Personal Insurance

You’d be amazed by all the places you’re liable. From your home, to everyone in your household, to every personal item you own. It’s time to take a long look at where you’re exposed and what plans are offered to suit your needs.

What Personal Insurance Plans Are Offered

Personal insurance is about identifying all the non-business areas you’re vulnerable to financial damage. This includes your home and property, natural disasters, and your possessions. Let us help you find which products and services are right for you, so you don’t find yourself solely responsible when a disaster occurs. For a more comprehensive list, check out our Personal Insurance Checklist.

For Your Home and Property:

Homeowners’ insurance is a type of personal insurance that facilitates financial protection against disasters. A standard policy insures the home itself and the things you keep in it. Homeowners insurance is a package policy, meaning you can tailor your benefits plans to you and your family.

Choosing from which plans are offered can be daunting. You’re trying to cover both damage to your property and your liability for any injuries and property damage caused by you or members of your family. This includes damage caused by household pets. We can help with that.

Condominium owners sometimes make the mistake of thinking their condominium association covers their property. While your association’s insurance agency probably insures your building and common areas, its coverage ends at your walls. You need your own condominium policy to cover damage to your interior walls, floors, cabinets, and fixtures.

Like a homeowners policy, a condominium policy also protects your personal property. “Contents coverage” pays for damage or loss to your personal property, whether it’s at home or off-premises.

The policy also facilitates liability protection that will help pay your attorney and court costs if you are sued for injury to another person or damage to their property, otherwise you would be financially responsible. Contact us to see what plans are offered.

Renters insurance plans are offered for financial protection against the loss or destruction of your possessions when you rent a house or apartment.

While your landlord may be sympathetic to a burglary you have experienced or a fire caused by your iron, destruction or loss of your possessions is not usually covered by your landlord’s insurance. Because in most cases, renters insurance covers only the value of your belongings, not the physical building, the premium is relatively inexpensive.

By purchasing renters insurance, your possessions are considered covered losses in cases of fire or smoke, lightning, vandalism, theft, explosion, windstorm, and water damage (not including floods). Like homeowners insurance, renters insurance can also cover if you’re financially responsible for other people injured at your home or elsewhere by you, a family member, or your pet. It will also pay legal defense costs if you are taken to court.

For Natural Disasters:

Flood insurance may be more important to own than homeowners insurance. Every homeowners’, condominium, and renters’ policy covers fire damage in the United States.

But did you know that floods are four times more likely to occur than fires? However, these policies do not typically cover floods. Flood insurance covers damage to a building and contents due to flood, flood-related erosion, or mudslide.

You will need flood insurance if you live in a designated flood zone, but flooding can also occur in inland areas and away from major rivers. Consider buying a flood insurance policy if your house could be flooded by melting snow, an overflowing creek or pond, or water running down a steep hill.

Don’t wait for a flood season warning on the evening news to buy a policy – your insurance company probably has a 30-day waiting period before the coverage takes effect.

Earthquake coverage, like flood insurance, can be expensive if you need it. Commercial insurers tend to price what plans are offered much higher just after an earthquake.

In California, which is thought to have the highest probable risk of earthquake loss, the state-run California Earthquake Authority can facilitate insurance benefits plans to homeowners, but does not underwrite earthquake insurance for businesses. Earthquake policies have high deductibles.

Dwelling Fire Insurance policies are often useful when insuring older homes and those with prior loss claims, as well as secondary residences or rental properties. A wide variety of coverage plans are offered to property owners to protect their assets.

Contrary to what its name might suggest, dwelling fire insurance coverage is not limited to fire and smoke-related damages. In fact, the covered perils in dwelling fire plan documents are very similar to those of a standard homeowners policy.

Dwelling fire policies often offer property owners protection against hazards like explosions, vandalism, and some weather-related occurrences such as wind and lightning. Unlike a typical home insurance policy, which covers everything except for listed exclusions, a dwelling fire policy will only cover named perils.

For Your Possessions:

Three primary types of Personal Auto Insurance coverage plans are offered :

Boat insurance is a specific coverage you will need if you own and use any kind of boat or watercraft. Whether you operate a jet ski or a deluxe cabin cruiser, you need more coverage than your homeowners’ policy can facilitate.

The typical homeowners’ policy benefits plans only facilitate limited coverage for your liability due to operating any type of watercraft. It also limits coverage for loss or damage to your watercraft to $1,000 including trailers, furnishings, and motors.

And, homeowners coverage for watercraft applies only on your premises, rather than where theft or damage is most likely to occur – in transit or on the water.

Bonus:

Pet insurance is an insurance policy that can reimburse you for a portion of your pet’s health care and eligible vet bills. Most Pet insurance plans are offered to allow you to choose your reimbursement level and deductible amount.

If your pet is ill or injured, after paying your veterinarian directly, you file a claim to be reimbursed by your pet insurance company. If you’re unsure how you could afford expensive vet bills, pet insurance can prove to be critically important. Treatment for serious illnesses can be a financial burden without a pet insurance plan in place.

When it comes to protecting what you have and securing your future, a little help from a knowledgeable and experienced team is invaluable. Let Ashland Insurance be that ally, and we’ll meet the future together.

Call today for your free comprehensive personal insurance consultation: 541-482-0831 or 541-857-0679