B
BennyDi
Guest
Please, please please, DO NOT wait for a disaster to happen to find out what your insurance policy does and does not cover, or what the coverages are?
Do not wait for your house to burn down and then find out you didn't have Additional Living Expenses coverage and now you have to live in your car. Do not smash your car into a tree and then find out you don't have enough coverage to pay for your childs medical expenses after your child has been in a coma for a month. Do not smash your snowmobile into a tree and wake up from a coma three weeks later to find out your personal injuries weren't covered and now you have to sell your house to pay the hospital $250,000.
If you already have any type of insurance policy at all, whether it be life insurance, auto insurance, homeowners, renters, a personal umbrella policy (aka excess liability insurance), motorcycle insurance, co-op or condo insurance, recreational vehicle insurance, etc.....READ YOUR POLICY!! ANYTHING you don't understand in the policy, highlight it, call your agent or visit him/her, ask questions. Ask for an explanation of coverages. If they explain it in terms you do not understand, do not be embarrassed to ask him/her to break it down for you in kindergarden language. Do some research on the web. Call your department of insurance in your state. Educate yourself!!
If your agent doesn't know the answers or you aren't satisfied with the way he/she answers, go somewhere else.
Shop around, but remember, CHEAP ISN'T ALWAYS QUALITY. Don't just settle for the cheapest rates. Know what you're getting for the rates you're paying.
One good example is the following:
On a renters policy - some companies offer additional living expenses. What is that? If you have (for example) a fire and the apartment that you lived in is unliveable, some insurance companies will pay the additional expenses it cost you to live elsewhere until you find another apartment, or your apartment is liveable again. In other words....if your rent in your burned apartment is $500 a month and you have to pay $1,000 to live in a hotel for a month until your apartment is repaired, some companies will pay the additional $500 extra that it cost you to live in the motel for that month. Some companies will only pay up to 3 months of additional living expenses, and some companies will pay up to 12 months of additional living expenses. What does your company pay and for how long will it pay it?
If a neighbors tree falls on your house in a windstorm, are the damages covered? Is the cost of the removal of the tree covered?
If you pay $400 for a new CD player for your car and it's laying on the seat of the car and someone breaks into your car and steals it, is it covered under your comprehensive, or does the CD player have to be permanently mounted?
If you start a life insurance policy and you have made a down payment, and you happen to die while the policy is in underwriting waiting for a determination of issuance, will the payment be made to your beneficiary? Will your wife and kids, or husband and kids, have money to live on after your unexpected death one week after you pay your down payment?
Please, please, please, educate yourself about your insurance. Don't wait for a disaster to happen before you know what is and isn't covered and for how much it was or wasn't covered for.
There are so many questions I see in this forum that shouldn't even be asked here. You should have known the answers before the disasters struck.
And as a sidenote, please, don't use this forum to find out how you can get out of being prosecuted for a fraudulent claim. GO TO JAIL!! There are legal ways to obtain money to pay your mortgage. I am tired of paying high premiums because of rate evaders and people who put in fraudulent claims.
Do not wait for your house to burn down and then find out you didn't have Additional Living Expenses coverage and now you have to live in your car. Do not smash your car into a tree and then find out you don't have enough coverage to pay for your childs medical expenses after your child has been in a coma for a month. Do not smash your snowmobile into a tree and wake up from a coma three weeks later to find out your personal injuries weren't covered and now you have to sell your house to pay the hospital $250,000.
If you already have any type of insurance policy at all, whether it be life insurance, auto insurance, homeowners, renters, a personal umbrella policy (aka excess liability insurance), motorcycle insurance, co-op or condo insurance, recreational vehicle insurance, etc.....READ YOUR POLICY!! ANYTHING you don't understand in the policy, highlight it, call your agent or visit him/her, ask questions. Ask for an explanation of coverages. If they explain it in terms you do not understand, do not be embarrassed to ask him/her to break it down for you in kindergarden language. Do some research on the web. Call your department of insurance in your state. Educate yourself!!
If your agent doesn't know the answers or you aren't satisfied with the way he/she answers, go somewhere else.
Shop around, but remember, CHEAP ISN'T ALWAYS QUALITY. Don't just settle for the cheapest rates. Know what you're getting for the rates you're paying.
One good example is the following:
On a renters policy - some companies offer additional living expenses. What is that? If you have (for example) a fire and the apartment that you lived in is unliveable, some insurance companies will pay the additional expenses it cost you to live elsewhere until you find another apartment, or your apartment is liveable again. In other words....if your rent in your burned apartment is $500 a month and you have to pay $1,000 to live in a hotel for a month until your apartment is repaired, some companies will pay the additional $500 extra that it cost you to live in the motel for that month. Some companies will only pay up to 3 months of additional living expenses, and some companies will pay up to 12 months of additional living expenses. What does your company pay and for how long will it pay it?
If a neighbors tree falls on your house in a windstorm, are the damages covered? Is the cost of the removal of the tree covered?
If you pay $400 for a new CD player for your car and it's laying on the seat of the car and someone breaks into your car and steals it, is it covered under your comprehensive, or does the CD player have to be permanently mounted?
If you start a life insurance policy and you have made a down payment, and you happen to die while the policy is in underwriting waiting for a determination of issuance, will the payment be made to your beneficiary? Will your wife and kids, or husband and kids, have money to live on after your unexpected death one week after you pay your down payment?
Please, please, please, educate yourself about your insurance. Don't wait for a disaster to happen before you know what is and isn't covered and for how much it was or wasn't covered for.
There are so many questions I see in this forum that shouldn't even be asked here. You should have known the answers before the disasters struck.
And as a sidenote, please, don't use this forum to find out how you can get out of being prosecuted for a fraudulent claim. GO TO JAIL!! There are legal ways to obtain money to pay your mortgage. I am tired of paying high premiums because of rate evaders and people who put in fraudulent claims.