​Grilling Safely

Every year, millions of Americans safely enjoy outdoor barbecues, but accidents do happen. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, about 5,700 grill fires take place on residential property every year, causing an annual average of $37 million in damage, 100 injuries and 10 deaths. The majority of grill fires are caused by malfunctioning gas grills. In addition, thousands of people visit emergency rooms every year because they have burned themselves while barbecuing.

In the rare instance of a grill fire spreading to your property, your homeowners insurance would provide financial protection as fire is a covered peril. A homeowners policy covers the following:

• Damage to the house itself.
• Damage to personal possessions such as lawn furniture.
• Damage to insured structures on your property, such as a shed or gazebo.
• Injuries to a guest, under the liability portion of the policy.

Keep in mind you’ll have to pay your deductible before your insurance kicks in, so if damage is minimal and your deductible is high, it may not make sense to file an insurance claim.

However, the best way to enjoy a summer of outdoor barbecues is to take steps to prevent accidents, including maintaining your grill and using it safely.

Grill Maintenance and Storage
Gas grills are generally safe if they are properly maintained and checked for leaks. In some instances, grills are unsafe due to faulty design or construction. (You can search the website of the Consumer Product Safety Commission to see if there has been a recall on your grill.) When setting up at the start of each grilling season, the following tips can help ensure everybody’s safety:

• Check grill hoses for cracks, holes and brittleness. Look for blockages as well, especially in the Venturi tube that runs to the burners. Clear blockages—caused by food drippings, spiders or insects—with a wire or pipe cleaner.
• Run a soap solution (one part liquid soap, one part water) along hoses and at connections, then open the valve at your tank and check to make sure that gas isn’t escaping, which will be indicated by bubbles at the leaking points.
• Adjust hoses as needed away from hot areas or where grease might drip on them.
• Store propane tanks outside, away from your house. Always check to make sure valves are firmly turned off.

Safe Barbecuing Practices
When barbecuing, use common sense and follow these guidelines:

• Operate your barbecue on a level surface, away from your house, garage and landscaping. Don’t move the grill once it is lit.
• Keep children and pets away from ther grill.
• Protect yourself—or whoever is doing the grilling—with a heavy apron and oven mitts that reach high on the forearm.
• For charcoal grills, use only lighter fluid designed for grilling. Never use gasoline or other flammable liquids, and never add more lighter fluid once the fire has started.
• Never grill indoors or in enclosed areas. Charcoal grills produce carbon monoxide (CO) fumes, which can be fatal in unventilated areas.
• Keep a fire extinguisher nearby.
• When you’re done with your cooking, remember that the grill will remain hot for a while. Don’t cover or store your grill until it has cooled, and soak coals with water before throwing them away.

In Case of an AccidentIf a grill accident—or any kind of accident—does occur, injuries should be addressed immediately. Run cool water over minor burns, but do not cover injured areas with bandages, butter or salve. In the case of more serious burns, victims should visit the emergency room or an urgent care facility. If needed or when in doubt, call 911.
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Once you have dealt with any injuries, assess your property damage and, if the situation calls for it, contact your insurance professional to discuss filing a claim.

​Being fortunate enough to own property beyond one’s personal residence is both a blessing and a huge responsibility. When you rent out your property to others, in the form of an apartment, townhouse, condo, home or other structure, that responsibility increases and so does your chance to suffer either a property or liability loss.

It is very important that you consider buying insurance that will properly protect you. Landlord insurance can be bare-bones or quite comprehensive. The amount and scope of coverage will vary according to what you wish to protect, the circumstances of the rental situation and the value of the applicable property.

Here are the types of coverage you should consider when deciding upon securing or adjusting your current coverage:

Landlord Building Insurance–coverage for the structure being rented including, if applicable, other structures such as sheds. Be sure that you purchase enough coverage to replace the property if it is seriously damaged.

Landlord Contents Insurance–Many landlords rent out partially or fully furnished property. Those furnishings, from appliances, to dining sets, dishes to televisions must be protected.

