15 Life Changes To Tell Your Insurance Agent About

Life doesn’t stop after you obtain insurance coverage. Maybe you added that much-needed extra bathroom to your home or inherited your grandparents’ precious antiques. Perhaps your teenager is going to college or you’re starting a new business. You’ll need to adjust your insurance coverage to align with your new circumstances.

15 life changes worth a phone call

Here are 15 life experiences that should prompt a call to your insurance professional:

1. Getting married or divorced: Many insurance companies offer benefits like marriage discounts, multicar discounts and bundled insurance policies. If you’re getting married, you should insure your wedding and engagement rings since they will often exceed the special limit a homeowners or renters policy applies to jewelry, which is usually a modest figure and varies by form. Check yours before assuming. Create a new home inventory and increase your personal property coverage when you combine your belongings. If you’re going through a divorce, let your agent know. (Some divorce decrees specify insurance requirements.) You should adjust your policies, reflect name changes, update your life insurance and all listed beneficiaries.
2. Buying, renting or moving to a new residence: Losing a home to fire and then finding the policy was never updated is a bad way to discover the gap. The dwelling limit should reflect what reconstruction would actually cost, which is a different figure from market value and is reached through a replacement cost estimate. Even if you don’t own a place, you and your belongings need protection. A renters policy responds to covered losses of your personal belongings and adds liability coverage if someone is injured in your unit or sues you.
3. Purchasing a car: Call your insurance professional with the make, model, and vehicle identification number if you buy a vehicle. Your insurance rate may change significantly depending on the vehicle type and your residence.
4. Becoming a business owner (even if it’s a home-based business): No matter where your business is located or how big it is, the operation needs coverage written around it. Take note of your business operations, even in a home business. If you use your car for business or store merchandise and supplies at home, you’ll need extra coverage. Ask your agent if a business owners policy (a “BOP”) is right for you.
5. Doing home renovations: Major improvements to your home, such as adding a new room, remodeling your kitchen or enclosing a porch can put you at risk of being underinsured. An increase in the value of the structure may require an increase to your homeowners insurance coverage limits.
6. Having a new teen driver: When your teenager gets their driver’s permit or license, they need to be properly insured. Adding a teen driver is one of the larger premium changes a household will see. Driver training and good-student status are among the discounts carriers commonly recognize, so ask which apply. And be sure to let your agent know so you can take advantage of any discounts.
7. Acquiring something expensive: Anytime you inherit or buy something valuable, you should reevaluate the contents coverage portion of your home or renters insurance policy. The policy limits may not be high enough. Compare the cost of increasing insurance on your valuables versus the cost of adding an umbrella policy to expand coverage ($1 million or more) over your home and auto.
8. Heading off to college: If your college student is moving to on-campus or off-campus housing, it is worth reviewing how the policies treat their possessions and their vehicle at that address.
9. Installing a security or smart home system: Security systems deter theft and some smart home systems prevent catastrophic structural damage (like a whole house water shut-off system). Call your agent about insurance discounts for these systems, even if you’re only in the planning stages.
10. Switching mortgage or auto lenders: Payments can get confusing if your old lender is listed on your policy. Your insurance company may need to issue a check to both you and your lender when there’s a claim. If the wrong lender is listed, it can delay claims processing or payments for premiums (leaving you temporarily uninsured).
11. Driving less: Working from home, living closer to your office or joining a carpool will reduce your mileage. Auto insurance companies consider less mileage a risk reduction, and annual mileage is one of the three rating factors California allows on an auto policy, so it is worth reporting a genuine drop.
12. Buying a second home: Whether a beachfront property or a mountain getaway, don’t skimp on the insurance especially if your second home will be vacant for long periods. If you rent your second home, ask your agent about landlord insurance.
13. Traveling internationally: If you plan to drive outside the United States, your current coverage may not protect you abroad. (For example, Mexico requires that all drivers have Mexico auto insurance. They don’t recognize U.S. Auto insurance, and you can be fined or jailed in addition to not being covered in an accident.)
14. Having your identity stolen: If you’ve been the victim of this kind of crime, you may want to invest in identity theft or cyber liability coverage to protect you and your family in the future.
15. Retiring: You might be able to get a discount on your homeowners insurance when you retire. In addition, if you regularly commuted to your job, your annual mileage may drop significantly.

Keep the policy current as the year moves

Don’t forget to keep your insurance agent in the loop as your circumstances change. The point of the call is simple: a policy is written against your circumstances as described, and circumstances move.

Each of these changes alters what is covered, and most of them are invisible to a carrier until someone reports them. If more than one applies to you, ask us for a quote and we will update the file rather than wait for a renewal to catch it.