Does homeowners insurance cover bedbugs?
Homeowners insurance does not cover bedbugs. Damage caused by birds, vermin, rodents, or insects is generally not covered on a home insurance policy because many of the costs associated with detecting and exterminating them are considered to be maintenance costs by insurers. Read our homeowners insurance guide below to learn more.
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Written by
Shuman Roy
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Reviewed by
Joel Ohman
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UPDATED: Mar 10, 2021
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Homeowner’s insurance Q&A: Does homeowner’s insurance cover bedbugs?”
The national media is aggressively reporting on the wave of bedbug infestations currently ravaging households in the United States.
There must not be anything more pressing (like the economy) to talk about.
Either way, as more and more people and businesses discover they have been exposed to bedbugs, they are turning to their insurance company for help to pay the associated costs with exterminating the little buggers.
Insurance Probably Won’t Help Your Bedbug Problem
Whether the infestation in question is large or small, you can forget about filing an insurance claim with your insurance company in nearly every case.
Damage caused by birds, vermin, rodents, or insects is generally not covered on a homeowner’s insurance policy.
Many of the costs associated with detecting and exterminating them are considered to be maintenance costs (your problem) by insurers.
One of the “hidden” costs of homeownership is taking all necessary precautions to keep these pests out of your home in the first place.
This explains why you’re bombarded by pest control solicitors the very second you purchase a home, and why the ads seem to never stop.
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Insurance Is Designed to Cover One-Time Incidents
Additionally, insurance is designed to pay claims resulting from a one-time, measurable incident that leads to a financial loss…a tornado or fire for example.
The financial losses associated with infestation normally occur over an extended period of time, rather than all at once.
If perhaps, your roof was destroyed by thousands of frogs striking it as a result of a waterspout in a lake, you would likely receive insurance money.
Why? Because the event occurred at one, measurable point in time and would be considered a covered cause of loss (weather-related).
Read more: Types of homeowners insurance.