Picture via LancasterOnline (Dan Marschka/Staff)

According to LancasterOnline, this most recent Lancaster, PA storm had winds up to 70 mph and may have caused nearly $2 million in damage. Much of the damage was caused by fallen trees and many people are filing home insurance claims to pay for the damage and clean up. However, a standard home insurance policy does have coverage limitations for damage caused by trees and for trees themselves. Make sure to understand these coverages and limitations before submitting a home insurance claim to avoid any surprises.

My neighbor’s tree fell on my house, whose insurance pays?

Generally, who owns the fallen tree is not the determining factor of whose insurance will respond. The person who submits the claim is actually the person who owns the home that was damaged by the fallen tree. So if your home or other covered property is damaged by anyone else’s tree, your home insurance policy will respond. Likewise, if your tree falls on anyone else’s home or other covered property, their home insurance will respond.

The only time a home insurance policy should be involved with damage to someone else’s property is if the tree owner was liable. This includes a homeowner neglecting a rotten or leaning tree that should have been removed or trimmed prior to the damage occurring.

Will my home insurance replace my damaged landscaping and trees?

Trees, shrubs and other plants (including lawns) are covered on a standard home insurance policy but only for losses due to fire, lightning, explosion, riot, non owned vehicles, vandalism and theft. On the surface, this sounds pretty good, but did you notice that wind or ice are not included. So if your 100 year oak tree fell over due to wind storm, the insurance company will not pay to replace it.

Will insurance pay to remove my tree?

The cost to remove a tree is only covered if the tree damaged a covered structure on the insurance policy, if it blocks a driveway or if it prohibits access to the home. However, most home insurance policies have $500 or $1000 limitation to remove trees if a loss is caused by wind, hail, weight of ice, snow or sleet.

If a tree falls into your yard and does not cause any damage or restrict access, there is generally no coverage to remove the tree. Tree removal coverage varies based on the insurance company and it is best to ask your agent what your specific coverage limits are for tree removal before submitting a claim.

If you have any other tree related home insurance questions, let us know by leaving a comment below.

What Does Renter Insurance Cover?

Coverage for your Personal Belongings

Whether the contents of your home – furniture, clothing and other items – are stolen or destroyed in an insured disaster, such as a fire, they are covered under this part of the policy. However, just like a homeowner insurance policy, most renters insurance policies have special limitations for certain types of property.

Buy the replacement cost option. This will help ensure you get what it costs to “replace” your belongings at claim time and it only costs a few extra dollars per year.

Liability Protection

When most people think of buying renters insurance they want to protect their belongings, but the most valuable part of a renters policy is the liability coverage. Liability protection covers you against claims or lawsuits for bodily injury or property damage that you or your family members negligently cause to other people or property. It also pays for injury or damage caused by pets.

So if your son, daughter or dog accidentally ruins your neighbor’s valuable rug, you’re covered. But if they destroy your rug, your liability coverage does not provide compensation.

Your policy also provides medical coverage up to a specified limit. In the event a friend or neighbor is injured in your home, he or she can submit the medical bills to your insurance company. Expenses are paid without the injured party filing a liability claim against you.

Coverage for Additional Living Expenses

If you lose the ability to live in your apartment because of a covered loss this coverage pays for additional living expenses you incur due to temporary relocation. Note that it does not pay for the total expense, just the expenses due to the vacating of your home.

How Much Does Renters Insurance Cost?

Renters insurance is one of the best insurance buys on the market. Most policies in the Lancaster, PA area range between $50-$250 per year depending on the amount of personal property and the deductible on the policy.

Sometimes renters insurance can even be free! When renters insurance is also placed with the same company as your auto insurance, you can get a new discount on your auto insurance that can completely offset the cost of the renter insurance.

Although renter’s insurance is usually not required, it is just as necessary to have. It is a great example of using the philosphy of getting a lot for a little.

What it is

Hydroplaning occurs when built-up water on roadways is not sufficiently pushed out of the way by your vehicle’s tires when going at a regular or high speed. The water then causes your vehicle to rise and slide on top of a thin layer of water between your tires and the road. All traction is lost in less than a second and you have very limited control of your vehicle. 

There is no precise equation to determine the speed at which a vehicle will hydroplane. In general, cars hydroplane at speeds above 45 MPH , where water ponds to a depth of at least 0.10 inches over a distance of 30 feet or more.

What to do if it happens

If you find yourself hydroplaning, stay calm. Don’t brake or turn suddenly. Ease your foot off the gas, and hold the wheel firmly. Do not steer in any direction other than straight. If you do need to brake — and don’t have anti-lock brakes — do so gently with a pumping action.

