The Concerned Insured: Kids Away at School

It’s a Beautiful Morning In the Insurance World

It’s Tuesday and another great question has been asked and answered by CounterPoint Insurance.  We hear this question a lot from homeowners with kids who are away at college.  As we all know kids start to acquire a lot of stuff at this age, and some it can be pretty expensive.  Under a Homeowner’s policy, personal property is covered on a replacement value basis under “Coverage C” on your policy.  This coverage level is reserved specifically for your personal

Beautiful

property (laptops, furniture, instruments, etc.).  Some of these items can be worth a lot of money, like antiques or jewelery, and homeowners will often “schedule” these items on their policy to ensure that should something happen, they will be covered in case there is a loss or a theft.

The great thing about Coverage Part C on your Homeowners policy is that your personal property is covered not only in your home, but anywhere in the world.  However, if you have your property off of the insured premises, that coverage extends only 10% of the amount you are insured for under Personal Property Coverage.  It might not seem like a lot, but take a look at your policy, and it may be more than you think.

Ask Your Insurance Questions Here!

So the question that was posed is this:

My son is away at college.  He has a lot of musical instruments and a laptop with him in his room.  If something should happen, is there coverage for a loss of his personal property under our Homeowner’s policy?

And there are two sides to this answer.  The main question is:  Is your child staying in on-campus housing?  Or are they staying in an apartment off-campus?  We’ll look at this from the last question and get to the first.

Renter’s Insurance

Kids.

If your child is staying in an apartment off campus, that usually means that they are no longer considered a “member” of the household.  They have their own place, their own rent and utilities, and so their personal property would not be covered under your Homeowner’s policy.  The way that your child could have their things covered is if they start up an individual Renter’s policy for their apartment.  These policies are relatively inexpensive and cover any personal property owned by the insured inside the walls of the apartment.

Homeowner’s Insurance

Now, if the student is staying in on-campus housing, this is where your homeowner’s policy Coverage Part C kicks in.  Although it’s only 10% of your personal property coverage, that is usually enough to cover any personal property off-premises.  It may seem that this is your answer, but there is more to it so hold onto your hats!

Often with a Homeowner’s policy, your deductible can be much higher than the value of the personal property that was stolen, destroyed, etc.  Because of this, you may end up paying out-of-pocket to replace these items.  Scheduling property on your policy can only go so far if the value of the items is less than your deductible.  But if the total of the items that have suffered a covered loss total more than your deductible, your insurance company will cover the rest.

Help Where it’s Needed

Many colleges and universities offer insurance products that are much like Renter’s policies for students staying on-campus.  These policies have low-deductible plans and can be very beneficial for this type of risk.

That just about sums it up!  It was a great question and one that we feel many homeowners with kids in college will find useful and informative.  More answers lay with your independent agent so don’t hesitate to give them a call!

The Concerned Insured: Flying Ice

We've all got questions

Always with the “what if’s.” 

We had another question from an insured recently about the determination of fault under certain circumstances.  Dave asks:

“Let’s say that I am driving on the highway on the way to work.  We’ve just had snow accumulation, followed by freezing rain the night before.  The snow that was on my car that morning had become frozen stiff and I had to break it off of my roof and windows.  Now, you are supposed to clean the top of your car off before you start driving so as not to create a hazard for other drivers.  But as I am driving, I end up behind a truck that has not cleared their roof of snow. 

Suddenly, a large sheet of the frozen snow (We’ll call it ice) flies up into the air, crashes into my windshield, cracking it, and inhibits my view.  I then veer off the road and hit a guard rail before I am able to regain control of my vehicle.  From an insurers standpoint, would the driver of the truck be at fault for the accident?  How does the insurer determine fault in this situation?”

And it’s a great question, although the answer may not be a favorite of insureds.  Usually, when determining which party is at fault in a situation where the insured hits a guard rail, the insurance company will take the stance that the driver is supposed to be in control of the vehicle at all times.  This same stance is held if you slide on ice through a stop sign or hydroplane into an object.  So when you as the driver have cause damage in these cases, you will be considered at fault for the accident.

