Yes, it can happen here! Here being Safford, Thatcher, Pima and the Gila Valley. What is it? Insurance claims.

We don’t see many natural disasters. I mean, the last major flooding of the Gila River was in what, 93-94? We don’t have hurricanes or tornadoes. We live too far from the mountain to have an issue with wildfires. We did have that hail storm back in 2016, but as a whole we don’t see that happen often, which has become a problem. It’s a good problem, but it’s a problem. Why? Because we that are blessed to live in our secure little valley have been lulled into a false sense of security, and it has caused us to purchase insurance in the wrong way. What do I mean? We nearly solely focus on price rather than the coverage. If you buy solely on price, then your claims experience is going to reflect that fact.

Monday night’s storm brought up 3 kinds of claims that can and did happen here:

1. The wind found a weakness in a tree and snapped it in half. So, the half of the tree fell on a new pick-up truck, hit the roof of the house and landed on block wall. As it was, only the truck was damaged…but it still begs some questions. What if it had caused damage to both the home and the truck? How would your policy respond? Did you know there are policies that would only apply one deductible to the same loss? What if it had caused damage to the block wall? I don’t know if the wall was owned by the tree owner…if not, that would be liability. How much liability do you have?
2. In another part of town another tree fell. In this case it broke a waterline and caused the neighbor’s house to flood causing thousands of dollars in damage. Because it was a neighbor’s tree that caused the damage, the neighbor will likely be liable for the flood damage, and it will likely be a liability claim that covers the damage.
3. As I drove to work there were trampolines strewn across the valley. Yes, strewn is the right word. Some were straddling fences, others were up against houses, others in the middle of a pecan orchard. First, as a community we may want to consider anchoring our trampolines better. Second, we have another liability risk as we our trampolines become airborne missiles hurling towards neighbor’s property.

There are certain things we recommend for every client purchase, if available. Replacement Cost on the home, special coverage on Personal Property, water back-up of sewers and drains, high liability limits, and even an Umbrella. I know we just threw a lot of insurance words at you, so come see us and let us explain why these things are important, and how cheap they really are. We have developed easy ways of explaining what’s available and why it’s important for you

Yes, we do live in an awesome little area. Yes, major storms are rare. But we need to take a look at coverage. Because if you’re not buying your insurance policy for the coverage, what are you buying it for?