Check with your Florida Insurance agent before bringing a pet home. Some dogs and other animals are not covered by your liability policy. Call The InsuranceCenter at 800-659-0986 for complete details.
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How to Insure Your Pets under Homeowners - Palm Bay FL
Florida Homeowners Insurance - Trampoline
Check with your Florida Insurance agent to see if your trampoline, pool slide or diving board is covered by your homeowner's policy. Log on to www.theinsurancecenter.us for complete details.
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Melbourne Homeowners Insurance - Water Loss E
This is Frank Hanrahan from the Insurance Center of Central Florida. Today, I'd like to talk to you about water losses. Water loss is the #1 claim on Homeowner's policies, and a lot of these losses could be prevented. Where we see the losses is that washing machine hose breaks or the supply line to the toilet breaks or the dishwasher hose leaks. My suggestion is every couple years, you have a plumber come in and inspect them to make sure they're good and that they don't need replaced. Most of these lines are very inexpensive to replace. So again, I would have them checked and replaced if necessary to prevent that claim. You know, even if you do have a loss you still have to pay your deductible, so it's gonna cost you money out of your pocket. If you have any questions, please give us a call at 1-800-659-0986 or look us up on the web. Thank you.
Business Personal Property Coverage - Homeowners Insurance Melbourne, Florida
Kevin: Another item, or items I should say, that's a very common concern for people under their homeowners insurance is business personal property. And the reason that that is important is because USA Today tells us that three in ten people, three in ten Americans, are running businesses out of their homes. Now, unfortunately, I don't think that number's going to get smaller. I think it's only going to get bigger. And when you have property inside your home that is designed for your business operation, the homeowners policy doesn't want to cover much of that at all. the most you're probably going to get might be $2,000 to $2,500. Now, you can get more, but you have to know exactly how much property you have in your house and much it's going to take to replace that stuff if you have a loss.
Frank: The other thing that people don't think about is that's at your house. If it's away from your house, it's only $250. The second problem is a lot of people build a little building in their backyard and say, I'm going to put my stuff in there. Well, when you do that, you eliminate all of that coverage altogether for that building actually.
Kevin: Right, for that building. It's extremely important that if you are running any kind of business from you home, that you call your insurance agent immediately and make sure that they understand that there is a business operation, no matter how small it is. Even if you think you're small potatoes. A good friend of mine is a Mary Kay consultant, and she has a Mary Kay room at her house, that's what she calls it, where all of her Mary Kay supplies are.
Frank: Did she paint it pink?
Kevin: Oh, it is pink! This is a Cadillac consultant. She's for real, yeah. She has a Mary Kay room in her house. Boxes and boxes of product. Thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars worth of product. Now, she doesn't think that she's a significant enough business person to have to worry about a business insurance policy. But it's important to know that if she had a loss at her house and all of that stuff was to burn up, which would probably increase the intensity, if all the stuff was to burn in a fire or be lost in a windstorm, she's not going to get it all back. She's only going to get as much as the policy is going to give her. And if she has that conversation with her insurance agent and says, listen, i have this business, and here's how much property I have, the insurance agent can help her put a policy together that is going to deliver the check that she needs after the loss happens.
Frank: Well, the other thing, too, is there are now companies out there that have special policies for home-based businesses that are relatively cheap compared to regular business policies, so just let your agent know. Tell him, hey, I've got this business. Do I have coverage? Do I need coverage? Make sure you get it right.
Frank: The other thing that people don't think about is that's at your house. If it's away from your house, it's only $250. The second problem is a lot of people build a little building in their backyard and say, I'm going to put my stuff in there. Well, when you do that, you eliminate all of that coverage altogether for that building actually.
Kevin: Right, for that building. It's extremely important that if you are running any kind of business from you home, that you call your insurance agent immediately and make sure that they understand that there is a business operation, no matter how small it is. Even if you think you're small potatoes. A good friend of mine is a Mary Kay consultant, and she has a Mary Kay room at her house, that's what she calls it, where all of her Mary Kay supplies are.
Frank: Did she paint it pink?
