Bragg Insurance Agency is excited to announce the opening of our video information Library! This new tool developed for Bragg Insurance Agency clients will help to answer many of your questions about how your insurance coverages work. 
To visit the Insurance Video Library you can click on the following link. http://myinsurancevideos.com/all-videos/braggins/
We are hopeful that these 36 videos will help our community to make great decisions about their insurance coverages!
No matter if you’re a first time home buyer, or just switching insurance companies there’s a lot to consider with your homeowner’s insurance. Your home is probably the largest purchase that you will ever make, so understanding your insurance policy is very important.
Having the right insurance policy for you and your habits is also important. Regardless if you live in an upscale neighborhood of Carmel, Indiana or in a quiet countryside of Northern Hamilton County, your homeowner’s insurance policy should be custom fit to your unique lifestyle.
Because there is so much to consider, please take 5 minutes to watch the video “Homeowners Insurance FAQ’s”, it could help you to make some important decisions when it comes to protecting your home, it’s content, and the people who live three.
If you have any questions or if you would like a free homeowner’s insurance review please call Bragg Insurance at 317-758-5828.
Does your homeowner’s insurance policy include comprehensive perils? Do you know what that means? Nearly every insurance policy has exclusions (perils that the policy excludes against). The exclusions can include earthquakes, flooding, and sump pump failure.
The short video below will help you with your understanding of what your homeowners insurance policy may or may not cover.
As always consult with your agent if you have specific questions about your homeowners insurance
Watch for Scams after a Storm
As winter winds down and we draw closer to Spring you will begin to hear the importance of being prepared for the Springtime storms. As everyone knows we are at a greater risk for Tornados and serious wind and hail storms in the Spring and Fall.
These storms can turn your home and your life upside down. If your home is damaged in a storm you are eager to get your home repaired as quickly as possible so that you can get your life back to normal. It’s during this time of eagerness that you can become victim to another “natural disaster”, a scam artist.
Most contractors are reputable business people. But each year, there are a few dishonest ones who chase storms from state to state. They will try to convince you that you have hail or other damage and that you need a new roof when in fact you really don’t. They’ll ask to be hired for the work, explaining that your insurance company will pay for the repairs.
Most homeowner’s insurance policies will cover damage caused by hail and windstorms, but they will not cover the cost to replace a roof or siding when no damage has occurred. It is always recommended that you obtain a second and even a third opinion before starting any contract work.
What you can do?
If you’re beginning to repair or rebuild after a storm, or even if you are just planning a home improvement project, keep these tips, recommended by the Federal 
Emergency Management Agency, in mind for choosing contractors wisely:
• Get more than one estimate.
• Don’t be pushed into signing a contract right away.
• Get everything in writing. Cost, work to be done, time schedules, guarantees, payment schedules and other expectations should be detailed.
• Check references before deciding which contractor to choose.
• Never sign a contract with blanks.
• Don’t pay a contractor in full until the work is complete.
• Check with county or city licensing authorities to see if the contractor is licensed in your jurisdiction, as well as checking for complaints with their regional Better Business Bureau.
Contact your local independent agent.
If you need suggestions about who to hire or how to repair your home after a storm, your local independent agent can help you contact an insurance claims adjuster. Most insurance carriers have professional claims adjusters who are trained to assess your property, identify storm damage and prepare an estimate for proper repair. They can also provide recommendations for reliable, licensed contractors in your area—although the final choice of contractor is always yours.
Greeting the New Year is one of my favorite events. 
It’s a time when I can reflect back at what has transpired over the past 12 months, and set goals and plans for what I hope to accomplish over the year. It’s a time when I can free myself of the past year’s failures and shortcomings, while I celebrate my accomplishments and prepare to be my best in the New Year.
Some people will resolve to lose weight or quit smoking in the New Year. I would imagine that a lot will sit down at the kitchen table with pen and paper in hand to do some financial goal planning. You’re planning to pay off that pesky credit card, or maybe you’re planning on putting in that swimming pool that you’ve always wanted.
With this in mind, let me suggest that the New Year is also an excellent time to review all of your insurance needs with your insurance agent. Insurance is not a “set it and forget it” financial product. It’s a financial product that needs to be continually maintained. As our lives change so do our insurance needs.
As you probably know, there are many changes 
taking place in insurance right now, and not just in health insurance, but also in home and auto. Premium rates are increasing and coverages are decreasing. You’ve probably noticed the increasing premiums, but did you know that your coverages may not be as good as they once were?
I thought that I was covered is not an insurance program. Make an annual insurance review part of your new year’s financial strategy. You will be glad that you did.
For the past several years homeowner’s insurance companies in Indiana have been losing money, primarily because of wind and hail claims. Storm patterns in recent years have pelted the Midwest with wind and hail related claims that reach into the $ billions. In fact many insurance companies are paying out 2 dollars in claims, for every dollar they receive in premium.
This has been the primary reason the industry has seen such an increase in homeowners insurance premiums over the past few years. While this trend is not likely to end any time soon, some insurance companies are also changing the way they pay out claims.
