good to know

Everyone reads those reminders "Make sure your insurance meets your needs" -- usually around the end of the year. Some people even remind you to "check what your policy actually covers!"

Well, I'm here to remind you all to do just that -- and it's the middle of the year!

B had quite a bit inside his truck when it was stolen. We knew our car insurance wouldn't cover the items, so we made a claim with our homeowner's insurance.

Before I talk about the homeowner's insurance, though -- let me make a comment about our car insurance. We had an after-factory item installed on the truck after we purchased it. We had a solid, folding, locking cover put across the bed, which cost about $700. This was important to keep DH's samples and work items safe. Did you know that unless you specifically tell your insurance company about items like that they're not covered? Even if you have the original receipt from the purchase? No, we didn't either! In the future, we'll be sure to add endorsements, but as it stands now we won't be replacing that cover for a long time -- if ever!

When we spoke to our homeowner's insurance agent, we were told to compile a list of the items in the truck, the date of purchase, and the replacement value. We knew that we had purchased replacement value insurance vs. original cost of item insurance -- so we thought we would be in pretty good shape.

The first surprise came when we were told that anything DH used for work wouldn't be covered, except for $250! Our homeowner's insurance would cover personal items in the truck that were stolen, but would only cover $250 of work-related items because they weren't at home. We had NO idea that this was part of the policy.

Then, they wanted proof of the items we had in the truck. Thankfully, DH keeps boxes. I am always trying to throw out boxes, but he likes to keep them, and because we had the boxes we shouldn't have any problem being reimbursed for those items. I guess I never thought much about how to prove what we actually owned before. There are some items that were a bit pricey, but since we don't have a receipt or the box, we won't receive compensation.

Looking around our home, I realize that if something catastrophic happened, I don't know how I'd be able to prove what we had! We've been working on creating an inventory (something that has been on a myriad of to-do lists over the years but never actually done!) and I plan to leave a copy with my sister as well as upload it online (probably in my gmail account.) The tricky part will be updating it as we purchase new things . . . but I doubt there will be many purchases in this house for a while! LOL!

We're grateful we had insurance, because our loss would have been much greater without it. We've just learned that we need to be a little more aware about the details of our coverage, as well as creating a detailed home inventory! Hopefully our loss will help you without any loss of your own!