Blog - Fitzgerald Insurance Agency

3 Key Pool Safety Tips to Remember

July 7, 2021 By RENAISSANCE ALLIANCE

Pool Safety Tips

The dog days of Summer are here, and if you’re like millions of other American families, you’ll be spending lots of time by the pool.

While pools offer a slice of paradise in your backyard – they can also be incredibly dangerous. Here’s 3 safety tips for you to keep in mind.

1) No swimming without an adult around

Drowning doesn’t look like what you see on TV. Don’t let children swim unsupervised, even if your kids are future Olympians. It’s always best to have an adult keeping an eye on things. At cook outs, it’s a great idea to have a rotating schedule of chaperones so every one can enjoy the party.

2) No running

This one is a no-brainer, but still critical to remember. Pool decks are slippery, and it only takes one fall for someone to get a nasty bruise (or worse!) Don’t take any chances. Walk, don’t run. The last thing you need is a trip to the hospital or a lawsuit.

3) No diving in the shallow end (or no diving at all)

Research of Spinal Cord Injury Statistics found that 57.2% of all pool diving accidents occur in water 4 feet deep or less, while only 4.8% of swimming pool diving accidents occur in water at least 8 feet deep. Experts recommend no diving at all in above-ground swimming pools.

Pool Rules

A “Pool Rules” sign is a great way for you to remind family, neighbors and friends to be cautious in and around your pool. Visual reminders are an excellent way to keep everyone thinking about safety as they enjoy a dip. Search for an affordable one online or consider creating a home made version with some plywood and paint. It can be a great Summer project for you and your kids, and creating the sign at home can even help your children memorize the rules.

Fencing

Most insurers require a fence around a pool to qualify for coverage. But even if they weren’t required, it’s always recommended for safety. Children go outside to play in the Summer, and your pool should be inaccessible unless there’s an adult around to supervise.

Talk to your insurance agent about your Homeowners coverage to make sure you’re pool meets the minimum safety standards required by most insurers.

Reprinted from Renaissance Alliance – no usage without permission.

Drowning Doesn’t Look Like What You See On TV

June 10, 2021 By RENAISSANCE ALLIANCE

When we head to the beach or the pool on the weekends, most of us do so with a dangerous knowledge gap. We have wrong ideas about drowning and our ignorance means we don’t always recognize the signs of a person in distress when we see them. We are conditioned by movies and pop culture to think that a drowning person would yell and wave for help and splash violently to get attention. In reality, drowning is a quiet, desperate event – so quiet that every year, children die in pools and water just feet away from parents or friends who do not recognize the signs of distress.

Drowning behavior is so similar victim to victim that experts describe it as The Instinctive Drowning Response. Mario Vittone is an expert on water safety and he has been on a mission to raise awareness of what drowning behavior actually looks like – his blog post Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning is a really eye opener and something worth sharing.

He describes the behavior as:

The Instinctive Drowning Response – so named by Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D., is what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in the water. And it does not look like most people expect. There is very little splashing, no waving, and no yelling or calls for help of any kind. To get an idea of just how quiet and undramatic from the surface drowning can be, consider this: It is the number two cause of accidental death in children, age 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents) – of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. In ten percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening. Drowning does not look like drowning

Here’s a video showing instinctive drowning response.

Drowning can happen in seconds. A more widespread understanding of what signs of swimming distress and drowning behavior actually look like would help to save lives. Help to raise awareness – why not share this post with friends and relatives – particularly parents of young kids?

See related posts on pool safety:

Swimming pool and spa safety issues and insurance coverage

Pool & spa owners: Minimize your risk with simple steps for safety

When wild animals decide to take a swim in your pool

Reprinted from Renaissance Alliance – no usage without permission.

Newlyweds and Insurance: Have You Talked to Your Agent?

May 25, 2021 By RENAISSANCE ALLIANCE

Like millions of other couples this year, you may be putting the finishing touches on your plans for a wedding. In 2018, there were an average of 6,200 weddings per day in the US, but some months are more popular than others. The Spring is an active time, with 10% of all weddings in May and 11% in June. Statistics say that the average wedding budget is $20,000 and the average number of guests is 178. With COVID restrictions lifting in most states, the 2021 wedding season should feel a lot more normal than 2020.

