Fall and spring tend to be our wettest seasons making our homes most susceptible to the backup of sewer or drain lines. While these events don’t occur often, when they do, the problem can be a small disaster. Did you know a standard homeowner’s insurance policy excludes coverage for such an event?

It’s true. The backup of sewer and drains as well as the failure of a sump pump is excluded. The damage you sustain from either of these problems will not be covered and you’ll be responsible to pay for the loss and the clean up. If you have a finished basement, or use your basement area for storage, you shouldn’t go without this coverage endorsement.

Heavy rains can trigger a backup. A storm sewer or sanitary sewer backs up into your home and usually comes in through a sump well, washtubs in the basement, or toilets in the basement. However, the damage can happen anywhere in the house.  Sump pump failures normally occur from power outages or motor failures.  Sump pumps run on electricity and during a bad storm many times the power goes out.  That’s when you need the sump pump the most, to pump the heavy water from the rain out of the basement.

The damage can be quite costly. Normally damage occurs in the basement, which houses the mechanical systems of the house such as: washer and dryer, furnace, hot water tank and the numerous items people store there. Water or sewage usually destroys anything it comes in contact with. For the thousands of dollars in damage, it would be well worth purchasing the additional coverage with your homeowner’s policy to cover such an event.

Be sure to ask your agent about this coverage to make sure you already have it on your policy or to purchase it. This coverage can often be purchased as an endorsement on its own, or with an endorsement that will expand/increase other coverages on the policy. The additional cost runs between $25 and $50 annually. Well worth the peace of mind. The key is to ask your agent or company what you best option is.

Article from http://www.insurance4usa.com/waterbackup.cfm

Boaters will certainly agree that there is perhaps nothing better than being out on the water, relaxing and enjoying a carefree day on your boat – unless of course your boat becomes damaged.

Unfortunately, boat collisions are an all-too-common occurrence, regardless of how well you prepare behind the wheel. In fact, boat collisions are far more prevalent than boat theft, according to the Saga Boat Institute.

How to Protect Your Vessel

Besides preparing for your sailing expedition, using Marine charts and having a sonar device installed onboard, you can better protect yourself, your passengers and your boat by having comprehensive boat insurance.

Most Common Boat Insurance Claims

Boat insurance, like auto insurance, is a must-have for any boat owner, so it is interesting to learn more about the most common boat insurance claims; in particular the 10 most common boat insurance claims, as reported by the Saga Boat Institute, are:

1. Hitting a submerged object while cruising
2. Theft while anchored
3. Collision with other boats while boating
4. Storm damage while moored
5. Theft while in storage
6. Accidental damage while cruising
7. Flooding while moored
8. Sinking while moored
9. Owner negligence while cruising
10. Accidental damage while moored

Thefts while anchored are more likely to occur during the warmer boating months, so it is important to remember a few practical tips to prevent the theft of your boating equipment and supplies while the boat is anchored:

• Remove navigational equipment from sight.
• Don’t leave anything of value on the deck.
• Properly secure the motors, tenders and life rafts to      the boat.
• Secure all boating equipment, such as oars and anchors      to the boat.

Being prepared before you sail, understanding the weather and tides and using the equipment necessary to help you navigate the waters are the first steps in preventing a collision with a submerged object while cruising.

article from boatinsurance.org; written by Steve Wyrostek

There are two big myths about renters insurance. One is that it’s too expensive, and the other is that it’s not needed. Renting an apartment without insurance is a pretty big gamble considering that without it, you face the cost of replacing your personal belongings after an event such as fire or theft. What’s more, you could face the prospect of defending yourself in a lawsuit because of some accident for which you might be held legally responsible, whether it happened in your residence or elsewhere. In many cases, for less than a couple hundred dollars a year you can protect your valuables (like furniture and clothes) from loss by fire, theft, wind and water damage or other covered hazards.

Living in Denial

But many renters still don’t believe they need such insurance. A survey conducted by Cambridge Reports, Inc. for the Insurance Information Institute found that fewer than three out of every 10 renters purchase renters insurance. Many renters mistakenly believe their landlord’s insurance will cover their own belongings. In fact, it would be extremely rare for a landlord’s policy to extend to tenants’ property. To determine how much insurance coverage you’ll need, take a complete inventory of your personal items. An insurance agent can help with this by estimating the total value of your property.

Types of Insurance

You’ll also need to decide whether to opt for depreciated or limited replacement cost coverage. Depreciated coverage is the cost to repair or replace your belongings minus depreciation. Let’s say you bought a quality sofa with an expected useful life of 10 years. If it’s now five years old and would cost about $1,000 to replace, you could expect to receive about $500 (less deductible) if your sofa was destroyed by fire. You would pay slightly more for limited replacement cost coverage, but you could expect to receive $1,000 for your sofa minus your deductible. You should also keep in mind that insurance coverage for some types of personal property is limited in terms of dollars. Renters insurance also gives you personal legal liability coverage and medical payments to others who are accidentally injured while in your home or apartment or elsewhere if the injuries are caused by your actions. And, if you are forced to live elsewhere because of damage to your residence due to a covered loss, renters insurance covers additional living expenses.

