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Rocky Mountain Insurance Information
NEWS
6565 South Dayton St. #2400, Greenwood Village, Colorado 80111
Serving Colorado, New Mexico, Utah & Wyoming
Contact: Carole Walker, Executive Director
(303) 790-0216 or 1-800-355-9524
Release Date: Immediately
Topic: Catastrophes
REGION'S WILDFIRE DANGER IS AN EARLY SEASON WAKE-UP CALL TO CHECK INSURANCE & DO A HOME INVENTORY.
March 24, 2006 – Wildfire season is off to a fast and furious start in Colorado, New Mexico, and neighboring states. The dry, windy conditions that have been fueling fires across the region since early January should sound an alarm for homeowners: now is the time to help make sure you have the insurance protection you need to rebuild your home and replace your personal belongings.
The early fire season is an added incentive to take necessary steps that have an impact on your pocketbook and offer you financial peace-of-mind. “ You do not want to wait until you're loading up the car on an evacuation order to think about what your insurance does and doesn't cover,” says Carole Walker, Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association. “Now is the time to do an insurance check up of your coverage and create a home inventory.”
RMIIA offers this insurance checklist for homeowners:
CREATE A HOME INVENTORY
- Make a home inventory that includes lists, pictures or a videotape of the contents of your home. After all, would you be able to remember all the possessions you've accumulated over the years if they were destroyed by a fire? Having an up-to-date home inventory will help get your insurance claim settled faster, verify losses for your income tax return and help you purchase the correct amount of insurance.
- It's easy to get overwhelmed, but RMIIA now has free software that you can download to help simplify the process! You can even add digital photos and scan in receipts, along with your room-by-room online inventory. Log on to www.rmiia.org to download free home inventory software or a sample home inventory.
- Click here for direct link
DO AN ANNUAL INSURANCE CHECK UP
- Insurance is something most people don't even want to think about until they need it the most. But, understanding what is and isn't covered in your homeowners' insurance policy can mean the difference of being able to rebuild your home and replace your personal belongings. Homeowners need to do annual insurance policy "check ups" to make sure they keep up with local building costs and have adjusted their coverage to include home remodeling and additions.
- If you don't have replacement coverage, consider spending a few extra dollars for coverage that pays for the cost of replacing the damaged property without deduction for depreciation.
KNOW WHAT IS & ISN'T COVERED
- The typical homeowner insurance policy covers damage resulting from fire, windstorm, hail, water damage (excluding flooding), riots and explosion as well as other causes of loss, such as theft and the extra cost of living elsewhere while the structure is being repaired or rebuilt.
- Your policy also covers your legal liability (up to policy limits) if you, members of your family or even your pets hurt other people or their property, not just in your house, but away from it, as well. If you have a lot of assets to protect, you may want to consider an umbrella policy that offers increased protection against lawsuits.
- The standard policy does not cover flooding, so you may want to look into flood insurance coverage if you're concerned that you're at risk for rising floodwaters.
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Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association is a non-profit consumer information organization. Affiliated with the Insurance Information Institute, RMIIA has been serving consumers and the media since 1952.
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