 While nothing can truly prepare you for what so many have gone through, you can take action now to protect your home, car, boat, and any other insured property with insurance. This way, if disaster strikes, you can quickly act to file a claim and get the money you need to begin rebuilding your home and your life.
Take these simple actions right now. Less than an hour of effort today can help you feel less alone when dealing with the aftermath of a natural disaster. Make sure you have the right insurance coverage. Carefully review your existing policy and talk to one of our insurance agents about what you might need to add. While additional coverage costs more, it can be well worth it if the odds of a disaster in your area are high. Save enough money to cover the deductible. If you opted for a higher deductible to lower the cost of your insurance premiums, you’re not alone. But you can avoid going into debt should you need to file a claim by saving enough cash to cover your full deductible. Keep this money in a savings account separate from the checking account you use to pay for monthly expenses. This way, it’s harder to be tempted to spend it for non-emergencies, but the money is easily available when you need it. Many online banks have easy-to-use websites and offer higher interest rates than brick-and-mortar banks. You might choose to forgo some insurance coverage (i.e., for flooding) to save money on your policy as well. Beef up your emergency savings, because you’ll want the money available if you need to pay for repairs after damage to your home that your policy doesn’t cover. Whatever you do, just be aware of everything your policy covers so you’re not caught by surprise if a natural disaster occurs. Photograph everything and secure important documents Take pictures of your home, car, boat, and any other insured property. Save these pictures, along with scanned copies of other important documents (like the deed to your home, or receipts for major purchases), to a password-protected account on the cloud. Don’t rely only on external hard drives to store copies of these important files! They can also be damaged or lost during a natural disaster. Share your important documents with a trusted person. Give a trusted friend or family member access to your documents and photos that are saved to the cloud. Ideally this person will live in a different city, so they won’t be simultaneously affected by the same natural disaster that damaged your home. This way, while you deal with the aftermath, you know that you or someone you trust will be able to access all of these important documents. Their help might be necessary when filing an insurance claim. What’s the best tip on the “Prepare Well in Advance” list? Contact our agency for a no-obligation quote on all your insurance needs.
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 Insuring a vacation home
Vacation homes present special risks, so consider premium costs before you buy Like any residence, your vacation home needs to be insured—but because the risks are different, the coverage might cost more than your primary homeowners policy. Before you leap into second-home ownership, consider the factors that will likely affect the price you’ll need to pay for insuring it. Second homes provide a respite from weekday life and may even be a good investment. They also, however, present more of an insurance risk than your primary residence—the fact that you don’t not physically occupy your second home as frequently puts it in more danger for theft, vandalism and easily undetected damage, like burst water pipes. Key factors that impact vacation home insurance costs While the homeowner’s policy for your second home will provide the same types of coverage as your primary homeowner’s policy, the following factors will likely impact your insurance costs:
There are steps that you can take to help make the cost of insurance more affordable.
 Watch and Learn: Want more tips to save time and get the most from your auto coverage? Test-drive our video, “The I’s on Insurance: The Claim Game—Auto Insurance.”
We have great rates for all types of vehicles and drivers. Has it been over three years since you compared your coverages and rates? Our agency uses the most state-of-the-art software to make sure you get all the discounts you deserve while comparing with all the many companies we have available for you. Call us at your convenience and let us see how much money we can save you on your insurance. Our agency is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider but brings the clients the best deals from many different insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place. So, let us do the searching for you for free! Call our office for a Quick Quote and visit our website for more information. 
 To decide how much coverage and policy limits you need, you’ll need to understand the importance of replacement costs vs. actual costs:
As you shop for a quote, our agent will ask for some basic information about your house, such as:
 Insurance Checklist before Disaster Strikes!
1. Verify your home is insured for its current value. The biggest risk you may face if your home suffers major damage during a severe storm or tornado is being underinsured. With changing costs of construction materials and labor, home insurance reconstruction costs have increased over the years. Some policies include guaranteed replacement cost, but the limit may be capped. Inquire about policy endorsements available to you to guarantee you are fully covered in a major loss. 2. Find out what kind of home insurance policy you have. Do you have an All Risk or Open Perils policy to ensure the maximum protection for your home and personal property? 3. Find out if you have a specific deductible in the event of a tornado or windstorm. Higher risk areas may impose higher deductibles. 4. Understand the claims process before you have to make a claim. Find out what the basis of claims payment will be. Do you have Replacement Cost, Actual Cash Value (ACV) or a Replacement Value with Cash Out Option? Cash Out options are less common and only available for high-end insurance policies. 5. Does your policy have any special limits or policy features? You may want to purchase additional protection for valuable items, such as jewelry or collections. 6. Prepare an inventory of the contents in your home, including contents in additional structures like tool or garden sheds. Take video while you walk around your property or take photos and store these in a safe place, ideally with copies off-site or in the possession of someone you can trust. 7. Find out what kind of coverage you have if there is a power failure. 8. Find out what your limit is for Additional Living Expenses (ALE) and how you can expect the coverage to work. During a devastating loss, like damage to your home from a major windstorm or tornado, you may not be able to live in your home while repairs are done in the area, or to your property. This coverage will be vital in major losses. Homeowners who have a mortgage will still be expected to pay that loan back while the home is being rebuilt. Additional living expenses cover the increased cost of living due to the displacement, and this includes that extra rent you will have to pay for your temporary home or the higher costs of food if you have to eat out because you don’t have a kitchen to make your meals in for a while. 9. Make sure your car insurance includes comprehensive coverage, for damage such as hail, falling objects and windstorms. Vehicles are at risk to all kinds of damage in storms. 10. Ask if you have coverage for a rental car if your car needs repairs. It’s nice to have insurance coverage that replaces or repairs the vehicle, but the time you spend without a car while you wait to get your vehicle back can be challenging. If you need your car during that time, it could cost you a lot of money to rent one. Coverage for a rental loaner, while your car is repaired, is not expensive to add to your policy. 11. If you have a vehicle in “storage” make sure you haven’t forgotten about coverage (or deleted coverage) while it’s in storage. Liability coverage will not protect your car from physical damage that often occurs during storms and tornadoes. 12. If you sustain storm damage, contact your insurer as soon as possible and start the claims filing process. After tornadoes and other disasters, insurance companies will reach out to those with the worst losses first. 13. Do you have flood insurance? The risk of flood is substantial and it’s constantly and rapidly changing. Currently, only about 6% of the U.S. population is insured for the perils of flood. Choosing flood insurance used to be a relatively simple decision. Property owners had two options: no insurance or one-size-fits-all, government-issued insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Now, there are more choices. Private flood insurance is growing more robust, bringing new and relevant options that were never available before, such as coverage for additional living expenses, enhanced basement coverage and increased limits for various risk classes. 14. Our agency welcomes the opportunity to go over this checklist with you even if you are insured elsewhere. Don't wait until it's too late. Call us today. |
Insurance TipsGreat tips on protecting your family and possessions Archives
August 2022
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Eddie K. Emmett
200 Russell Court Canton, GA 30115 |
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