Loss of use coverage is very important, and it is something that is frequently overlooked when people seek out insurance. It's something they don't even know they have.

For example, if your home cannot be occupied because you've had a fire, or because the roof was blown off in a hurricane, where are you going to live in the interim? You might move in with family if you are lucky, but odds are you might have to go into a hotel for a while.

You might even have to rent a house if there was significant enough damage so that the replacement of the home is going to take months and not days. If you have loss of use coverage, the insurer will pay for your additional living expenses.

They will pay to put you up in another property, either in a rental or a hotel of some sort. If you have lost personal property, for instance your clothes, and all you have left after a fire are the clothes on your back, the insurer could issue you a check to go out and try to refurbish your wardrobe. If you depend on your computer to live your life, and you have lost your computer in the fire, they will pay to replace it.

Most essentially, "loss of use" means loss of use of the home. If I have to go somewhere else, and it's going to cost me extra money, the insurance is not only going to pay to re-build or repair your home, but it's also going to pay so that you have some place to live while the repairs or the re-building is going on.- Interview Credits, Sam Friedman, Editor-in-Chief, National Underwriter, Property & Casualty Edition/www.videojug.com