Home Insurance Daily Guide

by: Christine Zafra

New Year comes (or any celebration for that matter) and so do fireworks. In fact, most households do not feel that New Year is in fact complete without lighting even a couple of fireworks. However, do you think people need to worry about getting insurance for their homes in case stray fireworks land on their porches? The truth is, some insurance policies cover bonfires and fireworks on their list. Some of them even cover third party liabilities in case someone got hurt when you lighted that firework. However, you have to read between the lines. Mentioning the word “some” means a lot. It means that not all insurance companies do cover such. You have to check with then if they do, but in case they don’t, and you don’t want to spend more on your insurance, all you can do is to stay safe.

Photo taken from http://static.howstuffworks.com

by: Christine Zafra

This is perhaps the most hilarious, not to mention unbelievable, incident that happened with regards to an insurance claim. Certain kids named Sarah and Devon Ruscoe has a home party. They indicated in their invitation that it was an “all welcome” party and they even had it announced over the radio. The problem was, there were a lot of gatecrashers—in fact, a total of 2,000 people gatecrashed the party, more than what the house could hold. Some of the parts of the house were damaged, and the parents of the children filed a claim. The insurance company said that they do not cover damages due to irresponsibility, however, if the child held a party without your knowledge, you have pretty high chances that you might be covered.

Photo taken from http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk

by: Christine Zafra

There was a flood last year in United Kingdom that ruined a lot of lives, making a lot of families miserable and homeless. Gerry Tyack, one of the founders of the Wellington Aviation Museum, felt devastated when the whole museum he built was destroyed by the flood. Although the building was not scathed, some of the memoirs in it were destroyed. The insurer of the building, NFU Mutual, paid a total of 60,000 pounds to replace everything inside. It was reported that insurance companies paid a total of 3 billion pounds for the settle claims. The losses for the uninsured totaled up to 2 billion pounds, making the homeless families live in caravans and temporary housing projects as of the moment.

Photo taken from http://www.buildingconservation.com

by: Christine Zafra

There are different kinds of home insurance policies now, giving the people the options of what will suit them best, not to mention, the budgetary constraints too. But the truth is, there is actually only one “kind” of insurance policy. This policy is actually the most basic of all policies which covers the most basic causes of home loss: fire and lighting. Some insurance companies do have add-ons that allow the insurance company to cover a much wider cause (such as burglary, earthquake etc.), but of course, the person has to pay the consequences of paying a much higher price.

Photo taken from http://realestatebuyandsell.net

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• Smoke Alarms and Sprinkler systems. Claims cause by fire calamities are indeed expensive, so usually insurance companies give out reasonable discounts if you have these systems attached permanently in your home.
• Non-smoking Household. If everyone in your home is a non-smoker, you just don’t save your lungs but also some bucks from your insurance policy.
• Organization Affiliation. Many insurance companies offer discount if you are affiliated with some organizations. These organizations ranges from fraternities and sororities to credit card unions.
• Credit Rating. Insurance companies do check your credit records. A bad credit is never good. If you have bad credit, try to find insurance company that do not check credit records.

There are quite several ways that you can save great deal of bucks from your insurance policy. Here is a short list:

• Home/Car Discount. If you insure both your home and your car with same company, you will have what they call package discount.
  Deductible. Raise the deductible to lead substantial savings.
• Security Systems for your Home. Burglar alarms and surveillance systems prevent losses to your party, therefore making your property less insurance risky. Having a security system attached to a local fire and police departments gives you most discount.
• Dead Bolt Locks. To enjoy this discount, you have to have all your doors bolted with dead bolt locks. The cost of putting these locks is far less than the discount that you will save.

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4. Never forget remodeling projects. These emerging renovations drive up the amount to rebuild your home because these projects are adding up value to it.

5. Look for other available coverage that you can add to your insurance policy. With all the calamities and disasters that come unexpectedly and happen inevitably, you would want to be sure that your current policy save you from great loss.

6. Discuss with your agent your own concerns and findings regarding your insurance policy. After you do article number five, it is necessary to review concerns and findings with your agent, he may even have offer for additional coverage that will fit your need.

Here are some tips to keep your property from being underinsured:

1. Know the type of the insurance policy for your house and understand what this policy covers. Your insurance policy should first and foremost reflect all your needs. You should understand the policy basics and make sure that your policy takes care of a wide array of perils.

2. Be updated on different building price range in your place or area. Besides the liability protection, put in mind that what you are insuring is the building structure and personal private possessions, and not land.

3. Make assessments of your property on regular basis. It is quite important that you review your needs for insuring personal properties.

The following are the five steps how to prepare and to file your insurance claim:

1. Give the insurance company an immediate notice of your insurance claim. Immediately call the agent about any damages that you think will need a claim.

2. You should document any damages on your property that you noticed or confirmed. You can use a digital or video camera to capture visual evidence of the damage. Prepare written documentation as well.

3. Repair the damage temporarily if you can. If you noticed a damage, try making immediate repairs because preventing further damage is your responsibility. If you’re buying supplies for the repairs, keep the receipts for future reimbursements.

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If you can still afford additional cost for extra property protection, there are endorsements that can be added to insurance policy that you purchased. A list of some endorsements that you can avail is given below:

• Guaranteed Replacement. This coverage pays the needed cost in rebuilding your home. Just make sure that requirements of your insurance are met.
• Extended Replacement. This coverage insures the property for some specific value. Usually, an percentage of 20% to 25% is added to the extended limit in any case that the reconstruction costs of your home run over.
• Inflation Guard. This coverage increases the cost of insurance to catch up with the inflation rate to ensure you maintain the right and adequate coverage.

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