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An incident with unintended and/or unexpected negative consequences.
Insurance Blog
Author: Brad Smith
Accident
What’s the biggest exposure for homeowners?
If you’re like most, replacing your home and personal property are the primary reasons for purchasing a homeowners insurance policy. While that is important, insuring your property may not be the most important coverage offered by your homeowners’ insurance policy.
Insurance claims in Kentucky and many other areas increase during the spring. Severe weather is the primary culprit of Spring insurance claims. What would happen if a tree fell on your house during a windstorm and damaged your home? After you meet your policy deductible, your homeowner’s insurance policy would cover the cost of repairs.
What if the wind had been blowing in the other direction and instead of crashing through your rough, your neighbor’s home is the one damaged. In most cases, your neighbor’s insurance would cover the damages to his house.
However, there are cases where you are liable. If the tree was dead, dying, diseased or unstable you could be on the hook. If you are cutting the tree down, you are liable.
What’s your liability exposure?  What should your liability limit be? It depends! But one thing is for sure. You need to have input. If you’re being left out of this process, your likely be left out of many other decisions.
No one will deny the importance of communication. How will things go if you decide not to communicate with your boss? Even better, your spouse? Not even an occasional Uh-huh.
Your homeowner’s policy protects you from many  But there are always people that you would rather not talk toMost of us could quickly compile a list of the top ten people that we didn’t want to talk to. If we compiled a list of the people that we least wanted to communicate withYour boss communicates with you, so does your spouse. While at times most of us would The job of the insurance agent would be fairly simple if you were only getting property coverage. How much is your house worth, how much personal property coverage would you like, and what causes of loss do we need to protect against.
Liability exposures are much more difficult to define. How much will it cost to repair/replace your neighbor’s home in the example provided above? Do you have adequate personal liability protection?
While the claim to repair the neighbor’s home could be very significant, relative to other potential liability exposures, this would be small. Kids open the door to much larger exposures when their invited and even uninvited friends have access to your pool, trampoline, treehouse, fireworks, go-carts, and more. How much coverage would you need if an injury or death occurred on your property due to your negligence?
Take some time to review your homeowner’s policy. The limits on your home will most likely exceed the value of your home and personal property. Can you say the same about your liability limits? Finally, speak to a qualified insurance broker that can provide you guidance. The last thing you need is for someone that can sell you insurance, what you truly need is an individual that can work with you in developing a compressive risk management plan.
Hard to Insure Homes
You Can Climb, But You Can’t Hide
Tree houses are prime elements of childhood fun. They are clubhouses, hideaways, castles, war rooms, forts, spaceships, control centers, submarines; the list of what they can perform is limited only by imagination.
Now let’s look at a tree house with an insurance company’s eyes….oh boy! Now we have a structure with a separate value that, just like a home, garage, shed, or pool; needs specific coverage. Worse, that coverage has to be for damage to the tree house as well as for protection against losses caused by owning a tree house.
The fact that tree houses are so fun is what makes them a big problem, insurance-wise! They are attractive nuisances, which is to say, Child Magnets! Tree houses are guaranteed to make a home popular, very popular! And the word of one will spread far and wide!
The fun provided by tree houses has to be tempered by the following:
- they exist off the ground and have to be accessed by climbing to them, often via ropes or ladders
- treehouses that are poorly maintained become even more dangerous
- they are used by children who are playing….not thinking about how careful they should be
- they are sometimes used by too many children….how much weight can the tree house safely handle
- children are usually unsupervised during such play
- access to the tree house may occur 24/7/365….including nights, weekends and other times when the homeowner is at work, or on vacation
Besides the above, consider when the household’s kids have outgrown the tree house and the owners pay even less attention to it. Depending on the location, it could even attract illegal activity!
If you have a tree house, make sure that it’s maintained and activities are supervised. Also, make sure you get an insurance professional’s help in getting protection….or else all of the fun disappears!
COPYRIGHT: Insurance Publishing Plus, Inc.  2014
All rights reserved. Production or distribution, whether in whole or in part, in any form of media or language; and no matter what country, state or territory, is expressly forbidden without written consent of Insurance Publishing Plus, Inc.
