Have you ever filed an insurance claim?  Many of us who purchase an auto or homeowner’s insurance policy may never ever file a claim.  But for most people, there’s some type of accident or event that can be covered by insurance.  That’s why we have insurance – for the unexpected events in our lives.  Most claims are small – minor fender benders for auto insurance and minor weather related claims for homeowner’s insurance.  Some claims are serious like a motor vehicle accident where someone dies or a total loss to a residence by fire.  Again, that’s what insurance is for.  And some claims are just plain wacky.  They may be big or small, but they’re all quite unusual.  Take a look at the following article for some wacky claims:

Wacky Insurance Claims

Posted 18. Sep, 2010 by Forest in General Articles, Opinion

Insurance is something we all don’t want to pay but can come in handy in situations that we never planned for. In many cases (like home and car insurance) it’s a necessary evil and although I hate extra monthly expenses it has saved my butt a few times!

Most insurance claims are straight up damage claims of the most common nature. Minor car crash, small storm damage, stolen cell phone and similar. However insurance can cover a wide gamut of situations and sometimes some trulelu wacky insurance claims are filed. Not all get paid but believe it or not some do manage to.

List of Wacky Insurance Claims

The wackiest thing I ever claimed for was falling through a loft and landing on top of the fridge in the kitchen! The fridge probably saved me a hospital visit but it’s not that uncommon to fall through roofs (Ok that statement is a huge assumption, maybe it’s just me that is so clumsy!).

This is a list of the funniest and wackiest insurance claims that I could find from an article on Yahoo (wackiest insurance claims), An article on eList Mania (10 bizarre insurance claims) and and article on Barrington Insurance Brokers (funny insurance claims).

• A farmers herd of cows got into his games room and went nuts causing $3000 (AUD) worth of damage. The claim was paid!
• A pet poodle swallowed it’s owners false teeth resulting in a $1500 (AUD) claim that again was paid.
• A wasp flew up a drivers trousers and got in his underwear causing him to panic and put his foot in the accelerator at a stop light, causing a traffic accident!
• A grandmother took off her opal ring whilst babysitting her grand daughter. The grand daughter decided the ring matched the cats eyes and tied it to the cats collar. The cat ran off into some nearby forest and the ring was never seen again!
• A closed bus station toilet was claimed as the cause of a man soiling his underwear and claiming for a new pair of trousers! I think this claim was likely refused.
• A man pulled out of his drive and hit a bus. He claimed that the bus was 5 minutes early and that was why it wasn’t his fault!
• Voodoo was claimed as a possible cause of a broken windscreen.
• Hitting a pedestrian was justified by someone as they said they had to to avoid hitting the bumper of the car infront of them.
• Power steering was blamed by someone knew to it for doing a small turn that ended with their vehicle facing the wrong way!
• Another person claimed that the pedestrian they had hit admitted it was their fault because they had been hit before.

Some of these are hilarious but I bet they are no where near the weirdest. I am sure insurance companies process some unbelievable claims.

Do you own a home with a yard?  If the answer is yes, did you spend some time and money landscaping your yard?  Many homeowners including myself have spent a lot of time tending to their yards.  Many spent a lot of money as well.  Does your homeowner’s insurance policy cover landscaping?  The answer is very little if any.  Check out the following article for details.

Protect Your Landscape Investment

One of the more common complaints heard from insureds after a major property loss is a lack of homeowners coverage for valuable trees and landscaping. Most homeowners policies provide only limited coverage (with restricted perils) for this loss exposure—usually 5 percent of the dwelling limit subject to a maximum of $500 per tree or shrub. Peril restrictions may also preclude coverage; for example, there is no landscaping coverage for a loss to landscape arising out of windstorm. Unfortunately, many trees, in particular, can be valued in the thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. To protect this investment, consider the following risk management tips.

• If you have valuable mature trees, consider asking a licensed or certified arborist to appraise their value. Trained arborists use guidelines to value these trees, and such guidelines are recognized by insurance companies, the courts, and, in most cases, the Internal Revenue Service.
• Once you have the valuation, consider asking for an endorsement to provide higher limits and enhanced coverage for your valuable trees and other landscaping.
• Practice sound loss control for your trees. For example, topping of trees should be avoided. (Topping is the indiscriminate cutting of trees to stubs or lateral branches that are not large enough to sustain the remaining branch.)
• Hire a tree specialist to properly prune and thin out your mature trees. This action makes your trees less susceptible to disease and insects. For extremely valuable trees, consider hiring an arborist for this work. When selecting an arborist, check for his or her membership in professional organizations such as the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA), or the Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA).
• Recognize tree hazards to avoid injuries and damage to property. For examples, dead or dying trees are more likely to fall into utility lines, which could cause power outages, surges, and fires. Dead or dying trees are also likely to damage homes and could even injure people should they fall. Hiring a reputable tree specialist to remove dead or dying trees is a smart move. Get copies of the contractor’s certificates of insurance for workers compensation and general liability before work begins.

