5 Greensboro Home Insurance Mistakes That Will Cost You

Most Greensboro homeowners understand the need for adequate homeowners insurance but may be unsure about exactly what adequate homeowners insurance entails. When deciding on the ideal Greensboro home insurance policy to fit your personal needs, it's important to avoid making any costly mistakes in the process. Here are some hints that may help.

• Obtaining homeowners insurance can be a confusing topic. It's best to go into the process with the assistance of a professional insurance person. Consulting an insurance broker who has access to multiple insurance company's products should provide the best results. Short of this, before deciding on the purchase of a particular policy, take the time to compare multiple offers from several different insurers.
• Experts agree that one of the most common mistakes homeowners make is under-insuring their homes. The amount of insurance your mortgage company requires you to carry is only the amount that covers their financial exposure. Your house may be worth significantly more than the amount owed to your mortgage lender and your insurance coverage should reflect the amount it would cost to rebuild your home should it be totally destroyed.
• It's a mistake to believe that your standard homeowner's insurance coverage protects you against water damage from torrential rains or flooding. Flood insurance is a special policy that must be obtained through the National Flood Insurance Program.
• It's a mistake not to consider replacement value for your home and personal possessions rather than actual current cash value. What you paid for your home, for example, may be considerably less than it would cost to replace it should it be totally destroyed by fire or a tornado. Your old couch or computer may be worth next to nothing in actual cash value, but if these are destroyed you'll still have to replace them and will be faced with current prices. Replacement value coverage will provide for this.
• Most insurance policies have limits on what they'll pay toward expensive items such as artwork, gun or coin collections, furs, jewelry or other collectibles. Additional coverage can be taken out to protect from losses for these items and it's a mistake to assume everything in your home is covered for its full value unless this type of additional coverage is obtained.

It's a mistake to believe you know what your Greensboro home insurance policy covers if you haven't read and understood it. Consult your agent with any questions.

Greensboro Car Insurance: What Does Excess Mean?

If you run across the word “excess” when dealing with car insurance, chances are you're driving a vehicle in Europe or Australia, where their car insurance policies use the term “excess” where policies written in the U.S. use “deductible.” Both these terms apply to the amount a policyholder is required to pay out of pocket toward a claim before the insurance company pays its portion.

When you first take out your Greensboro Car Insurance coverage you'll be asked to select a deductible amount if your policy includes collision and/or comprehensive coverage. Vehicle liability insurance, which is the only type of coverage NC state law requires you to carry on your car, doesn't have a deductible amount associated with it.

Why Deductible is Required

Although it may be possible to obtain a vehicle insurance policy that includes collision and comprehensive and doesn't require a deductible, this coverage would likely prove to be significantly higher in cost than a standard policy. By requiring you to have a deductible, the insurance company is effectively making you share the risk of something happening to your car. The assumption is that, if you're on the hook for paying a portion of a claim you make, you'll be more careful in the operation of your vehicle.

Statistically, the average deductible on car insurance policies in the U.S. is $500. With a $500 deductible, if you have an accident and the damage repairs total $3000, you must pay the first $500 before the insurer kicks in the remaining $2500. If you sustain damage totaling $500 or less, you'll be responsible for paying the entire amount.

Higher Deductibles Mean Lower Premiums

When choosing the deductible amount for your insurance policy, it's important to consider how much you can comfortably come up with in the event you have a claim and must produce the up-front cash to pay your portion of the repair bill. The advantage of selecting a higher deductible amount is that a higher deductible generally means lower premiums. The reason for this is because higher deductibles lower the amount of financial risk the insurance company faces. If you've been driving for years and have never made a claim against your policy, bumping up the deductible amount to save on premium dollars may be a good idea. You might be surprised at how much you can save just by raising your deductible amount from $500 to $1000.

4 Things You Never Knew About Greensboro Car Insurance

There's an old saying about insurance - “It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.” For some, things like car insurance are simply a “necessary evil.” It's required if you want to drive legally here in North Carolina but, with so many different options available, why not just get the least expensive car insurance sold? The answer to that question can also be summed up with an old saying - “Good things ain't cheap and cheap things ain't good!” It's just as true with insurance as it is with those junk pliers or wrenches sold at the 99-cent store. They may look okay, but using them is a real disappointment.

What Kind of Car Insurance Do You Really Need?

Here in Greensboro, when you buy vehicle insurance you can opt for the least expensive policy, which provides the minimum amount of liability coverage required by state law, unless you're leasing or financing your vehicle. The minimum amount of liability insurance required by state law includes $30,000 bodily injury per person per accident, not to exceed $60,000 total for all injured parties, and $25,000 property damage. What you may not know is that this minimal amount of liability coverage will typically pay only a small portion of the actual damages in a real-world vehicle accident for which you're deemed responsible. Any excess amounts for damages will come out of your pocket. It's recommended you carry approximately five times the minimum required amount of liability coverage.

If your vehicle is being leased or financed, the company holding the contract will almost certainly require that you carry coverage to protect their financial interests. These would include collision and comprehensive coverage.

Other Things You Should Know About Your Greensboro Car Insurance

• Personal property damaged in or stolen from your car, such as a camera, laptop or big screen TV you're transporting, typically won't be covered by your car policy. Your homeowners or renters insurance may, however, cover these losses
• While standard homeowners insurance doesn't cover homes for earthquake damage, if you have comprehensive coverage on your car it should be covered, as are other “acts of God,” since these are not the responsibility of the vehicle owner
• If your car is damaged by wildlife or rodents chewing into your electrical wiring these should be covered, as is vandalism, under a policy with comprehensive coverage. Consider carrying comprehensive!