What Would You Do If Your Home Caught Fire At 12:55 In The Morning?
June 30, 2008
My bride hasn’t been sleeping well since she had surgery 11 days ago. She woke up again from discomfort (and our screaming cat) and then wakes me up.
"Matt, I smell smoke."
I did too. It was strong. I immediately jumped out of bed.
Kathy runs to check on our 3 yr old and 1 yr old and call 911 while I start searching the home for the source. She says the kids are safe and nothing in their rooms is burning.
Now that I know the kids are safe I begin thinking about our home insurance policy and the coverage for additional living expenses, changes in building codes, the cost to rebuild our home and replace everything in it. Yes, we’ll have enough coverage for the ‘stuff’ but there’s no insurance for the major disruption and stress on a family from a major loss…Maybe Read more
It’s Just A Windshield, Right?
June 27, 2008
I was reminded recently about the importance of the glass in your windshield in your car or truck.
A friend, and client of our firm, was having their car washed before heading out of town last week. In the windshield there were two dime size rock chips. Naturally, the friendly windshield repair company that rents the opportunity space from the car wash quickly runs over and says, “We can replace that windshield while you wait and if you have full glass insurance it won’t cost you anything. We just need to call the insurance company with you and we’ll get it done.” (If you’ve been to any car wash you’ve seen the nice smiling young kid running up to your car and running his finger over spots on your windshield with scientific precision.)
Well, my client agreed. While talking with the insurance company the adjuster said they wouldn’t pay to replace the windshield but if the glass company would repair the chips they would gladly pay for it. Of course, the glass company only wanted to replace the windshield so nothing was done at the time.
Now you may be screaming about the injustice of the insurance industry and what a scam it is to pay for all this coverage and the insurance company won’t even pay for a simple and obviously damaged windshield. And, you will be partially right but read on… Read more
Rising Gas Prices And Low Cost Auto Insurance?
June 23, 2008
Recently, I’ve been receiving more and more calls from people shopping their auto and home insurance. (Of course, this makes me happy because a very large percentage of the people that call become our client.) One question I usually ask is, "Why are you shopping your insurance today?" I have been getting a new answer I hadn’t received before…rising gas prices.
With the price of gas over $4 a gallon right now, I’m not surprised to find more people trading in their gas guzzling SUVs and buying hybrids, motorcycles and scooters. I’m also not surprised to find more people changing their grocery and clothes buying behavior too. I don’t know why it surprises me to have the large amount of people using the price of gas to shop for insurance.
Don’t get me wrong, it makes sense. You have to drive to work. You need to drive to the grocery store. You need a home to live in. And, you have to insure these things to keep your Read more