Years ago there were many kinds of property insurance. I believe that fire insurance policies were first offered to the public as early as the 19th Century within the United States of America.
Those who purchased such fire insurance policies were given a plague to display on the exterior of their home. The purpose of which was to give priority to their home, in that the fire fighters who arrived knew that they would be paid to save your home from being completely destroyed by the fire in question. Those who did not purchase fire insurance were less fortunate.
Insurance companies created additional insurance policies for the purpose of insuring against the theft of ones personal property that was located within ones home and/or business. Such policies were available to those own owned or rented Real property. If you have not already guessed, insurance companies offered rewards for the recovery of such stolen property. Hence, private investigators came into being who specialized in finding such stolen property.
As a matter of fact, insurance companies, by means of their business activities, created a whole lot jobs for people who protected the safety and well being of the public. So to, many criminals were brought to justice that would otherwise continue their criminal activities.
The advancement of the legal system created a need for another type of insurance. That kind of insurance is called liability insurance. You see, those who were injured within the boundaries of another person’s property had a right to seek compensation by means of a law suit filed against that particular property owner. Such coverage is also included as part of an automobile insurance policy.
You better believe that those renters who were injured or lost personal property as a result of a fire did have some legal recourse to recover the cost of their injuries or destroyed property. Then again, rent as is clauses included within some kinds of property lease agreements were common, but the court system deemed, in some cases, such clauses do not to protect the owner against damages sustained by the renter.
To make a long story short, modern day property insurance policies usually include protection against fire, theft, injury and storms. However, damage sustained from certain kinds of natural disasters are not included within such insurance policies and the owners of Real and/or personal property must still purchase additional coverage against loss due to earthquakes, floods or damage created by a war. Then again, such coverage can, in some cases, be added to that property insurance policy, except for losses sustained by floods.
However, the Federal Government of the United States of America does insure those who purchase a National Flood Insurance Policy. The Federal Emergency Management Association will then compensate those who suffered such losses. Those flood insurance policies can be purchased through a licensed insurance broker who has been allowed to act as an agent for the Federal Government to sell such insurance coverage to the public.
So too, it is better to be safe than sorry, when assessing your need for any kind of insurance. How much can you afford to lose and never recover?