Property and Casualty Insurance Coverages
Domain 3: Property and Casualty Insurance Coverages
This domain tests how policy forms respond to losses. Know the main personal and commercial forms, the insureds, covered property, exclusions, and conditions.
Core rules
- HO-3: open-peril dwelling, named-peril personal property. HO-5: open-peril dwelling and personal property. HO-2: broad named perils.
- Dwelling fire forms insure the dwelling and may add contents, rental value, and liability.
- Commercial general liability (CGL): an occurrence form covers bodily injury or property damage during the policy period, even if the claim is made later; a claims-made form responds when the claim is made, subject to a retroactive date.
- Businessowners policy (BOP): packages property and liability for eligible small businesses.
- Auto: liability pays third-party damages; collision covers the insured vehicle; comprehensive covers non-collision perils such as theft, fire, or hail.
- Exclusions matter: flood and earthquake are generally excluded; business income requires a covered cause of loss; ordinance-or-law coverage is limited.
Worked example
A CGL occurrence policy period is January 1 to December 31, 2024. The insured's defective work causes bodily injury in November 2024, but the claim is filed in 2025. The occurrence policy responds because the injury occurred during the policy period. A claims-made policy would respond only if the claim were made during its policy period and after any retroactive date.
Traps
Assuming HO-3 personal property is open peril; applying a claims-made trigger to an occurrence policy; treating flood as covered under a standard property policy; overlooking additional insured endorsements; and confusing the 'your work' exclusion with products-completed operations coverage.