Kevin: Oh, it is pink! This is a Cadillac consultant. She's for real, yeah. She has a Mary Kay room in her house. Boxes and boxes of product. Thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars worth of product. Now, she doesn't think that she's a significant enough business person to have to worry about a business insurance policy. But it's important to know that if she had a loss at her house and all of that stuff was to burn up, which would probably increase the intensity, if all the stuff was to burn in a fire or be lost in a windstorm, she's not going to get it all back. She's only going to get as much as the policy is going to give her. And if she has that conversation with her insurance agent and says, listen, i have this business, and here's how much property I have, the insurance agent can help her put a policy together that is going to deliver the check that she needs after the loss happens.
Frank: Well, the other thing, too, is there are now companies out there that have special policies for home-based businesses that are relatively cheap compared to regular business policies, so just let your agent know. Tell him, hey, I've got this business. Do I have coverage? Do I need coverage? Make sure you get it right.
http://www.theinsurancecenter.us/
for details or call us at 800-659-0986.
Jewelry Coverage..What is covered under Homeowners? Insurance Center of Central Florida, Palm Bay
Hi, I'm Frank Hanrahan from the Insurance Center. I'd like to give you a tip on jewelry insurance. Most people can either insure their jewelry under their Homeowner's policy or you can buy a separate policy from a company that specializes in jewelry coverage. The advantage of buying it under your Homeowner's is, hey, it's one policy, one bill, it makes it a little easier. The downside is if you have a claim under that policy, that claim counts against your Homeowner's. The other way you can do it is you can buy a separate jewelry policy from a company that specializes in it, and then if you have a claim, it doesn't go against your Homeowner's. In Florida, with the policies up in the air sometimes, it's best not to have a claim, so I would suggest you look at that situation, price it out, see what you want to do. If you have any questions or we can help you, give us a call 1-800-659-0986 or look us up on the web. Thank you.
Ordinance and Laws Coverage - Homeowners Insurance Melbourne, Florid
Frank: I want to talk about a couple of coverages that are sort of particular to Florida and that you really need to address, especially with the hurricanes. Kevin's going to start us with law and ordinance.
Kevin: There's a coverage under your homeowners policy that's called law and ordinance or ordinance and law coverage, and what it that does is provides additional funds under your policy to cover the increased cost of construction to your home because of an ordinance or a law, not because of any direct damage. And what I mean by that is, for example, if you live in Brevard County, if you suffer damage to the framing of your window after a hurricane as is very common, as is very common that happens. The current building code says that when you rebuild that property, those windows have to be built to a certain strength, and there also have to be shutters involved.
Frank: Either impact glass or shutters.
Kevin: And when you think about Hurricane Andrew when it happened in the early '90s down in the Homestead area, because of the catastrophic damage like nothing anybody had ever seen before from a hurricane -- catastrophic damage -- you've got local authorities coming out playing damage control trying to convince people, hey, we are not going to let this happen again. Something this terrible will never happen again. The way they so that is they start to enforce new building codes. For example, improvements to the roof-to-wall connections, changes in the elevation requirements for a home that is too close to the water, changes in the elevation. Items such as that are going to cost more money when you have your house repaired or have your house rebuilt. And because those costs had nothing to do with the way your house was before the loss, your homeowner's policy doesn't owe you anything for that unless you have enough insurance under the ordinance and law part of the policy. That's why it is important to talk to the agent to know exactly what the codes are in your area and how they could impact the rebuilding of your house after it's damaged.
Frank: Even now, last October, they passed a law that if you put a new roof on, you have to have a secondary water-resistant barrier. So, if those shingles blow off, there's another layer to protect you before the house leaks, and typically, that's like a peal-and-stick foam rubber that they lay down that covers all the cracks, and a lot of times, they do the whole roof. So, if your shingles blow off, your roof won't leak. That's the biggest problem. You're going to get water damage. So, those codes change. Take your roof. I think it's about $2,000 more per year to do that. So, the insurance company that you have, if your roof blow off, call the insurance company and say, hey, listen, the roof was $8,000 to replace it, well, now I need this barrier. Well, hey, without this law and ordinance coverage, they wouldn't pay the $2,000. Law and ordinance insures that you get that $2,000. So, you do want to make sure you have that. Keep in mind that it comes in different levels. Some policies give you 10% of the value of the house. Again, if you have a $100,000 house, 10% is $10,000. You could by 25%, which would be -- on a $100,000 house -- it would be $25,000. Again, you could go to 50%, which would be $50,000 on a $100,000 house. What you want to do, though, is at least make sure you know where you stand. Don't just ignore it, put your head in the sand and say, ahh, this will never happen to me. This is Florida. We have fires, we have hurricanes. So, these things do happen, so you want to pay attention to it.
