Picture this nightmare scenario – you go down into your basement to do laundry and discover your oil tank has leaked gallons of oil into your home. Then the nightmare grows as you discover that damages, along with cleaning up your house, and ground testing is not part of your insurance coverage. Shock and anger would be an understatement that it is not covered! most home insurance policies typically exclude coverage for fuel contamination to personal property, groundwater, and a neighbor’s property unless you have purchased oil remediation coverage. There are bills being discussed that would mandate coverage for damage caused by heating oil leaks. http://3b8.s3-website.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/damage-loss-claim/subsidence-damage-insurance-claim/Will-your-oil-tank-leak-be-covered-by-your-insurance.html

Since not all homes are heated by oil, home insurance policies often exclude coverage for oil contamination on personal property, groundwater, and a neighbor’s property, unless you have purchased an oil remediation rider, which is optional. Coverage usually includes: loss or damage caused to your property by sudden and accidental overflow or leakage of fuel oil from a tank, appliance, or supply pipes connected to a heating system in use cost of cleaning and decontaminating or remediating your facility liability cost for trees, shrubs and plants, including debris removal for any tree, shrub or plant that forms a part of your property’s landscaping if you have loss or damage caused by recurring leaks, fuel oil overflow, or classic negligence, you will not be covered.

Irene l. Morrill, cpcu, cic, arm, crm, lia, cris, mlis, cpiw vp technical affairs, maia based on the recent fuel oil escape catastrophe at a personal residence located in wareham, ma the “lack of coverage issue” is rearing its ugly head again. This particular fuel escape episode resulted in physical damage to and loss of use of the home as well as fuel leaking at least 7 feet underground. Property owners and politicians are again aware of the potential lack of insurance coverage for damage caused by oil spills, and legislation mandating that a homeowners policy provide coverage is under consideration.

Spills can involve homeowners who use oil as their primary source of heating. Recently, news bulletins regarding the cost of cleaning up oil spills at residences in ireland, even in city centres, pose positive proof that many private residences are still using oil fuel as their main source of heat, necessitating the use of thousands of domestic fuel oil tanks. The cost of cleaning up a spill can be immense. One domestic fuel oil spill can cost homeowners their entire life savings if proper insurance coverage is not in place or if the spill is not cleaned up properly.