Get more personal lines insurance and risk management tips and ideas from IRMI.

Copyright 2010
International Risk Management Institute, Inc.

In the wake of the tragic Haiti earthquake, you may wonder what would happen if an earthquake struck closer to home.  Would your homeowner’s insurance policy cover your home if it was destroyed by an earthquake?  For most homeowners, the answer is “no.”  Unfortunately, the standard homeowner’s insurance policy excludes earthquake losses.  Similar to a flood risk, earthquake is considered too high of a risk to be covered by standard rates.

Liberty Mutual is one of the few companies that offers earthquake insurance in Hawaii.  However, very few of our policyholders choose to add this coverage to their policies.  The premium is quite expensive and the deductible is very high.

Read the following article for safety tips and more on earthquake insurance:

Consider Buying Earthquake Insurance

Images of desperation and despair continue to pour out of Haiti in the wake of its devastating earthquake last month, killing over 200,000 people and directly impacting over 3 million of its people. This earthquake also serves to remind Americans of their exposure to this peril as well. Records dating back to 1900 reveal that earthquakes have occurred in all 50 states and caused damage in 39 of these states. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released a major study in 2000 indicating that U.S. earthquake losses over time could average $4.4 billion a year.

So the following question naturally arises: what is your exposure to an earthquake? Research indicates that residents in California, Oregon, and Washington are most at-risk. However, parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee are also quite exposed to earthquakes. The New Madrid Seismic Zone runs under these states and, though it occurred long ago, gave rise to one of the largest magnitude earthquakes to ever hit the United States.

If you live in any of these states, you should ascertain your proximity to an earthquake fault zone. California residents can determine their exposure by visiting the State of California’s Department of Conservation Web site, which provides a list of affected cities and counties. For other state-specific information, visit the U.S. Geological Survey Web site.

Most homeowners policies specifically exclude earthquake losses, just as they do flood losses. Therefore, if you live near an earthquake seismic zone, consider purchasing a separate earthquake policy or an earthquake endorsement attached to your homeowners policy. In addition, the following are some steps to take that will reduce your chances of injury or property damage resulting from an earthquake.

• Verify that operational fire extinguishers are strategically located on each floor of your home.
• Anchor tall furniture, refrigerators, water heaters, and bookcases securely to the walls.
• Utilize flexible connectors for gas supply to gas-fueled appliances.
• Keep beds away from glass or any hanging object that might fall.
• Verify that your home’s roof and chimney are well-maintained, with proper support.
• Apply safety film to windows and glass doors.
• Add anchor bolts or steel plates between the home and its foundation.
• For older homes, work with a civil engineer or city building department to verify that your home is up to code for the earthquake peril.
• Communicate to family members an emergency meeting place should your family get separated during an earthquake.

If you are in your home when an earthquake occurs, stay inside and move away from windows, skylights, doors, and objects that might fall. Crawl under a sturdy item such as a large table or desk.  Stay where you are until the shaking stops.

Get more personal lines insurance and risk management tips and ideas from IRMI.

Copyright 2010
International Risk Management Institute, Inc.

For Christmas, we bought a puppy for our two daughters.  He is a Jack Russell/Chihuahua mix.  One of the reasons we bought him is because we already had a Jack Russell.  We thought it would be a good idea to get a playmate for our Jack Russell.  So far, things are working out.  Sure, the puppy often irritates the Jack Russell.  But they also play nicely together.

If you also own a dog, do you know what to do if your dog bites someone?  Each year, 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs in the United States.  And 18% of these injuries require medical attention.  If you have a homeowner’s insurance policy, dog bites may be covered under the liability section of your coverage.  Still, as a dog owner, you would probably like to minimize your exposure.  Check out the following article for some helpful tips.

Take Steps To Prevent Dog Bites

Did you know that dog bites cause about 800,000 injuries requiring immediate medical care in the United States each year? This statistic is based on research conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  If your dog bites someone, you can be held legally liable. Fortunately, this loss is usually covered by the homeowners policy, with some exceptions. In fact, about one-third of all liability insurance claims paid by homeowners policies are for dog bites! Even if your insurance covers the claim (and possibly the lawsuit), however, imagine the personal grief you and your family would feel for the injured friend, not to mention the time and trouble you would incur in cooperating with your insurer in defending against the claim, following a tragic event involving your pet.

