We’ve talked about risk and we’ve talked about kinds of insurance policies, in terms of the coverage they provide. Now think of the things that you or your home or auto may be exposed to that could cause a loss, also known as a peril. This will help you understand and determine your need for each of the coverages.

Automobiles can be damaged by collision, vandalism, hail or you could cause personal injury to yourself, a passenger or to another driver’s car and the driver too.

Your home could burn, be burglarized, hit by lightning or your dog could bite the mailperson causing personal injury.

We won’t go into a great amount of additional detail here, but in each section covering the individual types of insurance policies there will be a discussion of the coverages that are typically provided for each.