Home Insurance

If you happen to have a part in a share in The Hamptons, renting a vacation house in Cape Cod or a log cabin in The Smoky Mountains, any possessions you take with you are protected while you are on vacation.

If you take a vacation and rent a house during your stay, any of your belongings that you brought with you are covered under a renters or Miami homeowners insurance policy.  Possessions have protection from losses caused by lightning, theft, windstorm, fire or smoke, vandalism, explosion, and water damage (not including water from a flood) anywhere on the planet, minus your deductible.  But, be aware that there are policies that may limit you to 10% of your total coverage for your possessions when you take any of your belongings off-premises (away from home).  For example, if the renters or home insurance policy for your primary residence has $100,000 of coverage for your possessions, you would only have $10,000 of coverage for anything you take with you to your rented vacation home.

On top of being protected while inside your rented home, you will also have protection should anybody steal something that was inside your vehicle.

You may want to purchase a floater (a.k.a. an endorsement), though, if you own items such as musical instruments, sports equipment and/or expensive jewelry.  Doing so would give you a greater amount of insurance and broader coverage.  Many floaters, for example, come with extra coverage for “mysterious disappearance” which means that you should be covered if you lose a covered possession.  On top of that, a floater will cover you throughout the year and not just while you are on vacation.

When looking for a renters or home insurance policy, you have two policy types to consider.  The first is a policy with Actual Cash Value, which will reimburse you the amount of your lost possessions up to your policy limit minus any depreciation.  The second is a policy with Replacement Cost, which will reimburse you the amount of your lost possessions up to your policy limit but there is no deduction for any depreciation.

Before heading out the door for your next vacation, there are some recommended steps to take:

1. Contact your insurance agent.  Ask them about any possible implications there may be when renting a home while on vacation and if you will need any supplemental insurance.  It is much better to ask questions when they come to you than after experiencing a loss.

2.  Create a list of belongings, including photos, to show what you will be taking with you on vacation.  If possible, include a copy of a receipt for any higher-value items such as cameras and computers to have proof of what they cost.

3.  Unless you plan to attend a formal event, it is better to leave your expensive jewelry at home or in a safe deposit box.  In fact, you could spend less when insuring jewelry with “in vault” coverage.  Assuming you only wear it for special occasions, a lot of insurers offer additional coverage when you take your items out of the bank.  Before you do, you are required to inform your insurer in advance.

If or when going on vacation there is always something that we will be taking with us and it may not always be possible or make sense to take any or all of those items with you when you leave the rented house.  Sometimes the best that we can do is to know what is covered and how much coverage we have while on vacation and to not take any more with you than what is necessary.

At Filer Insurance, Inc., we have been providing Home, Auto and Business Insurance in Miami and South Florida since 1919.  We would very much like to have you as one of our customers.  Please give us call or come by our office for a free quote on your insurance.

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A Declarations Page is the portion of an insurance policy that lists your detailed information.  For instance, a Homeowners insurance policy declaration page will list your name, home address, policy number, the effective and expiration dates of your policy, the premium for the coverage you have acquired, and the limits of each coverage.

The following are terms that you may find on your Declarations Page:

• Named Insured:  This is the individual or business that is identified as the insured party.
• Additional Insured:  This is someone listed on your policy because certain coverages on the policy can be afforded to them.  For instance, if you lease a car, the leasing company may require to be listed as an additional insured.  The leasing company is still the owner of the car; therefore, they can be held accountable for damages caused by the car.  Being listed as an additional insured on your policy will trigger your policy to afford some coverage to the leasing company in the event they are subjected to a suit involving the car.
• Endorsements: There can be situations where changes need to be made to the standard policy language.  Instead of rewriting the entire policy, the insurance company includes endorsements to the policy.  They are basically adjustments made to the insurance contract that can change the coverage or terms of the policy.  Your Declarations Page will list which endorsements apply to your policy.

To learn more about what is on a declarations page and to have any questions answered, give us a call at 305-270-2100.

At Filer Insurance, Inc., we have been providing Home, Auto and Business Insurance in Miami and South Florida since 1919.  We would very much like to have you as one of our customers.  Please give us call or come by our office for a free quote on your insurance.

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Adding collectibles, valuables and family heirlooms to your home insurance policy could be more important now than it has been in the past.  Don’t assume that just because you have an insurance policy on your home that everything is automatically and fully covered.  A typical policy may fall short of what you need to fully cover your high valued possessions so you need to make sure that your policy is such that should anything be stolen, your policy allows for you to get paid the full value of what was taken.  But, a homeowners’ policy does not cover flood damage (you need a separate flood policy) and most likely does not protect against earthquakes and accidental damage. It is important to know the top 10 items thieves are looking for.