In the case where ice from the roof of the truck flies off and hits your windshield, if you do not have a license plate number or information for the driver of that truck, the insurance company has no ground to subrogate and investigate the other party.  If the ice cracked your windshield, but you were able to obtain the information from the vehicle, then the claims adjuster would be able to factor that into the fault determination and subrogation.  But not everyone is thinking of remembering the license plate of the vehicle in front of them unless you are in New Hampshire and see one of the thousands of vanity plates that drivers have. 

Light When You Need to See

So the summary of all of this:  If you hit the guard rail and get stuck on the side of the road, the insurance company has no one to go after in regards to the flying ice.  You will be at fault for losing control of your vehicle, but there is still coverage for the damage.  Just pay your deductible and your insurance company will take care of the rest.  And if you don’t know if you have a deductible or what your deductibles are, that is when you give your agent a call and they will help to make sure you are properly insured.

We appreciate your questions so much that we want to share them with the rest of the world! Give us your questions and we’ll answer them as best we can.

Oh, and thanks for letting us use your question Dave! 

If People Will Do This For Insurance, What Will They Do If SOPA Passes?

People of the Free World

In the history of mankind, there have been too many cases to count of people being dishonest with each other and themselves.  Maybe it has been out of fear, sometimes out of necessity, or just out of human nature.  But there are those who take things too far.

Insurance fraud comes in all different forms.  From you not telling your insurance agent that you have wet rot in your roof when they are quoting your home, or “neglecting” to tell them that you have a family of dobermans, it can all be considered a form of committing fraud against the insurance company.  These types of fraud are called “material misrepresentation” and your insurance company can potentially flat cancel your policy for it, leaving you with no insurance.  Taking things a step further, if that wet rot ends in your roof collapsing and you call the insurance company to put in a claim, you must have nerves of steel.  The claims adjusters will be there to assess the damages.  If they find that you have rot, then find out you knew all along, bye bye insurance policy, and hello hefty fine and prison time.

Too Far…

Although it seems like an easy thing to avoid by simply telling the truth, some get it into their heads that insurance companies can be easily tricked; like stealing candy for a baby.  Those people would be wrong.  And there are even some who take things to the point of no return and end up like some of these people:

Case 1:  Over the limit, under arrest.  This case of insurance fraud proves that it isn’t just the Private Sector that is willing to take things to the extreme.  Taking advantage of the benefits provided by insurance coverage is acceptable, but for this Police Officer in Los Angeles, CA, he couldn’t wait any longer.  Telling his superiors and fellow officers that he had been shot by a man, while wearing his protective vest, the department scoured the city, shut down roads and closed in schools to find the assailant.  When there was no sign of him, all eyes went back to the Police Officer.  Turns out, he had faked a gun shot wound so that he could receive paid time off from his workers compensation plan.  Doesn’t look like he’ll be sitting anywhere but the back seat of a Police Cruiser after he serves his four year term in prison.

Case 2:  Treat others the way you would like to be treated.  In Baltimore, MD, a pastor made a good friend with a man who was blind and disabled.  Unbeknownst to this man, the pastor took out a life insurance policy on him to the tune of $1.4 Million.  But the story doesn’t end there.  The pastor stole $50,000 from his own church for one expense we’d never expect.  He hired a hitman with that money and had the blind man shot dead in a park bathroom.  Luckily the hitman was careless and the murder lead right back to the pastor.  He received a life sentence in prison.  I hope he finds God.

Case 3:  To get to the other side…  Surely there have been some terrible souls in history, but this man could surprise even the Devil.  This past year, needing money to pay off his debt, a man in Arizona decides he is going to burn down his home for the insurance payout.  He might have gotten away with it if there weren’t witnesses to his crime.  So he went across the street and executed two witnesses.  Surely he thought that he was “home free” but there were children who might speak up about his wrongdoing, so he kills the three of them to ensure they would keep their mouths shut.  Needless to say, when the Police found about all of this, he was put on trial and given the death penalty.  Money makes people do some crazy things, but this one tops them all.

Take a Deep Breath

So you see, it could be as small as hiding your puppies, to conceiving a plot to steal the family jewels for reimbursement, people do these things all the time.  But just know that if you think that you won’t get caught, think again.  Insurance companies are much more intuitive than you expect, they just expect that you as the insured will do the right thing.