Re: Re: Help! Homeowners Insurance Question

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Help! Homeowners Insurance Question

Comments:
: Ken, : Thank you for the answer. I didn't know that Steve lived in Canada or else I wouldn't have bothered him with a U.S. insurance question. : My wife made me take all of our papers and put them in the bank safety deposit box after the fire. I'll have to get the policy and review it based on your comments. : Frank B. : : Hi Frank: : : I would have supplied to you the explanation you are seeking earlier, but your message inquiry was not directed to me. : : First let me say that if you need further assistance as well as, PFS related subject matter, since I am quite familar with all forms of P&C Personal Lines, as well as, Life, Health, Disability, traditional and Variable life insurance products, I can provide you with instant explanations to your inquiries. : : You are on a great message board where the sponsor of it wants to provide his viewers with all forms of general insurance responses not simply the narrow PFS subject matter. : : Therefore, there is no need for me to put the viewers of this message board to an inconvenience and more work in asking them to take the time to scan all the pages of their policy document and then e-mailing it to me. : : Good grief, you and other poster could have had your anwser sooner then doing that by going to a local insurance agency and showing a fully knowledgable P&C agent the document yourself, right? : : Okay, here we go. There are two types of basic usually purchased Homeowner Policies. : : One is a policy that pays a depreciated value on a loss. Example..... You have a nine-year old refrigerator. It is burned up in a fire in your home. Does an insurance company have to supply you with a new refrigerator in your loss? The answer is "No". They have to replace the refrigerator with a nine-year old similar refrigerator or a younger one if they can not locate a similar refrigerator as the one you loss. : : Does the insurance company have any other options in that type of policy? The answer is, "yes". At the insurance company's option, the can repair it or pay you the present day value of a nine-year old refrigerator. : : Second type of Homeowners policy. It is known as a full "Replacement Cost Policy" that substitutes "new" for "old". What this means is in the example of your refrigerator, the insuring company would have had to replace your old regrigerator with a new one or pay you cash what the same type of new refrigerator would have cost you to buy on the market today, of course first applying any deductibles per occurance of each fire you have, not on each item you lost. : : You may have purchased a "Depreciated Value type of a policy, so let me put you in the righ direction to find out if you did without having to ask you to go to any further inconvienence. : : If you have your policy still and it was not destroyed in the kitchen fire, look at the declaration page (the first page that describes your Home Owners policy coverage. : : You will see that all of your limits of coverage are listed on the declaration page. Either nex to the coverage limits or on the next page you will usually find a premium column listing the breakdown of each of the coverages premium cost with a total listed at the bottom of the column. : : All you have to do now is to see if there is a listed premium charge for "Replacement Costs". : : If there is, you have a good complaint to file with the insurance company against the people who did the repairwork. : : If there is no extra charge for "Replacement Cost Coverage, then once again the insurance company had the right to either repair, replace, or repay you for a nine-year old refrigerator and the second class maerials that were used to repair the fire damage to your kitchen. : : Please also keep in mind that it doesn' mean that the insurance company had the right to bring in repair men who would do a "shoddy" job on he repair. : : If you believe the repairment did a "shoddy" job in the repair work, I would certainly let the insurance company know about it and demand of the company that the repair work be corrected. : : Final question....Do you recall ever signing a piece of paper presented to you by the repairmen that they had completed the job to your satisfaction? If you haven't then don't sign one until the job is completed correctly because if you do, at the insurance company's discretion you are letting them off of the loss to have had the repair work done properly. : : Again, let me say that I would have responded to your question sooner, but your message was not directed to me. : : You see, Frank, I recognized that I could answer your question being fully knowledgable and at one time being fully licensed for many years before my early retirement to sell and market P&C personal lines products also as well as tradition and varible life products, health products, Mutual Fund related products and Disability insurance also. : : In fact to ease your mind, prior to my relocating from Florida back to Texas, I had been even approved and qualified by the Florida DOI to teach insurance at the Florida School of Insurance on these subject matters. : : I just thought that I could help "steve" also because if he has ever been licensed in Canada to sell, market and teach P&C products, I am not aware of it. : : Ken Young : : -------------------------------------------------- : : : Steve, : : : I noticed by your responses that you seem to be very knowledgeable in insurance field. Please help me. I need your advice. : : : My wife and I had a small kitchen fire. Our homeowner's insurer sent repairmen that replaced our refrigerator with a used one, replaced the floor tile with second-hand tile, used shoddy lumber to build cabinets, and second-hand cabinets for our dishes and glasses. : : : Can my insurer get away with this? What should I do? : : : Thanks. : : : Frank B.

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