From the event to the honeymoon, it’s a big deal with a lot of details, so it can be easy to overlook insurance. But we’re not just talking about wedding event insurance which, if you plan a costly event, you should definitely consider to cover cancellation or losses such as stolen gifts, damaged photos, rings or gowns and other unforeseen problems. In this case, we’re talking about insurance matters that you and your spouse should consider as you embark on a financial life together.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) offers a handy tip sheet about insurance matters that engaged couples should discuss: Combining Your Insurance: Just got engaged? Don’t forget to talk about insurance. It discusses decision points and money saving tips for homeowners and renters insurance, auto insurance, health insurance, and life insurance.

Of course the easiest way to cover insurance is to make an appointment with your local independent insurance agent, who can walk you through all the considerations both for the event itself and for the various coverage options you’ll need going forward. As you embark on a new life together, you no doubt have many hopes, plans and dreams. The right coverage can keep you on track by protecting you from unexpected losses. Your agent will know the best coverage options and the ins and outs for saving money.

Below is an infographic Insurance Survival Guide for Newlyweds, also from NAIC. (For a larger version, click the link or the image).

Reprinted from Renaissance Alliance – no usage without permission.

Creating a home inventory

May 6, 2021 By RENAISSANCE ALLIANCE

fyrniture items in a home inventory

Pop quiz – without looking, see how you do answering these questions:

What are the makes and years of your major kitchen appliances?
How many pairs of pants do you own? Jackets? Shoes? Boots?
What year did you buy your mattress and bed frame and what brand is it?
Name all the power tools you own. List the contents of your tool chest?
What brand of dinnerware and flatware do you own and when did you buy it?
List all your AV equipment, the make, the brand and the year you bought it.
Write down everything in your living room. Include what’s in the drawers and closets.

It’s not so easy remembering that stuff, is it?

It would be even harder if you were trying to recall all your stuff right after your house was destroyed in a fire or demolished in a hurricane. That’s why it’s important to keep a home inventory. If you find yourself under the terrible stress of recovering from a disaster or even a burglary, you don’t need the added burden of trying to remember all the possessions you lost so that you can be properly reimbursed by your insurer. A good home inventory will help you document your losses and make it easier to file a claim and get it processed.

You can record your “stuff” in a notebook (old-school style), but phones and computers have really simplified the process. A simple spreadsheet will do the trick, or use your phone to take room-by-room videos and document with photos. Or download an inventory app. Just be sure that you have multiple copies, that you store your inventory in a safe and accessible place and you keep it updated. Even if you make a hand-written version, you can scan it and keep it online in cloud storage.

If you’ve never done a home inventory, it can be a daunting job, but there are tools to help. And going forward, things will be much easier if you get in the habit of taking photos of new purchases and saving receipts. Log serial numbers, when available.

Consumer Reports offers advice on How to Inventory Your Home for an Insurance Adjuster – including this short video:

Here’s more home inventory advice from people who should know: insurers.

The Insurance Information Institute has a great guide on how to create a home inventory
Travelers: 5 Steps to Create a Home Inventory Checklist [Video]
Farmers: If I Love It, Should I List It? How Do I Take a Home Inventory?
Nationwide: Creating a Home Inventory

If you are interested in an app to help you create a home inventory, here are some reviews of top picks:

The Balance: The 7 Best Home Inventory Apps of 2019
Benzinga: The Best Home Inventory Apps
ZapERP: The 8 Best Home Inventory Apps Of 2019 (Android & iOS)

Reprinted from Renaissance Alliance – no usage without permission.

Spring Home Maintenance Tips

April 19, 2021 By RENAISSANCE ALLIANCE

Spring is officially here, and as any homeowners knows, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and tackle some annual home maintenance tasks. Consumer Reports put this great list together last year. It includes tips for:

Cleaning household filters
De-griming countertop appliances
Washing windows
Prepping your lawn mower
Sprucing up your Lawn
Getting your gas grill ready
Pressure washing your deck (or porch)
Organizing your garage
Checking your tires

For a good year-round home maintenance checklist, the American Society of Home Inspectors has a comprehensive list of tasks and suggests as to whether they should be completed periodically, in the spring or in the fall.

We also like this cute springtime infographic from ReadyNest – see below or click on the image for the original.

Reprinted from Renaissance Alliance – no usage without permission.

How to avoid hydroplaning – and what to do if it happens

March 19, 2021 By RENAISSANCE ALLIANCE

We all think about tire safety in winter when the roads are snowy or slushy and we adjust our driving accordingly. But what about in the rain? Wet, slick roads with water buildup can be quite hazardous, too. Many drivers are rather cavalier about adjusting their driving in the rain and are caught short when something goes wrong, such as hydroplaning.