Legal Expenses–Sometimes rental situations deteriorate. This coverage is for the legal costs of having to deal with rental disputes, evictions, contract issues and similar, expensive problems with a tenant.

Loss of Rental Income Coverage–A loss that damages rental property usually makes that property unusable, so you need coverage for rental income that is lost while the property is replaced or repaired.
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Landlord Liability Insurance–Consider a tenant who injures another person or damages another person’s property. Consider some situation on your property that causes an injury to a tenant, tenant’s guest or some other person. Landlord liability insurance can protect you against any lawsuits that such situations may create.

Driving a safe vehicle helps to prevent accidents. Keeping up with suggested maintenance is a perfect first step. Another is making sure to have any safety defects corrected as soon as possible.

A record 53.2 million vehicles were subject to recalls in 2016. If a recall is issued on a vehicle you own, the manufacturer will attempt to contact you – typically via postal mail. How many times have you moved since you bought your car? How do you find out if your vehicle has a defect that compromises its safety and the safety of your passengers and family?

The government does not collect or keep data on the number of autos recalled and how dealerships deal with them. As the Takata airbag scandal showed, this is dangerous not only for car owners but everyone else on the road.If the government cannot protect us, who can?

A Silicon Valley startup – Recall Masters – is going where the government cannot – and saving lives by helping you easily check to see if your vehicle is subject to a recall.

Using “digital forensics” – the process of culling, processing, and organizing enormous quantities of unstructured recall data – Recall Masters has applied machine learning to a traditional industry that’s notoriously slow to innovate.
Using its “digital forensics,” Recall Masters has been able to:

• Identify more than 63 million vehicles in open recall – and gotten hundreds of thousands into dealerships for repairs.
• Plug 50+ data sources into its system, making it the most comprehensive recall database in the world.
• Sign on 1,000+ dealerships across the country.
• Generate millions of dollars in revenue without any outside funding – anticipating a valuation north of $40 million.
• Become the first software company to digitize “Don’t Drive” and “Stop Sale” recall tracking into its SaaS API and batch processing platforms.

Safety Recall: For Personal Use
Recall Masters has a non-profit arm, MotorSafety.org, which is a resource for consumers, fleet owners, and the general public to help them protect themselves and give their families peace of mind knowing they are driving a safe vehicle.
Here are the simple steps to check your car:

1. Visit Motorsafety.org.
2. Enter your car’s VIN.
3. Click “Check recall status.”
4. If your car is in recall, you will be directed to a certified dealer to fix the problem.

The rain has been coming down every day for a week. Creeks are rising. Do you know what water damage is covered and not covered under a homeowner's policy?
​This video answers quite a few of those questions.

Vacation Home? Income Property? Here’s How to Cover It
There are many reasons you might want to rent out your home on either a short- or long-term basis. Depending on the rental scenario, your standard homeowners policy may not cover losses incurred while your home is rented out, and you may require a more specialized insurance policy. So, whether you own a second home that you lease to to tenants, want to rent out a spare bedroom in your house periodically though Airbnb, or make a little extra cash renting out your beach cottage the weeks you’re not using it, the first step should be to call your insurance professional. 

Short-Term Rentals/Primary Residence
If you are planning to rent out all or part of your primary residence for a short period of time, for instance, a week or several weekends, there will likely be two insurance scenarios.

1. Some insurance companies may allow a homeowners or renters policyholder  a short-term rental—assuming they have notified the company. Other insurers will require an endorsement (or rider) to the existing insurance policy in order to provide insurance coverage. 
2. If you plan to rent out your primary residence for short periods on a regular basis, to various “guests.” this would constitute a business. Standard homeowners insurance policies do not provide any coverage for business activities conducted in the home. To be properly covered you would need to purchase a business policy—specifically either a hotel or a bed and breakfast policy.

