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Personal property is the contents of your home and other personal belongings owned by you or family members who live with you. Home insurance policies may provide limited coverage for small boats; however, most home insurance policies do not cover motorized vehicles unless they are unlicensed and used only at your home. Your insurance agent or your insurance company can help you find appropriate coverage for your car, boat, snowmobile or other recreational equipment. Some forms of personal property, such as silverware, computers, guns, money, expensive antiques and jewelry, have limited coverage under your homeowners policy and may need additional insurance. This coverage can be added to your policy as an endorsement.
You can choose to insure your home and belongings for either replacement cost or actual cash value.
Replacement cost is the amount it would take to replace or rebuild your home or repair damages with materials of a similar kind and quality without deducting for depreciation. Depreciation is the decrease in home or property value since the time it was built or purchased because of age or wear and tear. Many insurers require homeowners to insure their homes for at least 80 percent of the replacement cost. If the homeowner fails to insure for at least 80 percent of the replacement cost, a penalty is applied to partial losses.
Actual cash value is the amount it would take to repair or replace damage to your home after depreciation. For example, if your roof has a 20-year warranty and is 17 years old, there would be a depreciation for the age and condition of the roof. Most standard home insurance policies cover the contents of your home (i.e., personal belongings) on an actual cash-value basis. Many insurers offer an option for you to insure your belongings at replacement cost. The premium will be slightly higher for this coverage; however, you may want to consider it.
Whether your home is insured for replacement value or actual cash value, it is important to keep track of its worth. For instance, the addition of a room, new insulation and yearly inflation all increase the replacement cost of your home while the actual cash value of the home may decrease over time. Check with your agent or insurance company at least once a year to make sure your policy provides adequate coverage.
— Additional Living Expenses
Most home insurance policies provide additional living expenses that will pay some expenses if your home is damaged by an insured event to the extent that you cannot live there while repairs are being made or if you are denied access to your home by government order. These expenses could include limited motel, restaurant and warehouse storage.
— Personal Liability
This coverage protects you against a claim or lawsuit resulting from bodily injury or property damage (nonauto and nonbusiness) to others caused by your negligence. This coverage applies to you and all family members who live with you. Check with your agent or insurance company to determine if the amount of personal liability coverage is sufficient.
— Medical Payments
Regardless of who is at fault, this coverage pays medical expenses for persons accidentally injured on your property by a member of your family or by your pets. Medical payments do not apply to your injuries or those of family members living with you or to activities involving your at-home business. Check with your agent or insurance company to determine if the amount of medical payments coverage is sufficient.
Discuss with your agent optional insurance coverages you may wish to consider. They can include the following:
— Price Quotes
When shopping for home insurance, get price quotes from different companies and compare the rates and coverages. When asking for price quotations, it’s important to provide the same information to each agent or company.
To give you an accurate quote, the agent or company usually will request the following information:
AUTO INSURANCE
Now that you’ve relocated to the Las Vegas area, it’s a good opportunity to familiarize yourself with auto insurance requirements in Nevada, which include the following:
— Auto Liability Insurance
Most auto liability insurance policies contain the following major parts: bodily injury, property damage and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.
You can choose to insure your home and belongings for either replacement cost or actual cash value.
Replacement cost is the amount it would take to replace or rebuild your home or repair damages with materials of a similar kind and quality without deducting for depreciation. Depreciation is the decrease in home or property value since the time it was built or purchased because of age or wear and tear. Many insurers require homeowners to insure their homes for at least 80 percent of the replacement cost. If the homeowner fails to insure for at least 80 percent of the replacement cost, a penalty is applied to partial losses.
Actual cash value is the amount it would take to repair or replace damage to your home after depreciation. For example, if your roof has a 20-year warranty and is 17 years old, there would be a depreciation for the age and condition of the roof. Most standard home insurance policies cover the contents of your home (i.e., personal belongings) on an actual cash-value basis. Many insurers offer an option for you to insure your belongings at replacement cost. The premium will be slightly higher for this coverage; however, you may want to consider it.
