Property and Casualty Insurance: What You Need to Know

Property and casualty insurance is a category of insurance products designed to help keep your house, automobile, property and small business protected from theft, natural disasters, crashes and vandalism. AAA Insurance offers members property and casualty insurance policies across a wide spectrum of categories to help provide the right financial protection—and peace of mind.

Read on to learn what’s generally protected under property and casualty insurance, what other types of insurance are offered by AAA Insurance and how you can get a quote for coverage.

What is property and casualty insurance?

Property and casualty insurance, commonly known as P&C insurance, is a group of insurance products offered to protect your home, car, certain valuable items and small business.

P&C insurance includes home and condo insurance, renters insurance, car insurance, and business insurance. The category also includes more-specialized insurance products, such as flood insurance and umbrella insurance.

The P&C insurance policy you select will be based on a variety of factors, from where you live to the property’s value. When you take out a property and casualty insurance policy, it’s important to ensure that you have chosen coverage to help protect your financial investment in the event of a loss.

What is covered under property and casualty insurance?

Generally speaking, here are some of the items covered under the various categories of property and casualty insurance:

• Home and Condo Insurance helps protect your home for damage from fire, tornado, windstorm, hail, frozen plumbing, theft, vandalism, falling objects and explosions. You can also purchase additional coverage for things like underground service lines (sewer, water, power), home systems (air conditioning, furnaces, water heaters) and green upgrades (energy-efficient items). AAA also has information about condo insurance policies.
• Auto Insurance includes liability insurance coverage, collision coverage and comprehensive coverage.
  • Liability Coverage is the most basic and helps to cover expenses for the policyholder if they are at fault for bodily injury and property damage.
  • Comprehensive Coverage helps protect the policyholder from damage due to theft, vandalism, natural disaster, fire, falling objects and more.
  • Collision Coverage helps protect the policyholder from damage resulting from a collision with another vehicle or a pole or other object.
• Umbrella Insurance is a type of coverage that helps protect you beyond what your home insurance or auto insurance will cover. Once your coverage limit under your auto insurance or home insurance policy has been reached, your umbrella insurance benefits kick in.

You may also need extra coverage for valuable collectibles and unique items, such as musical instruments, sports cards and memorabilia, stamps, rare books, art, antiques, camera equipment, coins, and more.

Your AAA Insurance agent can help you analyze your assets to find the insurance coverage to help meet your unique needs. Your agent will also provide you with an insurance quote that includes all of the details related to your coverage.

What’s the difference between property insurance and casualty insurance?

While property insurance and casualty insurance are typically grouped together under the term P&C insurance, the category represents two distinct types of coverage based on what each one is designed to protect.

Property insurance

As the name implies, this is coverage to protect your property in the event of theft or damage. Home and condo insurance protects a dwelling’s structure from floor to ceiling as well as its integrity, so this is an example of property insurance. Home and condo insurance policies also protect some of the property inside a home, but there is a limit. This is why many people elect to purchase additional coverage through an insurance policy rider.

Casualty insurance

This covers the policyholder if they cause injury to another person or cause damage to another person’s property. Auto insurance is an example of casualty insurance. Auto insurance is protection in the event that a vehicle is damaged or there’s injury to the driver or passengers.

Why should you choose property and casualty insurance?

P&C insurance is necessary for financial protection against theft or damage to your property. It provides overarching general coverage for your dwelling or automobile.

It’s also important to remember that most lenders require you to have home insurance or condo insurance before you can take out a mortgage, and most automotive dealers require car insurance before they will complete the sale of a vehicle.

While there are many insurance providers available, members can enjoy the coverage, experience and guidance provided by AAA Insurance agents. In fact, members have consistently recommended AAA Insurance products, including renters insurance. 

Should you need to file a claim, the AAA Insurance claims site makes it as easy as possible. There, you can submit your claim online or contact a friendly, knowledgeable representative any time of day.

Other types of insurance to consider

There’s a wide range of insurance offerings. In addition to home and auto coverage, members can also take advantage of:

• Motorcycle and ATV Insurance for favorite two- and four-wheel rides.
• RV Insurance to help protect a recreational vehicle, motor home, travel trailer or camper.
• Boat Insurance for powerboats, sailboats or trailers.
• Flood Insurance to help with reimbursements for property damage, repair or replacement.

In addition, AAA Insurance offers insurance riders, also known as insurance endorsements, to complement an existing policy. These riders add additional coverage for specific assets to ensure that your needs are met. Insurance riders are not required, but in most cases they provide important coverage for you and your family.

For example, your homeowners insurance policy may cover personal property, but there will be a limit to how much will be covered. So many AAA Members elect to purchase a Personal Property rider with jewelry protection to help provide protection in the event your jewelry is lost, stolen or damaged.

Other types of insurance riders include:

• Auto Insurance Riders
  • Extra Equipment for rims, sound systems and more.
  • Loan/Lease GAP Coverage in case your car is totaled and the cost to repair or replace it exceeds the car’s value.
• Home Insurance Riders
  • Personal Property Replacement Cost to cover the full replacement value of the item.
  • Identity Theft Coverage in case you have lost income from identity theft.
  • In-Home Business Coverage to help cover business property.

Talk with your AAA Insurance agent to learn about protecting your valuable possessions with an insurance rider.

Help protect your assets with AAA property and casualty insurance

AAA Insurance agents are available to discuss your home, property and auto insurance needs. Our team is here to answer questions about existing coverage, renewing coverage or adding additional coverage to provide the best protection possible. And if you need to file a claim or obtain a quote, we can assist with that, too. Get the right protection for your property and family with AAA Insurance.