Some people may not feel as if they are at risk of being robbed, but if you have ever watched movies or television shows depicting thieves as interested in only cars and cold hard cash then Hollywood either chooses to not reflect reality or they are unaware of the new trend.  Many of the FBI’s files are filled with cases of people having reported stolen items such as militaria, moon rocks and stolen art collections so its important that you know the top 10 items thieves are looking for.

Earlier this year in March, a Manhattan man had charges filed against him by the FBI.  He allegedly planned and executed the removal of historical documents from multiple museums and then sold them to make a profit.  Unfortunately, he is not alone in his efforts.  The FBI says that burglary has become a huge problem.  In fact, there was an estimated $4.6 billion in stolen property in 2010 alone.

Much of what is being taken are stolen collectibles.  From the burglaries that are reported, almost 74% occur on residential properties.  The top items they look for include jewelry, collectibles, electronics, antiques, rare items, and art.

The list of the top 10 thieves look for.

1. Antiques: These make the top of the list because they can be very hard to trace yet easy to turn around and sell.  And, some thieves will go to great lengths.  One thief stole an antique weather vane, worth over $10,000, from a couple’s roof and left a tin reproduction in its place.

2. Sports Cards: Cards from baseball and football collections are targeted very much like antiques.  Cards that are hardest to sell without attracting attention are very rare cards owned by active collectors that attend shows and/or regularly communicate with other collectors.

3. Coin Collections: These are relatively easy to steal and can be easy to sell.  Part of their appeal is the rise in the price of gold and silver.  But, some won’t know the value of what they stole.  A collection worth several thousand dollars was stolen (most of it eventually returned to the owner) but the thieves put the coins into a coin counter and only got $450.

4. Crystal and Glass: This would include items like stained glass items, crystal goblets and depression glass.

5. Die-cast Models: There is a big market for model cars and thieves have been taking notice.

6. Dolls, Stuffed Animals and Doll Houses: It may sound surprising but something like a collection of Barbie dolls could be at risk.  One victim, a collector of 5,000 Barbies, had a value of $1,000,000 in 1992 when the collection was taken.  They were lucky and their collection was returned but that was maybe due to the large number of Barbies.

7. Entertainment, Media, Movie, and Record Collections: In March of this year, CBS had posters stolen from them and their declared value was $450,000.

8. Figurines: These can be pretty as well as valuable.  One woman was sentenced to a full year in jail for having stolen Steuben Crystal glass figurines from a local residence.  The value of the items was more than $15,000.

9. Guns and Fishing Gear: Thieves will go after guns.  One example is a dealer of firearms that was on his way home after a gun show.  He had more than $200,000 of merchandise in his truck which was stolen from him while he was inside a restaurant.

10. Military Gear and Historic Collections: Anything that has historic significance can be at risk.  One case is the 1997 theft of the Civil War flag from the Indiana War Memorial Museum.  It took ten years but the flag was eventually returned.  A dealer in antiquities happened to visit a liquidation sale, saw the $50,000 flag and notified the FBI.

It’s likely that a burglar may still take your car and/or any readily available cash but please be aware that they could be looking for more than just that.  Please call us at 305-270-2100 and speak with one of our underwriters to find out your options for protecting your high valued possessions.  When it comes to your valuables, it’s never too soon to make sure that you’re protected from a potential loss.

At Filer Insurance, Inc., we have been providing Home, Auto and Business Insurance in Miami and South Florida since 1919.  We would very much like to have you as one of our customers.  Please give us call or come by our office for a free quote on your insurance.

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If you rent out your home for a few days or part of your home permanently, the majority of your Miami home insurance policy is most likely intact.  But what if you move out, keep the house and rent it out?  In that scenario it’s extremely likely you no longer have any liability coverage, but if the house burns down… is there still coverage?

When a homeowner uses a building on their property, other than the home, for business there is no direct property damage coverage yet the same is not true if the business is run out of the home.  There isn’t any liability coverage but there is coverage for direct property damage.  If that’s the case, then could the same thing be applied to renting out your home?

And what about those that temporarily rent their home while trying to sell it?  Certain losses, such as frozen/bursting pipes and glass breakage, may not be covered in homes considered vacant or unoccupied.

One example involves an agent concerned for an insured.  They had written an HO-3 (a type of homeowner’s) policy and later the insured moved but permanently rented out the house.  The agent was unsure if claims were covered under their policy and wondered what could have happened to the insured if this information had not been shared with him.

The answer is that there is no liability coverage.  Their policy only offers liability coverage for renting out your home occasionally (ex: once per year during the Daytona 500 weekend) and partial rentals, such as one room of your home.  But, when it came to direct property damage, the agent had doubts that there was any coverage for it for several reasons.
1. Perils Insured Against’s grant of coverage says “We cover risk of direct loss to property in Coverage A…”
2. The policy defined Coverage A as “We cover the dwelling on the ‘residence premises’…” [I added emphasis]
3. The policy’s Definitions section has “residence premises” defined as “The one family dwelling… where ‘you’ reside [added emphasis] and which is shown as the residence premises in the declarations…”  ‘You’ refers to the individual(s) listed as a named insured on the policy.
4. So, with the insured out of the house, the rented home isn’t a “residence premises” and the dwelling isn’t on a “residence premises” so coverage does not exist.

