Water Damage Claims

Water damage is one of the most common reasons people make claims on their home insurance. Ruptured pipes, faulty appliances and backed-up drains often lead policyholders to inspect their homeowner policy wording carefully.

Water damage coverage in the homeowner insurance policy is a confusing subject. Usually, the damage caused by water will be covered, but the item causing the loss, such as a leaky pipe or broken appliance hose, will not be covered. While your insurance company will pay for the damaged flooring from a ruptured appliance hose, it will be the policyholder’s responsibility to replace the bad hose. Parts and appliances wear out and it is not the intent of an insurance policy to cover wear and tear.
Flood, which occurs when a nearby tributary or body of water breaches its banks and flows into your home, is not covered under homeowner insurance. You must purchase flood insurance for that. You can purchase flood insurance as long as your community participates in the National Flood Insurance Program.

Radio Frequency Indetification Thefts

Credit cards are gradually moving away from the swipe and process cards to the wireless transfer of financial data. This make shopping lines move quicker but it does create a new kind of theft. The technology is called Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). All you do is hold a card near a RFID scanner and the data is transferred. The problem with this is that computer savvy criminals can create scanners that steal your financial data right off your credit card, even if it is still in your wallet. Credit card companies are becoming aware of this issue and have worked to solve the problem with on off switches on the card that are triggered when a finger presses the chip that is imbedded in the card. One other way to prevent scanning theft is to purchase a RFID protected wallet. For example the HuMn Wallet has material that doesn’t allow RFID scanners to scan cards in the wallet.
So be sure to take precaution if your new credit card has the RFID chip imbedded inside. Ask if you can have a card that has the on/off switch and if not look into purchasing a RFID protected wallet.

Scheduling Special Items

Back in July we posted an article about special limits on homeowner policies for things such as guns, jewelry, coins, cash, silver and furs.  In the wake of a string of burglaries in our area (burglaries that are only focused on taking cash, coins and jewelry), we felt it was important to remind people of the homeowner limitations on these items.  It differs per policy and per item but usually there is only about $1000 to $2500 of coverage given on the homeowners for things such as guns, jewelry, coins, cash, silver and furs.  If you own more than that limitation in any of the mentioned categories you should schedule the items on a special policy.  Feel free to contact Fey Insurance to make sure you have things appropriately covered.

On a side note, the current criminals who have been robbing homes in the area are first placing calls asking if you have a security alarm.  As soon as you answer no they hang up and then know your home is unprotected.  Be sure to never answer no to such questions over the phone to a random phone call.

Is Identity Theft Coverage For You?

Consulting firm Javelin Strategies and Research reports more than 11 million people are affected by identity theft each year, at a cost of $54 billion to the victims. In trying to deal with this threat, the insurance industry has developed products to help a policyholder recover from this kind of loss. The monetary loss is not the only issue with identity theft. A victim can spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours trying to clean up credit records due to the thief using personal information to obtain credit with no intention of repayment, thus destroying the victim’s financial reputation. Identity theft insurance protection is designed to help you with this problem by covering expenses and sometimes professional services, that will help the victim recover from this type of loss.

Even with coverage provided, following simple steps can help protect you from this threat:

Shredding documents. Anything that contains sensitive information absolutely must be destroyed. There are specific documents that must always find their way to the shredder.
Old Tax Returns. Unless the IRS suspects you of fraud in your tax filings, you are usually only exposed to the threat of an audit for three years at a time. The National Endowment for Financial Education advises you to keep three to four years of tax returns, and shred anything older. Your tax return contains sensitive information, primarily social security numbers.
Bank Statements. Anything with bank account numbers should be shredded, including paper bank statements.
Credit Card Offers. These offers should go from the mailbox directly to the shredder, unless you are actually going to take the bank up on its offer. A lot of identity theft happens within families, so don’t leave these offers lying around.
Old Photo IDs. These IDs contain information, which by itself is probably not enough to be damaging, but used with other information could help perpetrate a fraud.

Pay Stubs. Absolutely shred your pay stubs. Some financial institutions will ask you the amount of your last deposit to use as a validation. A past pay stub can give that information.
Credit Card Convenience Checks. The most dangerous thing you can receive in your mailbox are convenience checks often sent with your credit card bill. These represent a live loan to whoever holds this check. Shred these immediately.
Canceled Checks. Canceled checks contain not only your account and routing numbers, but also your address and possibly your phone number. People often include their full account or credit card number in the memo section when paying with a check. Do your duplicate checks display your account and routing numbers? Don’t overlook these carbon copies.