Kevin: There's a coverage under your homeowners policy that's called law and ordinance or ordinance and law coverage, and what it that does is provides additional funds under your policy to cover the increased cost of construction to your home because of an ordinance or a law, not because of any direct damage. And what I mean by that is, for example, if you live in Brevard County, if you suffer damage to the framing of your window after a hurricane as is very common, as is very common that happens. The current building code says that when you rebuild that property, those windows have to be built to a certain strength, and there also have to be shutters involved.
Frank: Either impact glass or shutters.
Kevin: And when you think about Hurricane Andrew when it happened in the early '90s down in the Homestead area, because of the catastrophic damage like nothing anybody had ever seen before from a hurricane -- catastrophic damage -- you've got local authorities coming out playing damage control trying to convince people, hey, we are not going to let this happen again. Something this terrible will never happen again. The way they so that is they start to enforce new building codes. For example, improvements to the roof-to-wall connections, changes in the elevation requirements for a home that is too close to the water, changes in the elevation. Items such as that are going to cost more money when you have your house repaired or have your house rebuilt. And because those costs had nothing to do with the way your house was before the loss, your homeowner's policy doesn't owe you anything for that unless you have enough insurance under the ordinance and law part of the policy. That's why it is important to talk to the agent to know exactly what the codes are in your area and how they could impact the rebuilding of your house after it's damaged.
Frank: Even now, last October, they passed a law that if you put a new roof on, you have to have a secondary water-resistant barrier. So, if those shingles blow off, there's another layer to protect you before the house leaks, and typically, that's like a peal-and-stick foam rubber that they lay down that covers all the cracks, and a lot of times, they do the whole roof. So, if your shingles blow off, your roof won't leak. That's the biggest problem. You're going to get water damage. So, those codes change. Take your roof. I think it's about $2,000 more per year to do that. So, the insurance company that you have, if your roof blow off, call the insurance company and say, hey, listen, the roof was $8,000 to replace it, well, now I need this barrier. Well, hey, without this law and ordinance coverage, they wouldn't pay the $2,000. Law and ordinance insures that you get that $2,000. So, you do want to make sure you have that. Keep in mind that it comes in different levels. Some policies give you 10% of the value of the house. Again, if you have a $100,000 house, 10% is $10,000. You could by 25%, which would be -- on a $100,000 house -- it would be $25,000. Again, you could go to 50%, which would be $50,000 on a $100,000 house. What you want to do, though, is at least make sure you know where you stand. Don't just ignore it, put your head in the sand and say, ahh, this will never happen to me. This is Florida. We have fires, we have hurricanes. So, these things do happen, so you want to pay attention to it.
Jewelry Appraisals and Your Homeowners Policy
Hi, my name is Frank Hanrahan from the Insurance Center of Central Florida. I'd like to give you a tip today on jewelry insurance. One of the things most people don't realize is they need to itemize each piece and list it out with a description of it so that you can get accurate coverage.
The other part is most people are opposed to getting an appraisal. I would highly recommend you get an appraisal, especially with gold and silver going up in value as they have in the last couple of years.
If you haven't done this, I would suggest you do it now and contact your agent and see about getting it insured or give us a call at our number below or hit us on the website. Thank you.
The other part is most people are opposed to getting an appraisal. I would highly recommend you get an appraisal, especially with gold and silver going up in value as they have in the last couple of years.
If you haven't done this, I would suggest you do it now and contact your agent and see about getting it insured or give us a call at our number below or hit us on the website. Thank you.
Recreational Vehicles, 4 Wheelers, Dirt Bikes and Golf Carts - Homeowners Insurance
Frank: The last thing we want to talk about are recreational vehicles. We're talking about four-wheelers, dirt bikes, golf carts. Explain how we cover those.
