Property insurance and casualty insurance are types of coverage that help protect the stuff you own — your home or car, for example — and also provide liability coverage to help protect you if you're found legally responsible for an accident that causes injuries to another person or damage to another person's belongings.
The phrase “property and casualty insurance” is bandied about quite a bit, especially between insurance brokers and clients discussing business insurance alternatives. However, many people still don’t know what it means.
If you’re a small business owner, it’s important to understand the various types of insurance options available to you.
Property and casualty insurance are types of coverage that protect the things you own (like your home, car, and other belongings, or even your pets). These insurances also include liability coverage. This helps protect you if you’re found legally responsible for an accident that causes injuries to another person or damages to their property.
Property and casualty insurance, or P&C insurance, is an umbrella term to describe a bunch of different types of insurance, covering your personal property and offering liability coverage. Types of P&C insurance are homeowners insurance, condo insurance, co-op insurance, HO4 insurance, liability insurance, pet insurance, and car insurance.
P&C insurance does not include other types of insurance coverage such as life insurance, health insurance, and fire insurance.
Property Insurance
Broadly speaking, property insurance refers to your personal belongings ie. stuff you own. However, depending on the type of insurance policy you hold, property insurance can be defined differently. For example, in a renters policy, your property is referred to as personal property. In the policy it’s referred to as Coverage C, and it applies to your stuff in the event of a covered loss.
Property insurance is a popular insurance policy for business owners and protects the business property in the case of vandalism and theft, covering the structure, and its contents. Another variation is pet insurance, which is surprising since pets are part of our families. But since your insurance reimburses you for the costs of your cat’s or dog’s care it’s considered property insurance as well.
TL;DR: Personal property coverage (aka contents insurance) part of any standard renters or homeowners insurance policy, helps you recover the cost of your lost or damaged stuff for a bunch of different scenarios, which we’ll dive into in the following sections.
