Our Insurance Blog for Tips and Information

September 26, 2017 by Consumer Reports

September 18, 2012 Investopedia

You buy insurance to protect your home and car from damage, but when an accident happens, is it in your best interest to file a claim? It seems like the answer should be a resounding “yes,” but a middling “maybe” is a far better response. Why the ambiguity? The decision to file a claim can have a major impact on your insurance rates, even if the accident was minor or not your fault.

Every year, many homes and commercial buildings are damaged by severe storms. Property owners become the victims of unlicensed, uninsured, and inexperienced contractors as well as outright scammers who come to prey on uninformed people.

Poor-quality contractors and scammers can cause permanent damage, devalue your property, steal your money, and put you at personal, legal, and financial risk—not to mention all the headaches! Many scams begin with a knock at your door or an unsolicited call on the phone from someone who claims to be a contractor.

Unfortunately, many scam companies imitate legitimate contractors, so protect yourself by checking your contractor out before agreeing to an inspection. Make sure any contractor you work with is properly licensed, insured, and provides three local references.

Most homeowner claims result from negligence or as the result of a component of the home deteriorating. Your best bet in preventing a claim is to perform routine maintenance and never ignore a developing problem. Implement the following preventative measures and precautions to keep your home safe and accident-free:

1. Kitchen fire – The majority of fire losses originate in the kitchen due to food that is left unattended on the stove or grease ignition. Never put out a grease fire with water. Use baking soda or flour instead.
   
2. Careless smoking – Always pay attention to how cigarettes are discarded. Do not discard cigarettes in trash cans where other debris can ignite.
   
3. Candles – Never leave a room with an unattended, lit candle.
   
4. Fireplace ashes – Never discard ashes in a combustible container or store them in or around the house or garage. Ashes can remain active for days and combust when fuel and air are introduced. Store ashes in the yard away from your home, or introduce water into the container to ensure that the embers are extinguished.
   
5. Dryer fire – Every year you should clean the lint build-up from under your clothes dryer. The motor can ignite the lint if too much lint accumulates.
   
6. Washing machine hose – Check the washing machine hoses annually for dry rot, cracking, and tightening. Hoses should be replaced every couple of years. The water to the unit should be turned off when not in use.
   
7. Refrigerator ice maker line – Often these lines become pinched and start to leak. This causes damage to the flooring material and cabinets. Check the lines annually.
   
8. Valves to sinks and toilets – As your home ages, you should continue to check all plumbing fixtures and connections. Look for corrosion and rust around valves. If your home is over 20-years-old, consider having a plumber check and replace all connections and hoses.
   
9. Theft of property from vehicle – Do not leave valuable items in plain view inside your vehicle. Use the trunk instead.
   
10. Ice dams – Make sure your gutters are free of debris in the spring and fall to ensure that water can run off the roof and down gutter drains. If you have several inches of snow on your roof, consider shoveling back the first few feet to allow the snow above to melt and drain from the gutter. Be safe and do not endanger your safety by doing this from the roof. Use a ladder instead.
    

If you have not experienced rain water entering you home from the many downpours this weekend, consider yourself lucky. With more rain in the forecast, your luck may eventually run out.

Here are a few tips that may help keep your property dry:

• Check gutters for any clogs  – Gutters that are filled with debris do not allow water to flow through properly and the water will seep into areas closest to the clog.

• Install window well covers to help keep standing water out  – This is an inexpensive fix. The Home Depot sells these for around $18.00 each.

• Slope your landscaping  – Landscape grades that run toward the house instead of away from it often result in flooding. Make sure there is an adequate slope away from the house for at least 10‐15 feet. A professional landscaper will help you assess the situation and give advice for further prevention.

• Provide emergency power  – Install an automatic emergency generator to provide electric service for essential circuits like the well pump, refrigerator, septic tank pump, and sump pump in case power is lost. Without emergency backup power, you may return home to unnecessary basement flooding or a flooded septic tank.

• Install a backup sump pump  – The sump pump is your first line of defense against basement flooding. However, the most reliable sump pump available in the industry is still a mechanic device and can fail. A backup sump pump system, preferably with at least a battery‐operated pump configured with a switch device to begin working if the main is out of commission, greatly reduces the chance of flood. Some systems come with additional security features such as an alarm that goes off whenever the battery operated pump is started.