Memphis home insurance is usually found by asking the person who helped you with the purchase of your home.
Do you know if your Memphis home insurance is replacement or depreciation when factoring how to pay your claim. If its depreciation you could be in for a rude awakening.
Getting Memphis Home Insurance quotes could take you days of calling and comparing to get the correct coverage at the best deal. So how can you spend 5 minutes filling out a quote form and have Memphis insurance agents competing for your business?
This is where we come in to the picture, we have created a network of home insurance carriers in Memphis. Each agent that sends you a quote knows they are competing with up to 8 other companies, so they are forced to give you the best deal.
Memphis Home Insurance
We make Memphis home insurance agents compete for your business
Five Memphis home insurance questions
As a former insurance agent I was always amazed at how client were so much more concerned with the price of Memphis home insurance than what was actually covered. I will give you a short list of question that will help you stay out trouble in the event of a claim. Also keep in mind that these are just my top five, ask as many as you can think of.
1. Is this policy ACV (actual cash value) or Replacement cost? Let me explain the difference of the two policies available. ACV is a depreciation policy, if you buy or bought on price this is probably what you have. ACV will factor in depreciation on anything you file a claim on. An example I like to use is if you have a water claim that damages your hardwood floors. A contractor takes a look and says it’s going to be 15,000 to repair the damage. The claim adjuster will see that your floors are 10 years old, and determine that the depreciated value of your floors is 10,000. This will leave you having to pay 5,000 out of pocket. Now if you had the replacement policy you would only have to pay your deductible. I would not waste my time with the ACV, because in the log run this you cost you tons.
2. Are there any exclusion’s? Most companies exclude the following sinkholes, flood, and earthquakes. You can buy an additional rider to cover you for earthquake; this will cost you between 30-200 a year depending where you live. The sinkhole there is nothing you can buy, most companies exclude it. Hopefully the contractor picked a good spot to build your home on. Most you know flood insurance is totally separate of homeowners insurance after Katrina. You can get flood coverage for 125-800 a year depending on how close you are to water. These are the major exclusions, if the agent can’t tell you for sure call the company customer service. They have the manuals right in front of them and can read the exclusion off to you.
3. What are my limits on Jewelry, Guns, and Computers? The standard limit’s on the three is 2,500. This means that if these items are damaged destroyed or stolen you can only receive 2,500 max per category. Adding riders to cover the item is very inexpensive. Please note that if you want to insure the jewelry or guns you have to have them appraised to validate the insured value. With the computer equipment just be able to show receipts to validate the insured value. The riders are less than 100 a year, if you get your home insurance quoted be sure to tell them about your riders.
4. What is my liability limits and can we increase them? Most policies have liability limits of 100,000 per occurrence. This means that if you or someone in your house is found liable for damage to someone or something, this is where the money will come from. Ask if you can increase your liability to 500,000. It only cost about 50 for the year and it gives you five times the protection.
An example I like to use is if your dog gets out of his fence and attacks a child three miles away you are liable. Naturally you have to pay for the hospital bills and if the parents decide to sue you have to pay the settlement. So by having that extra four hundred thousand could save you from a financial crisis.
5. Deductible high or low? In the insurance industry filing a homeowner’s claim is almost taboo. I always advised client to only file major claims, and pay the small stuff yourself. The reason is that most companies will cancel you if you file more that two claims within a year. The next catch is no company will take new clients who have had a claim within the last 3 years. Keep in mind weather related claims do not count against you with most companies. So when choosing a deductible keep it at a comfortable amount you can come up with, most Americans go with 1,000. I always gave my clients 3 options so they can see the price difference and make an informed decision.
I feel these questions with get you a policy that will cover your needs and keep you from wasting money on a policy that does not correctly cover you.