Remember, you may not own the building in which you live, but you still need to have insurance to protect your property in the case of fire, theft or other hazards.

Article from http://www.moving.com/articles/renters-insurance-reasons.asp

You can register a car in Iowa if you don’t have insurance. But if you’re stopped by a law enforcement officer, you must have proof of insurance, Lowe says.

If you don’t have liability insurance, you must post a certificate of deposit or bond with the secretary of state that shows you have the financial resources to cover $55,000 in injuries and property damages if you’re involved in an accident, he says.

Only a handful of individuals choose that option, he says. Typically a big company, such as a car rental agency, will decide to self-insure.

View article at http://money.msn.com/auto-insurance/never-buy-car-insurance-again-insurance.aspx

Ty Leverty, a professor of finance in the Tippie College of Business, says that the expenses associated with meeting regulations in every state in which an insurance company does business drive up compliance costs by 26 percent when compared to companies that are regulated by only one state.

“These high regulatory compliance costs reduce the technical efficiency of firms, deter firms from operating in additional states, and increase the price of insurance,” says Leverty.

In his research, Leverty compared the regulatory compliance costs of standard property/casualty insurance companies that solely write commercial liability insurance (including commercial auto liability, other liability, and medical malpractice) to the compliance costs of risk retention groups (RRGs), which are permitted to write only commercial liability. Leverty also limited his sample to insurers that began writing after 1989.  He found 147 RRGs and 85 insurers that met these conditions.

Standard insurance companies are regulated by every state in which they are licensed to do business, and so must comply with regulations in each of those states. RRGs are specialized insurance companies usually focused on a single industry that are allowed by federal law to operate in multiple states, but only have to comply with regulations in the state in which they are headquartered.

“Multi-state insurers face multiple regulatory bodies and multiple sets of regulations with which they must comply,” Leverty says. “The central complaint against state regulation is the inefficiencies and duplicative costs inherent in complying with multiple regulators and regulations that drive up costs.”

Regulatory costs include such expenses as licensing application fees, presenting financial and statistical reports, paying for independent audits and regulatory examinations, and ensuring internal compliance with state regulations.

The study compared the regulatory compliance costs of 85 insurance companies doing business in multiple states with 147 multi-state RRGs and found that traditional insurance companies have significantly higher compliance costs because of those multiple regulations. For instance, he found that the average traditional insurance company in his sample spends $187,000 a year on licensing fees in multiple states, while the average RRG spends only $49,000 for one.

In total, his research showed the average standard insurance company spends about $9 million a year to comply with regulations. RRGs, however, spend an average of $2.9 million to comply with regulations.

Leverty says those costs then drive up a firm’s expenses and are passed along to policyholders in the form of higher premiums. But more than that, he writes, they also limit consumer access and market competitiveness by acting as a drag on expansion into new states. Leverty’s research showed that the average standard insurance company pays $74,500 in new expenses whenever it enters a new state to comply with regulations in the new market.

View article at http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2012/05/08/246688.htm

The Iowa DOT’s website and educational program, called Curb it – Click it, details Iowa laws, and other facts and statistics related to distracted driving in Iowa. A special section of the site provides real-life stories of Iowans whose lives were changed forever due to the carelessness of a distracted driver or as a result of not buckling up. The federal site, distraction.gov, has a similar section called “Faces” with video stories of lives impacted by distracted drivers.

Get the facts

There are three types of distractions:

• Manual – taking your hands off the wheel.
• Visual – taking your eyes off the road.
• Cognitive – taking your mind off the task of driving.

But, because text messaging requires visual, manual and cognitive attention from the driver, it is by far the most alarming distraction. The best way to end distracted driving is to educate all Americans about the danger it poses.

Here are a few key facts and statistics from www.distraction.gov.

• In 2009, 5,474 people were killed in crashes involving driver distraction, and an estimated 448,000 were injured.
• 16 percent of fatal crashes in 2009 involved reports of distracted driving.
• 20 percent of injury crashes in 2009 involved reports of distracted driving.
• In the month of June 2011, more than 196 billion text messages were sent or received in the United States, up nearly 50 percent from June 2009.
• Teen drivers are more likely than other age groups to be involved in a fatal crash where distraction is reported. In 2009, 16 percent of teen drivers involved in a fatal crash were reported to have been distracted.
• 40 percent of all American teens say they have been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a way that put people in danger.
• Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves.
• Text messaging creates a crash risk 23 times worse than driving while not distracted.
• Sending or receiving a text takes a driver’s eyes from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds, which is equivalent to driving (at 55 mph) the length of an entire football field, blind.
• Headset cell phone use is not substantially safer than hand-held use.
• Using a cell phone while driving – whether it’s hand-held or hands-free – delays a driver’s reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent.
• Driving while using a cell phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent.

Article from Iowa Department of Transportation website: http://www.news.iowadot.gov/newsandinfo/2012/04/april-is-national-distracted-driving-awareness-month.html

Most home insuranc policies require you to insure your home for at least 80 percent of its replacement value. One in four remodeling projects increases the value of a home by more than 25 percent, according to the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America. Chances are may need to increase your coverage to reflect the impact of renovations on your home’s value.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) recommends reviewing your home insurance policy, whenever significant work is done on your home. “For instance, the addition of a room, new insulation and yearly inflation all increase the replacement cost of your home,” the NAIC points out.

