BY Anna-Kaisa Walker
illustration by clayton hanmerWhat You Should
Know About
Buying Insurance
1
Know your policy.
Don’t wait until
disaster strikes to find
out what you are and
aren’t covered for.2
Many home insur-
ance policies have
exclusions and limits.
“A standard policy may
cover water damage
from a burst pipe but
not an overland flood,”
says Pete Karageorgos,
director of consumer
and industry relations
at the Insurance Board
of Canada.3
Insurance brokers
work on commis-
sion and might even be
getting kickbacks for
selling you products. Ask
them what their com-
pensation model is—
they’re legally required
to disclose commission
rates. “If you have a con-
cern, contact the regula-
tory body in your prov-
ince,” says Karageorgos.4
Before you sign a
contract, consult
the Canadian Legal
Information Institute
(canlii.org) to see if anyreader’s digest
16 september 2019
13 THINGS