And those questions are rolling
in right now for Christopher
Cook from Alliance Insurance.
He's answering all of your questions.
Anything you want to know.
Your question is anonymous
and answered in real time.
First off, does homeowners insurance
cover you if you live in a townhouse?
Yeah, so homeowners policy is.
Designed for a townhome UM you would?
You would have a homeowners policy
if you owned that town home.
If you're renting a townhome then
you would have a what's called a
renters policy and sometimes there's
confusion between the difference
between a condo and a townhome.
If you own a condominium you have a
different kind of policy called an HO6,
which is specifically for condo owners.
If a lightning strike took out
your AC, does the insurance
company pay to replace that?
Provided you have replacement cost
coverage on your homeowners policy, yes.
Do most people have that?
Is that something like I need to
call and ask to make sure I have?
They should have it. Yes, UM,
most most agents in our state,
uh, have all went to riding
replacement cost policies.
You certainly can call your
agent and check and make sure,
but for the most part you should have
a replacement cost contract. Yes,
OK, this one's really interesting.
Someone said if your house is broken
into while you're on vacation and the
insurance company finds you were posting
pictures while you were out of town,
are they still supposed to cover that?
Yes, they would cover
that, so there's no like sleuthing from
the insurance agent to find fault of you.
Yeah, I don't know where some
of these rumors get started.
You also don't pay more
money to insure a red car.
You know it just it's just some
of those things that that get
said and aren't quite accurate.
But yes, if I mean you shouldn't,
you shouldn't post pictures
while you're on vacation.
And and I, I guess it could
be said that you should you
know why do you need to post
pictures of your vacation period,
but you're not going to void the
contract of your insurance by
posting while you're on vacation.
Do it like our grandparents.
Have the slide show when you
get back for all the neighbors.
There you go, so I'm curious
what other rumors have you heard?
Well, we we hear things like I
left my keys in my car and the
insurance company won't pay that
claim because I was negligent.
Yes, you were negligent.
This isn't the nicest thing I've ever said,
but we pay for stupid every day.
Human beings make mistakes.
We're we're not perfect.
And if you leave your keys in your car,
that's you know that's a pretty bad mistake,
but you still have theft coverage
on your auto insurance policy.
And that claim is going to get paid.
So there's you know the insurance industry.
For some, just reasons gets
a bad rap sometimes,
and some of these things like
that just misconceptions of how
claims are paid are out there.
Someone says, I've heard that your credit
score goes into your insurance rate.
How much do you have to improve your
credit score to get a big discount?
Every every point matters.
I would say that and and the the person
asking that question is spot on.
It's probably the most important factor
in your rate other than the value of
your vehicle or the value of your home.
Is your credit score, that is,
that's the current way that that insurance
is rated and and it plays a major role.
Wow, so how do you get them to
check it again? Do you need to
call them and say hey rerun it
you simply ask? Yes,
someone wants to know our house
is downhill from the road.
If a fire hydrant burst or a public water
line breaks at the top of the road.
Is our home insured without flood insurance?
That's a that's a broad question.
I could simply say most likely,
and I hate to not be specific,
but most likely the burst and the
suddenness of that incident are
what would make it a payable claim.
If the water hydrant leaked
for six months and gradually
deteriorated your basement door,
that's a whole other issue.
But yes, the burst or the suddenness of
that would make it covered most likely,
so if a pipe in my own house burst
and I don't have one insurance always.
What what is it that flood insurance does?
Then can you clear that up for people?
Yeah, of course. So so flood is not
water damage inside your home that
came from the water inside your home.
Flood is a is a natural event caused by rain,
most likely in our area.
Sometimes I'll snow melt,
but that's pretty rare and it comes from it.
The damage comes from outside your home,
so the water seeps into or enters
your home from the outside.
And that's what a flood is.
Well, thanks for clearing that up.
We're going to keep getting the facts
straight from the source after this.