Kevin: Right. There's quite a few people who like to enjoy their property in ways other than on foot. They do so with golf carts. They do so with recreational vehicles, like you've said. And not only are those items extremely valuable, meaning that if there is damage to the actual golf cart or the recreational vehicle, you're going to want to know that you're going to be able to get coverage for the damage to the vehicle itself, not to mention the liability angle. What happens if you hurt somebody?
Frank: I've got a good story for you. A guy goes to sell his motorcycle. The mother-in-law loaned the money and said I need the money back, so he goes to sell the motorcycle, and the guy comes up in his pickup truck and says, I'd like to take it for a ride. So, he takes it for a ride, goes down the road, the guy never comes back! He calls the police and finds out the truck was stolen. So, the guy stole the truck, stole the motorcycle. When he called he asked if he had any coverage, I said, unfortunately not because it's special coverage for that.
Kevin: Right. It's not safe to assume that because it's at your house, that it's covered. If it's a motorized vehicle of any kind, all-terrain vehicle, golf cart, any of the things that we've just named, you need to make sure that your insurance agent knows that you have that piece of property and that you're concerned about what's going to happen to it if it causes a loss.
Frank: Another big one is golf carts. I see kids all of the time driving down the road, four kids hanging off of the golf cart thinking, man, somebody's going to get hurt. Well, you need special coverage for a golf cart. I don't care about the golf cart. If you lose the golf cart, great, but if somebody gets hurt, you're really going to lose some money. There was a girl, and these were adults, they were driving down the road. She was hanging out trying to take a picture. She fell, and she hit her head. It was a bad fall, and she got seriously hurt, and she actually had brain damage. Now, if it's your child driving some other little boy down the street, they take you to court, you could lose everything you have just because you didn't spend a little bit of money to get golf cart insurance. Again, give your agent a call, review your policy, and if youd like a second opinion, give us a call at the Insurance Center of Central Florida.
Kevin: Right. There's quite a few people who like to enjoy their property in ways other than on foot. They do so with golf carts. They do so with recreational vehicles, like you've said. And not only are those items extremely valuable, meaning that if there is damage to the actual golf cart or the recreational vehicle, you're going to want to know that you're going to be able to get coverage for the damage to the vehicle itself, not to mention the liability angle. What happens if you hurt somebody?
Frank: I've got a good story for you. A guy goes to sell his motorcycle. The mother-in-law loaned the money and said I need the money back, so he goes to sell the motorcycle, and the guy comes up in his pickup truck and says, I'd like to take it for a ride. So, he takes it for a ride, goes down the road, the guy never comes back! He calls the police and finds out the truck was stolen. So, the guy stole the truck, stole the motorcycle. When he called he asked if he had any coverage, I said, unfortunately not because it's special coverage for that.
Kevin: Right. It's not safe to assume that because it's at your house, that it's covered. If it's a motorized vehicle of any kind, all-terrain vehicle, golf cart, any of the things that we've just named, you need to make sure that your insurance agent knows that you have that piece of property and that you're concerned about what's going to happen to it if it causes a loss.
Frank: Another big one is golf carts. I see kids all of the time driving down the road, four kids hanging off of the golf cart thinking, man, somebody's going to get hurt. Well, you need special coverage for a golf cart. I don't care about the golf cart. If you lose the golf cart, great, but if somebody gets hurt, you're really going to lose some money. There was a girl, and these were adults, they were driving down the road. She was hanging out trying to take a picture. She fell, and she hit her head. It was a bad fall, and she got seriously hurt, and she actually had brain damage. Now, if it's your child driving some other little boy down the street, they take you to court, you could lose everything you have just because you didn't spend a little bit of money to get golf cart insurance. Again, give your agent a call, review your policy, and if youd like a second opinion, give us a call at the Insurance Center of Central Florida.
http://www.theinsurancecenter.us/
or call us at 800-659-0986.
Insurance Company Ratings - Homeowners Insurance Melbourne, Florida
Frank: One of things to consider when buying insurance is the strength of the company. There's basically two different rating agencies. There's a company called A.M. Best, and there's a second company called Demotech. A.M. Best is the one most often used on a national basis. They require five years of business before they'll give you a rating.
