An Insurance Review is Mandatory
But you probably already knew that. You’ve heard it from your agent until you, or more probably she, is blue in the face – you NEED an annual insurance review. But what does it cover? And what if you have already had one, but things in your life have changed and it may no longer be accurate? What is a responsible go-getter like yourself to do?
Why, perform your own insurance review, that’s what. Doing this before your annual review with your agent will have you super prepared, and doing it just for yourself might help you find gaps in coverage that were missed earlier – all before an accident makes it too late.
Ah, that freshly reviewed feeling.
Dude, why do I need a review?
An insurance review helps you in many ways, but the most obvious way is that it can reveal what I referred to earlier as “gaps” in your coverage. These are parts of your net worth that are not adequately protected from risk. An example would be minimum limits of insurance on a brand new BMW – one accident that is your fault and you could lose the entire car, and be on the hook for additional expenses if the car you hit is worth more than your limits. Another example is missing a coverage entirely, like an umbrella policy or life insurance. If you have a family and you don’t have life insurance, you are missing out on a tremendous opportunity to provide for your loved ones if something terrible happens to you – and it usually doesn’t cost that much at all, especially if you’re healthy.
Now that you have a good idea of why you need an insurance review, let’s look into how you can go about doing one yourself.
Life Insurance? I don’t have any risks.
Find the Holes in Your Armor
The first thing to do when reviewing your protections is to cover the basics: auto and home. You’d be amazed at how many people are underinsured when it comes to these necessary protections.
Start by checking your auto insurance, then compare that to the cost of your vehicles. If you were in an at-fault accident, and your policy wouldn’t cover the cost of your car or truck, that’s a big gap in coverage. Also check your liability coverage and compare that to the cost of a new luxury vehicle. If your policy wouldn’t cover you totaling a new car that you hit in an at-fault accident, you’d better get more coverage.
For your home or renters policy, the most basic question is do you have one? Shockingly, over 50% of all renters don’t even have coverage, meaning that they are one bad fire or break in away from losing everything. If you’re a homeowner, chances are you do have coverage, and your insurance agent should have ran a Replacement Cost Estimator, or RCE, on your property to make sure that it is insured for the correct amount. If you aren’t sure if they did, feel free to ask. The big thing for homeowners is liability and personal property. Check the amount of liability coverage you have and consider increasing it – ask your agent if you aren’t sure how much is enough.
And as for your personal property, make a list of what you own and find the high value items that may not be adequately covered under your homeowners or rental property. Jewelry, fine art, silverware, furs, firearms, these are but a few of the things that have small limits of coverage under your policy. Check with your agent to see if you need to add, or schedule, them to your homeowners or renters policy, of if they need a special policy all their own, called an inland marine policy.
And as for the rest…
Make a list of all of your other valuable possessions: motorcycles, boats, vacation properties, etc. If you can lose it in an accident, you should probably have coverage to protect it. And don’t forget the most valuable thing of all – your life and health. If you don’t have Life and Health insurance, then you are gambling with the last thing you would ever want to lose. Call and speak with an agent before your review and find out how reasonable these coverages can be and what they can do for you and your family.
Wow, I have more than I thought.
Now that you know, talk to your agent.
You’re probably surprised by what you’ve found. We understand – we hear how people had no idea they had gaps in their coverage every day. Now the only thing left to do is talk to your agent about what you’ve discovered. If you’re not sure who to talk to, try us. Helping people get adequate – no amazing – coverage for a reasonable price is literally what we do for a living.
Fill out the form below and ask us how we can help cover the gaps in your protection. You may be shocked at how easy and painless it is to be guarded against life’s worst moments.
