Insurance can be fun

Avoid I-do boo-boos.

It’s almost time for the steadfast sounds of summer: awkward toasts, “The Electric Slide” and 1 Corinthians 13:4.

According to The Wedding Report, there will be nearly 2.2 million nuptials in the U.S. this year and the average will cost quintuple digits.  Unless you’re going rock-bottom with your bridal budget – like, say, a $5 wedding gown made of toilet paper – you’ve probably got a lot of expensive stuff hanging around the house.

Robbery and ruin are (knock on wood) unlikely, but it’s good to be prepared.  Bill Matrogran, Property Department supervisor at Erie Insurance, offers a few tips.

“It’s important to schedule the engagement ring and wedding bands to your homeowner’s policy,” he says, “as well as any family heirlooms that were received as gifts.  And be sure to keep the originals of any appraisals in a safe place.”

And don’t forget about photos.

“In fire losses, photos cannot be replaced,” says Bill.  “To make sure your wedding day pictures are preserved, don’t forget to back up digital photos and keep the backup at a family member’s home.”

Are you getting married this summer?  Congratulations!  Also, here are various options to protect your valuables.

p.s. Wanna see my wedding?  Check out the main photo on the Rohrbach Photography page.  Ten years this fall.

Sorry, Aunt Judy & Uncle Jim. He really does like the truck book.

The three-months-overdue thank-you note for my kid’s birthday gift.

A long-neglected return e-mail to my friend Lee in California.

The still-not-officially-notarized will sitting in our safe.

And now, thanks to the results of a new survey by The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), I have a brand-new source of guilt: no home inventory. 

“Nearly half [of respondents] - 48 percent - said they did not have an inventory of their possessions. Of those consumers who reported having a checklist, 32 percent had not taken any pictures and 58 percent had no receipts validating the cost of their possessions. In addition, 44 percent of respondents acknowledged that they had not stored their inventory in a remote location.”

Having an up-to-date home inventory can help you get back on your feet after a fire or similar disaster and speed up the claims process, but it’s a daunting prospect.  I’m envisioning hours of bleary-eyed counting of Matchbox cars (hundreds) and Polly Pocket shoes (millions) and pants too big (few) and pants too small (so, so many).

But then I think of Jodie Turri, a coworker who wishes she’d done the inventory before a fire destroyed her home last summer, and I think: Okay.  I’ll do it.

The Insurance Information Institute offers free downloadable home inventory software they say will make the task “fun and easy.”  I’d settle for easy!  If it’s fun, well, all the better.

Do you have a home inventory (and up-to-date, and with receipts, and stored remotely)?  If not, why?  Let me know. 

It's a black fly in your Chardonnay; it's a death row pardon two minutes too late

In last week’s New York Times, an article titled Appeasing the Gods, With Insurance suggests that “We buy insurance not just for peace of mind or to protect ourselves financially, but because we share the ancient Greeks’ instinct for appeasing the gods.”

According to psychologists with new experimental evidence, people are afraid of tempting fate. Will health insurance keep us from getting sick and travel insurance keep our planes aloft and our baggage from going astray? Will your homeowner’s policy render your house waterproof and flame-retardant and your auto insurance keep you from crashing? Some think so.

Jane Risen of the University of Chicago and Thomas Gilovich of Cornell conclude the following: “It is an irony of the post-Enlightenment world that so many people who don’t believe in fate refuse to tempt it.”

My husband insists on carrying a little Swarovski crystal ski when we fly, and I do something sort of weird and inexplicable when I see dead animals on the road to ensure I get safely to my destination. I’ll tell you what it is if you tell me: Are you superstitious? Do you do anything special to appease the insurance gods?

Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses?

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, there are a number of reasons insurance fraud may be on the rise, due to a perfect storm of factors (economic recession / increasing public tolerance for fraud / fraud’s portrayal in pop culture).  To learn more – and figure out why the heck I’m quoting Eagles lyrics - check out Dave Rioux’s article, “Insurance Fraud and Economic Woes,” in the latest issue of Claims Magazine.

"DUDE. You suck and I totally don't."

We just released our second annual teen driving survey results* (through Lookin’ Out, Erie Insurance’s safe teen driving program), and they’re just as interesting as last year’s. 

Yes, the teens report chatting and texting and listening to loud music while driving.  Not good, but no big surprise.  On the other hand, almost all of the teens (91%) say they’re good drivers…but wait a sec before you exhale:

• Only 34% say their friends are good drivers.
• Plus, 97% say their friends take risks while driving.

Hmmmmmmmm.

* conducted in spring 2008 among 2,127 licensed drivers aged 16-19 at 16 Lookin' Out participant schools

(& many thanks to M. Smith for the Venn)