Long-Term Rentals/Second Home
If you are planning to lease your home to one person or a couple or family for a longer period of time, say six months or a year, you will likely need a landlord or rental dwelling policy. Landlord policies generally cost about 25 percent more than a standard homeowners policy to pay for increased protections. If you are regularly renting out a vacation home or investment property, this would also require a landlord or rental dwelling policy.  

Landlord policies provide property insurance coverage for physical damage to the structure of the home caused by fire, lightning, wind, hail, ice, snow or other covered perils. It also offers coverage for any personal property you may leave on-site for maintenance or tenant use, like appliances, lawnmowers, and snow blowers.

The policy also includes liability coverage; if a tenant or one of their guests gets hurt on the property, it would cover legal fees and medical expenses.
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Most landlord policies provide coverage for loss of rental income in the event you are not able to rent out the property while it is being repaired or rebuilt due to damage from a covered loss. This coverage is generally provided for a specific period of time.
Renters InsuranceAs the landlord, your coverage is only on the structure itself and your financial interest in it. Your tenant’s personal possessions are not covered under your policy. In order to avoid disputes arising from damage to the renter’s belongings, many landlords require a tenant to buy renters insurance before signing a lease.

Auto insurers price their policies based on a number of factors. Sometimes these cost factors go up, and sometimes they go down. In most states, costs are currently rising. Your actions, as a policyholder, can affect what you pay, too. For instance, if you add another car, or a teenaged driver to your policy, your costs will increase. Alternatively, your costs will decrease if you drop either a car or a driver from your policy.

But there are also other factors outside of your control that could cause rates to increase, such as the crashes other people are involved in. The number of crashes, and the cost of these crashes, are a component of auto insurance pricing in every state. For example, drivers living in large metropolitan areas are likely to pay more. This is simply because more cars, therefore more crowded roadways, increase the number of car crashes in those cities. On top of all that, speed limits are also being raised. Speed is the single-biggest contributor to crashes in which driver error is cited as the cause. Distracted driving is an issue everywhere. In big cities and small, people texting, talking or otherwise occupied with another activity while driving is being blamed in part for more crashes.

Auto insurance covers more than vehicle repair. It also covers the cost of injured crash victims’ medical care and lost wages as well as the repairs and/or replacement of vehicles and any property damaged in a crash. In recent years, medical and auto body repair costs have increased at a rate much faster than inflation. Legal costs have gone up, too.

Another trend affecting the cost of auto insurance is that with the unemployment rate falling, more people are driving both to and from work. And with more disposable income, they are presumably driving more for leisure. They also have the means to purchase more expensive cars. And while many of these cars have all types of safety features that might help in accident avoidance, these cars’ often high-tech components are also more expensive to fix and replace once damaged.

Auto insurers are committed to reducing U.S. crash rates. They fund the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), support efforts to combat distracted driving as well as drunk or drugged driving. In addition, auto insurers offer discounts to policyholders who take defensive driving courses or drive fewer miles. 
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Consumers can take proactive and positive steps to reduce auto insurance costs. Talk to one of our insurance professionals to make sure you’re getting all of the discounts to which you’re entitled. 

Before you leave on a military deployment, check your policy renewal date and payment terms with your agent to ensure your coverage will remain in effect during deployment. If necessary, you may be able to renew a policy early or have your premiums paid by automated bank draft. Some insurance companies might also allow you to suspend certain coverage while you are deployed.

To help members of the military better understand their insurance needs, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners offers tips and considerations regarding auto, home, health and life insurance.

Auto Insurance Considerations for Military

• If you will be deployed for an extended period of time and no one will be driving your vehicle, you may be able to suspend some of your auto insurance coverage to save on premium payments. Not all states – or insurance companies – allow for coverage to be suspended.


• If you want to suspend auto coverage, contact your agent and state insurance department for the specific laws and policy limitations applicable in your state. You may want to ask whether the following types of coverage can be suspended while you are deployed: liability, collision, uninsured/underinsured motorist, medical payments and personal injury protection (PIP).


