Get Cheap Home Insurance in Red Deer

How home insurance works in Red Deer

Home insurance is not mandatory anywhere in Canada, but many lenders will only mortgage a home that’s insured. Coverage has many additional benefits, including protection for the home’s contents as well as liability protection if someone is injured while visiting the property – or, if the homeowner unintentionally causes damage to someone else’s property.

Those looking for home insurance quotes in Toronto should first consider what protection a policy offers. Regardless of policy type most cover the following:

• Contents: Protects the homeowner’s belongings if they’re damaged by a covered peril. Expensive items such as specialty sports equipment, jewelry, fine art or a wine collection may require additional protection in the form of a ‘rider’ that’s added to the policy.
  
• Property: Protects the home and surrounding buildings such as the garage if they’re damaged by a covered peril.
  
• Liability: Protects the homeowner if they’re sued by someone who is injured while visiting the home; also, protects the homeowner if they unintentionally damage someone else’s property.
  
• Additional living expenses: Provides coverage for expenses the homeowner assumes after being forced to leave the home due to a covered peril. For example, covers the cost of a hotel stay and food while away from the home.

Home insurance policy types

Next, we encourage Red Deer homeowners to consider how providers structure insurance policies. There are generally three types of home insurance policies:

• Basic: Sometimes referred to as a ‘named perils’ policy because it offers protection against perils that are named in the policy. This is the most minimal coverage available.
  
• Broad: Also known as a ‘standard’ policy, insures the home against all risks and insures personal property against named perils.
  
• Comprehensive: Often called ‘all perils’ policy because it protects the home and its contents against all perils except any named as exclusions.

Additional coverage

Since no single policy provides coverage for every peril, many homeowners prefer to add coverage for more protection than policies provide out-of-the-box. These are considered optional coverage, ‘add ons’. They may also sometimes be called ‘endorsements.’ Some of the most popular include:

• Earthquake: Covers the home and its contents following damage from earth movement. An earthquake endorsement also provides protection against damage from landslide, snowslide and volcanic eruption - none of which are relevant to Toronto homeowners.
  
• Home-based business: Enhances the property limits and perils that are covered in a policy so that the homeowner with a home-based business can have adequate property and liability coverage. In instances where only a computer needs to be protected, a computer floater can be added to the policy.
• Identity theft: Covers the cost of replacing stolen personal documents such as a driver's licence and passport. May also cover wages lost while away from work to replace documents.
  
• Overland water: Covers the cost of damage from water that overflows from a nearby waterway such as a lake or river. Insurance providers distinguish different types of flooding – one of which is overland flood.
  
• Sewer back-up: Protects the home against damage from water that enters the home through an overflowing drain or toilet. Red Deer residents are not immune to such events. In June 2022, three days of continuous rain with some areas seeing as much as 60 millimeters of rain. Average estimates for mitigation or restoration were between $20,000 to $25,000 according to local press accounts of the weather event.

Postal code-wide average home insurance in Red Deer

The home insurance premium in Red Deer falls at the lowest end of Alberta’s 10 most expensive postal codes. The average for the entire province is a premium of $2,271, with parts of Calgary (in the T3A 0A1 area) paying $3,085 per month.

Cheapest home insurance in Red Deer

Home insurance premiums in Red Deer and Red Deer County (the municipality that surrounds the town,) range between $2,217 and $2,590. If you live in Sylvan Lake, you will end up paying the highest home insurance premium in Red Deer at $2,590 per annum, compared with other postal codes in the area. Residents of 40th Avenue and Selkirk Boulevard pay the lowest premium of $2,217 per year in Red Deer.

Red Deer is a more rural area than other areas in the province with lower crime rates and theft. Insurance rates reflect the area and insurance claims.