How to prevent it

Drive slowly and carefully: When it’s raining or there is water on the road take your time around curves and steer and brake with smooth, light touches. Most of America’s roads are crowned, meaning water will run to the sides and puddles will accumulate. So, keep towards the middle of the road and drive in the tire tracks left by cars in front of you.

Be extra cautious at intersections: This is a common location where engine oil and water mix, creating extremely slick spots.

Check your tires: Worn tires will hydroplane more easily for lack of tread depth. Underinflation can cause a tire to deflect inward, raising the tire center and preventing the tread from clearing water. Tires that present the greatest risk are small in diameter and wide.

Add weight: More weight on a properly inflated tire lengthens the contact patch, improving its aspect ratio. This is more important for vehicles hauling unloaded trailers and empty pickup trucks with uneven weight distribution. Caution - weight can actually have the opposite effect if the tire is underinflated.

Avoid using cruise control: There is a chance that your car will accelerate if you hydroplane, and your reaction time will be slower if using cruise control.

Let us know if you have any questions, comments or experiences about hydroplaning below.

Without proper documentation even a great insurance policy won’t get you an easy or, potentially, full claim settlement.  That is why it is important for homeowners and renters to maintain an updated home inventory.

Taking a Home Inventory

The easiest method to take a home inventory is by taking digital photographs or shooting a narrated video. If you don’t have any type of camera, just buy a $10 memory card and ask to borrow a friend’s digital camera. Make sure to open all cupboards and closets with the drawers open. Don’t forget storage areas, the garage and any detached structures like a shed.

For more expensive items like televisions and electronics, make sure to take close-ups of the model and serial number and keep sales receipts. Also take close-ups of any custom structural elements like built-ins, stone fireplaces or exposed woodwork. Remember that certain big ticket items have insurance limitations and they may need a separate policy.

The most important part of a home inventory is to store it online or a safe place outside the home. It completely defeats the purpose of a home inventory if the media that it is stored on gets burned in the fire too. KnowYourStuff.org is a great resource that offers a free online software that makes creating and keeping a home inventory easy. They also have a short video showing how to record a home inventory.

Having a major house fire or robbery is stressful enough. Take 30 minutes to create a home inventory and make sure you have adequate proof prior to a major claim.

What is Term Life Insurance?

The “term” in term life insurance signifies the number of years the life insurance coverage will last, generally 10, 15, 20 or 30 years.  If you are just starting out with a new mortgage and a new family, you may want to consider a 20 or 30 year term, which will protect your family until your mortgage is paid off, your children are grown and you become financially independent.

Life insurance rates are based on your age, health (including whether you smoke) and your medical history. The younger and healthier you are when you purchase life insurance, the more likely you will be to receive the best rate, which remains unchanged for the entire term of the policy.

However, if you are a smoker or have a temporary medical condition which causes you to get a higher rate, you may be able to request a re-evaluation to lower your rate if you are able to quit smoking or fully recover from your condition after the policy starts.

How Much Do I Need?

The biggest question is how much life insurance should you purchase.  A quick and simple way to get an idea of the amount your family will need is to use the D.I.M.E. method.

Debt – Mortgage + Credit Cards + Auto + Other = ___________

Income – Annual Salary x Number of Years = ___________

Mortality – Funeral Expenses + Medical Expenses = ___________

Education – Annual Tuition x Years x Number of Children = ___________

Total Life Insurance Need = ___________

Current Life Insurance (-) = ___________

Current Life Insurance Need = ___________

Many home and auto insurance carriers also offer life insurance and will discount your home and auto insurance policies if you also place your life insurance with their company.

Contact a trusted insurance advisor to help you determine the best life insurance for you and the amount your loved ones would need to live after you are gone.

When Do I Need to Get Car Insurance for My Teen?

The simple answer is to check with your insurance agent. Each car insurance company has different requirements for adding new drivers. Some require that new drivers are added to a car insurance policy when they first get their permit and others wait until they are licensed.

Should My Teen Have Their Own Car Insurance Policy?

From a risk perspective, teen drivers should have their own car insurance policy. A separate policy for a teen is more likely to keep a teen’s accidents or violations from affecting the parent’s policy. This helps to protect mom and dad’s car insurance price from going up or being cancelled/non-renewed because of a teen driver. Note that for a teen driver to have a separate policy, most car insurance companies require that the teen’s car is solely titled or co-titled in the teen’s name. Also remember that car insurance follows the car. So if a teen gets into an accident while driving the parent’s car, the accident would be on the parent’s policy, not the teen’s.

