Many areas of the South have experienced a combination of heavy snow and ice, strong winds and prolonged, frigid temperatures, with additional severe weather expected in the coming weeks. Property damage and insurance claims often occur as a result.
Here’s some advice and tips for homeowners with questions about their insurance policies.

• First, damage to your house and its contents caused by weight of snow or ice, creating a collapse, is covered under standard homeowner's insurance policies. Freezing conditions such as burst pipes or ice dams, when water is unable to drain properly through the gutters and seeps into a house causing damage to ceilings and walls, is also covered.
• Most damage resulting from fallen trees is covered by your homeowner's policy, but consumers should check with their company before calling a tree removal service as removal costs may also be covered.
• Consumers should also ask their insurance company about food spoilage as a result of a power outage, debris clean up, structural damage to your home, rain spouts, sewage problems, broken water pipes, freezing pipes and furnace damage, to name a few.
• For drivers, your auto insurance coverage pays for damage you, or someone driving the car with your permission, may cause to someone else's property due to ice, snow and slippery roads. This also includes damage to lamp posts, telephone poles, fences, buildings or other structures your car may hit.
• Damage to your car resulting from colliding with another car, object, or as a result of flipping over is covered if you carry the optional collision coverage of your policy. It also covers damage caused by potholes.
• If you opted to carry comprehensive coverage on your auto policy, damage to your car caused by heavy wind, flooding, falling ice or tree limbs is covered.
• Our insurance agency recommends these steps to help make the insurance process easier to navigate:
• Contact your insurance company immediately and follow the instructions given to you by claims personnel. Keep a log of the people you spoke with and ask questions if you do not understand instructions.
• Separate damaged and undamaged property for the adjuster to examine. Do not throw away damaged property until your company's adjuster advises you it is all right to do so.
• Wait for the adjuster to arrive! Do not call anyone to repair or replace your loss without first getting instructions from your adjuster.
• If your home is damaged, make only temporary repairs until a claim’s adjuster looks at the damage. Permanent repairs could trigger a denial of your claim.
• Be careful when choosing a contractor to make repairs. Before signing a contract, check references to make sure you are working with a reputable firm.
• If your claim is denied, review the terms of your policy for what is or is not covered with our agency. You may also file an appeal to your insurance company's claim manager. If questions remain, feel free to contact the Insurance Department.

The best advice is to schedule a no-obligation review of your current coverage with our agency. Together we can spot gaps in coverage and uncover discounts of which you may not be aware.

Where you live and where the car is parked can affect the cost of your insurance. Generally, due to higher rates of vandalism, theft and accidents, urban drivers pay a higher auto insurance price than those in small towns or rural areas. 
Other factors that vary from one area or state to another are: 

• cost and frequency of litigation
• medical care and car repair costs
• prevalence of auto insurance fraud
• and weather trends.

Our agency is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider but brings the clients the best deals from many different insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place.
So, let us do the searching for you for free! Call our office for a Quick Quote and visit our website for all your insurance needs. 

​Home insurance is not just to protect the home itself. In fact, liability protection may be the most important part of your home insurance plan. A new roof or garage door is something that you might be able to cover out of pocket, but the costs incurred in a personal injury case can bankrupt the average family.
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In most cases of dog bites, your insurer will offer coverage. However, there are some nuances that you should understand going forward in order to make sure that you are protected should your dog bite someone on your property:

• Every policy is different, but the standard limits on liability will go from $100,000 to $300,00. Additional coverage can be purchased, but this amount covers the needs of the typical homeowner.
• It is generally taken on a case-by-case basis, but many insurers will not cover certain breeds of dog, such as pit bulls.
• Some insurers may require homeowners to sign liability waivers in case of dog bites.
• Insurers may cover a pet only after it has received some sort of training certification.
• After a dog bite incident, you're certainly going to be looking at higher premiums. You might also find your insurance provider choosing not to renew your policy.