Whether your home is insured for replacement value or actual cash value, it is important to keep track of its worth. For instance, the addition of a room, new insulation and yearly inflation all increase the replacement cost of your home while the actual cash value of the home may decrease over time. Check with your agent or insurance company at least once a year to make sure your policy provides adequate coverage.
— Additional Living Expenses
Most home insurance policies provide additional living expenses that will pay some expenses if your home is damaged by an insured event to the extent that you cannot live there while repairs are being made or if you are denied access to your home by government order. These expenses could include limited motel, restaurant and warehouse storage.
— Personal Liability
This coverage protects you against a claim or lawsuit resulting from bodily injury or property damage (nonauto and nonbusiness) to others caused by your negligence. This coverage applies to you and all family members who live with you. Check with your agent or insurance company to determine if the amount of personal liability coverage is sufficient.
— Medical Payments
Regardless of who is at fault, this coverage pays medical expenses for persons accidentally injured on your property by a member of your family or by your pets. Medical payments do not apply to your injuries or those of family members living with you or to activities involving your at-home business. Check with your agent or insurance company to determine if the amount of medical payments coverage is sufficient.
Discuss with your agent optional insurance coverages you may wish to consider. They can include the following:
- Guaranteed replacement-cost coverage
- Inflation guard endorsement
- Scheduled personal property endorsement
- Increased limits on money and securities
- Secondary-residence premises endorsement
- Watercraft endorsement
- Theft-coverage protection endorsement
- Credit-card forgery and depositors forgery coverage endorsement
- Flood insurance
- Earthquake insurance
- Windstorm coverage
— Price Quotes
When shopping for home insurance, get price quotes from different companies and compare the rates and coverages. When asking for price quotations, it’s important to provide the same information to each agent or company.
To give you an accurate quote, the agent or company usually will request the following information:
- Description of your house
- Distance from the nearest fire division and fire hydrant
- Square footage
- Security devices
- A picture of your home
- The coverages
- Limits you want
AUTO INSURANCE
Now that you’ve relocated to the Las Vegas area, it’s a good opportunity to familiarize yourself with auto insurance requirements in Nevada, which include the following:
- Nevada law requires you to have at least $15,000/$30,000/$10,000 in liability insurance. This means coverage must be at least $15,000 because of bodily injury to or death of one person in any one accident to a limit of not less than $30,000 because of bodily injury to or destruction of property and to a limit of not less than $10,000 because of injury to or destruction of property of others in any one accident.
- Nevada has mandatory liability responsibility laws that are met through Nevada-licensed insurance carriers. All registered vehicles are required to have the minimum liability coverage. Should the coverage lapse while registration is still current, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) may suspend the vehicle registration and charge a $250 reinstatement fee. Roadside spot checks, direct-mail verification and insurance company data comparisons provide verification methods to ensure compliance.
- Insurance companies are licensed and regulated by the Nevada Division of Insurance. You may verify online whether an insurance company is properly licensed in Nevada at Nevada Insurance Alert (www.nvinsurancealert.com) or by calling (888) 467-4195. You must obtain insurance from a Nevada-licensed carrier. If you are coming from out-of-state, you must notify your agent or carrier that you have moved to Nevada.
- At the time of vehicle registration, you may present a Nevada Evidence of Insurance card or sign a declaration that you will maintain Nevada insurance coverage for the entire time the vehicle is registered in Nevada. An Evidence of Insurance card or power of attorney must be presented if any person other than the vehicle owner is registering the vehicle.
- A Nevada Evidence of Insurance card must be carried in your vehicle at all times and presented to any law enforcement officer upon request.
- Comprehensive and collision coverages are not required by Nevada law and, in certain cases, because of the age or condition of the automobile, may not be available. However, if you borrowed money to purchase your automobile, your lender may require you to carry this coverage until the loan is paid.
- You are not required to carry medical payments or uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, but all insurance companies are required by law to offer you medical payments coverage of at least $1,000 and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage in an amount equal to your bodily injury coverage.
- If you plan to lease an automobile, you should check your lease agreement. Generally, these agreements require that you carry liability coverage in the amount of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident and may require you to carry property damage coverage in excess of the $10,000 limit required by Nevada law.
— Auto Liability Insurance
Most auto liability insurance policies contain the following major parts: bodily injury, property damage and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.
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