From a price perspective it is usually cheaper to put a new teen driver on the parent’s car insurance policy. The parents normally qualify for more discounts and have a better insurance score that leads to lower insurance prices. Regardless, have an insurance agent quote a teen driver on their own policy and on the parent’s policy. The price difference may be small and worth separating the risk.

How Can I Keep the Price Low?

Stay Accident and Violation Free – Accidents and violations are the quickest way for a car insurance policy to skyrocket in price. One way to help prevent accidents and violations is communicating about driving tips and setting driving guidelines. Go to Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to share driver safety tips with your teen and learn how parents can effectively teach a teen to drive.

Shop Around – According to the PA Insurance Dept “A good rule of thumb is to get quotes from at least 3 different insurance companies”. Different car insurance carriers rate teen drivers differently and shopping a few different car insurance companies helps ensure the best car insurance solution for your family’s situation. Remember that the lowest price is not always the best solution and make sure to compare “apples to apples” when getting quotes.

Good Grades Matter – Most car insurance companies offer good grade discounts of 5-10% for students with a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Edmunds.com suggests finding out how much you can save if your teenager gets the discount and giving all or a portion of that money back to your teen. This not only provides a reward for academic performance but it motivates the teen to continue to get good grades.

Driver Training Pays – Most car insurance companies offer a driver training discount if a young driver completes a combination of classroom instruction and behind the wheel training from an accredited driver training course. Click here to find a driver training school near Lancaster, PA.

Don’t Finance a Car – Normally the biggest cost for a teen’s car insurance policy is the comprehensive and collision coverage, which covers damage to their car. Financed cars are required to carry both comprehensive and collision coverage because the financing organization wants to ensure that they get their money back if the car is damaged or totaled. The best advice is to buy a used and reliable car with safety features (airbags, ABS brakes, keyless entry) that does not require financing. That way you can choose to add comprehensive or collision coverage and keep the car insurance price reasonable.

If you have any other teen related car insurance questions, please leave them in the comment box below.

If you are a business with employees or a business that works with third parties (customers), you should become familiar with this acronym.   

Employment Practices Liability Insurance

Do you hire or fire employees?  Has anyone heard the latest “news” around the water cooler?  Do you perform employee reviews?  Do you provide raises or promotions?  Do you or your employees interact with customers or vendors?  Have you ever told a joke at work?

All of these things can lead to an Employment Practices claim.  What is an Employment Practices claim?  Any claim of actual or alleged abuse, harassment, failure to promote or provide a raise, inappropriate hiring or firing, the list goes on.

Lawsuits involving race, retaliation, and harassment make up the top three Employment Practices claims.  There are also lawsuits alleging wrongful termination, failure to promote, being offended by a joke…  You’re getting the picture.

Of course, many of these claims could prove to be groundless.  However, defense costs alone could end up costing major dollars, possibly up to $50,000.  Without Employment Practices Liability Insurance you could be left paying out of your own pocket.  Wouldn’t you rather dip into an insurance company’s pocket?

Studies show that it is more likely for your business to suffer an Employment Practices loss than a General Liability or even a Fire loss.  Are you prepared?

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission website, www.eeoc.gov, has excellent information regarding laws and regulations pertaining to employers.  The Home Page even gives examples of recent lawsuits and how they were settled.  It’s an eye-opener!

Employment Practices Liabilty Insurance can provide you with the protection you need.  Limits can be purchased to include defense costs and claims brought against you by a third party, such as a vendor or customer.  You can also buy a policy that provides defense costs in addition to the coverage amount.  It’s not too late to find out if your insurance agent can provide you with this coverage.  It’s a call worth making, and it’s insurance worth buying.

It’s summer time and that means your summer vacation is finally here! However, a vacation also means your home will be empty for a period of time and it can become a target for a burglary. That is why, as you plan for the final details for your trip, you need to take time to plan for what’s going to be left behind, your home. According to the Insurance Information Institute, nine out of 10 home break-ins could be prevented. Use these 14 tips to help protect your home while you are on vacation.

1. Don’t publicize you are on vacation. The old recommendation was never to leave a message on your home answering machine saying you’re on vacation, but now it’s also important to not post your vacation plans on your Facebook, Twitter or other social media accounts. Most social media posts become a permanent record and it is like announcing your vacation in the newspaper for all to read.

2. Stop delivery of your mail and newspapers or have them picked up regularly by a trusted neighbor. Remember you can put your mail on hold online at https://holdmail.usps.com/holdmail/landingView.do

3. Have a trusted person check on your home. This person will, ideally, stop by as often as possible to check for any deliveries that haven’t been stopped, water plants, open curtains periodically and even move your car from the garage out into the driveway once in a while. This person also needs to have your cell phone and contact infomation in case they have any questions or concerns while you are gone.

