As some of you know, my family and I went through a total loss house fire in 2003. That was a TREMENDOUS learning event for me from an insurance standpoint. As a result of that, at least once a year I try to remind as many people as I can to take steps that will help reduce the trauma if you are ever in the same situation.
One of my big reminders revolves around knowing "what you have" in your home. There are several ways to do that. One of the easiest is to walk around your home with a video camera and record everything. Open doors, drawers, etc. and record what is behind or in it. Record every room in your home and your garage. Then make several copies of the recording. Distribute those copies to family or friends or put a copy in your safety deposit box at the bank. I recommend doing this at least once a year, but at least get that first copy out of your home. More recent purchases or additions will most likely be easier to remember than items that you have had many years. While this method will not help you come up with replacement cost for the items, it will help you come up with your inventory list. After you have the list, THEN it is a matter of determining replacement cost. Our family every so often says something like "I know I had one of those, I wonder where it is--oh yeah, the fire!"
Another method of recording your belongings is to go to http://www.whatyouown.org/ and download their free software. This will most likely take a lot more time NOW, but should you ever be in that situation, you will have a much more comprehensive listing of your personal belongings and an inventory that you can give to your insurance company. I just found this software so I have not used it yet, but the only question that I have and can't find an answer to is how do they handle the data you input? I would like to see a way to store this information online. If you do have a fire and your computer gets burned up, your data is gone. Online storage would eliminate that problem. CNET has a very good review of this product on the what you own website. Be sure to check it out!
Right now the most important thing you can do is SOMETHING! Ideally you will do the video AND have the home inventory software with all of your information in it. Your insurance company can only pay your claim if they know what you had. Having the information available BEFORE the loss will make it much easier and quicker to get your claim paid in a timely matter. Take my word for it, making that inventory list is no fun AFTER the fact.
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