Your Insurance Should Not be a Comedy of Errors

With all due respect to Flo, the Gecko and other insurance characters, insurance is so much more than just saving money and watching cute commercials that make us smile.

When the fire department is at your residence extinguishing the flames, you need to be able to talk to someone who can communicate your rights and duties with regards to your claim.  When you come home to find your pipes have burst and water is running down the walls in your home, you need to count on someone to tell you what to do next.

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article entitled "A Home-Insurance Trap". This article gives sound advice about the real importance of insurance.  Please take a moment to read it and take away at least these tips:

• Use a reputable independent agent with access to a range of insurers and coverage options.
• Ask about exclusions and wording differences across policies.
• Ask about coverage for water damage from sewer or pipe problems, and whether damage to the foundation is covered, limited or excluded.
• Ask which items will be paid at "replacement value" versus "actual cash value."

As an independent agent, my mission is to point out potential coverage gaps to you, the client.  Your job is to decide which of those gaps you want to purchase insurance for and which you want to "self-insure".  

I hope you don't have an insurance claim, but if you do, I don't want it to be a comedy of errors.  Talk seriously to your trusted advisor today.