Therefore, preventing such an unfortunate occurrence should be your primary objective, and there are steps you can take to reduce or prevent dog bites. Here are some suggestions from the professionals.

1.  Carefully consider dog breeds prior to selecting a pet. Some breeds have worse reputations than others, and a veterinarian can help you decide which breeds might best fit your lifestyle.
2.  Spay or neuter the animal as this often decreases the aggressiveness of dogs.
3.  Seek a veterinarian’s advice quickly if your dog becomes aggressive.
4.  Socialize your dog from an early age to encourage appropriate behavior.
5.  Never leave dogs alone with small children.
6.  Avoid aggressive games with puppies and dogs, such as tug-of-war.
7.  Do not place your dog in situations where he or she can be teased or feel threatened.
8.  Train your dog to obey commands.
9. If your dog does bite someone, a board-certified plastic surgeon should treat this person to minimize scarring and potential disfigurement.

There is one other loss exposure concerning dogs you should consider. You may face liability claims if your dog gets out into the road and causes or contributes to an auto accident. You can be sued for violation of leash ordinances by allowing your dog to “run at large.” Use a well-maintained and sturdy fence or other safeguards to reduce this exposure.

And, if your dog does injure someone despite all your efforts to avoid it, report it to your insurance company immediately to assure your coverage is not jeopardized for late reporting.

Get more personal lines insurance and risk management tips and ideas from IRMI.

Copyright 2009
International Risk Management Institute, Inc.

If you have questions about your homeowner’s insurance policy, feel free to contact me.

A beautiful beachfront home needs good home insurance.

Protect your home with home insurance or renters insurance.

Insure your Hawaiian beach home with home insurance or renters insurance.

What is an umbrella insurance policy and who needs this type of policy?

An umbrella insurance policy is a liability policy. It provides excess liability insurance over and above your auto insurance liability and homeowner’s insurance personal liability limits. What is liability insurance? Liability insurance protects the policy holder from claims from a third party. If you cause an auto accident and injure someone or if you injure someone because you were negligent, liability insurance can cover the costs of a lawsuit against you.

Your personal auto policy and homeowner’s insurance policy provide auto liability and personal liability coverage respectively. If the liability limits on these policies are insufficient for your claim, an umbrella policy can provide additional liability coverage (usually up to $1,000,000).

In Hawaii, anyone who owns their home, condo or townhouse should think about getting an umbrella insurance policy. For $150 – $200 a year, it’s well worth the peace of mind that the policy provides. Check out the following article for more details.

