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My retaining wall fell over!

SOUND POLICY:

Is my retaining wall covered if it falls over?

We get a lot of questions asking whether certain things are covered under certain policies. Like this one about what is covered under homeowners insurance: is your retaining wall covered if it falls over? The answer really depends on the situation. Most of the time it is not covered under your homeowner policy. If your retaining wall falls over from water, general aging of the wall, or if it was just poorly built, it is not covered. Those circumstances would be considered earth movement or flooding. However, there are a couple of reasons it would be covered under your policy. If a car or truck ran into it or lightning struck it, it may be covered under your homeowner insurance policy. There are policies coming out that have something called Hydrostatic Collapse coverage – if water pressure builds up to the point collapse there may be some coverage, depending on your policy. The key to that is collapse, not bulging or leaning. The retaining wall actually has to collapse for it to be covered. My recommendation is to talk to your agent if you have a bulging or collapsing retaining wall and find out if it’s covered under your policy.

Mosher & Associates isn’t just insurance. It’s insurance, personalized. With offices in Argyle, Evansville, Monroe, and New Glarus, our Team of Specialists is ready to provide you with the best coverage for your unique situation. Check out our Mosher Assessment Process (MAP) at mosherinsurance.com/map/ to see how we can help you. Answer a few simple questions and we’ll start you on the path to insurance, personalized.

Indoor Water Damage

SOUND POLICY:

Is indoor water damage covered?

Water claims in your home are no joke. But what is covered and what isn’t? Here are some of the calls we get about water damage:
– “I had the kids in the tub and forgot to shut that water off. The water ran over and into the

basement. Now the drywall is all wet and moldy. Is that covered?” Yes.
– “My dishwasher broke and leaked all over. Am I covered?” Yes.
– “My refrigerator broke and now I have water all over my house. Is that covered?” Yes.

What determines if it is covered? Whether or not it was accidental. In other words, you can’t have a broken pipe inside your wall that drips and drips and drips for years on end, and then you realize you have mold. Sudden and accidental is key.

Something else to keep in mind – if there is a broken pipe in your house the insurance may pay for the claim for the water damage, but they’re not going to pay for the broken pipe. They will pay for the actual damage but not the cause. As always, check with your insurance carrier to make sure you have proper coverage.

Mosher & Associates isn’t just insurance. It’s insurance, personalized. With offices in Argyle, Evansville, Monroe, and New Glarus, our Team of Specialists is ready to provide you with the best coverage for your unique situation. Check out our Mosher Assessment Process (MAP) at mosherinsurance.com/map/ to see how we can help you. Answer a few simple questions and we’ll start you on the path to insurance, personalized.

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Firework Damage?

SOUND POLICY

Is damage from fireworks covered?​

Fireworks. They’re lots of fun! But first and foremost, remember – no kids should have or use fireworks unsupervised. Each year over 18,500 fires are started by fireworks which causes over $43 billion worth of property damage. A frequent summertime question is: Are we covered if something were to happen while we’re lighting off fireworks this 4th of July? The answer, maybe. First, the most important question – are the fireworks you have legal? If you are coming back from another state with bottle rockets, roman candles, and other things that are illegal in your state, most likely your policy has an exclusion for illegal acts and you won’t have coverage. However, if you have locally purchased, legal fireworks and something happens, you probably have coverage under your homeowners liability policy. In any case, it’s always good to look into your policy to see if you have the crimes exclusion in it before lighting the first fuse! As always, check with your insurance agent for more info or questions on your policy.

Mosher & Associates isn’t just insurance. It’s insurance, personalized. With offices in Argyle, Evansville, Monroe, and New Glarus, our Team of Specialists is ready to provide you with the best coverage for your unique situation. Check out our Mosher Assessment Process (MAP) at mosherinsurance.com/map/ to see how we can help you. Answer a few simple questions and we’ll start you on the path to insurance, personalized.

How do claims get disbursed?

Sound Policy: How do claims get disbursed?

One common question we get at Mosher & Associates is the process of claims getting paid, most specifically, those for homes and personal property. Let’s use the example of the roof of your home. In this scenario, after a storm you find that there is hail damage. The claim might be $15,000 for replacement costs on your roof. But, when your check arrives it only covers half of that. Why is that? In the case of this roof claim, it is viewed as a replacement cost but is depreciated to actual cash value. Your deductible is taken off of that amount, and you receive a check for the remaining balance. After your roof is finished, you then submit that amount to the insurance company and they will write the check for the remainder. This is called recoverable depreciation. It can be confusing when you don’t get the full amount at once. As always, check with your insurance carrier to see how they handle claims.

Mosher & Associates isn’t just insurance. It’s insurance, personalized. With offices in Argyle, Evansville, Monroe, and New Glarus, our Team of Specialists is ready to provide you with the best coverage for your unique situation. Check out our Mosher Assessment Process (MAP) at mosherinsurance.com/map/ to see how we can help you. Answer a few simple questions and we’ll start you on the path to insurance, personalized.

Renting a Car?

Sound Policy: Do I need the insurance the car rental service is trying to sell me? There is one question we get all the time

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Renting a Car?

Sound Policy: Do I need the insurance the car rental service is trying to sell me?

There is one question we get all the time – if you’re going on vacation and rent a car, do you need to buy the insurance they sell at the counter? Not necessarily. If you have full coverage on your own car policy, meaning physical damage and liability coverage, that coverage will follow you on vacation to your rental car. Car rental companies do have some caveats that they may try to talk to you about – things like “diminution of value” and “loss of use”. Those are a couple of areas where they could charge you a few extra days. This typically happens if you have an accident that keeps the rental car out of service. However, most of our carriers will even cover that as well. As always, check with your insurance agent to find out how they handle this situation.

Mosher & Associates isn’t just insurance. It’s insurance, personalized. With offices in Argyle, Evansville, Monroe, and New Glarus, our Team of Specialists is ready to provide you with the best coverage for your unique situation. Check out our Mosher Assessment Process (MAP) at mosherinsurance.com/map/ to see how we can help you. Answer a few simple questions and we’ll start you on the path to insurance, personalized.

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Are umbrellas only for rainy days?

Sound Policy: Are umbrellas only for rainy days?

Umbrellas are great for keeping you dry during rainy days, but they can also help protect you in other ways. There are two main reasons why you may need an umbrella policy. First, an um- brella policy can help protect your assets. You work hard for what you have. You wouldn’t want one mistake or one bad thing to take all of it away. Something like a car accident could be enough to do that. An umbrella policy, basically a large amount of coverage that sits on top of your home, auto, or renters policy, protects your assets. If you were to ever exceed your liability limits your umbrella policy would kick in to cover the rest.

Second, an umbrella policy helps cover your personal responsibility. We hear it all the time, “If I have an umbrella policy people are going to go after it.” Actually, if you don’t have an umbrella policy people are going to go after it. An umbrella policy protects you but it also protects oth- ers. If you are in an accident and severely injure someone else, your umbrella policy will cover additional expenses for that driver and their family. As always, check with your insurance carri- er with questions you may have on your policy.

Mosher & Associates isn’t just insurance. It’s insurance, personalized. With offices in Argyle, Evansville, Monroe, and New Glarus, our Team of Specialists is ready to provide you with the best coverage for your unique situation. Check out our Mosher Assessment Process (MAP) at mosherinsurance.com/map/ to see how we can help you. Answer a few simple questions and we’ll start you on the path to insurance, personalized.

We’re Growing

The past year has been full of exciting changes at Mosher & associates. In the last year, Mosher & associates added THREE new agents to

Read More »