Kevin: Right. And it's extremely important that you understand what the rating of your company is or that you have an insurance agent who is willing to explain to you the importance of your insurance company's rating and why that matters is because when you have widespread damage, catastrophic losses like we have in Florida when hurricanes come through. These are not isolated incidents. This is not one house getting blown down. This is damage across counties, across communities that can add up to be millions and millions and millions of dollars worth of damage. And when that potential is there, you need to be sure that you've got an insurance company that is financially strong enough and has the infrastructure to be able to handle that many claims at once and to be able to pay you what you think you're supposed to be getting when you buy the insurance from them in the first place. An insurance agent can help you understand that by simply going over what the rating of the company is and telling you a little about how that company does business.
Frank: A couple of things to think of. In Florida, we basically have two types of companies. We have the national companies, which are the household names: Metropolitan, State Farm, Travelers, Allstate, Nationwide. Most of these companies really now have stopped taking on new policies, so what you have is you have some regional ones, and you have two sets of regionals. You have regionals that started after Hurricane Andrew. Now, they've been around now for about 15 years. Those companies, what's nice about them is they've been through the '04 hurricane season. They have a very good handle on how to get your claims fixed and resolved in a timely manner. What you have now is, after the '04 and '05 hurricane seasons, there's a lot of new startup companies that are new. They really don't have that experience to go through a hurricane. I like to equate it to directions. If you go somewhere once on a first time, you may get lost. The second time, it's a little easier. The third and the fourth, it gets a little easier. Probably no problem. When you have a hurricane and there's widespread damage, you don't want it to be the first time your company's ever had that experience. So, you want them to know how to handle this, not going through it for the first time. So, again, I would really look at the company, ask the agent how long he or she has represented this company, how did they do during the '04 and '05 hurricane season, have they had any experience in this? I think it's important.
Kevin: It's extremely important because the last thing you want is to have your claim getting delayed or to have your claim not being settled to the way you think it's supposed to be settled because the insurance company can't keep its house in order. That's the last thing that you as a policy holder want to hear after the worst has happened. So, it's a good idea to talk to your insurance agent, find out a little bit of information about the insurance company that they have your policy with, because it's the company that's going to need to be there with the money to help you get your life rebuilt after the worst has happened. It's extremely important to have enough confidence in your insurance company to know that that's going to happen if there is catastrophic damage. And a conversation with your insurance agent is the best way to answer that question.
Frank: Again, give your agent a call, review your policy, and if youd like a second opinion, give us a call at the Insurance Center of Central Florida. Our number is below.
Kevin: Right. And it's extremely important that you understand what the rating of your company is or that you have an insurance agent who is willing to explain to you the importance of your insurance company's rating and why that matters is because when you have widespread damage, catastrophic losses like we have in Florida when hurricanes come through. These are not isolated incidents. This is not one house getting blown down. This is damage across counties, across communities that can add up to be millions and millions and millions of dollars worth of damage. And when that potential is there, you need to be sure that you've got an insurance company that is financially strong enough and has the infrastructure to be able to handle that many claims at once and to be able to pay you what you think you're supposed to be getting when you buy the insurance from them in the first place. An insurance agent can help you understand that by simply going over what the rating of the company is and telling you a little about how that company does business.
Frank: A couple of things to think of. In Florida, we basically have two types of companies. We have the national companies, which are the household names: Metropolitan, State Farm, Travelers, Allstate, Nationwide. Most of these companies really now have stopped taking on new policies, so what you have is you have some regional ones, and you have two sets of regionals. You have regionals that started after Hurricane Andrew. Now, they've been around now for about 15 years. Those companies, what's nice about them is they've been through the '04 hurricane season. They have a very good handle on how to get your claims fixed and resolved in a timely manner. What you have now is, after the '04 and '05 hurricane seasons, there's a lot of new startup companies that are new. They really don't have that experience to go through a hurricane. I like to equate it to directions. If you go somewhere once on a first time, you may get lost. The second time, it's a little easier. The third and the fourth, it gets a little easier. Probably no problem. When you have a hurricane and there's widespread damage, you don't want it to be the first time your company's ever had that experience. So, you want them to know how to handle this, not going through it for the first time. So, again, I would really look at the company, ask the agent how long he or she has represented this company, how did they do during the '04 and '05 hurricane season, have they had any experience in this? I think it's important.
