| 231 | Good Insurance | 2010-02-04 |
After the Nashville flood of May 2010, media sources frequently discussed insurance. Many residents whose houses were flooded did not have flood insurance.
Flood insurance is expensive unless it is purchased through FEMA. But, FEMA limits the qualifying households by geographic locations. I really do not know why they do not allow everyone who wants the insurance to qualify for it - probably fair trade or something. For those who do not qualify for FEMA, the premiums for flood insurance is very high. Most homeowners play the odds as to whether they will ever need coverage or not.
Insurance never seems like a justifiable expense when you are paying the premiums; but it always seems like an invaluable asset when you need the coverage.
Unless you are wealthy enough to self-insure your belongings, you need insurance. We need insurance. We even had insurance on our dog! But, we had a bad experience with our pet insurer. The first time we needed the insurance the incident was not covered. We canceled the insurance. We needed good insurance not bad insurance.
Lots of people damaged in the flood are questioning their insurance. My mother-in-law had damages to her condominium and car. At first she thought her insurance company was not going to cover her at all. They said they did not cover moving earth (a mud slide caused trees to fall into her garage and car.) But, then they reversed their decision and covered her garage and car. In fact her Insurance Company was maybe the only company to cover damages in her 107 unit complex. She was going to cancel her insurance and change to another provider before the incident, but now she is telling the world of her success.
The Flood showed us how vulnerable we are to natural disasters. There are many obstacles to overcome for the City to regain normalcy. But, when the last nails are driven and the work is finally done, homeowners will re-examine their insurance coverage. The good insurers, like the one who insured my mother-in-law, will gain business. The ones like my pet insurer, will see lots of cancelled policies.
Happy covered trails.