Be Prepared Challenge – Organise #3

How are the tasks in your challenge going?  Well I hope.  To add to the ever growing list of tasks that Bec and I have been throwing at you this week, here is one final and simple task for finish off the Organise week.  It has to do with insurance.

The concept of insurance has been around for a long time, some people think it is necessary, others do not.  This is a brief extract from FIDO about how insurance works.

“Insurance policies involve the transfer of risk. The insurer agrees to compensate you for a loss rather than you having to pay for that loss yourself. Usually the insurer assesses whether to accept the risk (and if so, on what terms) through information they get from you. You decide whether the terms the insurer offers meet your needs. Read the product disclosure statement to help you with this.”

I personally believe that a little bit of insurance is a good thing in these troubled times, and I have only ever had to claim once in my lifetime.  I was living in a flat in Sydney a long time ago and was burgled.  The claim on insurance was a pretty straight forward procedure, however there was one thing that I was not ready for, and that was the provision of evidence to the insurer.  Things like serial numbers, photos, warranty documents, that sort of stuff.  I didn’t have much, just a couple of photos of the stolen items, but that was enough to help.  I was glad that I took the time to take out insurance in the first place.

So, on to the challenge.  This task is two fold and is one that is often missed and is definitely not on most peoples list before a crisis hits. 

Firstly, if you have some sort of insurance already for your home, home contents, self, car, etc., then actually take the time to understand what you are covered for.  Policies always list inclusions and exclusions and this is where many good people get tripped up when they go to claim after a crisis.  If you live near a flood plain are you covered for flood damage?  If you are living in a forest or bushland, are you covered for bush fires, or damage to your home from trees falling through them?  Are you covered for storm damage?  What is the excess you have to pay before making a claim?  Know the facts.  Just because your neighbour has insurance and is not covered for a certain item, it doesn’t mean that you are not covered.  Check with your own insurer and your policy.  What have you got to loose?  With 1 in 100 year events occurring more frequently, it pays to have some sort of insurance.  Shop around though and make sure you are covered for the most likely events in your geography.  Don’t forget to factor the insurance payments into you family budget.

Just my take on it.  Your don’t have to if you don’t want to.

The second part of the task is to record items that you absolutely want replaced like for like.  The easiest way to record items is to take photos of them.  Take a couple of shots of each item, showing the layout, and if it is an electrical item take a shot of the serial number and model.  Easy as pie.  Then copy the photos to a USB memory stick or print copies and and a copy of your insurance policies and keep it in a folder in your emergency bag or fire safe.  Anywhere safe that will remain intact.  That way, when you do come to claim, you have evidence of your goods, and it will make the claim process run a lot smoother.  Also don’t forget to update you collection of photos every year or so. 

I also found some advice in FIDO website that is titled “A guide to insurance, protecting your assets“.  It is independent of the insurance industry and is sage advice indeed. 

So if you have chosen to have a go at this task, you will have piece of mind that whatever happens in the near future, you will not be financially bankrupt after a crisis and have to start from scratch.  I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. 

Tomorrow, I will be posting the first task for the Acquire week.  I hope you keep working on the “Be Prepared Challenge”.  I know I will!