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IMPROVEMENTS AND BETTERMENTS - Additions or changes to a rented premises by a tenant at his own expense. Also called Tenant's Improvements.
INCENDIARY - Malicious setting on fire or preparing, providing and setting the means for fire to start.
INCEPTION - The date and time on which coverage under an insurance policy takes effect.
INCIDENT - An event which, under different circumstances, could have resulted in harm to people, damage to property or equipment, or loss of process or productivity – for example, almost hitting a pedestrian with a car, or a slip and fall that does not result in an injury. Sometimes an incident is referred to as a “near miss.”
INDEMNIFY - To compensate the insured person for a loss, in whole or in part, by payment, repair, or replacement.
INDEMNITY - A contract, express or implied, to repay in the event of a loss. Insured neither gains nor loses.
INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL LOSS - Loss resulting from a peril, but not caused directly or immediately by the peril. For example, loss of property due to fire is a direct loss, while the loss of rental income as the result of the fire would be an indirect loss.
IN FORCE - Insurance policy which is in effect, and has not expired or been cancelled.
INHERENT EXPLOSION - An explosion caused by the normal processes of a risk as opposed to one caused by external causes, e.g., a dust explosion in a grain elevator.
INHERENT VICE - The quality that something has to deteriorate or damage itself without outside help, e.g., milk sours; coal combusts spontaneously.
INLAND MARINE INSURANCE - Coverage for movable property in transit, excluding ocean crossing; includes bridges and tunnels, because they are implements of transportation.
INSPECTION - Independent checking of facts about an applicant or claimant, usually by a commercial inspection agency.
INSPECTOR - An insurance company employee who examines physical risks and reports on them for underwriting purposes. In some companies this is done by the Special Agent or Field Representative.
INSURABLE INTEREST - An interest which the insured must have in the subject matter of the insurance he buys so that if the event insured against occurs, the insured will suffer a pecuniary loss.
INSURANCE - A contract between an insurance company and its customer for a specific period of time. It protects the customer financially against a loss. Insurance is also a mechanism for dispersing risk, because it shares the losses of the few among the many.
INSURANCE POLICY - A written contract of insurance.
INSURED - The entity (individual or otherwise) whose risk of financial loss from an insured peril is protected by the insurance policy.
INSURER - The company providing the insurance coverage.
INSURING CLAUSE - Describes the intent of the policy, just what insurance coverage is provided by the policy and in what limits.