• If your state mandates automobile insurance coverage, you may need to file an affidavit of non-use with your state's department of motor vehicles to avoid being fined for failure to maintain insurance. If you suspend coverage, you may not be able to recover money for damage to your vehicle due to weather (i.e. hail or tornado damage), Acts of God (i.e. earthquake or flood) or acts by another individual, unless you keep the coverage known either as “comprehensive” or “other than collision” in force (i.e. vandalism or hit-and-run).

​Motorcycle Insurance
A guide to finding just the right insurance coverage for a bike that’s unique as you are.

Choosing the right insurance policy is much like choosing the right motorcycle. You want it to fit your needs and lifestyle, but at the same time be within your budget. Although most states require you to carry a minimum amount of liability coverage, other types of coverage are usually optional. Always ask your insurance agent or company representative which laws apply in your state.

In order to find out what coverage is best for you, it is important to understand all the options available.

Liability coverage
Liability insurance covers bodily injury and property damage that you may cause to other people involved in an accident. It doesn't cover you or your motorcycle. Find out if your coverage includes Guest Passenger Liability, which provides protection in the event that a passenger is injured on the motorcycle. This will depend on the laws of your state and the company issuing the policy.
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Collision coverage
Collision insurance covers damage to your motorcycle if you are involved in an accident. Your insurance company pays for damages, minus your deductible, caused when you collide with another vehicle or object. Collision insurance usually covers the book value of the motorcycle before the loss occurred.

Comprehensive coverage
Comprehensive coverage pays for damages caused by an event other than a collision, such as fire, theft or vandalism. Like collision coverage, your insurance company will pay for damages, minus your deductible, and will cover only the book value of the motorcycle.
Keep in mind most comprehensive and collision coverages will only cover the factory standard parts on your motorcycle. If you decide to add on any optional accessories such as chrome parts, a custom paint job, trailers or sidecars, consider additional equipment coverage.

Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage
Uninsured/underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM) coverage covers damages to you and/or your property caused by another driver who either doesn't have insurance (uninsured) or doesn't have adequate insurance (underinsured).

This coverage typically pays for medical treatment, lost wages and other damages. In some cases your UM/UIM coverage includes property damage—check  with your insurance professional to see if property damage is included or needs to be purchased separately.

Tips for the cost-conscious rider
Many factors can play a role in determining what your insurance costs will be such as your age, your driving record, where you live and the type of motorcycle you own, or being a graduate of a rider-training course.

• Many companies offer discounts to graduates of training courses, such as the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) rider course. This is particularly useful for riders under the age of 25, usually considered a higher risk. It’s also a good idea for riders who have already had accidents.
• Maintaining a good driving record with no violations will also help reduce your premiums.
• In many northern states, riders may save money by buying a “lay-up” policy. With a lay-up policy, all coverage except comprehensive is suspended during the winter months when the bike is not being used.
• Find out what discounts your insurance company can offer. A few possibilities include:
  • Multibike discounts can deliver savings to riders insuring more than one bike.
  • Members of motorcycle clubs or other associations may be eligible for organization discounts.
  • And mature rider discounts can help experienced riders save money.

(Note that availability and qualifications for discounts vary from company to company and state to state.)

• Other things to keep in mind are the type, style (e.g. sport bike, cruiser, custom) and age of the motorcycle, as well as the number of miles you ride a year, and where you store your bike may also affect your insurance premiums.

Finally, it’s important to choose the insurance professional that’s right for you. Feel free to contact our office for a no-obligation customized quote that suits your needs.

Your auto policy may include six coverages. Each coverage is priced separately.

1. Bodily Injury Liability
This coverage applies to injuries that you, the designated driver or policyholder, cause to someone else. You and family members listed on the policy are also covered when driving someone else’s car with their permission.

It’s very important to have enough liability insurance, because if you are involved in a serious accident, you may be sued for a large sum of money. Definitely consider buying more than the state-required minimum to protect assets such as your home and savings.

