Covered peril

The event a policy insures against. Insurance does not cover cleanup as a category — it covers damage caused by a covered peril and then pays to put the property back. Ask your adjuster which peril your claim is being assessed under.

What kind of thing this is

Covered peril is an insurance concept in this field. This definition comes from a standards body or an industry institution rather than from government. That makes it authoritative about practice and silent about legal obligation — a distinction worth keeping when a company cites it.

Where you will meet it

You will hear this from an adjuster, and it usually decides the answer rather than describing it. Getting the term right is how you ask a question the adjuster can actually answer.

Why the wording matters

This site defines terms in under forty words wherever it can, and attaches the practical consequence rather than leaving it implied. A definition that tells you what something is, without telling you what follows from it, is trivia at a moment when nobody has room for trivia.