If You Knew, What Would You Do?

Chile Earthquake 2/27/10

Today’s earthquake of 8.8 magnitude in Chile is just the latest of disasters to literally “rock” our world.  Lately, it seems like there are several things that happen every week to “shake up our snow globe” in various ways.

Whether it’s the local snowstorms that seem to create undue havoc of a much more minor degree, or these catastrophic world events, they’re all things that we didn’t expect and couldn’t control.

Not everything can be controlled, protected or avoided.  Wow.  That’s not something most of us want to hear!  But it’s true. 

Hopefully, most of us will never experience anything like the folks in Chile, Haiti or some of those “other” places have.  A quick tour of Google can highlight far too many major events.  But there are still huge events that can, and will, happen in your life.  Are you prepared?

Might you experience an earthquake?  Depends on where you live.  Parts of Pennsylvania actually lie on the Ramapo Fault.  It could happen here!  Do we sell earthquake insurance?  Sure do!   Do I have clients who purchased it?  You bet!   I did!  It’s cheap and I sleep incredibly well.

Could you have a house fire?  Smoke damage?  Sinkhole? Sewer backup into your home?  Burglars coming to visit?  Car vandalized?  Weight of ice and snow wreck your roof?  Your car and the deer become far more friendly than you’d hoped?

All of these things happen every day.   Not to the same person, of course!  If they did, I would hope he or she wasn’t insured by me!  Well, if he or she were, it would be okay.  Because that’s why we’re here.  That’s why we provide insurance:  to help people put the pieces back together when things go wrong.

So, while we can’t be sure WHO will have these events happen, statistics tell us we can be sure they WILL happen to someone.  Will it be YOU?  And if it is, are you prepared?

Just like making sure your flashlight has batteries, buying enough rock salt at the beginning of the storm, or crazily running to the supermarket pre-snowstorm for that ever-important milk and bread (French Toast Frenzy?), there are things you can do to be prepared.

Prepare for the worst, but expect the best!  Within the next 7 days, promise yourself you will:

• Call your insurance agent to review your coverages.  If it’s me, I can’t wait to hear from you!  If it’s not me, think about calling me instead!  I’d like to be YOUR agent! 
• Read through your policies and see if you really understand them.  If not, a conversation is in order.  See bullet point above!
• Have you put off an important coverage because you thought it wasn’t worth it?  Every day, renters lose everything in a fire and have no recourse to replace their lost items.  Renter’s insurance can be as low as $65/year and would cover the items AND pay for a place to stay!  Plus, if you already have auto insurance with the same company, that policy usually gets cheaper when you activate the renter’s policy!
• Do you have life insurance?  Guess what?  On this one, we GUARANTEE you will experience the loss.  No maybe about it.  Can’t tell you when, but we can tell you that you will take that journey one day.  Are your loved ones protected to bear it financially?
• Take an honest look at the things you can do to minimize your losses.  Do your smoke detectors have fresh batteries?  Do you lock your home and close your garage door when you’ve entered/exited?  Have you cleared the snow and ice from your sidewalks?  Trees trimmed?  Does your car have enough windshield wiper fluid?  Oil changed?  Tires properly inflated? Regular maintenance done?  Do you wear your seatbelt every time?  Do you minimize distractions (cell phones, texting, music, food, drink, etc.) while driving?  Do you turn on your headlights when it’s foggy, snowy or rainy? 

You can’t prepare for everything.  We know that.  But if you knew what was coming your way, what would you do?  Would you prepare differently if you knew it would happen “for sure”? 

We don’t know what will happen to you, but we do know things happen to us as a group.  Let us help show you the ways we can make insurance work FOR you, minimizing your costs and increasing your protection.  We do this every day.  We do it because we’re passionate about it.  We do it because WE CARE. 

Call us today.  We really want to talk with you!  610-530-0304      hosfeldinsurance.com