Like many businesses, the insurance industry is constantly changing. Our pledge at Dominion Risk Advisors is to stay on top of those changes to the best of our ability and keep you informed about their impact.
These changes can broaden coverage, reduce coverage and change costs. Recently, the changes have been coming more frequently so we are summarizing some those here.
Here are some coverages that are now available. Not all coverages are offered by every carrier and not all homes or autos are eligible for all coverages.
Homeowners
- Service Line Coverage – You may be receiving notices from your utility providers that they can sell you protection for damage to your underground utilities. Many of our insurance carriers are now making this coverage available.
- Inland Flood – This is designed for insureds in low to moderate flood zones. This is added to your home policy and is not a separate flood policy. Building, contents (including contents in basement), debris removal, and additional living expenses are included.
- Cyber Liability – A home endorsement that can cover Cyber Attack, Cyber Extortion, Fraud and Data Breach.
- Guaranteed Replacement Cost on Your Home – Most policies cover up to the policy limits and we can usually add a percentage above that amount for unforeseen expenses, such as an increase in labor rates or building materials. Guaranteed Replacement Cost will rebuild your home to the actual cost even if it is significantly higher than the limit you purchased with the policy.
Automobile Insurance
- OEM Parts – Typically, insurance has not been viewed as a maintenance policy. Historically, for direct damage to your vehicle, the insurance carrier will pay you the actual cash value (depreciated value) of the vehicle. In addition, they were not required to use the Original Manufacturers parts to fix the vehicle. In response to demand from clients, that is changing. These enhancements generate a premium, but many people like the assurance that they can use the replacement parts that they prefer.
- Newer Car Replacement – This is an auto endorsement that can help offset the cost of depreciation if your car is totaled and allow you to replace your vehicle with a newer model year than the damaged vehicle was.
- Disappearing Deductible – This allows for your collision deductible to be reduced for every year you do not have a claim. The amount of years allowed is limited.
Pitfalls
- Percentage Deductibles – Some national insurance carriers have a percentage deductible (as in a percentage of the replacement value of your home). We generally do not write homeowner’s policies with percentage deductibles. We do have some other than a few that have percentage deductibles for windstorm and hail or for damaged caused by named tropical storms.
- Actual Cash Value for Roofs – Allows for the insurance carrier to depreciate the value of your roof vs. Replacement Cost.
- Claims Frequency – We are happy to help you find broader coverage to protect you. It is important to note that insurance carriers keep track of the claims that you have and share them on a database. Repeated claims are likely to reduce the number of insurance carriers interested in your account and consequently increase your premiums.
- ATV’s and Golf Carts – You may not have coverage for your ATV, UTV or golf cart if you are operating it away from your premises without specifically scheduling that vehicle on an special policy.
Please contact Dominion Risk Advisors at 540-366-7475 if you have any questions about these issues.