In theory that’s how it should work; in reality it is your responsibility as the insurance buyer to determine the amount and level of coverage that you should maintain.
Some professional agents will take time to explain what is covered, and what is not.
Other agents will provide no explanation but to merely match your current coverage and hope for the best.
As you can imagine the worst possible agent to purchase a policy from is one who simply takes the later approach verse the former. (There are tons of agents like this selling insurance today they are what I term Gecko-ized agents)
Insurance when you have the correct amount can literally save you from complete financially disaster. To illustrate this, a gentleman by the name of Tom who lives in the Cincinnati area was referred to our agency for an insurance review on his home insurance.
We immediately discovered that he has a gap of about $90,000 in coverage on his home, I explained that based on this gap in coverage he would not be able to rebuild his home in the event of a complete loss, such as a fire.
His previous agent only insured his home for the purchase price, not the replacement cost which left him significantly underinsured. (There is a big difference in most case between what your home’s value is and what it would take to rebuild the home called the replacement cost, we’ll discuss that in detail in a future post)
Fortunately he listened to our advice and purchased a new policy with the appropriate limits. Only a few months later, his home was completely destroyed by a fire. Without the correct coverage limits he would not have been able to rebuild his home.
Do not assume that your current policies and coverage levels are adequate. It is your responsibility to do that, not your agent’s.
Knowledge is power; make it your objective to at least understand the basic provisions of personal insurance so as to better protect your financial circumstances. The articles posted here may help you to understand the basics of insurance. Please contact our office for specific questions or you may write to jack@pathwayinsurance.net