Preparing for Winter

Wintertime and winter weather can be tremendous fun, but cold and snow can also pose danger. Slippery roads, downed power lines and limbs, and freezing cold temperatures all bring an added measure of suspense to our daily activities. There are simple steps you can take that will take the chill off your wintertime experience.

In your car. It is not enough to throw a safety kit, including emergency equipment such as blankets, candles, a shovel and traction aids into the trunk of your car and think that you are ready for operating your vehicle in inclement weather. The single most important thing we can do while driving in severe winter conditions is to slow down. A safe speed for conditions might be well under the posted speed limit. Triple the normal driving distance between you and the car in front of you. If your vehicle begins to slip, immediately take your foot off the accelerator and steer gently in the direction you want the car to go.

If your car gets stuck, clear the snow in front of and behind your tires and spread sand, kitty litter or traction mats in the front and back of your tires. Gently accelerate until you feel the tires begin to spin. Put the car in reverse and back up slowly until stopped by the snow. Rock forward again using a low, steady speed.

At home. Have your heating system inspected to make sure it is working properly. If you have an alternative heating source, it should be UL approved and inspected before using.

Good insulation will also help if power is lost. Check for possible air leaks around doors and windows. Seal electrical outlets and switches on outside walls. Stock up on easy to prepare food, first aid supplies, batteries, flashlights and a battery-operated radio.

If you do get snowed in at home and the situation isn’t dire, just relax and preserve heat by hanging blankets over windows and doors. If you use a supplemental heating device, make sure it is UL approved, in good operating condition and maintaining safe distance from flammable items.

Outside. Make sure to remove garden hoses from outside faucets. Hopefully, you remembered to clean your gutters of leaves and debris. Better yet, install gutter guards. These can help keep snow and ice from building up, which can form ice damns and damage your house. Outside heating appliances like heat pumps must be clear of snow and debris to work efficiently.

If you have to go outside, wear tight and layered clothing and sturdy watertight shoes. Make sure to cover exposed parts of the body by wearing hats, gloves and scarves. Failure to protect skin and prolonged exposure to the cold can result in frostbite. The nose, cheeks, ears, fingers and toes (your extremities) are most commonly affected.

Buckle Up Your Best Friend

Dogs are a man’s best friend. So it only makes sense that dogs often travel in vehicles. Sometimes those are trips that are necessary for the dog such as doggy daycare or the vet. However, a lot of the time they are just to keep the driver company as they drive around town or go on a short road trip.

Dogs can be great companions as you drive around in your vehicle but they can also be great distractions. There are times you will see dogs sitting on the laps of the drivers or sitting dead center of the back seat which blocks the driver’s view out of the rear of the car.

In an accident dogs can also be a major hazard. When auto accidents happen they often stop a vehicle cold in its tracks. However, anything not buckled into the vehicle continues to travel at the speed the vehicle was traveling. Often, dogs are not strapped in and therefore become a large moving object in your vehicle. This can cause major damage to your pet as well as possibly to you or anyone else in the vehicle. It is best to have a dog strapped into your car, not only for your dog’s safety but also for your safety and for the safety of those in your vehicle. Visit a pet store near you and pick up an attachment that enables you to comfortably seatbelt in your dog.

Extra Expense Coverage

If your business suffers a major disaster that interrupts normal business operations, what effect will it have on your operations over the long term? Will you be able to retain customers? Will you lose valuable employees? Alternatively, does your business allow you the flexibility to operate from a different location with equipment that is easily acquired? The answers to these questions allow a business owner to determine whether business income coverage, extra expense insurance or a combination of both, is needed.

Businesses, especially those offering a service that can easily be replaced by another business, may face permanent loss of customers if business is interrupted for an extended period of time. Businesses whose operations depend more on employees than on location may not have a serious threat of income loss, since they can continue operating from a temporary location preserving income flow. However, operating from a temporary location and expediting delivery of replacement supplies and equipment can add up to considerable extra expense. Additional advertising may also be necessary to let people know you aren’t out of business. In many cases, a business may need both business income coverage and extra expense coverage.

The promise of extra expense coverage is to pay the actual and necessary extra expenses needed to continue operations, which would not have been incurred if there had not been a direct physical loss to the business. The period of restoration begins on the date of loss and ends when the property should be repaired, if reasonable speed is applied while returning the property to its pre-loss condition. Interference by building ordinance, zoning law or environmental protection law does not extend the period of time when extra expenses are payable. The period of restoration is based on the period