Every new home insurance policy is followed by an inspection. The purpose of the inspection is to determine if the home truly meets the underwriting guidelines of the insurance company. My role as an independent insurance agent is to be the first level underwriter and confirm the home will pass the inspection so I ask questions to make sure I’m placing the home with the best carrier.
Several months ago, a friend of mine called. Tom, not his real name, and his buddy had traveled to San Antonio for a guy’s trip a couple of weekends earlier. Tom drove through a construction zone where there was a lane shift followed by a traffic light. Based on the location of the light, he mistakenly thought he was supposed to stop about 40 yards away. He ended up passing through the intersection and was struck by a car that had a green light. It was his fault.
One of my clients called me two weeks ago. She’d heard a heavy crash the previous night which startled her. She conducted a quick review of the interior of her home but did not find the source of the noise so she went on to bed curious about what she’d heard. Her question was answered the next morning when she ventured outside; a tree had been blown over onto her home.
I had coffee last week with a friend of mine in Dallas. We’ll call her Abby, not her real name. We were catching up on each other’s summer and how our businesses were doing; they’re both growing. Abby owns one of the top catering companies in Dallas handling everything from a family meal, when no one feels like cooking, to a sit down dinner for 5,000 people. She’s quite the chef! When my wife had eye surgery earlier this year, Abby gave me a batch of her tortilla soup to aid in Sheri’s recovery. It was the best soup either of us has ever had.
Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs, Colorado have experienced severe fires both last year and this year. In June of 2012, the Waldo Canyon fire ravaged almost 19,000 acres, killed two people, and destroyed 347 homes. The Black Forest fire that happened in June of this year torched over 14,200 acres, killed two people and destroyed 509 homes.
The Dallas Morning News reported earlier this year on surcharges the state of Texas assesses to Texas drivers who are convicted of offenses such as driving while intoxicated, failure to maintain car insurance, and driving without a valid license or with an invalid license. These driver surcharges were enacted as a part of The Driver Responsibility Program in 2003.
In the category where truth is stranger than fiction, news wire services reported in January of this year the account of a St. George, Utah couple whose home was struck by a boulder measuring 12 feet by 9 feet. The rock broke free from the cliff above Scot and Wanda Denhalter’s home at about 3:00 a.m. and crashed through the master bedroom wall while Wanda was sleeping alone in their bed.
I was talking with a new client two weeks ago. We’d just completed the insurance on the new home they’re buying and they were finalizing everything for their move to Dallas. The client had one last question about his new policy. He’d met with the moving company earlier and wanted to know whether or not the home policy we’d written for them would cover their property during the move or should he buy the movers insurance?
School supplies are out in force at Wal-Mart, Target, and office supply stores across the Dallas / Fort Worth area. That means it’s almost time for our kids to return to the classroom. In the next two weeks the familiar flashing light marking school zones will renew its warning and traffic will be interspersed with school buses for each of the independent school districts. It’s time to revisit Texas laws concerning both school zones and driving around buses.
I’m amazed at the level of technology available on our college campuses. For those who are my age, we had an electric typewriter that may have been self-correcting. In order to access a computer we had to schedule time in a special facility on campus and even then, programming was done on punch cards. Things have come a long way since then.
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