While an understanding of the benefits and costs of auto, life and health insurance is growing among Thai people, too many fail to prepare protection for their most valuable asset: their home.
Statistics show that only 8% of Thailand's 20 million homes and residences currently have household insurance. Low losses may be key to this relatively low uptake but inconvenience could be another stumbling block.
Traditional fire insurance policies for household protection are structured to protect against a variety of risks, ranging from fire, lightning, floods and gas explosions to natural disasters. Coverage is generally for actual losses, up to the limit stipulated in the policy and after taking into account any deductions.
Many insurers have joined with local banks to offer service packages to new homeowners, offering natural disaster coverage, theft coverage, third-party coverage as well as repair expenses. In fact, to protect their investment, many banks offering new home mortgages require borrowers to take out some form of insurance.
In the latest attempt to make home insurance easier, insurers have cooperated with their regulatory body, the Office of the Insurance Commission (OIC), to introduce a new saving fire insurance for households. The new insurance coverage - which was initiated by the General Insurance Association - won approval from the OIC on June 11 this year.
Fixed premiums as low as 600 baht a year provide coverage of up to 600,000 baht. The lowest premiums cover all structures except wooden row houses and brick-and-wood row houses.
The sum insured is up to 600,000 baht for a accustomed building, 250,000 baht for a brick-and-wood house, and 100,000 to 150,000 baht for a board house. The action protects the policyholder adjoin losses to a residential architecture from fire, gas explosion, lightning, floods and storm, and blow from cars and aircraft or falling objects.
As able-bodied as blaze allowance that provides domiciliary protection, the industry has fabricated accessible a homeowners' allowance action - assorted allowance that provides added advantage for accident to acreage as able-bodied as accountability for injuries and accident acquired to others.
There is aswell break-in insurance, which provides aegis for acreage adjoin accident and accident as a aftereffect of burglary, robbery and theft, including accident to acreage or bounds due to break-in attempts application tools, explosives or actinic and electrical devices.
