Category: Home Insurance

Are You Grilling The Safest Way Possible?

Posted on by AgentInsure

How often do you grill and not pay any attention to the safety aspects? Many people grill in Sandypoint, ID throughout the year. When you’re one of them, it’s important to be a responsible homeowner and follow a few safety points.

One of the most important aspects is where your grill is located. You want to keep it at least 20 feet away from your home, and if you live in a condominium or apartment, there may be additional rules as to where the grill needs to be before you light it.

You also want to make sure that the grill is clean before you begin to use it. If there is a lot of caked on food or grease, it can lead to flare-ups and even uncontrollable flames. A strong wire brush should do the trick.

If you want to use nonstick spray, be sure to do so before you light the grill. Otherwise, you could experience a significant flame.

The flames are live and you want to be careful. Embers can fly out and that is why you don’t want to have anything flammable too close to the grill, such as patio furniture, towels, or anything else. Keeping a fire extinguisher nearby is also a best practice so that if there is a fire, you have the ability to put it out quickly.

If you use gas for your grill, inspect the tank for leaks periodically and be sure to close the valve when you are done grilling for the day.

When you are ready to put the grill away, be sure everything has cooled down. Charcoal briquettes need to be cool before you dispose of them, and the grill needs to be cool before you put any kind of cover on top of it.

Be safe when grilling. When you want to explore affordable homeowners insurance, contact us at The Insurance Shop USA.

 

 

4 Frequently-Filed Homeowners Claims and How You Can Avoid Them

Posted on by AgentInsure

Your homeowners insurance policy is designed to help protect you as well as your personal belongings – not to mention your house. However, no one wants to have to go through the hassles of filing an insurance claim. Therefore, if you can reduce your chances of needing to file a claim, you want to do it. Here are some tips for each of the four major types of home insurance claims that are filed:

  1. Damage from Storms – When a storm comes in, it will usually bring some significant winds with it. These winds can do some serious damage to your home. Make sure your outdoor furniture is put away or anchored down. Inspect your trees for dead limbs. Take the time to trim off any limbs hanging over your home’s roof.
  2. Damage from Fires – Fire damage does not only impact your home and its structure, as it always damages your personal belongings. You need to take caution when using candles, matches, fireplaces, and other fire-related items in the home, including the stove. Whenever possible, you should not smoke inside.
  3. Damage from Water – In order to prevent water damage, you need to make sure that your frozen pipes, plumbing leaks and other water-related problems are taken care of immediately. Keep in mind that flood damage is typically covered underneath a separate flood policy.
  4. Personal Injuries – While your home should be safe, you, your family and home guests should be as well. When a person gets injured on your property, you are at risk of a personal injury claim. Make sure that your swing sets, hot tubs, pools and trampolines are very dangerous, so it is crucial that you keep the areas secure.

When you own your home, it is important that you have taken the necessary steps to keep it safe and secure for your entire family and any guests that may come over. By following the above steps, you are less likely to need to file a claim in Rathdrum, ID. If you aren’t currently insured, give our agency a call to get quotes for homeowners coverage.

How Can I Avoid An Increase On Homeowner’s Insurance?

Posted on by AgentInsure

Hayden, ID is a relatively small, quiet town in the northern part of the state. There’s a lot of recreation outdoors, including hiking trails and streams for fishing. A family fun park for the kids is available in the town and many other things to do exist as well.

When you call Hayden home, it’s important to look at your homeowners insurance policy. The cost of the premium may be affordable, but you don’t want to experience an increase each year. Many times, the companies will send out a notice that there is an increase without providing any kind of explanation as to why.

Sometimes, you cannot control if there’s an increase on the policy or not. The cost of insurance could go up across ID and you simply have to accept it. If the value of your home goes up considerably as well, you may not be able to do much about it, especially if you made upgrades by adding a fence, deck, pool, or something else.

The best way to avoid any kind of increase with homeowner’s insurance in Hayden is by working with one of our agents. We work with a lot of the different insurance companies in the area. This allows us to make comparisons between the different companies to try and find the best price. While one company is ready to increase the cost of your policy, another company could be able to lower the cost.