Therefore, it’s always important to review your policy to make sure you have enough coverage.

Who’s doing the work?

Your home insurance company will cover the building materials you’ll need for renovation. But you may want to raise your coverage limits before beginning work on your house. If a fire struck and destroyed both your home and the building materials, you might not be covered for the full extent of the damages unless you’ve updated your coverage limits.

It’s not just your home’s higher value that should figure into your insurance calculations. Whether you do the job yourself, or hire a contractor, also affects your insurance needs.

If you hire an outside person or firm, you should find out if the contractor has adequate insurance coverage before work begins. The contractor should provide proof of insurance, in the form of a “certificate of coverage,” for workers compensation and contractor’s liability insurance.

Workers compensation insurance covers injuries to the contractor and his employees while they’re working. If a worker is injured in your home and the contractor does not carry workers compensation, you could be sued.  Your homeowners coverage would not pick up the bill. Workers compensation is required for employers in every state but Texas.

Contractor’s liability insurance covers the contractor for damage to your property while it’s under construction. For instance, if there’s a big hole in an outside wall and the contractor fails to cover it properly during a rainstorm, water could leak in and cause major damage. Though homeowners insurance will cover these damages, your insurer will expect the contractor’s insurance company to pick up the tab if you make such a claim. A reputable contractor will have this coverage and should provide proof of insurance.

For the do-it-yourself home-repair guru, your insurance needs depend on who’s helping you and whether you’re paying them. A friend or family member who’s injured while lending a hand will have his medical bills covered by your homeowners policy.

Hiring a subcontractor or paying a friend makes you an employer. That means you should purchase workers compensation insurance to cover your liability in case of an injury.

Insurance tips for home remodeling

Things to keep in mind as you renovate, remodel, or add onto your home:

• Keep your home insurance agent informed about your remodeling plans. Your agent can help you sort out coverage needs.
• Know who is responsible for uninstalled appliances and other items, such as carpets and cabinets, in advance. Your contractor’s insurance should cover these items.
•   If you are concerned about medical bills should a family member or friend be injured while helping out with the renovations, a personal liability umbrella policy can pick up the bills where your home insurance policy leaves off.
• If you’re hiring a contractor, check with the Better Business Bureau and follow up on references. Ask for proof of workers compensation and contractor’s liability insurance.
• Having people you don’t know working in your home can increase the risk of theft. It makes sense to protect any valuable personal property.

Source: Insure.com http://www.insure.com/home-insurance/remodeling.html

• Flood losses are not typically covered under renter and homeowner’s insurance policies.
• FEMA manages the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which makes federally-backed flood insurance available in communities that agree to adopt and enforce floodplain management ordinances to reduce future flood damage.
• Flood insurance is available in most communities through insurance agents.
• There is a 30-day waiting period before flood insurance goes into effect, so don’t delay.
• Flood insurance is available whether the building is in or out of an identified flood-prone area.

What you can do:

• Find out if your home or business is at risk for flood and educate yourself on the impact a flood could have on you and your family. FEMA’s Flood Insurance Study compiled statistical data on river flows, storm tides, hydrologic/hydraulic analyses, and rainfall and topographic surveys to create flood hazard maps that outline your community’s different flood risk areas.
• Talk to your insurance provider about your policy and determine if you need additional coverage.
• Contact the NFIP. They can help provide a means for property owners to financially protect themselves if additional coverage is required. The NFIP offers flood insurance to homeowners, renters, and business owners if their community participates in the NFIP. To find out more about the NFIP visit www.FloodSmart.gov.

Article from FEMA’s website and can be found at http://www.ready.gov/floods

The number of fatal crashes jumps 6 percent on the last day for U.S. taxpayers to file their federal income taxes statements, the study by the University of Toronto’s Sunnybrook Research Institute showed.

The 2012 tax deadline in the United States is Tuesday, April 17.

The stress of the tax deadline could be one reason for the increase in fatal accidents, along with altered traffic patterns, wrote the study’s authors, Dr. Donald Redelmeier and Christopher Yarnell.

“Although electronic submissions might be expected to lessen driving on tax day, we observed an increase rather than a decrease in fatal crashes in recent decades,” the study said.

Other factors might be lack of sleep, less tolerance of hassles and inattention. The typical crash victim was a young man driving “in a rural location,” it said.

The heightened crash risk is similar to that for Super Bowl Sunday, the day of the U.S. professional football championship game, another link that Redelmeier has studied.

He and Yarnell compiled crash statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from 1980 to 2009. They matched the crashes that took place on tax days against those that took place one week before and after.

The data showed that 6,783 people were killed on tax deadline days versus a total 12,758 on the other days.

Redelmeier and Yarnell urged public campaigns for road safety on tax-filing days, including use of seatbelts.

The study was published in the letters section of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

(Reporting By Ian Simpson; editing by Christopher Wilson)

Article from Insurancejournal.com April 12, 2012

View full article at http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2012/04/12/243061.htm