Frequently Asked Questions

Insurance is spreading the risk amongst a pool of insured’s. So basically – everyone pays into the pool, and that pool then covers any claims. So ultimately that is how rates are affected. The more claims that are filed, the bigger the pool needs to be. So if the pool grows, then we have to either have more people pay into the pool or those that are paying and have to pay more.

Liability covers a multitude of things. But typically – it’s medical claims that are a result of someone’s negligence. Be it a car accident, unsafe homes, or a variety of other occurrences. If someone is at fault, or found to be liable, then any damages are pursued against that person. That is when liability insurance can kick in. It is not all encompassing though. There are many types of liability insurance for specific occurrences. Talk to your insurance professional to make sure you are covered for your situation.

Do you have an endless supply of money? Neither do we. Ultimately that is why liability is important. For example – lets assume you are involved in an auto accident in a parking lot. Someone hits you as you are walking to your car. You get rushed to the hospital and have emergency surgery. Turns out you have to get rods and pins, and the Dr.’s say you will walk with a limp the rest of your life. You can’t play sports or run around. You can’t even pick up your child or grandchild. For the rest of your life you will be reminded of getting hit in a parking lot, an innocent mistake. Would you be happy with $25,000? Neither would we. But that is state minimum coverage. Your medical bills would be in the hundreds of thousands. Possibly loss of career, major loss of income. Very costly ‘accident’. Let’s reverse it – you are the one that hit the person. Can you afford to pay out over $500,000 in medical bills when the judge rules against you? Without the proper liability coverage – you could potentially loose your home, cars, savings, any retirement planning you have saved / created. With wage garnishment being added after your assets are liquidated. So what is the lesson here – make sure you choose enough liability coverage on your, home, ultimately whatever you are insuring – to cover all your assets. You worked hard to acquire them – don’t lose it all by not having the proper insurance coverage.

Comprehensive is for Auto & Home. Typically for your Auto policy it would cover being involved in an accident with a deer, or a tree falling on your car while its parked. Along with covering damage to your car when you are not liable. In regards to your home policy – it means you have a full policy – so that most things (perils) that happen to your home are covered. There are always exclusions so check your policy or with your insurance professional.

Collision coverage is for your vehicle (motorized – be it boat, motorcycle, auto, etc.) while it is moving. This means if your vehicle is in an accident (aka collision) – this will cover your property. Without this coverage – you will have to pay for repairs to your own property out of your own pocket.

This covers yourself and your passengers in case you are involved in an accident and the person that is held responsible/liable does not have proper coverage. Citing the example above in regards to getting hit in a parking lot – if you have $500,000 coverage on your policy, but he person that is cited only has $25,000 – you can file a claim under your own insurance and they will pay out up to the limits specified in your policy.

Absolutely. 1 in 7 cars aren’t insured at all. Not to mention the vast majority have 100/300 down to state minimum limits. And in a serious collision those limits wont handle the expenses. So this way you are protecting your family by having under insured coverage.

Forced Insurance is a very minimal stripped down insurance policy that the mortgage holder places on property that have loans against them. The downfall to this coverage is two main points. First – it is very expensive. Typically triple a traditional insurance policy. Secondly – there is very minimal coverage. The only coverage in this policy is to protect the mortgage company meaning there is enough financial coverage on the property to cover the mortgage. That is it. Nothing more. No coverage for contents, assets, or even liability. See our blog post to get more details.

Water damage for a home is a serious thing. It cam happen from a variety of circumstances. The most common is water backup. This could be from a drain clogging in the home, or the city drains clogging and water backing up through the city drains into your home, basement, or garage. The question is are you prepared for that? Does your home owners insurance cover it? Most insurance companies offer an endorsement, optional, to cover Water Backup also known as Sewer & Drain. This covers the water damage along with your furniture, appliances, and other contents that could be damaged from the water. This is assuming the water came from a drain. How about an appliance failure? Like a dishwasher or hot water tank failing? Most insurance companies cover that as well under their Water Backup Endorsement.How about water damage from outside the home? Well that is the gray area. Unfortunately there is no 100% solution for water protection. Water Backup is the most affordable option, but you can also get Flood Insurance. Flood Insurance has restrictions and stipulations that need met though. For example, if you have less than 6-8 acres of land – there must be 2 or more properties under water for Flood Insurance to kick in. So unfortunately if only your yard/home floods from the storm there is typically no coverage available for that. Make sure you do your best to protect your home, the grading of your property, slopes, etc to ensure water drains away from your home and does not create standing water. Check out our blog on Flood Insurance for more detailed information.

Throwing a party? Having a wedding? Did you know that you need special insurance for that? Many clients think that their homeowners policy or umbrella policy is all they need for that special occasion. If you are having a large gathering, and especially if renting a park, lodge, pavilion, hall, or something else – you need Special Event Insurance. This policy can be for a one day event or a longer period of time. This is typically required by most places – but sometimes it is not. It will cover you personally from losing your assets in case someone is injured during the event and decides to come after you and your family. We are all friends now, but we all know things change when someone is faced with multiple thousands of medical bills. Do not leave it to a gamble… Special Event Insurance is very affordable and worth having!

In short, it means you are ‘legal’ when you sign the Proof of Financial Responsibility when you acquire your drivers license. Past that – it does not mean much.

To give more detail currently in Ohio state minimum is in reference to liability insurance limits of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident, along with $25,000 in property damage. This coverage does not include property damage, comprehensive, or collision coverage’s. Example – you are involved in an auto accident and you are found at fault. In this accident the driver has serious injuries and is life-flighted to the nearest hospital with a trauma center. The passenger suffers a concussion along with a few broken bones and is taken by ambulance to the local hospital. These injuries and medical bills will fall under your liability insurance. Let us start with the driver. Her life flight costs approximately $45,000 and let us assume that she is in intensive care for 4 days and transferred to a regular room for 6 days and is released and will make a full recovery. So for sake of argument/example let us assume that her 10 day hospital stay resulted in around $100,000 of bills between the hospital, doctors, and all treatment received. That is a total expense of $145,000 just for the driver. Her insurance company is now going to file a claim against you as the driver at fault. Here is where your ‘state minimum’ comes into play. Your $25,000 of per person coverage will pay out leaving a remaining balance of $120,000. Who pays that? You do. The insurance company can take you to court, win the case, and the judge will place a judgment that you are responsible for the $120,000 balance. (Remember we have not even addressed the passenger and her expenses yet). Now you are probably saying well I do not have $120,000 and they cannot get ‘blood out of a turnip’ as the saying goes. On one hand that is true – however they can now seize your home, car, and other assets you own to liquidate them to help offset that judgment. If there still is not enough assets to cover that $120,000 next will be to garnish your wages until the balance is covered. The passenger in this scenario – let us assume her injuries and medical bills including the ambulance transportation amount to $18,000. Being that it is under the $25,000 per person coverage no problem – your state minimum coverage will take care of that. How about the extra $7,000 then you may be asking. There is no extra $7,000 as it is a $25,000 per person with a max total of $50,000 per accident. So while the total comes to $43,000 between both parties the driver is capped at the $25,000.

In using the same scenario as mentioned above let us briefly refer to the property damage. Let us assume this accident strictly involved the other driver’s car, your car, however since we lost control in the process of the accident a guard rail was mangled. Only the other drivers car and the guard rail would fall under the property damage cover, with state minimum being $25,000. I am not sure the last time you went car shopping – but there are not many cars you can buy new under $20,000. This means that in most cases again you will have a deficit from what the insurance company will be paying out versus the actual property damage sustained.