A.P. Reid's Insurance Products:
Personal Property Insurance - Information Bulletins
At A.P. Reid, we consider consumer education to be one of our top priorities. An informed insurance buyer will made educated decisions about their insurance - ensuring that you avoid trouble down the road in the event of a claim. A.P. Reid customers benefit from the important information contained in our series of hundreds of Customer Information Bulletins. Below you will find a selection of these bulletins related to Personal Property Insurance. Check back often as this selection will be updated from time to time.
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How much insurance should I carry?
The bottom line answer is: Enough to replace your building completely using materials of identical nature, quality and kind; enough to completely protect you so that in the event of a fire or other major disaster, you can move into a completely rebuilt or restored home without any financial contribution from you and your family.
Today, when you purchase a Homeowners Package Policy, the policy conditions generally give you the following terms:
1. The Policy agrees to repair insured damage without deduction for depreciation. This means that you are getting Replacement Cost Coverage.
2. Guaranteed Replacement Cost is a feature of many Homeowners Policies. This means that even if the replacement cost to repair the damage or rebuild your home exceeds your insurance amount, the extra will be paid.
All Homeowners Policies, however, regardless of the Insurance Company contain the following stipulation:
In order to be protected by the guaranteed replacement cost features and have your claims settled without penalties and contributions by you, you must ensure that the building is insured to what is believed to be the TRUE REPLACEMENT VALUE.
Unless you obtain an independent appraisal, you can never be 100% confident that the amount of insurance you choose is equivalent to the estimated replacement value of the building. You can only guess. Insurance Companies do not wish to force homeowners to obtain expensive real estate appraisals and have designed a simpler method to help you make sure that the insurance you carry is adequate.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada with the aid of Statistics Canada has designed what is called the Home Evaluation Calculator. All Insurance Companies operating in Nova Scotia today accept the figure created by this calculator as a representative figure of what it would cost to rebuild or replace your home using brand new materials of like kind and quality.
When your Agent or Broker completes this calculator, and when you buy homeowners insurance equal to the amount created by this calculator, it is considered that you have met all the requirements for insuring your home to its "full replacement value", and any and all claims presented and insurable under your homeowners insurance policy will be settled according to the replacement cost privileges granted in the policy.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada is a Public Information Organization who are in operation for your benefit. The Home Evaluation Calculator has been designed by the IBC and is accepted for use by all Insurance Companies.
Your Insurance Agent will obtain all the necessary house construction details to complete the Evaluation Form and arrive at a figure using calculations provided by Stats Canada.
When you arbitrarily choose the amount of insurance you carry on your building, you obtain a policy which contains all the replacement cost clauses, but; should you have a fire, you will have to prove that the amount of insurance that you chose did indeed equal the full replacement value of your home. If you cannot do that, or if the amount of insurance was considerably lower than the amount of insurance you chose, you could face penalties under your Homeowners Insurance Policy, and may not receive enough insurance funds to repair or rebuild your home. This is risky business. Your home is probably the most expensive asset you possess and you have no doubt worked extremely hard to obtain your home.
All Homeowners Policies contain restrictions that tell you must insure your home to an amount that equals the replacement value of the building. Virtually all insurance companies accept the Insurance Bureau of Canada Calculator as evidence that you have met this stipulation.
If your home is burned to the ground, and you elected to carry home insurance equivalent to the amount calculated by the Home Evaluation Calculator, you need not worry. Even if that amount turned out to be insufficient, you will not be penalized in any way, and if your policy contains the guaranteed replacement cost enhancement, the policy will pay the extra amount it takes to rebuild your home.
Call your Agent or Broker today. Find out if the Home Evaluation Calculator has been completed on your home. If not, have one completed today, and make sure your House Insurance limits equal that figure. Ask for the Guaranteed Replacement Cost Enhancement to be included in your policy.
Then relax!
Homeowners Insurance Policies are probably one of the best bargains we can find today.
Most Home Owners can protect their home to its full replacement value, obtain guaranteed replacement cost enhancements, protect all their usual household property and obtain valuable personal liability coverage -- all for about $350.00 per year.
That's a considerable deal, and if your home is underinsured by $5,000 or $10,000, you can usually increase the coverage for about $4.00 per $1,000.00.
The cost is minimal. It is your biggest, most important personal asset. It's worth that extra little step to make sure its fully protected.
A. P. Reid Insurance has been insuring family homes and vehicles for 18 years. We strongly believe is consumer education. We want every Atlantic Canadian to get the best value for their insurance dollar and obtain home and auto insurance policies that they understand and can count on. We recommend only the most comprehensive of packages and can frequently offer you our "Comprehensive" Homeowners Policy for about what you currently pay for a more limited form of Homeowners Coverage. We charge absolutely nothing for the Guaranteed Replacement Cost Endorsement.
You don't need a costly appraisal to make sure that you are carrying enough home insurance. Call us, we will make sure that your Homeowners Insurance Policy reflects current trends for rebuilding costs, and will give you a Guarantee! If we are wrong, our policy will pay the additional rebuilding cost anyway!! Just ask for the Guaranteed Rebuilding Cost Guarantee. Then Relax!
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