Ramona Byrd

Yes, be very, very careful about what is in your insurance policies. My late DH was business like enough so that he photo copied (that's an old word) every paragraph seperately and enlarged them so he could read each and every word there. Then you could start screaming about it!!
My daughter found this out the day before Christmas last month. Her daughter, my DGD was home from college and her car was low on gas so borrowed my DD's car and had an accident. While DD and husband were there waiting for the cop to finish his reports, another larger pickup also hydroplaned and hit the car again. Her insurance company refused to pay, said that she had deliberately excluded her daughter from it, which was absolutely not what she wanted to do at any time, since DGD is a very sober young woman. DGD's own insurance will pay for it, but after reading the policy carefully, she is leaving that Killeen, Texas insurance company entirely and taking her car insurance, her husband's and the house insurance to another company, the one that paid for DGD's accident.

How many of us have actually READ our insurance forms carefully??? Are we going to now???

amandasgramma

We had a break in one time and a fire another time. I DO believe your agent has a big part in what is paid, etc. I've had people tell me that XX ins. company doesn't pay, yet that would be my company and we had excellent coverage. Some agents don't want the big $$$ items on the record because it reflects back on them. I worked for an insurance commissioner. Trust me...if you don't believe you're getting the coverage you've paid for, WRITE the insurance commissioner for your state. It seems to me that a $40,000 claim SHOULD be covered for more than $8000.00. Write the commissioner and let him question it. You'd be surprised how many times the agents/company "re-evaluate" and decide you ARE due more $$$.

hperttula123

I had a house fire about 6 years ago and lost almost everything. We had to make an itemized list of everything in the house....which, how can you really remember everything???? I could have walked through the house before the fire and told them where I bought everything and how much it cost and if it was on sale or not(crazy I can remember that but can't remember what day it is :roll: ). They said a good thing to do is to take pictures of everything or walk through the house with a video camera and look in drawers and just give a little detail about major items in the house. You can keep a copy with a friend, family member, or even a lock box at the bank. I'm not a receipt keeper and what good is it keeping all them if you do have a fire?

sewgull

Everbody should update there insurance information at least once a year. This goes for autos, home and other items insuranced. Also, check to see what items are covered under household. Some items can be covered undered a Rider policy.

The important thing is to know what you have, and pictures.

sew4fun

We were robbed in May 2010 & found out that our policy covered $500 of fine jewelry. Well needless to say that might have covered 10% of what was taken. After this happened had a meeting with insurance agent & got things changed on the homeowners policy. Agent apologized for not reviewing our policy sooner & contacting us to go over things that we had. We now have an alarm system and a safe. Have also taken pictures of all our artwork, etc. And have additional coverage for them on our policy. Such a hard learning experience.

linken

For insurance purposes, make a video or camera card full of pictures of your possessions..fabric, machines, jewelry, appliances, furniture,TVs,kitchen cupboards, husband's? tools in the workshop, bicycles, excercise equipment :) and anything else of value. Keep it in your safety deposit box, or any other secure location away from your home.From time to time update as you buy more, or give away, or sell. This is particularly important for fire insurance, as how many agents would believe you have 4 machines?

Deborah12687

I try and keep up with a list of things when we purchase new things that we add to our home and remove those things that we don't have anymore. We had a fire and also flooding.

amandasgramma

Good point here -- meet with your agent at least once a year. My good friend had an agent she hadn't seen in over 15 yrs. She had a pipe break when they were gone and had water damage. Turns out she didn't have insurance for replacement value. The one cupboard in her kitchen that was damaged was costed out at $39.00. The agent had her house and household items list to be replace AFTER depreciation! Her house is 35 yrs old.....needless to say....they had thousands of dollars worth of damage but only got something like $500.00!!!!!

marknfran

This is exactly what I was talking about. Our fine jewelry was only covered to $1500; however, when we figured it all out, it was worth over $28000. Our loss. Some people asked me why we did not keep it in the safe. My answer: this was jewelry my husband had bought me over the years (35 years) and when I open the drawer I could remember those times (back before the recession)...you cannot do that if it is stuck away in a safe. Securing your home like a safe is what we had to do.

devon.hackney

Thanks for the reminder. My agent was telling me something over the phone about special protection packages that can be added to the home owner’s insurance policy for covering valuables. I plan to look into that when he comes over next week for renewal.