Hydroplaning – also sometimes called aquaplaning – is losing traction over water while driving, and actually skimming or sliding on the surface of that water. Losing contact with the road is a frightening experience because it results in loss of control of the car. The formula for hydroplaning is speed, tire tread depth and water depth. It’s important to maintain your tires and slow down when it rains. Even a light rain can be hazardous, particularly in the first few minutes as rainfall mixes with oils on the road surface.

Edmunds offers excellent Tips for Driving Safely in the Rain. Also, check out these two videos that talk more about what hydroplaning is and what to do should it occur.

Technology helps, but is not a substitute for caution

While driver-assist technologies such as traction control, anti-lock brakes and lane assist technologies can help keep us safer, don’t rely on them. Be cautious and be prepared:

Maintain your tires – make sure the tread is good and that they are properly inflated.
Slow down when it rains. Many experts suggest reducing speed by about one-third.
Avoid standing water.
Disable cruise control on wet roads and when raining.
Increase the following distance between you and the car ahead.
If you do hydroplane, stay calm, ease off the accelerator, and don’t make any sudden moves that may cause a spin out.

Reprinted from Renaissance Alliance – no usage without permission.

Thinking about a side hustle? Check with your insurance agent

Today, it seems like everybody’s got a side hustle, which is essentially just a fancy rebranding of what used to be called moonlighting. But today’s moonlighting often comes with a twist …. these gigs often involve using your personal car or home to generate extra income. Whether it’s driving for Lyft, dropping off packages for Amazon, delivering meals through DoorDash, renting your home through Airbnb or just taking advantage of a tourist influx during a big local event by renting out your home, five words of advice: check with your insurance agent.

If your goal is earning some extra cash, make sure you understand and are covered for potential risks. You might think you are covered by working for a third-party service, but if you injure yourself or someone else while working, if you damage or lose someone’s property or if you suffer a loss to your own property, you may be on your own. Here are just two examples:

Home rental – If you want to start renting out all or a portion of your home through a peer-to-peer rental service, what happens if a guest is injured on your property? Or if a guest burns the whole place down in a cooking fire, will your rental service cover your home replacement?

Some services, such as Airbnb and VRBO, offer programs such as host guarantees or host liability insurance. On first glance, these may look adequate – $1 million liability coverage should be enough, right? But like most things, you need to read the fine print because there are conditions, limitations and exclusions that could leave you exposed to serious loss. You also should not assume that your own homeowners policy will provide coverage in a home rental scenario. Insurance Information Institute says:

Standard homeowners and renters insurance policies are designed for personal risks, not commercial risks. Some insurers now offer a home-sharing liability insurance policy that can be purchased on a month-to-month basis, but there may be exclusions and limitations, so read the policy carefully. If you plan to rent out all or part of your home on a regular basis, many companies will consider this a business use and you may need to purchase a business policy—specifically either a hotel or a bed-and-breakfast policy.

Ridesharing – Check with the service you are contracting with about any coverage that they might offer – states are increasingly mandating that third-party services provide some coverage, but again – there could be conditions, limitations and exclusions that leave dangerous gaps in your coverage. And it’s a mistake to assume that your own personal auto insurance will cover you. Insurance Information Institute says:

Generally a standard personal auto policy will not provide coverage for ride-sharing. A standard personal auto insurance policy stops providing coverage from the moment a driver logs into a TNC ride-sharing app to the moment the customer has exited the car and the transaction is closed.

They also advise:

Prospective drivers should ask the TNC what level of coverage it provides. Drivers should also contact their own auto insurer to address gaps, if any, in their liability protection. It is also recommended that TNC drivers review a copy of their TNC’s insurance contracts so they know the exact terms and conditions of the coverage.

Learn more: Ride-sharing and insurance: Q&A

These are just two common examples of so-called side-hustles, but other income-generating activities might call for other types of coverage, such as product liability or home business coverage. Your agent can also help you assess the adequacy of coverage offered by a third-party. If you are considering a side-hustle, give your independent insurance agent a call to talk things over.

Reprinted from Renaissance Alliance – no usage without permission.

Drunk Driving Simulator Show the Danger of Impaired Driving

How impaired are you when driving under the influence? Ford’s Driving Skills For Life Program tested that theory out on teens using a drunk driving simulator suit that they developed to mimic the feeling and effects of inebriation. With weight pads, sound and goggles, they simulated the effects of drunkenness and had teens try driving while impaired.

“To impair coordination and balance, teens have a set of weights strapped to their body in different locations. For instance, one might be on the left ankle while others weight their shoulders and wrists down.

For a slower physical reaction time, trainers attach restrictive braces to both elbows and knees. Lastly and, perhaps, most challenging, the young participants don muffling headphones and vision-distorting goggles.”

