Charlene Webb

By: Charlene Webb

When it comes to your auto insurance as well as property policies, you must take the time to meet with your agent to get a better understanding of not only how your policy works, but also how your assets are actually insured. On a daily basis, we speak with clients about the status of their policies and are amazed to see that they actually don’t understand the difference between a cancelled policy and a terminated policy.

Each insurance carrier outlines their specific guidelines for insuring your autos or homes in your initial or new business policy. Along with those guidelines, you will receive what’s called a declaration page that gives you a breakdown of what autos or homes are insured during that particular time period—it could be a six month policy period or an annual policy period dependent upon that carriers guidelines. Please take the time to review that declaration page for errors as well as omissions—because mistakes can and do happen. Your agent won’t know if a mistake has been made unless you inform him or her. If the information listed on the declaration page is accurate, great, but if it’s not, you are responsible for contacting your agent or the company as soon as possible to ensure that information is corrected or updated. Your agent is only responsible for updating that information at the point in which you inform him or her that there is an error. If you allow a substantial amount of time to go by after finding an error, you may be cheating yourself out of a correct premium as a result of an error or an update to your policy not having been made. We have very little room to work with when it comes to backdating an error unless it is a company error.

At your renewal, you will usually not receive another complete policy with all of the guidelines listed, as the policy guidelines don’t change. Your renewal package will only include an updated declaration page with new dates for coverage on the policy along with any amendments that may have been made to the insurance carrier’s guidelines prior to the renewal of your policy. Therefore, you need to keep all of your original policy documents for your records. If you lose your information, copies can be ordered but dependent upon how long ago the policy was written, the information may or may not be available.

Finally, when it comes to your policy canceling or being terminated, you need to understand that when a payment is not made on your policy by the premium due date (or your renewal date) and prior to any grace period that your carrier may or may not have, your policy will then move from active to cancellation status which means that your autos or your home may now be without any coverage until the payment is received. At that point, you will receive a cancellation or termination letter from your carrier with a date and time indicating when that policy will actually be cancelled or terminated. Because each carrier sets their own guidelines with regard to canceling and terminating policy, you need to check with your agent to ensure you have the correct understanding as to whether or not you have any kind of grace period before your policy is cancelled or terminated. In either a cancelled or terminated status, you no longer have any coverage and anything that occurs with your autos or property will not be covered through your filing a claim because you never made your payment. You cannot and should not play “The Date Game” and pay your insurance every other month or just before it cancels, because you’re putting yourself in a position that could actually backfire on you with regard to coverage. Make a point of paying your insurance on time each month. We don’t want our claims departments contacting you to inform you that an accident you may be involved in is not covered under your policy because we never received a payment or the payment was made after the accident happened—it’s too late then. You’re leaving yourself open to a lawsuit. Take the time to meet with your agent regularly just like you do annually with your physician. Call TODAY for your Good Hands Coverage Checkup.

Webb is an Exclusive Agent for Allstate Insurance Company, 494 N. Dupont Hwy., Dover, DE 19901, 302-736-6475. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, with a BS degree in Business Education and is celebrating five years of service with Allstate Insurance Co. Webb Insurance Agency of Allstate Insurance Company offers a complete product line which includes helping families protect their lives, homes, cars, boats and businesses to helping prepare children for college by offering 529 plans to getting ready for retirement using various financial services products such as IRAs, mutual funds, and annuities. We offer annual reviews of current policies to ensure you are up to date on your current needs and goals and to help you protect the assets you have worked hard to earn. Her office is located at 494 N. Dupont Highway, Dover, DE 19901, and she can be reached at 302-736-6475 or on her website at www.allstate.com/charwebb.

Testimonials:

“I couldn’t have asked for a better agent than Charlene Webb who is more than our agent but a friend that always looks out for us and our needs. We love her, and God bless her.” ~G. Charlene Cotter

“Charlene is a very nice person, a great agent who’s always going out of her way to please her clients. Customer service is always great, and I appreciate the help she has not only given me but my entire family. She is so pleasant to work with.” ~Susan Mannon