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I just saw an ad on Facebook for Comet http://www.comethome.com They are advertising liability and loss of income insurance for short-term rentals. The innovation seems to be that it is month-to-month and the premium depends on the occupancy. The example quotes seem reasonable too.
Has anyone tried them? Have you worked through a claim? What was your experience? It sounds a little bit too good to be true, so I would love to hear some actual experiences.
Hope they are good! The market is ripe for some innovative insurance company to jump in with an affordable product for STR! Would they work hand in hand with your homeowners insurance?
I have no idea @konacoconutz I was hoping someone could tell us their experience. I have been a little afraid to call my insurance company because I donât want to get cancelled
Me too!!! Thanks to this forum I have heard horror stories about State Farm and others just canceling you for just breathing the word AIR. I will look into them! I love the changing premium due to occupancy⌠Why pay during the summer when this area goes dead?
This is why you should always make your inquiry of them as a potential customer looking for insurance as opposed to inquiring as a current customer.
That is brilliant @felixcat! Thank you
Ah, very clever @felixcat!
@Manoahost @konacoconutz
I actually saw this post when googling for Cometâs website (I never remember it), so I thought Iâd jump in here. Iâve been using Comet since the beginning of the year, and itâs been working out really great for me. I havenât had to make a claim yet (thank the lord!), and from my 5 months of working with them, theyâve been great!
Their customer service has been superb from the beginning, and would always reply to my emails within a few hours. Turning the insurance on/off is easy too - I just email my Comet agent âTurn on my insuranceâ(literally), and I get back a reply within a few hours telling me my insurance has been turned on for the month (same with turning it off).
I canât find Comet here in the UK!
I rent out three rooms in my house pretty much full-time, so I wouldnât need to turn this kind of insurance on and off. I know Airbnb offers its own liability insurance, so do I need. Comet as well?
Air states in their FAQs that you should not look at their coverages as a replacement for standard homeowners. I have answered this question at least three times in the past 24 hours so it is clear that hosts donât realize this is the case.
Dear K and others,
I may not have made myself clear. I have a regular homeowners policy as the owner of my home, but Iâm wondering if I need an additional policy for liability to cover potential guestsâ injuries.
The answer is YES. Because if your homeowners insurance company finds out you are doing Air, they WILL cancel you. You will not only not be covered if there is an incident, they will cancel you. (Also, members here have told us their companies canceled them immediately when they called to enquire about doing Air, which they consider to be a commercial activity, and therefore not covered.)
Airâs coverage is a back up, and should not be substituted for your regular insurance. So âŚwhat you, and all of us hosting need to do, is purchase short term rental insurance from a company like Comet, as a supplement to our regular homeowners insurance. Donât leave it to chance!
I believe Kona is right. Homeowners doesnât cover you for running a short-term guest hosting service out of your home. It would be like if you decided to sell cookies out of your home. If one of your workers or customers had an accident, it wouldnât be covered by your homeowners because it was a business activity, not a normal residential occupancy.
Iâm sorry to be a pest, but Iâm still not sure. If I have a homeowners policy AND Airbnb offers $1M indemnity for guestsâ claims, do I still need anything else? Has anyone ever submitted an indemnification claim to Airbnb and did they cover it?
According to this⌠you donât. But I wouldnât leave it up to chance, and it doesnât cover everything. Read more here: https://www.airbnb.com/host-protection-insurance
I would also be interested to hear about anyone who made a claim on this and whether the claiming process is as much of a headache as the damage claim one is.
I would never discuss it with your current homeownersâ insurance. They have cancelled hosts for even ASKING! I would say if you have the homeownersâ insurance, plus this and plus comet you can consider yourself well covered.
I use www.homeprotect.co.uk
They cater for holiday homes, Airbnb, b&bs ect
It costs a bit more than regular home insurance, but is worth it and a necessity.
I have two properties on Airbnb, and Flipkey. I just signed up with Comet after reading horror stories about hosts getting cancelled by their regular ins co when they tried to make a claim. Also read on Airbnb forum that thier âMillion Dollarâ host protection policy is more of a marketing tool, and they donât really make it easy to put in a claim. It was super easy to sign up online, and I think the premium is pretty reasonable, bearing in mind what could happen without any coverage. I rent both of my properties 12 months out of the year so I wonât be using the âon/offâ feature. Would be great, though, if you have a need for it.
READ THE EXCLUSIONS: https://www.comethome.com/comet-insurance
Rental Periods of one year or more. The insurance does not apply to any loss resulting from rental periods of one year or more.
Americans with Disability Act Violations. The insurance does not apply to bodily injury resulting from a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act or any similar state, local or common law.
Fire or Life Safety Violations. The insurance does not apply to bodily injury resulting from any applicable federal, state, local, or common law regulating fire or life safety.
Bed Bugs. The insurance does not apply to any bodily injury or property damage resulting from bed bugs.
Assault and Battery. The insurance does not apply to any bodily injury or property damage resulting from any assault or battery.
Defamation of Character. The insurance does not apply to bodily injury resulting from defamation of character.
Focus on #2: Does this mean if your property is not up to code with ADA, then coverage could be void? Is your rental wheel chair accessible?
Focus on #3: Does this mean if your property is not up to code with fire and safety requirements like a hotel, then coverage is void? Does your rental have fire extinguishers, and two means of egress from a second floor?
Focus on #5: Does this mean if your guest gets rowdy and assaults your neighbor, and your neighbor sues you, then coverage is void?
Iâve never seen these exclusions on a commercial general liability policy before. Plus, itâs expensive. Replace your current homeownerâs or condo policy with a true commercial policy. Proper Insurance has none of the above exclusions, and is $250 annually for a two bedroom property.
www.proper.insure
Depending on your SF coverage they do cover âoccasionalâ short rentals, with not specific period for âoccasionalâ defined. We actually got loss of income (for cancelled ABB reservations) last year when we had a leak from the unit above ours. I spoke to our agent yesterday about our primary residence, and she confirmed we are covered for âoccasionalâ. We are not covered at all on our 2nd home, bc we rent it more than âoccasionallyâ. I need to follow up with Comet, about this.