Educating Insureds On Autumn Risks And Maintenance Tasks

Educating Insureds On Autumn Risks And Maintenance Tasks
The autumn season, much like the winter season after it, often brings an increased level of risk to home and business owners. Additionally, insurance carriers are not spared despite many of the risks being both foreseeable and preventable. Although the dog days of summer are still going strong, it is never too early to educate and remind insureds on the array of seasonal risks to their property. Here are three primary risks that insureds should be informed of for the coming fall season.
Burglary And Theft
House break-ins can be particularly bad during both fall and winter. Black Friday, early Christmas gift stockpiling, and other opportunities can all make the latter half of the year as enticing as the vacation-heavy summer is to thieves. Insurance risk is therefore increased, especially in homes that do not invest in a home security system or are using a substandard provider. Burglars prefer to strike during the day, as most individuals will be away from home during working hours. Autumn gives thieves the advantage of having the days get darker, earlier and making homes an easier target. It is worth it to educate insureds on the benefits of having a trusted home security system to reduce insurance risk. Also, mention the availability of personal home monitoring thanks to the array of smart home monitoring applications available.

Pest Problems
Pest infestations and the associated damage are almost universally an uncovered problem for most insurance policies. However, unchecked rodent infestations can seriously increase fire-related insurance risk due to chewing behaviors that can target wires. As fire damage is a covered claim under the majority of standard policies, encouraging home and business owners to keep pests under control is important. During the fall, a variety of pests will be looking to take residence inside homes and businesses in preparation for the winter. Inform insureds on the steps they can take now to keep these unwanted visitors from staying for the cooler seasons. As an added bonus, showing insureds you care about their property even for issues outside of the scope of coverage, furthers a positive relationship between insureds and your business.

Maintaining Roof And Gutters
Once fall is in full swing, seeing homeowners raking up leaves from their yard and property is a common sight. Unfortunately, it is less common to see that same diligence done with regard to cleaning out gutters, despite the serious risk for not doing so. Take the time to remind home and business owners about the importance of rain gutter maintenance as well as the array of problems that can occur if this task is neglected. The fall season is also the perfect time to perform a roof inspection, including checking for loose or missing shingles. While a roof inspection will typically be a feature in any thorough home inspection, insureds should be urged not to routinely neglect roofs until a problem is noticed by an insurance inspector.

Certain customers who may be uncomfortable with the process of cleaning and inspecting their own gutters or rooftop can benefit from recommendations of service providers in the area who perform such tasks. This may also open up opportunities for advertising income from the service providers indicated. Seasonal insurance inspections are another option to help reduce risk by catching potential issues before they can lead to claims. As a final note, remind customers that claims for damages that are a result of negligence or lack of maintenance on their behalf are typically denied. Therefore it is in their best interest to be proactive with all fall home maintenance tasks.

Keeping insureds informed of the unique and increased issues that the fall season can bring is an easy step towards reducing overall insurance risk. Our team at Insurance Risk Services will not only provide unparalleled property inspections to help you measure insurance risk, but also do our part in educating insureds about necessary seasonal and annual maintenance. Contact us to discover how we deliver the most accurate underwriting reports in the industry.

We’re delighted to announce that Insurance Risk Services will rebrand to Davies in the near future.

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