Illinois Home Owners Insurance Policy Offers Umbrella of Coverage By Illinois Insurance Center

Insurance foresees the disasters you’d rather think couldn’t happen.

He is the suburban everyman. We’ll call him “Jack” and he lives on street full of mostly similar houses in variations of a few colors. The lawns in the yards, which are on the small side, are all kept neat and prim. Groups of kids walk to the “excellent schools nearby” with loaded back packs and little lunch sacks. Jack usually gets into his car for work around 8am each day with bottled water, a Cliff bar, and his laptop. This Tuesday had no reason to be any different: the sprinklers were all “zit-zitting” at their same time, the parade of children had just passed with giggles, and he was sitting in his car at 8:01 about to turn the key in the ignition. Out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw his golf bag, with clubs that had a layer of dust clouding the once-shining irons. It only took a second for Jack to calculate how long it had been since he’d seen the course, a day off, and what projects could be shoved into tomorrow. In the next second, the bag was in the car.

Make a list, get items appraised, and protect your valuables.

Jack is a responsible homeowner with a good homeowner’s insurance policy. He’s got a pretty standard policy which covers his house, the walls, the floors, and a portion of his personal belongings. His wife actually took care of that part; the agent urged her to list anything over 1 thousand dollars in value. Jill likes to have all her “ducks in a row” and included things on both sides of that benchmark. The golf clubs were of special and very sentimental value to them: once upon a time they’d met while Jack was working his way towards the pro-tour. He didn’t qualify and life took another direction. But the clubs were special and very high-quality; they made the insurance list. Jill also included their china, her camera equipment, and their wedding rings. Everything was appraised first.

When the unforeseen actually happens:

On the way out of the neighborhood, Jack’s cell phone rang. There was some “emergency” at work and he needed to go put the fire out. In a company that was doing lay-offs in shifts several times a year lately, he didn’t hesitate to participate. Instead of heading to the course, he turned his car in the direction of the office, as usual. Eight hours later he returned to his car for the commute home, feeling it had been a pretty normal Tuesday after all. The pried open back door of his Toyota Highlander told a different story and the empty spot where the golf clubs had been changed the course of his afternoon.

Your Home Owner’s policy can cover things stolen or lost…even from your car!

To protect your valuables, take the following steps:

• Find an agent that can shop for the best company and coverage for your situation.
• List personal items of value
• Get formal appraisals done and assemble documentation
• When you need to make a claim for lost, stolen, or damaged belongings, call your agent immediately.

It’s getting more common these days for insurance shopping to be done online, without human interaction. But it’s important to stress that nothing can take the place of a conversation when policies need to be customized for individuals. This is not a process that has to be time consuming or difficult. Contact Us today for more information.