So, here’s a great hypothetical for you: what happens if a meteor hits your house? What about an asteroid? Or what about a satellite that makes the life-changing decision that its true fate is no longer to be in space but to crash-land down to earth? Because, you know, stuff that’s meant to be in space (asteroids, meteors, and satellites, for example) don’t always stay in space. Sometimes they decide to, you know, relocate to earth. On top of your house. Because clearly, that’s a great place for it to be. Anyways – back to the question at hand: does home insurance cover a meteor, asteroid, or satellite if it crashes through your roof? Let’s explore that.
Does home insurance cover an asteroid?
First of all, here’s some science for you:
Asteroids are big chunks of rocks in space orbiting the sun. A meteor is a small part of an asteroid that breaks off and enters the Earth’s atmosphere. And a meteorite is a piece of a meteor that survives its trip through Earth’s atmosphere and crashes to Earth.
Okay. Science concluded. Back to insurance.
So, sometimes, as we said, asteroids don’t always stay in space. (Although it’s a very rare – though catastrophic – occurrence.) An asteroid could end up gleefully zooming to earth to cause mayhem. And if that asteroid decides that your house looks great for target practice and crashes into the roof, you could be in a bit of trouble. After the moment of disbelief wears off, that is. Will the damage to your house be covered?
The answer is yes, typically you should be covered for that rogue asteroid. That’s because home insurance typically covers falling objects. And an asteroid is, well, a falling object if it crashes to Earth. So, therefore yes, your home insurance generally covers irritating and inconsiderate asteroids that crash-land into your house.
And you know, it also covers falling trees and stuff. But asteroids are way more exciting.
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Does home insurance cover meteors?
So, the same sort of situation applies: home insurance generally would cover a meteor if it fell and smashed into your roof. Out of the sky. Because that happens.
Anyways, once again, meteors are indeed falling objects. And as such, they are generally covered by home insurance.
(Here’s the thing – meteors in the sky? Beautiful. Pretty. Cool. Amazing. Meteors falling to Earth and smashing a house? Not cool. But typically covered by home insurance.)
Are falling satellites covered by home insurance?
Satellites are great, right? They do so much, but they just chill out in the sky, out of sight of humans but still consistently there, orbiting the Earth and helping us do so many neat things.
Well, usually they do that, anyway. Sometimes they also fall out of the sky and, you know, decide to hurtle back down to Earth.
Yes, just like asteroids and meteors, satellites falling out of the sky and onto your house are generally covered by your home insurance.
So, if you ever encounter an unfortunate situation in which something space-related falls on your house (i.e. an asteroid, meteor, or satellite) you’re probably covered by home insurance. You have to admit, that would make a way better story than your house being hit by a falling tree, right?
What if a meteor hits my car? Am I covered?
So, here’s the thing with car insurance:
Liability insurance only covers your legal obligation to the other driver if you’re in an accident. It helps cover things like the other driver’s medical bills and pain and suffering (bodily injury liability). It also helps cover property damage, like the repairs to the other driver’s car. It can help you cover your legal expenses if you get sued, too.
If you only have liability coverage, no, your car would not be covered for that meteor.
However, if you have comprehensive coverage, yes, you could be covered for falling objects – including meteors. Comprehensive coverage protects your car against losses like fire, theft, vandalism, animal strikes, and meteors. (Or trees.) It doesn’t cover damage related to collisions – that’s what collision coverage does. Anyways, collision and comprehensive coverage are meant to help you repair or replace your car if it gets damaged by a covered loss.
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Source:
https://www.iii.org/article/asteroids-meteors-and-falling-satellites-are-they-covered-insurance