Apr 22, 2014 | News
Flooding worries are on many minds following the dramatic events in Sherbrooke, Quebec last week and as rain starts to fall in Alberta this spring. But homeowners looking to insulate themselves from flood damage can’t look to Canadian insurance companies for help.
According to the Insurance Board of Canada, 61 per cent of Canadians think their home insurance covers them in case of overland flooding. Sixty one per cent of Canadians are wrong.
The IBC’s Pierre Babinksy says insurers in Canada don’t offer protection against flooding because they think floods, unlike fires, earthquakes or hurricanes, are what he calls “certainties.”
“It’s very difficult to assess the risk in order to quantify it and in order to capitalize accordingly cover any damages that would be incurred,” he says.
However, flooded homeowners can usually seek assistance from their municipalities, which are in charge of distributing federal and provincial flood aid. Babinsky does encourage homeowners to contact their insurers in all cases of water damage in order to see if they are eligible for reimbursement.
Excerpted from CJAD News
ILScorp has partnered with the Restoration Industry Association to provide a Basic Water Loss Training Course. This entry-level online training program addresses basic, broad knowledge for those interested in the practice of water damage restoration. One of the main goals of a water loss restorer is to return safe indoor environments to buildings that have been affected by a water intrusion. This online course is excellent training for new water loss field staff, administrative, HR, marketing staff and restoration professionals.
Visit us at www.ilscorp.com or call us a 1-800-404-2211 to join the more than 23,000 other Canadian insurance professionals who are learning with ILScorp every year.
Dec 13, 2013 | News
There are many important steps we can take to keep our home safe from break-ins over the holidays, as we travel and bring new gifts home. Most break-ins are opportunistic burglaries, and Christmas is the time when many thieves are looking for the insecure home.
You can help prevent thieves targeting your home by carrying out a few simple common sense measures.
Always lock all outside doors and windows when you go out, including garage windows and doors, especially if the garage has an internal door leading to the main house. Lock your garden tools and ladders away and always keep your house keys in a safe place. Burglars know to look under a mat, pull the string and key through the letter box, or move the large stone near the front/back door.
When heading out for the evening, put a light on, put the radio or TV on and leave a small gap in the curtains so that a light can be seen.
If you are going away for a longer time, use timers to control Christmas lights and indoor lamps, and ask a neighbour to take in your mail and newspapers and clear your walks and driveway of snow when needed. Consider having a trusted person spend some time inside your house each day. If you leave a car in the driveway, consider having that same person move it periodically to make it appear as if its being used.
Turn your telephone ringer off and don’t leave outgoing phone or email messages to indicate that you are away. Be careful of posting information about your travel plans or expensive gifts on social media.
Do not display your Christmas tree & gifts in a window visible from the street. Criminals may be tempted to smash the window to steal packages or plan a break-in. After Christmas, do not leave empty gift boxes by the garbage or put them our for curbside recycling. This is an advertisement for thieves. Collapse the boxes, cut them up to conceal the items or take them directly to your community recycling depot.
Review your home insurance plan, and be aware that there are limits for how long your home can be left empty for coverage to remain valid.
Insurance agents are encouraged to review these tips with their clients, as well as to be aware of the limitations of their client’s insurance policies.
Are you an insurance agent looking to boost your home insurance knowledge? ILScorp offers a variety of accredited online continuing education courses, as well as licensing programs. Many of our most popular courses are on sale for the month of December. Visit ILScorp.com to learn more.
Oct 8, 2013 | News
The theme of this year’s Fire Prevention Week is kitchen fire safety. Fire Prevention Week runs Oct 6-12. According to the U.S. National Fire Prevention Association, more fires start in the kitchen than in any other part of the home (40% of all house fires) — and Fire Prevention Week aims to teach people how to keep cooking fires from starting in the first place.
U.S. Fire Departments responded to an estimated annual average of 156,600 cooking-related fires between 2007-2011, resulting in 400 civilian deaths, 5,080 civilian injuries and $853 million in direct damage.
According to the Fire Prevention Week website, unattended cooking was a factor in 34% of reported home cooking fires, with two-thirds of home cooking fires starting with ignition of food or other cooking materials.
Ranges accounted for the 58% of home cooking fire incidents while ovens accounted for 16%. Microwave ovens are one of the leading home products associated with scald burn injuries not related to fires. Nearly half (44%) of the microwave oven injuries seen at emergency rooms in 2011 were scald burns. And young children are at particular risk to scald burns in the kitchen.
