Greetings to all!
With the recent outbreak of major fires in the Southern California area and the significant loss of property, we would like to deter from the subject of business insurance in this newsletter and focus on some of the more important items you should be aware of on your homeowners policy. Many of us, myself included, tend to not review our homeowner policies in detail. And unfortunately, many personal lines agents don’t take the time to call you or sit with you, and go over the details of your policy. Here are some important items you should be looking for: • Replacement cost limits – Insurance companies will determine the replacement cost value of your home by putting your information into their replacement cost calculators. Different insurance companies use different calculators and come up with different values. Sometimes these replacement costs differ from one company to another and therefore, there is a considerable difference in price and coverage. In addition, even if the insurance company comes up with a replacement cost value, IT IS NOT NECESSARILY A GUARANTEED REPLACEMENT COST. This means that if their replacement cost calculation was incorrect, they are only obligated to pay that limit. However, most companies do provide an Extended Replacement Cost percentage on their policy. This would “extend” or increase the replacement cost value by a certain percentage ie: 125%, 150% and even 200%. Of course the percentage is set by the insurance company, and again it can vary from one insurance company to another. • Policy forms and enhancements – There are many different policy forms and enhancements that each insurance company offers on their homeowners policies. Some of these enhancements increase coverages such as; loss of use and the limits for items like jewelry, money, coins, etc.. at little additional expense. For you collectors, with items at higher values, including fine art, guns, high-end furniture and expensive jewelry, you will still need to schedule or itemized them on your policy. • Scheduled items – As mentioned above, there are restricted limits on what an insurance company will pay for on loss of high valued items. Expensive jewelry, furs, fine art, stamp & coin collections, firearms, musical instruments and high-quality cameras are just some of the things you may need to schedule on your policy, to make sure you will be paid for the full value. Again, this will vary with each company. Example: Nationwide only requires items to be scheduled for theft claims only, in order to be fully covered. However, if your house burnt down, you are fully covered on these items even if they were not scheduled for fire. Some other companies would not cover such a claim and require those items to be scheduled separately for each type of loss. • Ordinance of Law – This is always an important coverage in a total loss, especially for older homes. Most companies automatically include this in their policies, yet again, the amount of coverage may vary from one company to another and would depend on which enhancements you get. • Liability limit – Personal Umbrella! Personal Umbrella! Personal Umbrella! We can’t state this one enough. We have all worked hard for many years and our net worth has gone up. Personal Umbrella protection is very inexpensive and jury awards are going up, up, up, especially in Southern California. It is very important to look at having personal umbrella coverage protection. Take the time and insist that your agent review all your policies and coverages with you in detail – that’s what we get paid to do. If you are not receiving the service you deserve and are paying for...remember, at RKM Insurance Agency we offer personal lines insurance coverage and are happy to review your current policy with you in detail. Thank you again for your continued business and placing your trust in us and we wish everyone an enjoyable holiday season.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
RKM Insurance AGENCY
Keep up-to-date with the current trends. Categories
All
|