The collapse of a structure, such as your roof, due to the weight of ice or snow is often covered under a standard home insurance policy. However, some nonstandard policies, such as the HO2 form do not have coverage for the weight of ice and snow, and therefore, that risk would not be covered. The best thing to do is to review your policy. Check to see what the policy states about covered perils. Contact your insurance agent about purchasing a policy that would protect you from the weight of ice and snow.

Typically, fallen trees are not covered unless it has fallen on your house or driveway. It will cover damage to your fence, roof, troughs, windows, porches and outbuildings. However, debris removal from your yard, in the absence of physical property damage, will generally be at your own expense.

It depends on your policy. You would need to contact your agent to review your policy coverage.

Only if your neighbor was negligent would their policy pay for your damage. If the damage is from an act of nature, then the neighbor is not liable, and you would need to file the loss with your insurance company or agent.

No. The homeowner’s policy pays for damage to the home and for liability when an insured is negligent. In this case, you would need to file the claim with your auto insurance carrier to have the vehicle repaired. If you only had liability coverage, then you would be out of pocket for repairs or replacing the vehicle. If a neighbor was cutting down a tree and it hit your car, or they did not remove a dead tree after being told to do so in writing by neighbors or the city, then your car would be covered under their policy because of their negligence.

No. This would be a collision claim and an at fault claim for insurance coverage reasons.

It depends on what the actual cause of the leak is determined to be. If the leak was caused by wear and tear or improper maintenance, it may not be covered. Remember, damage caused suddenly and accidentally is the damage that your homeowner’s policy covers.  If the snow only uncovered preexisting damage, your policy may not cover the damage.

As long as the power outage was caused on your premises, the homeowner’s insurance generally pays for food spoilage. If the outage occurred away from the policyholder’s property, there could be a coverage issue. Again, talk with your agent to verify how this scenario would affect you. Finally, take pictures and keep a detailed list of the food items you had to throw away and share it with your adjuster. This will assist the adjuster in assessing the loss. 

In the event of a covered loss, like fire, and your house is uninhabitable during repairs, unsafe living conditions or loss of utilities, temporary lodging costs are often covered. However, homeowner’s insurance policies generally wouldn’t pay for additional living expenses such as a hotel room simply because of an off-premises power outage. You would have to have a direct/physical on-premises loss before most insurance carriers would consider Additional Living Expenses (ALE) reimbursements for hotel stays. We would encourage you to contact your insurance agent to determine if your policy would provide ALE for your particular situation.