Traditionally a homeowner’s policy has a dollar amount named as the deductible. That amount is subtracted from the amount of the claim. For example, if the policy has a $1,000 deductible and there is a $5,000 claim, the insurance company would pay out $4,000.
However there is a trend in the industry that has some companies changing their deductibles from a dollar amount to a percentage, especially if the claim has been caused by wind or hail.
I recently spoke to a married couple who had damage to their roof caused by the outbreak of tornadoes we experienced in the month of November. They called their insurance company to file a claim, and discovered that their deductible for a wind claim is 10% of their dwelling value. Their dwelling value is $360,000 which made their deductible $36,000. Needless to say they ended up having to pay for the repairs to their roof out of their own pocket.
Did you catch that? Their deductible was $36,000 for wind and hail damages!
Unfortunately many other companies are following suit. Some very large and well-known insurance companies are changing their wind and hail deductibles to a % and most of their clients are unaware of the change. Often times clients are only notified of this change within the mountain of paperwork they receive in the mail from the company at the policies renewal.
Let’s face it; most people do not have the time to sift through that much paperwork. They file it away and assume that the coverages have remained the same.
The example given above of a 10% deductible is the most extreme case that I have seen. More frequently I am seeing wind and hail damage deductibles changing from a dollar amount to 1% or 2% of the dwelling coverage. 1% or 2% of the dwelling is still a significant amount of money to pay out of pocket at the stressful time of a claim.
Protect yourself.
1. Review your documents. Take the time to review the documents when you receive information in the mail from your insurance company. If you do not understand the language or have questions, take the policy to your agent and have them explain the coverages.
2. Insist on an annual review. Your agent should be sitting down with you on an annual basis to review your coverages and to answer your questions. There are too many changes taking place in the homeowner’s insurance arena right now to ignore the paperwork and hope for the best.
3. Educate yourself. Too often times I hear people say that they paid their premium so the assumed everything was OK. Don’t turn a blind eye to your insurance coverages. Insurance is expensive so you should do you best to make sure that you understand what you are paying for.
Do you have Replacement Value or Actual Cash Value? This is an important question that needs to asked when determining which insurance program is right for you.
Replacement Value Insurance means that if your covered item is destroyed you will be paid the amount of money it takes to replace that item with a brand new item. There are a few caveats in each policy and you must subtract your deductible, but this is a good definition of Replacement Value.
Actual Cash Value Insurance (ACV) means that if your covered item is destroyed you will be paid the value of that item at the time of the occurrence. If your item is 10 years old the item will be depreciated accordingly and you will be paid the cash value of that item minus your deductible.
Here are two examples.
Your roof blows off of your house in a bad storm. You get an estimate of $15,000 to replace your roof.
If you have Replacement Value Insurance with a $1,000 deductible the insurance company would pay the roofing contractor $14,000 and you would pay $1,000, the amount of your deductible.
If you have ACV with a $1,000 deductible the insurance company would then do some calculations to determine the value of your roof at the time of the occurrence. If your roof is 8 years old, they would depreciate the value of your roof by 8 years. They may determine that the cash value of your roof to be $11,000. The insurance company would then pay the roofing contractor $10,000 ($11,000 minus your deductible of $1,000), and you would pay the roofing contractor the remaining $5,000.
Here’s another example
In that same scenario of the roof blowing off of your home, you have nearly all of your personal property damaged by rain water, hail damage, and wind.
If you have Replacement Value Insurance on your personal property the insurance company would calculate how much it would cost to replace the damaged personal property with new personal property of the same kind. If they determine that it is $100,000, you would be paid out that amount to replace your personal property. In this case the deductible was already paid through the roofing contractor.
If you have ACV on your personal property the insurance company would then do some calculations to determine the cash value of your personal property at the time of the occurrence. You may only get $200 for your 10 year old couch, even though a new couch may cost $1,200. They may determine that your personal property had a cash value of $25,000 at the time of the occurrence. You would be paid out that amount to replace your personal property. Your deductible was already paid through the roofing contractor.
Summarizing these 2 example; if you had Replacement Value Insurance your insurance company would have paid out $114,000 (replacement of the roof and your personal property) and you would have had to pay out $1,000 (the amount of your deductible); and if you had ACV your insurance company would have paid out $35,000 (the ACV of the roof and your personal property minus your deductible) and you would have had to pay out $80,000 to replace your roof and personal property.
Replacement Value Insurance cost about 10% more than ACV and there are some situation where ACV is called for. Some risks may not be eligible for Replacement Value Insurance because of the condition of the property, or the nature of the risk.
There are changes taking place in the insurance industry right now that you need to be aware of. Some companies are changing the way that they pay out claims from what they may have done in the past. I am seeing deductibles increasing and policies that once had Replacement Value Insurance getting changed to ACV. Many HO3 polices have Replacement Value on the home but ACV on the personal property. Do you know what you have? 
If you are unsure, contact your agent right away.
You can also contact Bragg Insurance Agency at 317-758-5828 for a free no obligation review of any of your insurance policies.
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