Fireworks Accidents – Part 2
In part one we discussed that a homeowners policy may be available to handle losses involving fireworks. However, this is not
always the case as there are instances where your homeowner policy does not offer coverage.
Legal Issue
If it’s illegal for you to set off fireworks, this legal hurdle could result in any loss being excluded by the policy.
Business Issue
A homeowners policy is meant to handle losses related to owning and living in a home, there’s no coverage for a person who uses their home for making, selling, storing or distributing fireworks. Any business activity involving fireworks is going to cause a big problem if a loss occurs.
Who Is Injured Issue
Injuries to yourself or others in your household are not covered because Medical Payments and Liability coverage is designed to handle loss suffered by persons outside of your household.
Intentional Loss Issue
If an injury or damage to property is not an accident, there’s no coverage. Tossing a firecracker or aiming a bottle rocket at another person could be considered deliberate, even when no injury was intended. Deliberate acts and their consequences are commonly excluded by homeowners policies.
So when dealing with fireworks, make sure they’re legal, that they’re used carefully and only for entertainment. Then your chances are good that any loss may also be covered.
COPYRIGHT: Insurance Publishing Plus, Inc. 2016 All rights reserved. Production or distribution, whether in whole or in part, in any form of media or language; and no matter what country, state or territory, is expressly forbidden without written consent of Insurance Publishing Plus, Inc.
Summer Savings
Hey, just wanted to share with everyone a link we received from one of our carriers today. It provides several tips aimed at reducing home and office cooling cost. Some of their insights are the standards that are repeated every winter and summer, like make sure to change your filter every three months. However, this list also contains some unique pointers such as:
- The importance of keeping the fan set to auto
- Zone thermostats
- Heat Efficient light
- Programmable Thermostats (savings around 10%)
- Ceiling Fans (potential savings roughly 15%)
- Clean Condenser (another 10% savings)
- Stopping there because I’m worried this is going to add up to more than 100. Just joking, I hope you find the time take a look. Just click the link to the right which will take you to a brief article with two relatively short videos.
Note: this is geared towards businesses, however, most of the money savings suggestions will also apply to individuals.
Fireworks Accidents – Part 1
                                                                      Â
 Fireworks Accidents – Part 1 of 2 Â
A longtime, extremely popular summer rite is to enjoy setting off fireworks. However, it’s important to think, truly think, before striking a match or using a lighter on your first firecracker, sparkler, smoke-bomb, bottle rocket or other forms of incendiary entertainment. For all their fun, fireworks are capable of causing serious injuries to persons and substantial damage
to property. Such losses can have substantial financial consequences, so it’s important to know whether you are insured in the event you cause a fireworks accident.
Examples:
Imagine you are setting off some fireworks in your driveway for your children and their friends. Suddenly, a sparkler you gave to a neighbor’s child violently flares up, burning her hand and face.
While setting off some bottle rockets, one smashes through a window of a house across the street. The rocket sets the home’s living room curtains on fire. It then spreads to the carpeting and the room’s furnishings. The local fire department responds, putting out the fire. There are thousands of dollars in damage caused by fire and water.
In the first example, your Homeowners Policy could cover her injuries a couple of ways. If the injuries are minor, her medical 
treatment could be handled under the Medical Payments portion. However, if the child’s injuries are more serious and her parents sue, your policy’s liability portion should handle your legal defense as well as a legal judgment.
In the latter example, one could be found negligent for causing the fire and subsequent damage. A homeowners policy usually handles claims such as these. However, you should also be aware of the limitations which will be covered in part two of this topic.
COPYRIGHT: Insurance Publishing Plus, Inc. 2016 All rights reserved. Production or distribution, whether in whole or in part, in any form of media or language; and no matter what country, state or territory, is expressly forbidden without written consent of Insurance Publishing Plus, Inc.
Golf Carts: Cute, Handy…..Dangerous
At one time golf carts were seen exclusively on golf courses. Then, since golfing is part of the sports world, other sports saw their usefulness, so carts popped up along the sidelines of football fields and near baseball dugouts, shuttling players about. Today, many more people are aware of the non-sports usefulness of golf carts…..and that is becoming a problem.
Increasingly, more exceptions are being made regarding golf cart use. At first they could be used on areas close to golf courses, then retirement communities made exceptions, then gated and other, larger property-owner communities allowed their use. Now, exceptions are being made for their limited, public street use in small towns, college communities and in other situations.
