What Protection Does it Offer?
From your rooftop to kitchen range, we’ve gathered some homeowners insurance basics. Learn how it helps you to protect one of your biggest investments—your home!
 
A standard homeowners insurance policy insures the home itself and the things you keep in it. It is typically a package policy, which means it covers both damage to your property and your liability or legal responsibility for any injuries and property damage you or members of your family cause to other people. Let’s take a look at each aspect of coverage in more detail:

Part I: Property Protection
Dwelling:
This offers protection as a result of damage to the structure of your home, including fixtures, plumbing and heating, due to a covered loss like fire or hail storm damage. You need enough coverage for the cost of rebuilding or repairing your home, less the cost of the land.

Other structures:
This includes coverage for detached structures, such as a garage, garden shed and fixtures attached to land such as a driveway, sidewalks, patio, fence and swimming pool.

Personal property:
This covers the contents and personal items in your home such as furniture, clothing and sporting goods. It also extends to your personal belongings anywhere in the world. To determine your property’s value, we’ll provide you with a home inventory checklist to help you quickly and easily itemize your belongings. We recommend insuring your personal property for its replacement cost value. Replacement cost value ensures that you can replace yesterday’s purchases at today’s prices.

Loss of use:
In the event that a covered loss forces you from your home, such as because of a fire, loss of use provides a safety net for additional expenses over and above your normal living expenses while you are unable to live in your home, up to the policy limit.

Part II: Liability Protection
This portion of your policy covers against lawsuits for bodily injury or property damage that you or family members may cause to other people. It pays for both the cost of litigation and any court awards, up to the limit of your policy. It covers you whether you are at home or away.

In the event that a visitor is injured in your home, medical payments coverage allows the person to submit medical bills directly to your insurance company. The benefit is that expenses are paid to the injured person up to the policy limit without a liability claim being filed against you.

Additional Considerations (Disasters) 
Damage caused by many disasters is covered in a standard homeowners insurance policy, but floods, earthquakes and other specific types of occurrences are generally excluded. Since policies can vary widely, the best way to be sure about specific exclusions is to read your own policy.

Vacant Property
If your home is left vacant due to a move or new construction, you are vulnerable to losses from vandalism and other mishaps. Please check with us to learn more about the coverage options available to protect your property. 

Did you know?
That 22 percent of riders killed in crashes are not licensed or are improperly licensed to operate a motorcycle.
When you’re attempting to control this much force, it’s essential that you have the licensing and training to be in complete control of your motorcycle.

• Know your bike’s capabilities - how it performs in a curve or on slick roads and how quickly it can stop.
• Errors like over braking, driving too fast or under cornering are major factors in many solo accidents. 
• Many insurance carriers, including Safeco, offer discounts to riders who attend the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s safe riding courses or are active in an approved group or groups that promote safe riding. Do both those things and you can reduce your premium.
• Motorists fail to see riders when they are coming out of a driveway, making a left turn in front of an oncoming rider or when the motorcycle is in the driver’s “blind spot.” 
• In a crash, the SUV wins. When cars and motorcycles collide, it’s usually because the driver of the car failed to see the cyclist.
•  With more SUVs on the road, it’s even more critical to take extra steps to become more visible. 
• Use your headlamps - both night and day - and wear yellow, red or orange jackets to make yourself easy to see.
•  Make a point of positioning yourself in your lane for visibility.
• Remember: Ride sober. Driving impaired is just as deadly for riders as it is for drivers. In 2009 alone, 37% of fatally injured motorcycle riders had a BAC (blood alcohol content) of at least .01 g/dL. 
• No one’s too old to wear a helmet. It’s estimated that wearing a helmet can help reduce your risk of a fatal accident by 37%.
•  Buy a full-face helmet for the best protection for your head and eyes. 
• Wear other protective gear as well: heavy leather or synthetic gloves, long pants and jacket and over-the-ankle leather boots.
•  This advice applies to all riders - not just teenagers learning to ride. In fact, more than half of all riders killed in motorcycle crashes in 2009 were 40 years of age and older.

Content provided by Safeco Insurance and TWFG Insurance Tony Voiron, ever reminding to to put safety first.