Ouch!

Statistically, half of all households and businesses are underinsured by as much as 50%. Just this summer, I have come across:

•  2 homeowners who were insured at 60% of replacement cost – and it didn't cost 'em another penny to insure at 100% with me!
• 3 organizations who were severely (13 to 22 cents-on-the-dollar) underinsured... and one organization didn't know it until they had a fire last year. Their $70,000 fire damage cost them $47,000 out-of-pocket because they didn't have enough insurance. They were only expecting to pay their $1,000 deductible. They had to fight hard to get any payment. This was such a rudimentary blunder, it should have been avoided... or at least anticipated.

I am seeing these situations all too often. And I am concerned. I'm also honored to say that 2 of those 3 organizations are now sufficiently insured. We'll have the third taken care of shortly.

Your broker/agent should be reviewing your coverages with you at least once every 3 years... Don't you pay for someone to watch your back? Your church, your business, life - health - accident - boat - motorcycle - your house or new invention... unfortunately, most of us buy insurance, hoping that we'll never need to use it... and so we fight for the lowest price (often unaware of what we give up) – and then forget about it except when we write the check or make a claim.

We're licensed in 49 of 50 states (I'm just looking for a good reason to go to Hawaii)... and we represent hundreds of insurers. Is it time for you to discover the value of an independent broker?

Thank-you for reading...

~ Jon
jon@merriaminsurance.com