Does homeowners insurance cover theft from outside the home?

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Personal property stolen outside your home or even off of the property is covered by home insurance. For any theft claim, you will need to file a police report and pay your deductible.

If your property is stolen off premises, such as from your car or from a hotel room, the insurance company will limit coverage to 10% of your personal property coverage limit.

Special limits on some types of personal property, such as jewelry, still apply to theft outside of your house.

Key Takeaways

Personal property is covered by your homeowners insurance anywhere in the world, not just in your house.
Coverage for personal property off premises is limited to 10% of your personal property coverage.
To file a theft claim, you will need to file a police report, regardless of where the theft happened.

Does homeowners insurance cover theft off of the premises?

A standard home insurance policy covers theft of your personal property anywhere in the world. That includes theft from:

A vehicle
A hotel
A restaurant or retail location
Your office
Your college student’s dorm room
A gym

As long as it’s your personal property, it will be covered pretty much anywhere.

When won’t homeowners insurance cover theft outside the home?

Homeowners insurance won’t cover theft outside of your home you don’t file a police report for the theft. A police report is a requirement to prove that a crime was reported. Because home insurance doesn’t cover items you lose, the police report serves as evidence that it was, in fact, stolen.

Home insurance won’t cover any theft that exceeds the policy limits and doesn’t cover losses that are below the deductible.

Also, it’s important to note what isn’t considered personal property for home insurance purposes and is therefore not covered, such as:

Cars
Trailers
Watercraft (with some exceptions)
Motorcycles

Most of these things are not covered either off or on the premises, and need their own insurance policy.

How much does homeowners insurance cover for theft?

Most homeowners insurance policies provide actual cash value coverage for personal property, unless you have added a replacement cost endorsement. At actual cash value, items are covered for the replacement cost minus depreciation. With a replacement cost endorsement, depreciation is not taken into account.

Personal property off premises is covered at 10% of your total personal property coverage limit. All special limits for certain types of property will apply, so if you have high-value items make sure they are covered with a floater or endorsement.

Scheduled personal property coverage

A scheduled personal property endorsement or floater to your coverage extends coverage for certain items beyond the limits on the policy. You can extend the overall limit, for example to increase jewelry coverage to $10,000 for all items, or you can insure a single, high-value item.

Scheduled personal property coverage, unlike standard homeowners, also extends to “mysterious disappearance” of items, which means you are covered even if you simply lost it.

If a theft occurs outside of your home, you can rest assured that you’ll be able to recoup some of the lost money with homeowners insurance. Before signing up for a homeowners insurance policy, make sure it includes off-premises coverage so that you are financially protected.

Frequently asked questions

Is a garage covered under a homeowners insurance policy?

Yes. Theft from a detached structure, like a garage, is covered by a homeowners insurance policy. Your garage is considered a part of the premises.

Does renters insurance cover theft from a garage?

Yes. Like homeowners insurance, renters insurance covers theft from a garage.

Nupur Gambhir

Managing Editor

Nupur is a licensed life, health, and disability insurance agent and an auto and home insurance expert. She has written extensively on insurance topics for QuinStreet’s CarInsurance.com, Insurance.com and Insure.com as well as for Bloomberg News, Forbes Advisor, CNET, Fortune, Slate, Real Simple, Lifehacker and The Financial Gym.