It’s Hurricane Season – What Damage Does Insurance Cover?

Joe: 106.7 WIZN. It’s Queen and David Bowie, “Under Pressure.” Van Halen, “You Really Got Me,” before that. Joe Vega here with you on your Wednesday “Rocking your Ride Home.” I was takling earlier about Hurricane Dorian that’s made landfall on the southeast. So I thought I’d bring my friend on the phone, Ben Barry, from Martin, Harding & Mazzotti to talk about insurance claims. Ben, how are you doing?

Ben: Joe, I’m well. How are you?

Joe: So we get a Hurricane Dorian. It’s made landfall in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. And of course, a trajectory is heading up to East Coast. So we were thinking back to Irene, and thought it may be a good idea to inform people on the proper way to go about making insurance claims with these types of storms.

Ben: For property damage, usually people have two types of property, their car and their home or boat, which is covered under homeowners insurance policy. Usually, car insurance policies do not cover things like rain, flooding, limbs falling on your vehicle and crushing the roof, unless you’ve purchased comprehensive coverage. Most policies are liability policies. Comprehensive and collision are add-ons, so you pay extra for them. Most people don’t have comprehensive coverage, so you’re kind of…you’re out in the rain, so to speak, with damage done to your vehicle unless you’ve purchased that additional policy. With your homeowners’ insurance policy, that’s a little bit different. Homeowners’ policies generally cover water that’s coming in from above, water that falls from a cloud. That’s usually covered under homeowners insurance policy. If your house is subjected to subterranean water, water coming up out of the ground or water coming from the ocean or a lake or a stream or a river, that’s usually not covered unless you have purchased an additional policy, a flood policy. So it’s important for listeners to understand what their policies cover and get those details, ask for copies of their policies, and figure out the coverages right for them. I would suggest reaching out to an attorney to have them take a look at your coverages.

Joe: Thanks a lot. Ben Barry from Martin, Harding & Mazzotti. Thanks, Ben.

Ben: Joe, thanks to you.

Joe: You can call Ben any time at Martin, Harding & Mazzotti at 1-800-LAW-1010, or go online to 1800law1010.com. Mel Allen taking over from here. He’s got music from The Police and Guns N’ Roses, next.