This is why comparison shopping your homeowner’s insurance is so important. If you want to avoid an increase, it’s the only way to get around it. Our agents can help with the whole process so you don’t have to call the individual insurance companies. Call us today and let us find quotes for you.

Homeowners Insurance: Does Your Sandpoint, ID Home Have Enough?

Posted on by AgentInsure

One of the largest investments that you’ve made in your life is probably your home. For that reason, it is crucial that you ensure it is insured. More than that, though, you need to ensure that your home has adequate coverage, especially in case your home were to suffer serious roof damage during a winter storm. Studies show that two-thirds of homes in the United States are underinsured. Is your home in Sandpoint, ID, among those two-thirds? Let’s hope not, but just in case, here are a few tips to help make sure your home is not underinsured:

  1. Floods and earthquakes are not typically covered under a standard homeowners insurance policy. Therefore, you may want to consider adding disaster coverage to your policy. This is especially since the Sandpoint’s average rainfall throughout the winter is significantly above the U.S. average.

  2. Make sure that you opt for “replacement cost” instead of “actual cash value”. Otherwise, you may find that you don’t receive a settlement check that is high enough to cover the replacement of the items within your home.

  3. See if your declarations page contains information about “loss of use” coverage. If you don’t have it, you may want to consider it. This type of coverage will help you pay for somewhere to live while your home is being rebuilt after significant damage from a storm.

  4. Avoid choosing the policy with the lowest premium. This isn’t always the best policy for you. While you don’t want to have to try to scrounge up the money each month to pay your premium, you do want to make sure that your home has the proper coverage.

The last thing you want to have to deal with is finding out that you don’t have enough coverage on your home after a major storm. You can avoid this by contacting your independent agent in Sandpoint, Idaho, as soon as possible for a review of your policy or to receive a new quote.

Get Online Home Insurance Quotes in Rathdrum, ID

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When comparing online home insurance quotes for your house in Rathdrum, ID, it is important to make sure you look at identical policies. Insurance companies will ask different questions and provide different levels of coverage, which can make navigating multiple quotes challenging. By making sure the individual aspects of various policies are identical, you can ensure that you are, in fact, comparing identical policies. Here are the pieces of the policy to look at.

Types of Coverage

A homeowners insurance policy will include several different types of coverage. Common coverages that are found in most policies include:

  • the dwelling, which is your house
  • any other structures on the property
  • your personal belongings

Levels of Coverage

Within each of the above three categories, there are different levels of coverage that an insurer may provide. These are:

  • replacement cost, which pays the amount needed to replace your possessions
  • actual cash value, which is the depreciated value of your possessions
  • market value, which pays the current value of your home
  • stated value, in which the insurer determines a specific value you are insured for

These two factors change from policy to policy, just as deductibles do. In order to make sure your comparison is accurate, only compare policies that have identical types and levels of coverage.

Customize Your Quote

To see quotes for your own home, you can use our website. We make it easy to customize coverages, so you can easily compare identical policies. Should you have any questions about a quote you come across, feel free to give us a call. We have local, licensed insurance agents that can answer any questions you might have.

Affordable Homeowners Insurance Rates in Idaho

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There are several tactics homeowners can take to find the most affordable homeowners insurance rates available to them. Here are two ways you can try lowering your premiums, if you live in Idaho.

Install a Security System

Many insurance companies provide a discount to homeowners who install security systems. Typically these discounts are given as a percentage, and the percentage is determined by the type of system installed. While most insurance companies extend this discount, you should always check with your insurance agent to make sure that you will receive it.

Combining Insurance Policies

Most insurance policies also offer discounts to people who have multiple policies with them. As a homeowner in Idaho, you likely also have a car, if not two, and perhaps an RV, boat or ATV. Each of these should be insured. If you do not have all your policies with the same company, consider combining them for an additional discount.

Get New Quotes

Anytime you are considering making a significant change to your home, such as installing a new security system, it will alter how insurance companies calculate your premiums. Therefore, immediately preceding or following such a change is a good time to shop around for a new homeowners insurance policy. Your current insurer may not provide as large a discount as one of their competitors.

If you have recently made such a change, or if your policies are with different companies, use our simple rate comparison tool to see if you can save money by switching insurers. It will pull quotes from major insurers in Idaho, so you can see how your current one compares.

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