Umbrella Coverage for Preventing Your Ruin

The New York Times
March 18, 2008
By JOSEPH B. TREASTER

HERE’S the nightmare: Your car skids. You crash into a Mercedes with a highly paid business executive at the wheel. He’s hurt so badly he cannot return to work. A jury awards him millions of dollars and you have to pay it. You’re wiped out financially. The court takes your savings, goes after your home and, for decades, requires you to give up a part of your salary. For some people, such a nightmare could never happen. They have an extra insurance policy, known as umbrella or excess liability coverage, which takes care of their liability for the lawsuits and medical bills of the auto accident victim — or of the teenage guest who dives into the shallow end of the swimming pool or the deliveryman who trips on the front steps. But many people with major assets either do not buy the extra coverage or do not buy enough. Some do not know about umbrella coverage, which also pays for lawyers and other legal expenses. Others have heard of it but do not understand it. Still others decide that they do not want to pay for it, even though the cost is usually a fraction of the price of a typical package of home and auto insurance. “This is a neglected area,’ said Mark Schussel, a spokesman for the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, which caters to affluent home and auto owners. “Some people have some coverage. But they haven’t changed the amount in years. Some people have a $1 million figure in their heads, and it just doesn’t make sense anymore.” Charlotte Edmonston has been an insurance agent for more than 30 years. She works with wealthy clients in Baton Rouge, LA, and oversees agents in 29 cities nationwide for the personal insurance unit of Arthur J. Gallagher & Company, a big insurance broker with headquarters near Chicago. Her first question for new customers is whether they have umbrella coverage. Most of them already do. But “90 percent of them are underinsured,” she said. “Usually, they were sold too little from the get-go, and their assets have grown and they never revisited the issue.” For Jeff Cox, an owner of the third-generation insurance agency of Lloyd Bedford Cox in Bedford Hills, NY and Greenwich, CT, “the discussion about umbrella coverage usually starts at $5 million.” But he can provide up to $100 million in coverage. Umbrella and excess coverage are extensions of home and auto insurance. Banks make people buy home insurance to get mortgages, and states require drivers to buy auto insurance. But no one mandates buying a policy that could turn out to be the most important part of your insurance package. As a result, only 15 percent to 20 percent of clients at the Wall Street insurance agency of Campbell Solberg Associates buy umbrella coverage, said Rick Wiltshire, an executive at the firm. Instead, they stick with the $100,000, $300,000 or, in some cases, $500,000 in liability coverage that comes standard with the most widely sold home-insurance policies. “You never think it’s going to happen to you,” said Rick Blank, an agent in White Plains, NY, with the Preferred Services Group. “Personal injury lawyers are making money by suing people. If you don’t have enough insurance, you become personally liable.” Some insurance companies that cater to the wealthy say that as many as half of their customers buy umbrella coverage. But State Farm, the biggest home insurer in the country, with a clientele of mainly middle-income and lower-income homeowners, says about 12 percent of its policyholders buy umbrella coverage. Buying such coverage usually does not greatly increase the overall cost of home and auto insurance. For example, in Louisiana, insurance on a $1 million home well away from the coast might run $4,500 a year, Ms. Edmonston, the Baton Rouge agent, said. Two cars could raise the cost of the package to $7,500. And $5 million in umbrella coverage might cost about $600 more, or about 8 percent of the total. In New York, agents say, $5 million in coverage might cost about the same. Ms. Edmonston consolidated home and auto coverage for Ann Brown Singleton, a stockbroker and financial adviser in Baton Rouge, after her husband died and she married Andrew Jackson Singleton, a sales manager for several national companies. Together, they owned several houses, three vintage cars, jewelry and art. “I had a $1 million umbrella, which I thought would certainly satisfy everything,” Ms. Singleton said. “When Charlotte Edmonston got through with her analysis she said, ‘Whoa, you need a $5 million umbrella.” Whether lawsuits are valid or not, you wind up having to defend yourself against them, and you never know how high the judgment is going to go. I find that frightening.” Philip J. Hirschkop, a lawyer just outside Washington, said he had a client without an umbrella policy who had only the $100,000 coverage that came standard with his home and auto insurance policy. He was sued for much more over an auto accident and was in danger of “losing everything he owns.” Around the country, at companies dealing with rich clients, the first million in coverage is usually the most expensive, at perhaps $150 to $300 annually, said Jeanne M. Salvatore, a specialist in home insurance at the Insurance Information Institute. Each additional million in coverage, she said, could cost around $100 to $125 annually. The rates per million decline as coverage increases. But at $10 million in coverage, the rate jumps because few customers buy that much, meaning insurers can spread their risk over only a relatively small group of customers. The situation is often the reverse for the many insurers who specialize in middle-income and lower-income clients. Often their rates shoot up after the first million in umbrella coverage because they have only a small group of buyers of umbrella policies larger than $1 million. A smaller pool of customers creates more risk per dollar of premium for an insurer, so the insurer charges more for the coverage. One homeowner said that for a $3 million umbrella policy from a middle-income insurer, the second and third million in coverage cost him 3.5 times the rate for the first million of coverage. Thankfully, accidents with elephantine lawsuits are not everyday events. When they do occur, however, the results can be devastating. One of Mr. Cox’s clients crashed into the rear of a car on a slick highway. A woman and a child were critically injured. After two years of litigation, his client settled the lawsuit for more than $5 million. The client had $15 million in umbrella coverage. The policy paid for the settlement and all legal costs. “Without the umbrella,” Mr. Cox said, “they would have been completely wiped out.”

Wassup!?!?!

I was stuck on what topic to write about in my first ever blog post. Surfing, softball, parenthood and auto insurance may not seem to have anything in common to you. But for me, they’re all a big part of my life (though not necessarily in that order).

Well, surfing might have been the most important thing the last few days! It was nice to have a pretty good south swell before the traditional Mother’s Day swell, which typically starts out the summer. Unfortunately, I didn’t get out in the water until Friday and Saturday, when the swell was petering out. My brother caught Shark Country in Ewa on Wednesday. He said it was really good — and no crowd.

I’ve been playing softball on Sundays at the Kahala field for around 15-20 years now. So long, I can’t even remember when I started in the league! I’m not one of the best players, but I enjoy it! When I was younger (in my 20s), I played a lot more often. Nowadays, once a week is enough.

I have two wonderful (most of the time) daughters. They are 8 and 5. Parenting sure changes everything in your life. I think a part of it is realizing the responsibility you have to bring up well-behaved kids. My own parents tell me I’m too strict with my daughters. But who do you think I learned parenting from? I don’t get it. I’m like the bad guy to my daughters and my parents. What’s up with that?

What the heck does auto insurance have to do with any of this? Well, I sell insurance so I know a lot about auto insurance. If you want to know what’s covered and what’s not covered under your auto insurance policy, just let me know.