On Twitter, a friend of mine asked if damage from bombings such as the one in Chelsea would be covered by one's homeowners or auto insurance. We've blogged before on how commercial (business) insurance policies handle terror-related claims, but this is a very different question.
For example, in this latest incident, condo and car windows were shattered, and it seems possible (likely) that there was damage to nearby residences and vehicles from the tremendous heat and flying debris. So, would these claims be covered?
As I do any time auto or homeowners insurance comes up, I turned to my P&C guru Bill M, who tells me that:
Homeowners and auto policies will include an exclusion for "war or acts of war, declared or undeclared" and the like. But terrorism isn't war, so it's likely covered by both, absent some (unusual) specific exclusion.
Which makes sense. So I asked him if that was something that we'd be seeing soon. Bill doesn't think so, as it would be against public policy, and there's also the question of "frequency of occurrence;" that is, we have a lot more tornadoes and hailstorms (for example) than bona fide terrorist actions [ed: knock wood].
As always, consult your own policy and agent for specific answers about your policy.
[Hat Tip: tsrblke]
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