Am I Covered?
By: Mary Thompson, Capstone Brokerage President, October 10, 2016
Most of us are familiar with the normal type of incidences that claims arise from. We know what typical home & auto insurance policies cover. Your having home catches on fire. Covered. You’re teaching your teenage son to drive and he rear-ends the neighbor’s car. Covered. Your aunt runs into your home with her car because she is having trouble with depth perception. Covered. With the holidays and winter fast approaching there are many things to think about when it comes to your personal insurance policies. Do you know what your homeowners and automobile policy cover? Are you insured if your home floods? Are you insured if you are in an automobile accident when driving someone’s vehicle? Are you insured for unexpected events?
Accidents, while unfortunate and unexpected, do happen. But the peace of mind that comes with buying a quality insurance product and knowing it will be there to help you pick up the pieces can help ease the anxiety that is associated with these unexpected events.
It is the rare claims that are hard to understand and know your personal coverage. You know, the type of claims that you never thought would happen to you? Do you know how (or if) your insurance policy will respond? Take the test below to find out if these bizarre incidents are covered by your home and auto policies, and start building your insurance knowledge!
• You realize that you left the hose running and your neighbors get to go swimming in their new unintended pool in the backyard due to your mistake.
• The neighborhood kids decided to use your backyard as a race track. They take out the flower planters, destroy your fresh grass, and knock over the planters on your patio, ending with a broken bone for little Suzy down the street. How are you covered? Are you liable for Suzy’s injury or your damaged backyard?
• Your college student leaves the door unlocked to his dorm to come back and see that all of his personal belonging have been ransacked and stolen. Does your insurance policy cover his things?
• A power outage leaves your fridge and freezer as a rotting disaster, the night after you went shopping for the week and all your groceries are now spoiled, does your insurance policy cover you?
• You’re beautiful tree in the backyard is weighted down with freshly fallen snow, oh it is so pretty but wait the branch breaks off and comes crashing through your roof, What and how are you covered for that?
Now do you understand your insurance coverage and can you say you know how your policy will handle each of these scenarios? The answer more then likely is I am not sure, which is ok. There is a reason to have knowledgeable insurance brokers in your corner to help navigate these rare types of insurance claims. More then likely yes all of these incidences would leave you protected in some way by your current policy.
Anytime something goes wrong in your home that creates some cost for you as a homeowner it is smart to check in with your insurance agent, or policy holder. You might be surprised at what you are actually covered for. The amazing thing is if you aren’t insured for something that has happened there is a way to get coverage for almost any type of risk. So next time you decide to tackle deep-frying a turkey and it goes terribly wrong you know you will be covered.
Now, all insurance policies do have coverage gaps and exclusions, so we recommend reviewing your policy annually to ensure that it continues to meet your family’s ever-changing needs. Talk to an expert to help better understand the wording in your policy. The lingo can be confusing and often misunderstood. We recommend maintaining a relationship with your insurance agent so they can best assist you with navigating your policy coverage.
