We hope and pray that your family is well!
Whether you have a claim or not from the recent fires in Colorado, we are getting a lot of calls regarding homeowners & renters insurance coverages. It is good to know how often you should review your insurance policies. It’s important to be prepared for any unexpected things that come up. So, here are some things we would like everyone to know:
- Generally, it is a good idea to review your insurance coverage at least once a year. However, if you have a major life change, it is a good idea to contact your insurance agent to review your policy to make sure you account for any coverage changes.
- With regards to replacement cost, when we write your policy, we work really hard to make sure that we have done an accurate replacement cost estimate. And we also include extended replacement costs when available.
- If your policy has been with the same carrier for several years, it’s always a good idea to revisit the replacement cost. We’ll be happy to review it with you at any time and make adjustments (or give you a quote if you are not currently our customer)
- The land is not considered with regards to replacement costs. You are insuring your home and not the land. Also, even though houses are selling for crazy high prices currently, this does not mean that it would truly cost that amount to rebuild.
- If you are renting, it’s CRITICAL that you have a renter’s policy in place. This can cover your belongings and provide you with loss of use (coverage for a place to stay when you are displaced).
- Loss of use covers a place for you to stay when your home is not inhabitable due to a covered claim and loss of rents for rental properties. It does not cover a place to stay while being evacuated unless you actually end up having a claim.
- If you need a copy of your current policy – you always get a fresh copy with each renewal — but we can also send you a pdf of it if you can’t find it or if you are displaced.
- If you lose personal property from a claim, you will need to make lists of those items. It is a GREAT idea to take pictures or at least go through and make a video of each room to help with your big items. This can be quite tedious after a disaster to try to remember what you have.
- With catastrophic events, the claims process can be quite lengthy due to the number of claims involved. Not only from these recent fires, but claims adjusters are still working on the most recent hurricane in Louisiana and the tornadoes that went across several states. So, please be patient but if you do run into issues we will be happy to help step in and escalate things.
- Feel free to contact us with questions; however, your ADJUSTER is the final say in coverages. We can only share what we have heard from other clients regarding their claims experience.
Contact Us today for a free evaluation of all your insurance needs!