Fire coverage is an important part of home insurance – fire losses can be devastating and it is important that homeowners and insurance agents understand the need for adequate coverage, as well as ways to reduce the risk of fire loss. For example, working smoke alarms cut the risk of dying in reported home fires in half.
According to the Fire Prevention Week website, in 2011, U.S. fire departments responded to 370,000 home structure fires. These fires caused 13,910 civilian injuries, 2,520 civilian deaths, $6.9 billion in direct damage. Most fatal fires kill one or two people. In 2011, 12 home fires killed five or more people resulting in a total of 67 deaths.
Almost two-thirds (62%) of reported home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms.
For more information about Fire Prevention Week, visit the website.
Information in this post is reproduced from NFPA’s Fire Prevention Week website, www.firepreventionweek.org. ©2013 NFPA.
ILScorp has introduced a new series of insurance training courses on homeowners policies. Learn more at ILScorp.com
Oct 1, 2013 | News
A series of 5 new Homeowners Insurance Policy courses designed for insurance agents and adjusters has been launched by ILS. These online insurance training courses, each good for one continuing education credit hour, are accredited in BC, Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.
While modern home insurance is seen as an essential part of a typical Canadian family’s insurance coverage, that hasn’t always been case.
Up until the mid-1960s, homeowners rarely purchased the insurance coverages we take for granted today. In fact, many homeowners purchased coverage only for their dwelling, believing their belongings had little value. Also, as no one expected to be sued, many homeowners resisted all efforts to sell them personal liability insurance. The Homeowners Forms of the 1970s helped to solve the problems of inadequate coverages and limits. These forms included all three coverages and more. However, insurers still had a problem: people were under-valuing their homes. This problem took many years to solve and it was not until the 1980s that valuation guides were required to be completed for all new applications for a homeowners policy.
The five-part series, written by Steve Hawrishok, includes courses covering:
1. Property Coverages Agreements & Definitions
2. Property Coverages A-D
3. Extensions of Coverage
4. Insured Perils & Exclusions
5. Basis of Claim Payment & Other Terms
All five courses are now included in the general and adjuster continuing education course catalogues at no extra charge to ILS subscribers. They can also be purchased individually.
Go online at www.ilscorp.com or call us a 1-800-404-2211 to join the more than 23,000 other Canadian insurance professionals who are learning with ILScorp every year.
Sep 11, 2013 | News
Residents of Atlantic Canada are being urged to review their home insurance policies ahead of what is expected to be a challenging storm season.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada says homeowners should review their insurance policies before storms hit so they know what they are—and aren’t—covered for.
Amanda Dean, the Atlantic vice-president of the IBC, told the St. John’s Telegram newspaper that the bureau — the national trade association for home, car and business insurers — commissioned a report last year that suggests severe weather events will get steadily worse during the next 40 years.
“For the Atlantic region, including Newfoundland and Labrador, that means more hurricanes,” she said. “And if some of the predictions we’ve been hearing, certainly from meteorologists… this is going to be quite the hurricane season coming upon us this fall. We want to talk a bit about what consumers can do in advance of having to put in such a claim, so things you can do, knowing what you’re covered for, knowing your home insurance policy.”
Insurance brokers and agents are trained to walk people through their policy, Dean said. And it is important to know what your policy covers.
Dean used the example of sewage backups as something that’s covered by some policies, but not by others.
“Heavy amounts of rain can fall in a short period of time,” she said. “That overwhelms any system, and sewage and other waste water can back up into homes through the drains in the floors, the toilets, the sinks.”
Dean said it isn’t about encouraging people to buy more insurance, but about making sure they have coverage that fits their needs.
“It’s your possession. Let’s be honest: buying a home is probably the most expensive investment that we’re going to make in our lives,” she said. “Some folks, if you’ve had the mortgage paid off for years and you don’t have insurance, just think of what could happen financially. You could potentially be ruined during a hurricane. A tree limb tears off, comes through your roof and causes an extensive amount of damage. Where are you going to get the money from to repair that home?”
Since insurance is essentially a pool of money that might have many people drawing from it, said Dean, it’s in everyone’s interests to try to keep claims down so it’s there when it’s needed in times of major disasters, such as 2010’s hurricane Igor or the recent Alberta floods.
For more information about home insurance, contact your local licensed insurance agent or broker.
Insurance agents in Canada are continually upgrading their knowledge, with continuing education training for insurance agents being mandatory in most provinces, and they are your best source for insurance information.