2. Medical Payments or Personal Injury Protection (PIP)
This coverage pays for the treatment of injuries to the driver and passengers of the policyholder's car. At its broadest, PIP can cover medical payments, lost wages and the cost of replacing services normally performed by someone injured in an auto accident. It may also cover funeral costs.

3. Property Damage Liability
This coverage pays for damage you (or someone driving the car with your permission) may cause to someone else's property. Usually, this means damage to someone else’s car, but it also includes damage to lamp posts, telephone poles, fences, buildings or other structures your car hit.

4. Collision
This coverage pays for damage to your car resulting from a collision with another car, object or as a result of flipping over. It also covers damage caused by potholes. Collision coverage is generally sold with a deductible of $250 to $1,000—the higher your deductible, the lower your premium. Even if you are at fault for the accident, your collision coverage will reimburse you for the costs of repairing your car, minus the deductible. If you're not at fault, your insurance company may try to recover the amount they paid you from the other driver’s insurance company. If they are successful, you'll also be reimbursed for the deductible.

5. Comprehensive
This coverage reimburses you for loss due to theft or damage caused by something other than a collision with another car or object, such as fire, falling objects, missiles, explosion, earthquake, windstorm, hail, flood, vandalism, riot, or contact with animals such as birds or deer.

Comprehensive insurance is usually sold with a $100 to $300 deductible, though you may want to opt for a higher deductible as a way of lowering your premium.

Comprehensive insurance will also reimburse you if your windshield is cracked or shattered. Some companies offer glass coverage with or without a deductible.

6. Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage
This coverage will reimburse you, a member of your family, or a designated driver if one of you is hit by an uninsured or hit-and-run driver.

Underinsured motorist coverage comes into play when an at-fault driver has insufficient insurance to pay for your total loss. This coverage will also protect you if you are hit as a pedestrian.

Feel free to contact our office for a no-obligation review of all your insurance needs.

​With the joys of a new ride comes much responsibility – especially when the unexpected occurs.

In an automobile accident, you are concerned first about your safety and secondly about your vehicle. Likely, the last thing on your mind is protecting your identity. In fact, a recent NAIC survey suggests that after an accident, many Americans do not really know what information they should share with the other driver. State laws vary, but in most cases you need only provide your name and vehicle insurance information, which should include the name and phone number of your insurance provider. Sharing personal information such as your address and phone number may put your privacy and identity at risk. However, if another driver is unable to provide vehicle ownership and/or insurance information it is appropriate to ask for their phone number, address and driver's license number.

According to a recent NAIC survey:

• Thirty-eight percent of consumers believed they should share their driver’s license number with the other driver — one in six would even allow the other driver to photograph the license as a convenient way to exchange information.
  • So what’s the risk? In the hands of criminals, your driver’s license number can be as valuable as cash. Many retailers accept driver’s license information to verify identity over the phone. In fact, your license number is the most common way to confirm your identity after Social Security number and date of birth.
• Twenty-five percent of consumers surveyed said they would share their home address.
  • Actually, your home address gives identity thieves the physical location of your mail or garbage, the first place criminals often look for personal financial information. And, now a stranger knows where you live, possibly putting your personal safety at risk.
• Twenty-nine percent of survey respondents believed they are required to share personal phone numbers. In fact, sharing your phone number is rarely necessary.

Identity theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the United States. The Federal Trade Commission estimates nearly nine million consumers have their identities stolen each year, disrupting finances and damaging credit histories and reputation. Knowing what to share helps keep property and identities safe.

The survey also found consumers were unsure about other auto accident best practices. For example, nearly 20 percent of respondents believe the only reason to call police after an accident is if someone is injured. However, filing a police report can help facilitate the insurance claims process.

WreckCheck App for Smartphones
To take some of the guesswork out of a tense situation, NAIC developed WreckCheck™. This free mobile app for iPhone® and Android® smartphones outlines what to do immediately following an accident and walks users through a step-by-step process to create their own accident report. The app directs them to capture photos and helps document and share only what is necessary to file an insurance claim. Users can even email their completed reports to themselves and their insurance agents.