Personal Insurance FAQ

In the event of loss or damage to my home and its contents, what are some of the things I should be looking for in my homeowners policy regarding replacement?
Different insurance companies' homeowners policies offer different replacement options for your home and its contents, and if it is a priority for you to restore your home and/or its contents to their original value, it would greatly benefit you to know what questions to ask when purchasing your homeowners policy. For example, will your insurance policy use the same craftsmanship and materials to bring your home back to where it was prior to the damage? Or, will your insurance policy allow you to make modifications to the original design of your home if you so choose? Will you have your choice of contractor? What contents of your home are covered, and to what extent? These are just a few of many questions you need to consider when developing a homeowners policy that suits the needs of you and your family and protects your assets. Each insurance company has different standards in their homeowners policies regarding these and other issues and it is vital that you know what questions to ask before you purchase your policy, before it is too late. Beyond the differences in insurance companies, there are the differences between your needs as an individual homeowner, for example, the needs of someone purchasing a hundred year old farmhouse are going to be quite different than someone purchasing a newly built home. Consulting with a broker like Johnson, Kendall & Johnson can be to your advantage when purchasing a homeowners policy as we fully understand the intricacies between different insurers policies and we work with you to determine what policy meets and addresses your particular situation.

For what contents of my home should I purchase additional insurance that my homeowners policy may not cover?
If you own expensive jewelry, art, antiques, computers, or musical equipment, you should protect these and other items of value in your home with valuable property insurance as they most likely will not be adequately protected under your homeowners policy. However, with valuable property insurance, as is true with most types of insurance policies, you will need to ensure that your valuable possessions are going to be protected at the level you want them to be protected. For example, if you are a collector and you own an antique lamp that is valued at over $100,000 and that lamp is accidentally broken, would you want the lamp repaired or would you want to receive the replacement value of the lamp? If the lamp could be repaired for less than its value, some valuable property insurance policies will only offer to repair the lamp for you. Although the lamp would be repaired, it may also suffer an 80% depreciation in value. This is just one of many scenarios that can occur with your valuable property. To ensure coverage that meets your standards, you must be aware of whether you are purchasing valued coverage, versus replacement coverage, versus repair coverage.

I'm looking to purchase my first high-end automobile, in doing so, are there different considerations I need to take into account with my auto insurance?
Absolutely. If you are looking to protect the value and integrity of your automobile, there are unique concerns you will want to address when purchasing your auto insurance. For example, if you damage part of your automobile in an accident, will your insurance company allow your to use genuine replacement parts, or original parts, or will your insurance company require you to replace the damaged area with used parts, depending on how they determine the depreciation level of your vehicle? Or, if you need to replace the engine and you have 50,000 miles on your car, will your insurance company reimburse you for a new engine, or a replacement engine? Further, will you have the right to choose who fixes your car, or will your insurance company select who repairs your car. Basically, it depends on what you are looking to accomplish with your auto insurance policy. If you seek stability, asset protection, and safeguarding the future of your family, there are many intricacies between different types of auto insurance policies that need to be researched and defined prior to purchasing your coverage.