6 Steps to Reduce Your Risks when Entertaining

November 12, 2015 By Michelle McKinley Leave a Comment

Tis’ the season for entertaining! The fall season begins a slew of gatherings with friends and family. Unfortunately, it can also open you up to risks. As a homeowner, you are responsible for anyone on your property, invited or not. Injuries that could be caused due to your negligence will put you and your family at risk. Your homeowners policy does protect you from liability, but only up to a certain dollar amount. Additional insurance can and should be purchased to offer more protection.

Steps To Take To Reduce Risk

Mitigating risk is something we talk about a lot in the insurance industry. It’s important to know your risks and how to reduce them. While accidents do happen, there are certain things you can do to help lessen them. Here are five ways to help your party goes off without a hitch (or claim).

Check your home for possible safety hazards. Before guests arrive, do a walk-through of your entire property and look for potential hazards. Do you have a step on your porch that is hard to see? Consider adding more light in that area to help light the way. Maybe you had left a garden hose out in the yard where a guest taking a short cut might trip. Make sure all tripping hazards are put away. What about guest seating? Do you have a piece of furniture that you’ve been meaning to get fixed? Bring that item to the garage or other out-of-the-way area to ensure that it is not used. As a homeowner, it‘s your responsibility to provide a safe environment for your guests.
Hire a professional bartender to serve alcohol. Professional bartenders are relatively inexpensive and often carry their own liquor liability. They have been trained to spot when someone has had too much to drink. They know when to stop serving and inform the host of concerning situations. Be aware that larger events that will need to have event insurance as homeowners insurance will likely not cover personal liability. Special Events Coverage through your insurance agent. This coverage provides General Liability coverage for events over one day in duration, up to 100 attendees, such as weddings or New Year’s Eve parties at your home.
Offer Taxi or Uber rides for your guests. Serving alcohol opens you to a whole host of liability. Your guests driving home while under the influence is a big no-no. Having the number handy of several taxi or Uber drivers will help keep your guests safe. Consider having everyone put their keys in a bowl and attach a card with the taxi phone number right to their car keys.
Have plenty of food and water available for guests. Staying hydrated throughout the day/night will help your guests more than you think. Stage several areas throughout your home for easy access to non-alcoholic beverages. Water, lemonade, and seasonal hot cider are all good choices.
Check your homeowner’s insurance policy limits and restrictions. Umbrella polices that offer additional coverage/higher limits and special event insurance are the best ways to help mitigate your risk. There are many instances where your homeowners insurance will not cover you at all if an accident occurs because of a party on your premise. It’s important to establish a good relationship with your insurance agent and to verify if additional coverage is needed for a special event.

Please contact your Personal Insurance Advisor if you have any questions about your homeowners policy.

Are you Covered for a Business Interruption?

August 13, 2015 By Michelle McKinley Leave a Comment

Recent heavy rainfall reminds us that not all natural disasters are brought on by hurricanes. Due to heavy and constant rains, flooding has damaged much of Florida’s roadways. Last week, Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for five counties. This included three bay area counties; Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco.

Damage like this creates an immediate need for all for all companies to take a closer look at their insurance coverage. Would you be sufficiently covered in case of a natural disaster? States like Florida and other coastal locations are particularly susceptible to devastating losses from flooding, tropical storms, hurricanes.

“75% of businesses suffering major property damage are out of business within three years because they did not have a contingency plan or the proper financing to see them through the period of recovery.”

What is Business Income Insurance?

When it comes to managing your property risk, business owners should be concerned not only with a loss to their tangible property but also to their income. Natural disasters, fires, and other insured perils often result in an interruption of the operations of a business, which typically lead to a loss of income. Business income insurance is designed to cover your economic damages when you experience a covered loss that results in a suspension of your business. A suspension of your business can mean either a slow down or a cessation of your business activities. Loss of income is defined in most policies as your net profit as well as continuing expenses, including payroll. Extra expenses that you incur to recover from a disaster can also be covered. You might think of it as disability insurance for your business!

What is Included in a Business Interruption Insurance Policy?

Compensation for lost income if you are no longer able to operate your business due to a disaster-related damage that is covered by your current property insurance policy.
Profits that would have been earned had the disaster not occurred. These numbers are based on previous financial records.
Operating expenses that must be paid even if the business is temporarily closed. Examples are utilities, rent, etc.
Expenses from a temporary location for you to operate out of while repairs are being made to your permanent location.

Business interruption insurance is one of the most valuable policies a business can have, yet it is often overlooked. Contact us today to learn more about this valuable policy.

Children’s Life Insurance: Insuring Their Insurability

April 16, 2015 By Michelle McKinley Leave a Comment

Parents all over the world have one thing in common; we love our children more than we love ourselves. The smiles that melt your heart, the injuries that make you want to kiss away the pain—we would do any and everything to protect our precious little ones. What about insuring them for the unthinkable? No parent wants to think about their child becoming ill, or worse. As responsible parents, our duty is to prepare for all possible outcomes.

When a parent purchases a child life insurance policy early in life, they are ensuring their child’s insurability. Buying life insurance on a child will remove the following obstacles, each of which will increase their rates or even render them uninsurable if they were to apply once they were older.

Developing an adverse medical condition
Tobacco use
Avocation & Occupation factors
Family History – heart disease, cancer, etc.

Children who develop medical conditions will most likely not qualify for life insurance policies later in life, or, at the very least, their premium will increase. Juvenile diabetes is an excellent example. Many who are diagnosed before the age of 10 are now uninsurable. Your children may one day thank you for allowing them to have their own life insurance policy in the event they do become uninsurable. We have a client who shared a story about how her parents purchased a life policy for her when she was a child. Five years ago she had a kidney transplant which left her ineligible for life insurance. She had her first child last year and now, because of the life policy her parents purchased for her, she has protection for her income. Her parents never thought a simple decision made thirty years ago would have helped her in such a profound way.

Policies start at $10 a month for children below 5 years old. Protect your child’s future by calling Abbey Bowersox at 727-522-7777 today.