Do you have a guest house or ADU/Accessory Dwelling Unit? How you use it determines how you need to insure it. In this short video, I’ll briefly cover the main points to consider. Have more questions? Call us! If you’re in Lone Tree, Colorado, call 303-532-3000. If you’re in Whitefish, MT, call 406-219-7650. We look forward to helping you make the best decision for your situation.
How to Insure an ADU (accessory dwelling unit)
Home Insurance and Renters Insurance – Why Liability Limits Matter for Downhill Skiers and Snowboarders
Transcript:
In this installment of why liability insurance matters for downhill skiers and snowboarders, we’re going to talk about that. Okay, I’m Dave Harriman with Lone Tree Insurance: home and auto insurance broker extraordinaire.
What the heck am I talking about? I don’t know half the time. Anyways.
I got it.
When you are downhill skiing you have an obligation to not run into the person in front of you.
And if you do and they sustained severe injury you can be considered the negligent party and therefore you can be held liable for the injuries they sustained. And we’re not just talking about medical bills. We’re talking about pain and suffering, permanent or partial disability, death,
lost wages, etc. So what can you do to protect you or your little kids if you have kids under 18 that are also skiing? Well, a really cheap thing to do is carry a whole bunch of liability coverage on your home insurance or your renter’s insurance policy! Liability coverage is crazy cheap. Like going from $100,000 to half a million dollars May cost $50 a year; and it’s very broad coverage. And it’s being subsidized by all of the low-risk, boring people that don’t ski or snowboard!
So, you’re getting a bargain if you are a skier or snowboarder. Whether you’re a client of mine or someone else’s, call your agent. Have them increase your liability coverage, and if you want to talk to me, call me, Facebook message me, email me… I’m here. Thank you.
Do Home Alarms Reduce Insurance Premiums
Which Home Insurance Deductible is Best?
In this video, we discuss the pros and cons of higher and lower deductibles for your home insurance. If you’re in Whitefish, MT or Lone Tree, CO, we would love to see what we can do to help you! Feel free to schedule a call with us! SCHEDULE A CALL HERE
Uninsured and Underinsured Motorists Coverage – Do You Need It?
Transcript:
Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage: do you need it and why?
Okay so uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage kicks in at the person who hit you was at fault for the accident and either had no insurance or not enough insurance to cover yours or your passengers’ injuries and injury-related damages.
So a lot of people think about that as just medical bills… and well, I have health insurance, so my health insurance is going to pay for my medical bills after the accident. True, but that’s not the only injury-related damages you have to worry about!
What happens if you end up with a permanent or partial disability and you’re either unable to work forever or unable to work for a portion of your life, whether it’s weeks months? Or something like that? THAT is an injury-related damage. You want to be able to be compensated for that.
And if the person who hit you carries a bunch of insurance themselves, and they have liability coverage, they would compensate you for those things.
But if they don’t have liability coverage or they don’t have a high limit of liability coverage, then you can turn your own policy for compensation for those sorts of things.
So I could go on and on about this but that’s kind of the short answer if you have any other questions please give me a call, thanks. You can add yourself to my call schedule here: CLICK HERE TO SCHEDULE A CALL.
Homeowners Insurance for Homebuyers In Whitefish
So, you’re in escrow on your dream home in Whitefish, MT? Congratulations! The only thing more exciting than closing-day will be shopping for home insurance! Me, sarcastic? Never.
People tend to think of home insurance as a commodity. I cannot stress this enough: HOME INSURANCE IS NOT ALL THE SAME! Great insurance companies still sell varying qualities of coverage, which can be hard for the ordinary consumer to understand. Here’s a list of a few things to make sure you and your agent go over:
Are you planning on renting your home out at all, even if it’s just a few days here and a few days there? If so, that will completely change the type of policy you need. You’ll need an endorsement that changes the policy verbiage to allow for short-term rental exposure. If you don’t include this endorsement, you’ll end up in a world of hurt if/when you have a claim.
