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Does my personal auto insurance policy cover me if I am driving a vehicle that I may have rented?

Yes your personal auto policy does cover you and the vehicle that you rent while you are using it on a temporary basis. You may want to purchase other coverages that the rental company may offer which may range from additional limits of liability insurance to providing coverage for personal belongings that you may have in the rental vehicle.

Will my personal auto policy cover a person that I temporarily let use my vehicle?

Yes that person will be covered on your personal auto policy just as you would as long as it is only on a temporary occurrence. If a person moves into your household or is using the vehicle on a regular basis then that person will need to be added to your policy as an additional driver.

When I have full coverage on a vehicle at what point should I reduce the full coverage to liability coverage only?

Our office gets asked this on a regular basis. My answer is that if your car has no lienholder and it has some age to it such as 8-10 years you may want to delete the comprehensive and collision coverage. This should be done with the consideration that if you did have an accident or another covered event totaled your vehicle that if you had reduced the coverages to liability only that it would not put yourself in a financial hardship if you had to go and buy another vehicle. In other words could you buy another vehicle without having to have the money from a totaled loss if you had had full coverage on your vehicle to get into another vehicle. Always check with a reputable car dealership or bank to see what the value of your vehicle is before you delete full coverage from vehicle. Your vehicle may be worth more than what you think it is!

Why should I buy insurance from an agent when I can buy it directly from an insurance company that I see advertising on TV and I don't have to go through an agent?

In the years that I have been in the insurance business I have had customers that have left my agency and bought directly from a company that actually has no agents. In a matter of time some of those same customers came back to my agency complaining that the customer service from that company was terrible or they had had a claim and never could talk to the same person twice about their claim. Overall most people still like to be pampered and taken care of and look someone in the eye when they are discussing their insurance business. Our office prides itself in providing good customer service.

My home is 12 years old and it only cost $150,000 when I had it built why does the insurance company keep raising the value of my home?

If you have replacement cost coverage on your home the insurance company wants your home to be insured for what it is estimated to replace it or repair it if there is a covered loss. If you built that same home back after a total loss if the value stayed the same as when you built it you would be underinsured because of the increase in building cost from the time you built the home to when you had the loss.

Does my home insurance cover flood insurance?

Rising water is not a covered peril on the home insurance policy. In order to have flood insurance you would have to purchase a separate policy for flood coverage. Most mortgage companies will require flood insurance if they determine that you are in a flood zone. This can be purchased through any insurance company that offers this type of coverage and is covered through the National Flood Program. The government has determined what geographical areas are prone to floods and the rates are based on what flood zone your in. Sometimes in order to get a reduced rate for flood insurance the homeowner may have to have a survey done at the location of their home and get an elevation certificate.

I just purchased a Polaris Ranger UTV will it be covered on my home insurance?

Yes and No! Under most home insurance policies the Ranger will be covered as long as it is located on the premises of the home for theft or any other covered peril of the home policy. The problem comes when you decide to load the Ranger on a trailer and haul it to the deer lease 125 miles away. In most cases under the home insurance policy you lose coverage on the Ranger once it leaves the property. So for instance if you had a wreck and the Ranger came off the trailer and was damaged it would not be covered. In addition if you made it to the deer lease and decided to leave it at the deer lease until you came back the next weekend to hunt and it was stolen while you were gone there would be no coverage. In my opinion you should insure these with insurers such as Progressive or Foremost Insurance Company. There are other companies that provide this type of coverage but Progressive and Foremost seem to be in the forefront of this type of Insurance. They specialize in ATV’s, UTV’s, boats, travel trailers, snowmobiles, Jet Skis etc. When you insure these types of vehicles with one of these companies you are covered anywhere the vehicle is located plus you will have liability coverage just like you would have on your autos. So if you injured someone or someone’s property because of your negligence then you would have coverage.

I am buying a new home and the total price of the land and the home is $300,000. The mortgage company is requiring me to insure the home for $300,000 when the appraisal
on the house is only $260,000 and the land is $40,000. Why do I have to insure the house for $300,000 when it is not valued at $300,000?

You do not have to insure your home for $300,000. In the state of Texas there is legislation that states that a mortgage company cannot make you purchase home insurance for more than what the replacement cost of the home is. Regrettably most mortgage companies do not know that this legislation exist and it has to be presented to the mortgage company to get them to let you insure the home for the value that it really is. The mortgage company is wanting their entire note insured when in reality you cannot insure the land its sitting on.

When my agent came by my house and took pictures of the house for the insurance company he saw that I had a pit bull dog. Now 4 weeks later I am getting a cancellation notice. I have not had my insurance policy more than 5 weeks and I am being cancelled. Why is this?

First of all pit bull dogs are not an acceptable breed of dog to have in order to have home insurance. Due to the history of the biting and attacking history by this breed of dog almost all insurance companies will not accept you as a home insurance customer if you own this breed of dog. Before you obtain a dog for a pet be sure you check with your insurance agent to make sure that dog is an acceptable breed of dog by the insurance company.

I sold my home and the new owner is just going to use my home insurance until mine runs out in two months and then he will get his own insurance.

Believe it or not this happens quite a bit. Unfortunately if the deed to the property is not in the homeowners name then the home insurance of the previous homeowner is null and void. There would be no coverage at all for the new home owner.