Coverage gap visualizer
Change the toggles below to see, conceptually, how common coverage choices generally shift what's typically protected versus what's typically left as a gap — in a generic example scenario, not a personal calculation.
Adjust the toggles
Solid teal = typically protected by the coverage choice shown. Hatched amber = the portion that's typically a gap — generally the policyholder's own responsibility. Proportions are illustrative, not calculated from real premium or claims data.
How to read the three bars
Each bar in the visualizer isolates one decision you make when you buy or renew a policy. None of them is a dollar calculation; they show the direction a choice pushes your protection, so you can see why two policies with similar premiums can behave very differently after a loss.
Liability limit
Liability coverage pays for harm you cause to other people, up to the limit on your declarations page. Anything above that limit becomes your own responsibility. A serious injury claim can exceed a lower limit quickly, which is why many people look at higher limits or at umbrella insurance, which adds liability coverage on top of underlying auto, home, or renters policies. Raising a liability limit usually costs far less per dollar of protection than people expect, because most claims never approach the top of the limit.
Deductible
Your deductible is the amount you pay before coverage responds. A higher deductible generally lowers your premium, but it widens the gap you'd cover yourself on every claim. A useful gut-check is whether you could pay the deductible from savings tomorrow without borrowing. If not, the premium savings may not be worth the risk.
Valuation method
For belongings and, in some cases, buildings, a policy pays on either actual cash value or replacement cost. Actual cash value subtracts depreciation, so a five-year-old couch is paid at its used value. Replacement cost pays closer to the price of a new equivalent. The same loss can produce very different checks, and the difference is the gap this bar illustrates.
Worked example (illustrative numbers)
Imagine a kitchen fire damages $20,000 worth of belongings that are five years old. Under replacement cost coverage with a $1,000 deductible, the payout is roughly the cost to replace them new, minus $1,000. Under actual cash value, depreciation might reduce the covered value by half or more before the deductible is applied, leaving a much larger amount for the policyholder to absorb. Same event, same deductible, very different outcome, which is why the valuation method deserves as much attention as the premium.
Other places gaps hide
Beyond these three, common gaps include exclusions (flood and earthquake are typically excluded from standard homeowners and renters policies), sub-limits on categories such as jewelry or electronics, coverage waiting periods, and loan balances that exceed a vehicle's value, which gap insurance addresses. Reading your own declarations page and policy exclusions is the only way to know which apply to you.