Kevin: It's extremely important because the last thing you want is to have your claim getting delayed or to have your claim not being settled to the way you think it's supposed to be settled because the insurance company can't keep its house in order. That's the last thing that you as a policy holder want to hear after the worst has happened. So, it's a good idea to talk to your insurance agent, find out a little bit of information about the insurance company that they have your policy with, because it's the company that's going to need to be there with the money to help you get your life rebuilt after the worst has happened. It's extremely important to have enough confidence in your insurance company to know that that's going to happen if there is catastrophic damage. And a conversation with your insurance agent is the best way to answer that question.
Frank: Again, give your agent a call, review your policy, and if youd like a second opinion, give us a call at the Insurance Center of Central Florida. Our number is below.
http://www.theinsurancecenter.us/
for details or call us at 800-659-0986
Jewelry Coverage, Diamonds and Gold - Homeowners Insurance Melbourne, Florida
Frank: The next thing we want to talk about are some items that either have limited coverage or no coverage under your homeowners policy, and that can come back and haunt you. Could you explain some of those to us, Kevin?
Kevin: Absolutely. One that people are always concerned about is coverage for jewelry, and the reason is because it's valuable! If something happens to it, you want it back. It's not just that the item's valuable, it has a tremendous emotional attachment to it. And so, having enough insurance for an item like that is extremely important, and that's why it's very important that you know exactly how much you have in your policy versus how you probably need to make sure that it's actually replaced.
Frank: well, I'm going to answer that. Most homeowners policies only give you a thousand dollars for the theft of your jewelry. No coverage whatsoever if you lose it. So, one of the things that you can do, you can add special coverage for your jewelry, and it's based on the appraised value. So, you do need an appraisal. But what it'll do for you is it will give you is-- when you do that, there's no deductible, and if you lose that item or it's stolen, you'll get coverage. All you do is turn in a police report and say that it's lost or stolen.
Kevin: right. So, it's extremely important that you know the coverage that you have like Frank just described so you know what to ask for when you contact your insurance agent.
Frank: And the reason they want an appraisal is because you would be surprised at the value, especially now. Look at gold. Gold goes up almost daily. I had a guy that a ring. It was old. He paid $765 for it. The appraisal said $3,000. So, if we would've insured it for $765 and lost it, he couldn't have replaced it.
Kevin: Right.
Frank: So, that's why they want an appraisal. Again, give your agent a call, review your policy, and if youd like a second opinion, give us a call at the Insurance Center of Central Florida. Our number is below.
Kevin: Absolutely. One that people are always concerned about is coverage for jewelry, and the reason is because it's valuable! If something happens to it, you want it back. It's not just that the item's valuable, it has a tremendous emotional attachment to it. And so, having enough insurance for an item like that is extremely important, and that's why it's very important that you know exactly how much you have in your policy versus how you probably need to make sure that it's actually replaced.
Frank: well, I'm going to answer that. Most homeowners policies only give you a thousand dollars for the theft of your jewelry. No coverage whatsoever if you lose it. So, one of the things that you can do, you can add special coverage for your jewelry, and it's based on the appraised value. So, you do need an appraisal. But what it'll do for you is it will give you is-- when you do that, there's no deductible, and if you lose that item or it's stolen, you'll get coverage. All you do is turn in a police report and say that it's lost or stolen.
Kevin: right. So, it's extremely important that you know the coverage that you have like Frank just described so you know what to ask for when you contact your insurance agent.
Frank: And the reason they want an appraisal is because you would be surprised at the value, especially now. Look at gold. Gold goes up almost daily. I had a guy that a ring. It was old. He paid $765 for it. The appraisal said $3,000. So, if we would've insured it for $765 and lost it, he couldn't have replaced it.
Kevin: Right.
Frank: So, that's why they want an appraisal. Again, give your agent a call, review your policy, and if youd like a second opinion, give us a call at the Insurance Center of Central Florida. Our number is below.
http://www.theinsurancecenter.us/
for details or call us at 800-659-0986
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