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What we all hope for is that our dogs never bite anyone in the first place. Insurance may be able to help you cover the legal costs should this happen, but as always, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. When introducing your dog to new people or animals, always take it slow and make sure that you're there to keep things from getting out of hand, especially when children are involved. Ensure that you have your dog properly trained, and that they get enough exercise so that they don't develop issues with anxiety.
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No matter how safe and friendly your dog may be, you don't want to assume that it will never bite or harm anyone, as it may happen even by accident. And of course, whenever introducing new liability concerns to the home, you'll want to keep your insurer up to date and find out if there are any additional steps that they require you to take.

So, your honey popped the big question on Valentine’s Day. You couldn’t be more thrilled and the ring is to die for! But, what if it’s lost or stolen? While there is no way to insure the sentimental value of such a gift, having the right insurance coverage will provide financial protection.
Please contact our agency for a non-obligation review of all your insurance needs.
The word ‘insurance’ is not likely to be the first word on many lovers lips this Valentine’s Day. However, if an expensive gift of jewelry is lost or stolen it can certainly soothe the sting of losing a cherished gift. Your first step after receiving a valuable engagement ring—well, maybe your second after saying yes!—should be to call our insurance agency. 
Jewelry losses are among the most frequent of all home insurance content-related insurance claims. Fortunately, there are four relatively simple steps everyone can take to ensure adequate protection for their new jewelry: 
1) Contact your insurance professional immediately.
Find out how much coverage you already have and whether you will need additional insurance. Most standard homeowners and renters insurance policies include coverage for personal items such as jewelry; however, many policies limit the dollar amount for the theft of high-value personal possessions—such as jewelry—to $1,000 to $2,000. So, you would be covered if the item were destroyed by disasters listed in the policy such as a fire or hurricane, but if your expensive new present is lost or stolen you would need separate insurance to be covered. 
To properly insure jewelry, consider purchasing additional coverage through a floater or an endorsement. In most cases, these add-ons to a homeowners or renters policy would also cover you for “mysterious disappearance.” This means that if your ring falls off your finger and is flushed down a drain, or is lost, you would be financially protected. Floaters and endorsements carry no deductibles, so there is no out-of-pocket expense to replace the item. 
2) Obtain a copy of the store receipt.
Forward a copy of the receipt so that your insurance company knows the current retail value of the item. Keep a copy for your records and include it with your home inventory. If the item was purchased on sale, also get a copy of the appraised value of the item. 
3) If you received an heirloom piece, have the item appraised.
Heirlooms and antique jewelry will need to be appraised for their dollar value. You can ask your insurer to recommend a reputable appraiser. 
4) Add the item to your home inventory.
An up-to-date inventory of your personal possessions can help you purchase the correct amount of insurance and speed up the claims process if you have a loss, so remember to add your new jewelry to your inventory. And if you don’t yet have an inventory, celebrate your engagement by creating one with your fiancée. To make creating a home inventory as easy as possible, the I.I.I. offers free Web-based software and apps, available at Know Your Stuff® - Home Inventory. 
Finally, if you don’t think you need renters insurance, think again. A recent poll found that 96 percent of homeowners had homeowners insurance but only 35 percent of renters had renters insurance. If you rent your home, renters insurance can provide important financial protection in the event your belongings are stolen or destroyed. 

​One of the best ways to bring your home insurance rates down is also one of the best ways to improve your home: Make all those small and medium-sized fixes you've been meaning to make.
Here are a few quick fixes that can help you pay lower premiums:

1. Tear down old structures on your property. If you have a tool shed, a dog house or something that's falling to pieces in your backyard, you can save some money on your insurance by getting rid of that item (or those items). If you've got a friend with a truck, now's the time to call in that favor. Those old structures are probably covered on your policy, so they really serve no purpose besides being a liability right now.
2. Install those reinforcements. Adding storm shutters or retrofitting your home to be more earthquake-resistant may sound difficult. But given the size of your home and when it was built, it might not be as taxing as you expect. Installing storm shutters might only take you an afternoon. Swapping out your old door for one that's hurricane resistant can take mere minutes if you're handy with a screwdriver.
3. Clear old trees, branches and bushes. An old tree can fall on your home and do a lot of damage. And old branches and dead bushes are a fire hazard. A one-time payment to a landscaping company is worth the investment.
4. Patch up the roof. The roof is one of the most important parts of the home when it comes to insurance. It's sort of like motorcycle gear: Every piece is important, but the helmet matters most of all. An old roof might need to be completely replaced, while newer roofs might only need a patch-job here and there. Take a look at what you're working with and bring your roof up to spec.
5. Do some Spring Cleaning. If you first bought your policy years ago, chances are, your inventory still covers old couches and chairs you've long since stuffed into the garage or old DVD. Get rid of what you don't need and update your inventory.

Practicing regular maintenance is one of the best ways to keep your home insurance rates low. Take care of your home and you’ll see the benefits.

If you are a parent of a teenage driver, your child's safety is your first concern. Though you cannot always be by their side, there are things you can do to help keep them safe behind the wheel. Educating yourself and your new teen driver about the risks and insurance implications of unsafe driving can save lives and money.
​Set Expectations
While teen driving statistics are troubling, research suggests parents who set rules cut accident risk in half. Talk openly about your expectations for behind-the-wheel behavior.

• Draw up a formal Teen Driving Contract that clearly defines the rules and consequences associated with driving privileges.
• Set a driving curfew. More than 40 percent of teen auto deaths occur between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.
• Limit the number of passengers allowed in your teen’s car. For teenagers, the relative risk of a fatal crash increases as the number of passengers increases.
• Make all cell phone use off-limits while driving. Texting or talking on a cell phone can double the likelihood of an accident.
• Encourage your teen to exercise his or her rights as a passenger. Only 44 percent of teens say they would speak up if someone were driving in a way that scared them.

Blood may be thicker than water, but it is thinner than insurance contracts. An adult son or daughter may think that, when a loss happens, coverage is available from mom or dad's homeowners or auto policy. It usually isn't and finding this out after a loss makes matters much worse. Policies are typically clear. A relative is covered, but only if the relative is a full-time resident of the named insured's household. Even if the nonresident child lives next door, a parents' policy is not going to spread its coverage to take care of an adult child's belongings.

Insurance contracts are meant to handle sources of loss that can be easily identified. Person A's cars or home is protected by Person A's auto or homeowner policy. Imagine if that weren't the case.

Example: The Rabbitfield's home and cars have been insured by Plausible Fire & Casualty for 20 years. In the last five years, the Rabbitfield's children have grown and started their own households. Per the Plausible home and auto policies, the insurance premiums and two policies that covered the original family's two cars and one home, now cover the original home and cars PLUS the following:

• Son Jimmy Rabbitfield's apartment and car
• Daughter Chana Rabbitfield's home and two cars
• Other son Perry's home, seasonal home and two cars
• Other daughter Bonnie's apartment and car.

Besides covering all of the property, the Rabbitfield parents' policies ALSO cover everyone's personal legal liability.

While it might be a bargain for insurance consumers if a single auto or homeowner policy could be stretched this far, it's not likely that the insurance industry could survive such flexibility.

Being Independently Insured

Understandably, insurance is not always a priority for adult children who are now on their own. In the beginning, there's often a phase where the kids commute between "home base" and their new apartment or home and their property is at both locations. The new grown-ups typically have few possessions, especially possessions of high value, and this adds to the likelihood that insurance is overlooked or seen as unnecessary. However, even when possessions are few, EVERYONE has a legal responsibility to handle the damage they accidentally cause to other people and/or other people's property. When a child reaches adulthood, they've also reached the point where they need to get their own insurance.

If an adult child asks you for insurance advice, give them the name of one of our insurance professionals you trust to help them get the exact protection they need.