Israel Matzav

Oh joy! Now we can insure our household items against war damage

Aaron Lerner reports that the Israeli government is now offering special riders to home insurance policies that insure household effects against war damage.

Thanks to Oslo and the tremendous vision (or lack thereof) behind Ehud Barak's historic retreat from southern Lebanon, most Israelis now find themselves facing the very real possibility that in the coming years they may find them trying to get compensation from the authorities for damage resulting from a rocket attack.

It should be noted that standard insurance policies do not cover war damage and the coverage provided by the Property Tax Law is subject to considerable limitations.

The following is a translation of the official description of the option available to purchase extended coverage at a premium of 0.3%

http://www.finance.gov.il/taxes/ftaxes.htm?/itc/pistoy.htm

Those of you who are interested in the nitty gritty can go read the whole thing. When you look at the amounts covered under the Property Tax Law, keep in mind that the current exchange rate is a little more than NIS 3.60 to the dollar, so the amounts covered by the Property Tax law are a pittance.

I believe we've had a rider to our home insurance policy to cover these things for many years, but many Israelis insure only the home itself (which the banks require them to insure) and not what's inside the home.

Bottom line: If there's a war, a lot of Israelis are going to lose a lot of property for which they won't be compensated. And the poorer you are, the less likely you will have insurance or money to replace what you've lost.

Labels: household effects, property damage, war insurance

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:13 PM