Does the home have a finished basement? If so, make sure you and your agent include adequate water backup coverage – a coverage I see most insurance agents fail to include.
Building costs have soared! Is the dwelling limit (coverage A) sufficient to rebuild your new home?
Does the policy you’re paying for include replacement cost coverage for the roof? Many insurance companies have transitioned to coverage that depreciates your roof based on its age, and most people don’t know this until it’s too late. If you see the words “Actual Cash Value,” this is a red flag. It’s not that much more expensive to have a policy that includes Replacement Cost Coverage, which means they don’t depreciate the roof.
I could make this a 5 page post about everything your insurance agent or insurance broker should be doing. Instead, I just encourage you to hop on a call with your agent and make sure they ask you questions. Make sure they understand your property. Make sure they actually know what the heck they’re doing, and seem to care about you!
If you don’t have an insurance agent, or you’d like to see why clients love Lone Tree Insurance, we’d love to hear from you. Feel free to call us, or schedule a time for us to call you by clicking here to schedule a call.
Thanks for reading, I we wish you all the best in your new home in Whitefish!
Liability Coverage is THE MOST IMPORTANT Coverage on Your Auto Policy
Insuring against financial ruin is far more important to your financial success in life, than insuring against financial inconvenience. If you have equity in your home, money in the bank, or a solid income, you’re a much more attractive risk for a potential lawsuit than someone without those things. Carrying a lot of liability coverage is an easy and relatively inexpensive way to protect your wealth from lawsuits resulting from most kinds of personal negligence. Questions? Call me!
The Number One Mistake Drivers Make on Coverage
Stop Prioritizing Financial Inconvenience. Prioritize Financial Ruin.
The most common mistake consumers make when buying auto insurance is focusing on insuring against potential financial inconvenience, rather than insuring against potential financial ruin. It’s an easy fix, and it’s not that expensive.
Bottom line: if you have assets, even if you’re not wealthy, carry A LOT of liability coverage!
Questions? Schedule a call with me.
Why Snowmobile Insurance Actually Matters
Odds are good that when you think about snowmobile insurance, you only really think about damage to, or loss of, YOUR snowmobile. If you have a pretty crappy snowmobile that you ride a few times per year, you may be willing to risk the relatively small chance of having it stolen or losing it in a fire. Odds are good that you can financially recover from this, and your choice to run that risk seems prudent. But you’re failing to consider the biggest risk: liability.
Though you can confidently recover from the financial loss of having a snowmobile stolen or lost in a fire, can the same be said about your ability to recover from an injury you cause another party? What about an injury you sustain because of another rider?
The most important part of a snowmobile policy isn’t the coverage for damage to your snowmobile. It’s the liability coverage for the damage you cause other riders, and/or the uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage that covers injuries to you or your riders if they’re injured by another rider’s snowmobile.
If you’re fresh out of high school or college and have nothing to lose, the stakes are low, and liability isn’t as important. If you have a good income, equity in your home, or money in the bank, liability is the most important kind of insurance for your snowmobile. It’s what protects you from having to liquidate everything you own so you can pay for injuries you accidentally caused another rider while you were both out having a great time.
If you’d like to learn more, give us a call or add yourself to our call schedule here: CLICK HERE TO SCHEDULE A CALL.
Lone Tree Insurance… Who’s That?
Have you heard the news?
After 12 wonderful years of working with BMR Insurance, Dave Harriman started Lone Tree Insurance! Fear not… you don’t need to do anything. BMR and Lone Tree are working together to move all of Dave’s existing clients over to Lone Tree Insurance.
What does this mean to you?
Not a whole lot. Lone Tree Insurance is offering all the same great products and rates, and there will be no changes in the staff or service that you’ve come to know and love. The only difference is that you will notice some policy documents will now list your agent as Lone Tree Insurance, rather than BMR Insurance.
What do you need to do?
Absolutely nothing. We’re taking care of everything behind the scenes.
Have more questions?
Feel free to call or email us! We’re here for you.