parts including:
Building Property: This type of Illinois condo insurance coverage typically helps protect the interior of your condo unit, out to the walls, which could include additions, built-in shelving and fixtures.
Personal Property: Protects your belongings in your unit like computers, clothes or furniture. Personal property is typically not covered by a condo association’s master policy, your condo insurance policy should include this type of coverage.
Loss of Use: If a fire or other insured loss damages your IL condo, you might need somewhere else to stay. Loss of use can cover the increase in cost to live until you can move back in.
Loss Assessment: Uniquely to owners in condominiums and HOA associations, this Illinois condo insurance coverage protects owners to be charged for certain kinds of loss. Following are examples that might require the condominium association to assess unit owners:
Personal Liability: This Illinois condo insurance covers you if a third party makes a claim against you for bodily injury or property damage in your unit. In addition to award or settlement costs, this coverage can pay for your defense and court costs- even if the suit brought against you is frivolous.
Medical Payments To Others: This can medical expenses for people who are injured on your premises accidentally. Like a guest trips over a cord and fall and is hurt.
Condo insurance typically does not cover:
How much does Illinois condo insurance cost? The average price of condo insurance is usually very affordable. The premiums vary depending on the company and their underwriting rules, and it depends on the coverages and deductible selected. Following are some of the main factors that go into the price of a policy:
Property exposure is primarily limited to the personal property of the unit owner with additional property exposures as defined by the applicable association bylaws. The unit-owner’s responsibility determines the amount of insurance necessary. The unit owner is always responsible for carpeting and wall paint, but may also be responsible for the dry wall plus the plumbing and wiring within the walls.
The responsibility for insuring cabinets, chimneys, countertops, doors, interior electrical, windows, and other structural items are also defined in the bylaws. The insured is also responsible for assessments brought by the condominium association or cooperative for damage to common property as defined by the bylaws.
Personal liability exposure arises from conditions at the premises and the actions of the members of the household. The age of any children, the social and civic organizations, and sports the family participates in can all impact the loss potential. In addition, the type and breed of family pets can increase the exposure.
The unit owner’s premises liability is limited to the owned unit as explained in the bylaws, and the condominium association or cooperative has the premises liability for the common areas. If a member of the household becomes an officer or board member of the association or cooperative, there is added exposure for decisions made by the board.
Inland marine exposure includes the antiques, collectibles, electronics, fine arts, firearms, furs, jewelry, silverware, and other types of property subject to sublimits and exclusions within the homeowners policy. As these items are often attractive theft targets, security features such as locks, alarms, off-premise/transit exposures and storage arrangements should be reviewed.
Auto exposures are from household members driving owned, rented, or borrowed vehicles or from loaning their vehicles to others outside the household. All drivers must be identified, licensed, and have acceptable MVRs. The type of vehicle, ownership, the principle driver, garaging location, miles driven, and type of driving must be considered when evaluating the exposure. Age and experience of each driver must be evaluated. Driving courses can assist drivers of any age.
The exposure of household residents temporarily living away from the household exposures such as students away at college is important to explore because of potential vehicle ownership, state compliance, garaging, and usage changes.
Request a Illinois Condo Insurance quote in Arlington Heights, Aurora, Bartlett, Belleville, Berwyn, Bloomington, Bolingbrook, Buffalo Grove, Carol Stream, Carpentersville, Champaign, Chicago, Cicero, Crystal Lake, DeKalb, Decatur, Des Plaines, Downers Grove, Elgin, Elmhurst, Evanston, Glenview, Hanover Park, Hoffman Estates, Joliet, Lombard, Moline, Mount Prospect, Naperville, Normal, Oak Lawn, Oak Park, Orland Park, Palatine, Park Ridge, Peoria, Plainfield, Quincy, Rock Island, Rockford, Romeoville, Schaumburg, Skokie, Springfield, Streamwood, Tinley Park, Urbana, Waukegan, Wheaton, Wheeling and all other cities in IL.
There are regulations governing insurance in IL that you should be aware of that cover both business and personal insurance. These include the limits associated with certain types of insurance as well as the actual regulations that govern these insurance categories - as well as regulatory agencies. Let's take a close look at the regulations for insurance in Illinois.
The first type of insurance that we will discuss is Illinois business insurance. The most common type of business insurance is called General Liability. Liability insurance protects businesses in a number of ways, but the main way that you can think of this type of insurance is as coverage for when someone brings a lawsuit against you for something that happens on your premises. So, for example, if someone were to slip and fall on a freshly-mopped floor within your store, then you might be responsible for their injuries. Liability insurance protects you in instances like these.
However, there are some types of business insurance that are required by law. The first is standard in almost every state, and it is known as Worker's Compensation insurance. In some states, you have to have a certain number of employees before you are required to carry this type of insurance, but in Illinois, if you employ at least one person either full-time or part-time, you have to have Workees comp.
There are a couple of different types of personal insurance that are regulated by law in Illinois that you need to be concerned with. The first is auto insurance. Any private individual that operates a motor vehicle must carry liability insurance on that vehicle with certain limits reached. The insurance companies are already aware of these limits and the insurance that they offer provides them. The limits are 25 000 USD per person with a total maximum payout of 50 000 USD per accident. In addition, there must be another additional 25 000 USD provided for property damage.
There are also some regulations governing life insurance in Illinois that you should be concerned with. Life insurance is regulated under Title 215 in the State of Illinois Statutes. One regulation is that Illinois residents are given a minimum period of 10 days to evaluate the life insurance. You can cancel at any time during these 10 days and receive a full refund. In addition, insurance companies must provide a guarantee of death and claim payment as well as cash value. Finally, insurance companies must provide a timely payment of claims and keep your medical information private.
If you are looking for state specific Condo Insurance quotes, costs and information:
