Let me be your guide

Have you ever gotten a hard sell? One of my least favorite things to do is car shopping. The next is probably furniture shopping. It’s not a good feeling, and I never want you feel that way when it comes to your insurance.

Think of me as your guide and advocate in all things insurance. I'm here to steer you to the policies that are right for you, not to pressure you into coverage you don’t need. I'm here to make sure that you get the money that you’re owed when you make a claim, not to bury you in mounds of red tape.

It’s because I take my job as your guide so seriously that Erie Insurance is consistently rated the number one auto insurer for new buyer customer satisfaction. Let us help you blaze a trail to the insurance services that are right for you. We promise not to lead you astray.

For more information, visit our website.

Making Waves? Protect Your Boat

Many people believe sailboats or powerboats are covered under their auto or homeowners policies. But, for most insurers, that isn't the case. Consider this:

• Typically, an auto policy won’t provide liability or physical damage coverage for a boat.
• Most homeowners policies provide a limited amount of coverage for physical damage to boats. They also restrict automatic liability coverage to low-powered boats.

Large, fast motorboats, yachts and personal watercrafts such as jet skis and wave runners require a separate boat insurance policy. Boat insurance offers coverage for things like:
• Bodily injury - for injuries caused to others, such as swimmers, jet skiers or other boaters
• Property damage - for damage caused to someone else's property
• Theft and vandalism – that can occur on land or in the water
• Medical payments - for injuries to the boat owner, family members and others who are injured.

Erie Insurance Boat Protector Policy

With a policy from Erie Insurance, you’ll get comprehensive coverage that covers many types of losses. It will cover, for example, damages resulting from a collision, fire or lightening. ERIE offers:
• Up to $500 in coverage for boating equipment and accessories at no additional cost
• Payments up to $250 per occurrence for emergency towing to the nearest marina, if your boat is disabled or stranded on the water
• $1,000 coverage of non-owned property
• $500 fire extinguisher recharge

For an additional premium or fee, ERIE also offers optional coverage such as uninsured boater protection. This coverage protects you should you be involved in a boating accident caused by a hit-and-run boater or a boater who has no insurance. Credits are available, too, for things like radars, built-in fire extinguishing systems and ship-to-shore radios.

So, if you have a boat or are thinking about getting one, give me a call. I will review your coverage and help ensure that your boat is properly insured. Call 920-261-3255.

You’ve Got Mail! You’ve Got Mail! You’ve Got Mail!

Have you ever gotten onto one of those e-mail lists that you just can’t seem to get off? Maybe you’d even like to hear from the company every now and then, but not the hourly barrage of e-mails updating you to every new thought they have.

Yeah. I hate that too. That’s why I make sure that you set the ground rules for how often you want to talk to me. If you really like to be kept in the loop, I love talking to you and keeping you up to date with every change in your policy, every new blog post, and everything else I think you should know.

But if you’d rather have a “don’t call us, we’ll call you” kind of relationship? No problem. Just let me know, and I won’t bother you. I’ll still be keeping an eye out for you, of course, making sure that everything’s still going smoothly with your policy and claims. But you call the shots.

You also have a choice of how to be contacted. Prefer e-mail? Great (though I’ll keep the private stuff offline, to keep you safe). Like phone calls? Perfect. Still like good old-fashioned postal mail? I'm happy to oblige. Just let me know. Any questions about Identity Recovery Coverage available on your homeowner's insurance policy? Check out this overview of why you might want to insure with Erie.

Reduce Basement Flood Risks

Rain showers might be dandy for your garden but not for your basement.

Wet basement problems may be solved simply by repairing an obvious gutter or downspout leak, but other water problems may have causes that are difficult to identify or expensive to fix.

The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety offers three steps to help you reduce the risk of repeated basement flooding. If you cannot determine the source of the problem yourself, contact a professional.

Step 1 - Evaluate the risk by considering these questions:

• Does the basement flood every year at approximately the same time?
• Does the basement flood during random intervals?
• Where is the basement flooding?
o Is it at the top of the basement wall?
o At the bottom of the wall?
o Through a floor drain?

Step 2 - Inspect the location where water is entering and consider these solutions:

• Reshape the landscaping around the foundation of the building or home. If water is entering near the top of the wall in one location, an improperly sloped landscape angled toward the building could be the cause.
• Extend and re-direct the downspouts away from the foundation wall.
• Caulk any cracks on the exterior and interior of the wall around where the water is entering.
• Consider hiring a licensed contractor to install a waterproofing membrane. If the entire wall is damp or water is entering through multiple wall surfaces, this may be a sign of a faulty or missing exterior water proofing membrane.
• For an unfinished basement, consider applying an internal sealant that can be painted on interior surface of basement walls. These products typically require constant maintenance or they will stop working.

Step 3 – Try other location-based solutions:

If the water appears to be entering the home or building near the foundation or through a floor drain, consider installing a French drain or a sump pump.

The French drain could be installed around the perimeter of the building, diverting the water away from the foundation. A sump pump should be installed in the basement floor with a battery backup system. Before you begin, consider hiring a licensed contractor for help.

Check your insurance coverage

As with any type of insurance, it's important to know what your policy does and doesn't cover. All basic homeowners insurance policies exclude flood and certain types of water-related damages. Only flood insurance will cover losses in the event of a flood.

Flood insurance can be purchased from the federal government’s National Flood Insurance Program, and from some private insurers. Erie Insurance works with American Bankers Insurance to offer flood coverage. There is a 30-day waiting period for the policy to go into effect, so it’s important to start the process before severe weather strikes.

Contact me to determine what is covered under your insurance policy and learn more about flood insurance coverage. I can help you review your current coverage and help customize a policy that’s right for you. Call (920) 261-3255.

We're Proactive (so you don't have to be)

We love seeing our clients. We love it when they drop in to chat about their policies, or when we run into a client at the grocery store. It’s always great to catch up on how they’re doing and what’s new.

While these encounters are usually fun and light-hearted, we also see many of our clients on the bad days. The days when your car skidded into a tree, or when the roof started leaking. When a client calls us about a claim, we know that the last thing they want to worry about is whether or not the insurance company is going to make it hard for them to get it taken care of.

And that’s where your agent comes in. No one likes having to file a claim, but your agent is there to make sure the process is as smooth and easy as possible. We can help you find a repair shop, make sure that an adjuster gets to you quickly, and above all, make sure that your claim is processed as soon as possible so you can get back to living your life.

These are just a few of the ways that your Erie Insurance agent can help you. Just relax. We’ve got this.

Storm Checklist

We had some very strong storms come pass through Wisconsin yesterday, so now might be a good time to evaluate your property and your policy to see if you need to take action.

First dig out your insurance policy:

-- Check your coverage

-- Make sure you've got claim-reporting phone numbers

-- Put your policy in a safe place

If you've planned ahead, you know your best friend might be a camera, according to insurance experts:

-- Inventory your household items in photos or video

-- Keep those photos in a safe place

If you wake up to storm damage, it’s time to take some pictures again.

Take pictures, take videos, show the insurance agency and the company what really happened to your property.  You've probably already protected your property by covering windows, putting your vehicles into a garage, securing the boats, but don’t forget to take grills and patio furniture indoors.

After the storm:

-- Cover holes in roofs or windows quickly so wind and rain doesn't cause more damage

-- Get two repair estimates

-- Keep all receipts

Report all damage to your insurance company or agent as soon as possible and remember, if your home is flooded, that’s a special situation. Unless you have special flood insurance, you may not be covered.

Most homeowners’ insurance policies and commercial insurance policies do not cover flood. That requires separate coverage under the national flood insurance program.  Again, talk to your insurance agent, talk to the company, get the facts, there may be something they can do for you.

Something else to note: your homeowners’ insurance policy may not cover damage to trees, but it may pay to remove the debris if it caused damage to a structure covered by insurance.

If you have any damage to your home or vehicle, give me a call today.  I can help you to determine if a claim is necessary and how to get it done quickly and correctly.

No Brainer

I want to make your life easy. Let’s face it, you have better things to do than spend your time worrying about your insurance coverage. So let me help.

One of the easiest ways to help me help you is to bundle your coverage with us. When you’re in a car accident or your home’s electrical system was fried by lightning, you don’t want to be hunting through your phone for numbers and struggling to remember who your Agent is. Let us be your trusted advocate in the insurance world. Then you only have to remember one number when disaster strikes and then know that it’s all taken care of.

Besides being convenient, bundling your auto and homeowner’s insurance can be incredibly cost-effective (25% off, anyone?).  Convenient and affordable? Bundling’s a no-brainer when it comes to your insurance.  Did you know you can also bundle your Life insurance policies for even more discounts and savings?  It's true.  Find out more at http://burdickinsuranceagency.com/Life.aspx