Coverage library

Insurance lines, with the caveats attached

20 lines published. Each page states what the line is designed to protect, what it commonly covers and excludes, and the exact reason those statements are not a coverage determination.

Commercial lines

8 published lines

Commercial Auto Insurance

The coverage part that responds when a vehicle used in a business injures someone or damages their property. On the standard form it is built differently from every other commercial line: the policy does not co

Under review3 sources2 state variationsReviewed September 2, 2026

Commercial General Liability (CGL)

Commercial general liability insurance pays sums a business becomes legally obligated to pay as damages for third-party bodily injury and property damage. Whether the insurer also carries a duty to defend, and

Under review7 sources2 state variationsReviewed August 31, 2026

Commercial Property Insurance

Commercial property insurance pays for direct physical loss of or damage to a business's buildings and business personal property caused by a covered cause of loss. This page is general information about how sp

Under review6 sources2 state variationsReviewed August 31, 2026

Community association insurance (California)

The insurance program a California homeowners association buys for itself: property on the common area, general liability, crime and fidelity, and directors and officers cover for the volunteers who run it. Two

Under review7 sources1 state variationReviewed September 5, 2026

Employment practices liability

Cover for claims arising from the employment relationship: discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and the related failures the law treats as wrongs in themselves. The policy form is not public and differs by

Under review11 sources2 state variationsReviewed September 6, 2026

Surety bonds

A promise to be liable for the debt, default or failure of another. A surety bond is a three-party contract in which the surety guarantees the performance of the principal to a third party, the obligee. Califor

Under review11 sources1 state variationReviewed September 6, 2026

Surplus lines (California)

Not a line of insurance so much as a route to one. When no admitted California insurer will write a risk, a licensed surplus line broker may place it with a nonadmitted insurer instead. What changes is not the

Under review5 sources2 state variationsReviewed September 5, 2026

Workers Compensation Insurance (California)

California employers are required by statute to secure the payment of workers compensation. Labor Code section 3700 provides that every employer except the state shall secure the payment of compensation in one

Under review9 sources2 state variationsReviewed August 31, 2026
Personal lines

10 published lines

Condominium unit owners insurance (California)

The policy an individual owner buys for the part of a common interest development that is theirs, written against a boundary set by statute and by the declaration rather than by the policy. Unless the declarati

Under review9 sources1 state variationReviewed September 6, 2026

Flood insurance (National Flood Insurance Program)

Cover for direct physical loss by or from flood, written in the United States mostly on a policy form that is itself federal regulation. The Standard Flood Insurance Policy Dwelling Form is codified at 44 CFR p

Under review9 sources2 state variationsReviewed September 5, 2026

Homeowners insurance

Homeowners insurance is a package policy on a residence that combines property coverage on the dwelling, other structures, and personal property with loss of use, personal liability, and medical payments to oth

Under review10 sources6 state variationsReviewed August 31, 2026

Landlord / rental dwelling insurance

A landlord or rental dwelling policy insures a residence the owner rents to others rather than occupies. One national carrier's rental dwelling program is described as providing dwelling coverage for covered re

Under review12 sources5 state variationsReviewed August 31, 2026

Personal auto insurance (California)

The policy that responds when a private passenger vehicle injures someone, damages property, or is itself damaged. In California more of this line is written by statute than by the form: the minimum limits, the

Under review12 sources3 state variationsReviewed September 2, 2026

Renters insurance (California)

The policy a tenant buys for the half of the building the landlord does not insure. The regulator states it plainly: the landlord does not provide insurance for the tenant's personal property. A renters policy

Under review8 sources2 state variationsReviewed September 6, 2026

Residential earthquake insurance (California)

Residential earthquake insurance is bought separately from the homeowners policy, because CDI states that homeowners, renters, and condominium insurance policies do not cover damage from natural disasters such

Under review10 sources6 state variationsReviewed August 31, 2026

Scheduled personal property (California)

Cover for individually listed items that an ordinary contents limit will not fully answer. The reason it exists is a feature of homeowners policies rather than of the items: coverage on certain property especia

Under review7 sources2 state variationsReviewed September 6, 2026

Title insurance (California)

The one line here that does not answer future events. California defines title insurance as insuring, guaranteeing or indemnifying owners of property or holders of liens against loss suffered by reason of liens

Under review4 sources1 state variationReviewed September 6, 2026

Wildfire coverage and availability (California)

Wildfire is not a policy you buy. It is a peril the residential property form already covers, and the questions that actually arise are about availability rather than coverage: whether the policy will be renewe

Under review10 sources1 state variationReviewed September 6, 2026
Not yet published

The rest of the taxonomy, named rather than faked

Personal lines

  • Renters
  • Condominium unit owners
  • Personal auto
  • Personal umbrella
  • Scheduled valuables
  • Flood
  • High-net-worth programs

Commercial lines

  • Business owners package
  • Commercial auto
  • Commercial umbrella and excess
  • Cyber
  • Employment practices liability
  • Professional liability
  • Directors and officers
  • Crime
  • Inland marine
  • Builders risk
  • Surety bonds
  • Equipment

Life

  • Term life
  • Permanent life
  • Key person
  • Buy-sell funding

Health and benefits

  • Group health concepts
  • Employee benefits
  • COBRA
  • Public program explanations