The increased use of golf carts means the increased number of golf cart accidents. Such incidents are a particular concern since they may involve elderly drivers who may have impairments or slower reaction times. Further, golf carts are popular with very young, frequently unlicensed drivers who may lack care and experience in operating golf carts safely.
Pairing up golf carts with higher risk operators creates a high-risk situation. Consider several features of golf carts:
- Lightweight
- Open vehicles without roll bars
- Low clearance
- Rigid frame construction
- Capable of deceptive speed (some models can reach 25 mph)
- Do not include seat belts
While carts are ideal for traveling along fairly level, soft-surface areas; their features and design make them quite hazardous on other surfaces. Some golf carts can move at higher speeds, but their low clearance and rigid structure make them prone to rollovers. While carts are relatively light, they still are easily heavy enough to cause serious, even fatal injury to persons trapped beneath them. It also makes a 
tremendous difference being in an accident on a grass surface as opposed to an asphalt, gravel, packed-dirt or cement road. Some accident statistics reveal that golf cart accidents often involve children who are hurt when flung from carts during turns.
Another issue with golf carts is that there is no consistent regulation regarding their use and safe operation. The real issue is awareness! Persons who own and use golf carts away from courses should be careful about how they operate such vehicles, who are allowed to drive and ride in them and what safety procedures must be used to minimize accidents. No matter how cute, easy-to-operate and economical they are, golf carts are motorized vehicles that can cause serious loss and injury. Use them with care!
COPYRIGHT: Insurance Publishing Plus, Inc. 2016
All rights reserved. Production or distribution, whether in whole or in part, in any form of media or language; and no matter what country, state or territory, is expressly forbidden without written consent of Insurance Publishing Plus, Inc.
Lawrenceburg Father’s Day 2018 (Verona Pizza & TruePoint Insurance)
Meet Your TruePoint Customer Service Team
http://www.insuringky.com
 Welcome to 
Thank you for choosing us for your insurance needs! It is our commitment to provide our clients with quality insurance products at a great price, and we are so pleased to have you as a new customer! As you may have already discovered, we offer real-time quotes on our website, payments over the phone, and E-signature options for most documents. Did you know you can also print ID Cards directly from our website? Of course, we always enjoy meeting and seeing our customers face to face! However, we understand your time is valuable, so we offer electronic options, as well as two office locations in order to accommodate your schedule. We have expanded our service team, as well, and look forward to helping you protect what is valuable to you!
OUR SERVICE TEAM:
      
6287 Taylorsville Rd.       1085 Eagle Lake Drive
Fisherville, KYÂ 40023Â Â Â Â Â Â Lawrenceburg, KYÂ 40342
             PHONE: (502)410-5089                              
Jordan Milburn, ext. 105Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Jessica Coleman, ext. 120
Licensed Service Specialist                                                                  Director of Client Services
CLIENT LIAISONÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
jordan.milburn@truepointgroup.com                                                                                                            jessica.coleman@truepointgroup.com
Jordan will likely be your first point of contact when you call. She is a licensed P&C Agent, and her primary responsibility is to ensure your satisfaction. From providing proof of insurance, taking payments, and processing policy changes to quoting/issuing new policies, she can often handle your requests quickly and efficiently (or direct you to the most effective resource available).
Jessica will be in the Lawrenceburg office from 8:30-4:30, M-F. She will coordinate with Jordan to ensure our agency is meeting the needs of our clients. As the Director of Client Services, she will be happy to review your policy at each renewal, and make sure you are receiving all of the discounts and coverage options available to you. You can call or email her to schedule your personal policy review. Also, if things change in your life (and they usually do), don’t forget to call and tell us! We want to keep you covered correctly! And if the worst should happen, and you need to file a claim, Jessica will gladly help you through the filing process for the quickest resolution possible.
They are both committed to giving you amazing service, and looking forward to working with you.
Please let us know if you have any questions about your new policy, or if you would like for us to quote another type of insurance for you. We appreciate your business!
Sincerely,
Brad and Kristen Smith
P.S. If you are happy with your service, Like, Share, or Leave a Review! We’d love to hear your thoughts!
