When you buy an insurance policy, whether it’s home, car, or life insurance, you may feel overwhelmed by the paperwork. Learning to read and understand your insurance policy is essential to help you understand your coverage. While the entire policy document is important, the declarations page is the most essential.
Let’s break down the information on your policy’s declarations page so you can review your policy confidently.
What Is a Declaration Page?
We can only start talking about the declaration (DEC) page after first defining what it is. You may be wondering, what is a DEC page? An insurance policy document declaration page (or DEC page) is a conscious overview or summary of your policy, and coverage’s essential information as your insurer provides.
Make sure to distinguish the DEC page from other important insurance features like your insurance ID card, policy package, insurance bill, or certificate of insurance. They may contain some similar information, but they’re generally different. Each insurance policy (car, homeowners, renters, life insurance) will have a separate DEC page, usually located on the policy’s first page.
What Does the DEC Page Contain?
The DEC page contains important information sensitive to your insurance policy and package. Most insurers categorize the DEC page into four categories on the same page, each with specific information:
- Page introduction
- Summary
- Coverage
- Your policy documents
Page Introduction
The DEC page introduction isn’t specified as the intro, but it is by virtue of introducing the page. The intro often contains three important things:
- The name of the insurance company
- The policy number
- Policy effective date
- And other general policy information
- The order or arrangement may differ from one insurer to another
Policy Summary
The DEC page’s policy summary is right below the intro category and contains sensitive information. The contents of the policy summary may differ but include important info, such as:
- Named insured and address
- Your agent’s name and contact
- Policy number
- Policy period or duration with the start date and end date
- Property insured
- If it’s a car, this part names the drivers listed, drivers excluded, description of the vehicle(s), annual mileage, and vehicle identification number (VIN).
- If it’s a home or renters insurance, this part names the property location, type of residence and more.
Coverage and Limits
This section contains the bulk of the info on the DEC page. It’s on the middle of the DEC page and highlights important about your policy, including:
- Coverage(s)
- Limit(s)
- Premium
- Deductibles
It gives this information complete with figures and premium, or cost, associated with each coverage’s level. You’ll also see your total insurance premium, policy number, period and billing account number.
Policy Documents and Endorsements
This category provides a reference to your policy forms and endorsements. If you have more than one policy, you’ll see more than one document listed under policy documents. If you have an endorsement, or more than one, they’ll have specific forms detailing specifics of your coverage and endorsements. Those form numbers will appear on this section of the DEC page for reference.
Endnote
The DEC page is a simple summary of your entire insurance policy into a page. Look at it and ensure all information is accurate before signing the document. You should see it in front of your policy document. If you can’t find or see it, contact your insurance agent to help locate it.
[Image by Netto Figueiredo from Pixabay]
