Is my driveway covered by my home insurance policy?

Home insurance, as the name implies, covers policyholders in the event that their home is damaged by an insured peril. But it's really a bundle of different kinds of coverage.

The two main parts of a home insurance policy are property insurance and personal liability insurance. That property insurance component is further split up into four separate categories:

• Dwelling building
• Detached private structures (such as a detached garage)
• Personal property
• Additional living expenses

Since we're talking about driveways here, we're concerned with the dwelling building portion of the policy. As might have already suspected, this portion of your policy insures more than just the building you live in. It includes coverage for things such as:

• Dwelling and attached structures (the main house, attached garages, car ports, patios, driveways)
• Permanently attached outdoor equipment (swing sets, tree houses, sprinkler systems)
• Outdoor swimming pool and attached equipment (including hot tubs and above-ground swimming pools)
• Materials and supplies used in construction or repairs (does not cover materials and supplies used in the construction of a new home)
• Fixtures temporarily removed while undergoing repairs or in seasonal storage
• Outdoor plants

As you can see, driveways fall into the first category: dwelling and attached structures. You might not think of the driveway as a structure per se, but it is as far as your home insurance policy is concerns (to learn more about your insurance, see Breaking Down Your Homeowner's Insurance Policy, from Coverage A to Coverage E).

So, after that long winded explanation, we have our answer: yes, driveways are covered under most homeowner's insurance policies.