4. Install timers on your indoor and outdoor lights. Keeping lights on inside and outside of your home with timers will make it look like someone’s home, or will be soon. Make sure to put at least one light on a programmable timer so some lights can be turned off and on randomly. Programmable timers can be found at most hardware stores for about $20. Also installing motion-detectors on your outdoor lights can help deter potential burglars.

5. Make sure the garage door cannot be opened. You will probably need to disconnect the garage door opener or install a padlock to do this.

6. Arrange for someone to cut the lawn. Nothing gives away an unoccupied home faster than grass that is over a foot long. If you will be gone long enough for the grass to grow too high, make sure a friend, neighbor or hired service will cut it for you. Also make sure that shrubs around windows and doors are cut back, removing all good hiding spots.

 7. Advise the police department and security system company you will be gone. Many police departments will check on your home while you’re away.

 8. Lock all your doors and windows. This may sound obvious, but it’s estimated that 28 percent of burglaries occur without using force to gain entry. In other words, they probably entered through an unlocked window or door. Check all of your windows and doors, including the one leading into your home from the garage, and windows in the basement.

 9. Secure sliding glass doors. Sliding doors can be forced open by intruders. Placing a metal or wooden rod in the track will prevent this.

 10. Remove valuables away from windows and obvious locations. Don’t create a reason for someone to break-in. Make sure all jewelry, money, personal identity and electronics are out of view from all windows. Also hide valuables in non-traditional places like outside of the bedroom.

 11. Unplug everything you can. Other than the refrigerator, freezer and lights on timers, everything — including the coffee pot, computer, TV, toaster, etc. — should be unplugged when you’re on vacation. This is because the circuits are still active and susceptible to lightning and power surges.

 12. Turn off water valves. If you will be gone for a week or more, you may want to turn off the water to your toilets, sinks, washing machine, ice maker and dishwasher.  

13. Tell your neighbor where the water main shut-off is located. A sudden pipe burst can be a major event and extra time searching for the main shut-off could cause significantly more damage.

In conclusion, burglary is one of the most preventable of crimes. By taking a few simple precautions you can dramatically reduce the risks of coming home to an unpleasant surprise.  Feel free to share this list with someone you know who is planning a vacation.  Be safe out there this summer!

This past week J.D. Power and Associates released a new report that rated the car insurance shopping experience for 21 insurance companies. The report gathered responses from over 14,500 shoppers who rated each insurance company based on policy offerings, local agents, call center representatives, insurance company website and price. Below is the summary of the 2010 J.D. Power and Associates report or click here to view the entire report.

The report summary above clearly shows that the car insurance buying experience is not the same for all companies and comparing car insurance quotes solely on price does not tell the whole story. So whether its protecting your family with a new car seat or car insurance, make sure other resources such as 3rd party reports are used to help make the right decision for your family.

What other factors do you consider when shopping for car insurance?

When Does a Home Improvement affect my Homeowner Insurance?

The amount of insurance on your homeowner policy is based on the Replacement Cost or the cost to rebuild the home. So when you make an improvement or renovation to your home that increases its Replacement Cost value, your homeowner insurance needs to be updated. However, not all improvements affect your home’s Replacement Cost value. Most minor improvements such as painting, new windows and doors do not affect the Replacement Cost value of the home because you would be replacing existing home features with those of similar kind and quality. However, any home improvement that adds a new feature or is an upgrade does affect your Replacement Cost value and your homeowner insurance policy. Here are just a few examples of improvements that do affect a home’s Replacement Cost:

- Adding a porch or deck

- Adding a new bathroom

- Adding central air conditioning

- Finishing a basement

- Building a garage

- Remodeling a standard kitchen to a customized kitchen

Why is it important to update your homeowner insurance?

1. The Home Impovement May Not be Covered – Most homeowner insurance policies require the value of the home on the policy to be maintained at 100% of its Replacement Cost value and any improvement affecting the Replacement Cost value must be reported to your insurance agent or company. Any improvement not reported most likely will not be covered in the event of a loss.

2. Some Losses May Not be Paid in Full - If the value of the home stated on the homeowner insurance policy falls below 80% of the Replacement cost value, all partial losses may not be fully covered. For example, if you have a covered $10,000 fire loss to any part of the home, you could end up receiving less than $10,000 if the home is insured to less than 80% of its Replacement Cost value.

Overall, it is important to understand that any home improvement may require insurance improvements too. Otherwise, those improvements may not be covered in a home insurance claim and any other home insurance losses may not be paid in full. Make sure to talk with your agent or insurance company to find out if your home improvments affect your specific homeowner insurance policy.

Have you made any home improvements that affect your insurance lately?