It is somewhat unknown if this is what the policy intends or if it is just the result of a literal reading of the policy.

According to Black’s Law Dictionary, the definition of the word “residence” includes “Personal presence at some place of abode with no present intention of definite and early removal and with purpose to remain for an undetermined period, not infrequently, but not necessarily combined with design to stay permanently. Residence implies something more than mere physical presence and something less than domicile”.

Where it says “no present intention of definite and early removal”, does that mean residence ends when you decide you want to move?  Of course not.  But, in this example, the home is no longer the domicile and, therefore, no longer the residence.

Black’s Law Dictionary also contains a definition for “reside” (the word the policy uses) which is “Live, dwell, abide, sojourn, stay, remain, lodge… to dwell permanently or continuously…”  Things are not so in this particular situation.

When it comes to cases brought to court, the decisions don’t all go the same way.  Some cases that made a decision based on a literal reading of the policy are: Bryan v. United States Fire Ins. Co. (Texas, 1970); Allstate Ins. Co. v. Goldwater (Michigan, 1987); Shepard v. Keystone (Maryland, 1990); and Georgia Farm Bureau Mutual Ins. Co. v. Kephart (Georgia, 1993).

The Georgia Farm case was interesting.  The wife was the named insured but there was a divorce and she moved out.  The divorce was finalized and the ex-husband continued to live in the dwelling.  But under the policy’s terms, “you” was no longer residing there because the man is no longer a resident spouse of his ex-wife who is the named insured.

On the flip side, cases that did not go by the literal reading but ruled that there was coverage are: O’Neil v. Buffalo Fire Ins. Co. (New York, 1849); German Ins. Co. v. Russell (Kansas, 1902); Reid v. Hardware Mutual Ins. Co. (South Carolina, 1969); and Farmers Ins. Co. v. Trutanick (Oregon, 1993).  In this second group of cases, it was decided that there was coverage because phrases like “where you reside” are more of a description instead of a continuing warranty of occupancy.

In the end, it would seem that this issue is not resolved and could go either way should something unforeseen happen to the dwelling or its inhabitants.  If somebody decides to move out of their home and rent it to another, the best move may be to switch the policy from a home insurance policy to a dwelling fire policy.

If you have any questions about switching policies or what coverage you may or may not have if you permanently rent out the dwelling listed on your homeowner’s policy, please give us a call at 305-270-2100.

At Filer Insurance, Inc., we have been providing Home, Auto and Business Insurance in Miami and South Florida since 1919.  We would very much like to have you as one of our customers.  Please give us call or come by our office for a free quote on your insurance.

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It’s not just your weight or your budget that you might want to make changes to in the New Year. Your thoughts about insurance and the way you see it fitting into your life might be good candidates for change as well. Here are a few tips to help guide you toward setting the right insurance resolutions:

• Stop thinking minimums: Some people buy insurance just to keep their state and lenders happy. Buying just the minimum amount of insurance necessary to comply with lenders and regulators can leave you and your family exposed to unnecessary financial risks.
• Think about the legacy you want to create: Life Insurance is about more than replacing an income for your family; it’s about finding the means to create the legacy you want to leave behind. Before you can do that, you need to know what your ideal legacy is.
• Stay on the lookout for ‘soft’ spots: While it’s a good idea to do an insurance review annually, it’s an even better idea to identify any areas where your coverage falls short throughout the year. By keeping your eyes peeled and thinking about risk, exposure and protection on a more frequent basis, you might identify these situations more often and prevent coverage shortfalls from causing you financial harm.
• Have your valuables assessed: If you chose limits by estimating the value of some of your higher-end antiques, art and jewelry, then this year resolve to actually get these items assessed by a professional. Not only can this help your legacy planning efforts but it will also ensure that your home insurance limits are adequate.
• Read your policies: Reading your insurance policy document is the best way to get educated about what it does and does not cover. Not only will this help you get the most out of your policy but it may also help you determine any shortfalls that could occur and plan for them before they do.
• Work with your agent on an insurance review: If you haven’t already planned to do an in-depth insurance review with your agent, your first resolution can be to do so.

Insurance is a vital aspect of your family’s financial plan. Don’t relegate it to the back corners of your mind throughout the year.  Instead, integrate it into your daily life so that you can make sure you get as much out of it as you need to. For more tips or to make changes in your policies, give us a call at 305-270-2100.

At Filer Insurance, Inc., we have been providing Home, Auto and Business Insurance in Miami and South Florida since 1919.  We would very much like to have you as one of our customers.  Please give us call or come by our office for a free quote on your insurance.

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