Keeping insurance coverage up to date For homeowners in Sonoma County, one of the most important things you can do to prepare your house and assets for an emergency is to make sure your homeowners insurance is accurate and up to date. One way people can do this is by double-checking their insurance limit, said Erica Bishop, a Cloverdale-based State Farm agent. “Because of the wildfires, I think overall more homeowners and renters are more aware of their homeowners policy and their renters policy and checking in with their agent to make sure that the coverages that they have in place are right for them,” Bishop said. Historically, the odds of someone imagining they might be in a position where they could lose their home was slim. However, years of fires have increased concern. “(Homeowners) want to make sure they aren’t caught off guard financially,” Bishop said. For people who are looking to make sure their insurance has them covered
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for any potential disaster, Bishop said that they should be sure to double-check their dwelling coverage. Dwelling coverage, the part of a policy that might help someone repair or rebuild their
“I’m trying to encourage people to make a decision that’s going to help them when the unexpected happens to them.” home if its damaged by a covered hazard, should be in the ballpark of what it might cost to rebuild. “They as the insured are choosing the limit of their policy — and the limit is the limit — they want to make sure they have enough,” she said.
Bishop said that some people assume that they’re good to go because they have an insurance policy that was put in place when they first purchased their home, but that isn’t always the case. “A lot of people will match it to their current market value. With an insurance policy, that’s not how coverage works,” she said, noting that the cost of rebuilding isn’t based on the market value of a home. “You really want to be in a position where you have the option to rebuild if you want to.” As an insurance agent, “I’m trying to encourage people to make a decision that’s going to help them when the unexpected happens to them,” Bishop said, encouraging everyone to reach out to their insurance agents to double-check their limit. “I think it’s really important that the first time they’re hearing about the details of an insurance policy, hopefully it’s not at claim time. Hopefully we’ve done the work ahead of time and they’re not caught off guard.” — Zoë Strickland