This is a simulation, but the problem is real. While alcohol-related driving deaths have trended down since the 1990s, alcohol is still a factor in nearly one-third (31%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States.

Every day, almost 30 people in the United States die in drunk-driving crashes — that’s one person every 50 minutes. These deaths have fallen by a third in the last three decades; however, drunk-driving crashes claim more than 10,000 lives per year. – NHTSA

Your BAC (Blood Alcohol Count) is a measure of the amount of alcohol in your bloodstream. You can learn about your BAC and how to get a rough calculation of your BAC, and what level of drinking will lead to impairment for your weight/sex. There are also a variety of BAC gauging apps that you can get for your phone. Learn more about the effects: The 6 stages of getting drunk.

It’s very important to know your state laws and BAC limits: Find your state’s drunk driving laws

Most states have administrative license suspension (ALS) on the first offense. ALS allows law enforcement to confiscate a driver’s license for a period of time if he fails a chemical test.

DUI and Insurance

If you have a Driving Under the Influence (DUI) license suspension or a DUI-related accident, it will be reflected in your state driving record and you should expect it to have an impact on your insurance. As a “high risk driver,” your insurance company could cancel your policy or decide to drop you when it is up for renewal. At the very least, expect limited options and a huge hike in the price you pay to secure coverage. In some states, an insurance company may deny coverage of personal injuries or property damage related to a DUI-related accident.

A DUI conviction may also have a big effect on Life Insurance rates. Some companies may decline coverage entirely for a number of years after a conviction.

Reprinted from Renaissance Alliance – no usage without permission.

In the market for a new car? Calculate the full costs

If you’re in the market for a new car over the coming year, there’s a lot more to think about in terms of cost than just the sticker price. If you aren’t figuring in the associated financing costs, taxes, insurance, depreciation, gas and maintenance, you are only getting a partial picture of the true cost to drive a car. According to AAA, the cost of car ownership in 2019 was $9,282 or $773.50 a month. That’s 5% more – or $433 – than the prior year.

One of the key culprits to the costs? Finance charges, which AAA says average about 40% of the total costs.

“A key contributor to the increase was a large jump in financing costs. Rising federal interest rates and higher vehicle prices fueled a spike in finance charges, which rose 24% in 2019 from $744 to $920. It comes as long-term loans are becoming more common. Such loans offer lower monthly payments, but they ultimately cost the consumer more, meaning car buyers are paying more, and longer, for vehicles that lose value the moment they’re sold.”

Although long-term loans might seem cheaper, AAA says that they are ultimately costing the consumer more. They estimate that, on average, every 12 months added to the life of a loan adds nearly $1,000 in total finance charges.

One other key expense factor is that as new cars come equipped with more technology to make driving safer and more convenient, maintenance and repair costs go up. Sophisticated sensor in bumpers mean that a simple fender bender can require a costly replacement and recalibration of sensors. See our prior post on high tech cars equaling high cost repairs.

Because cars can be such a big budget item, it can pay to do advance research to ensure you make the best purchase and consider other factors than just the sticker price. Here are some car-buying tools to help you anticipate and calculate the total cost of ownership of various makes and models.

The Edmunds Inc. True Cost to Own tool calculates additional costs you may not have included when considering your next vehicle purchase. These extra costs include depreciation, interest on your loan, taxes and fees, insurance premiums, fuel costs, maintenance, and repairs.
Kelley Blue Book offers the 2019 Best Resale Value Awards and tools to check your car’s value.
Top Safety Picks are issued annually by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Also see the IIHS report on insurance losses by make and model.
Car Fax VIN Check is an essential tool to check the Vehicle Identification Number on used vehicles before purchase.
Edmunds and Consumer Reports track the most fuel-efficient vehicles.

Talk to your insurance agent!

One other source for keeping annual costs of a new car down is to talk over auto insurance options with your insurance agent. Be sure you are taking advantage of any available discounts, such as discounts for safe drivers, low mileage, seniors, good students, and more. Plus, bundling your auto and homeowners policies with one insurer can yield discounts on both.

Reprinted from Renaissance Alliance – no usage without permission.

Wait for it …. This Could Save Your Life

This is a short post featuring a short, powerful video clip: Wait for it … this could save your life. We encourage you to watch it and share it – it’s just under 4 minutes. There’s a lot we could say about it, but we think it is more impactful to let the clip speak for itself.

Jacy Good, the young woman in the video who tells her story, is not an actress. Here is more about how she became a passionate safety advocate.

Join 40 million other people: Take the It Can Wait pledge

Reminder: The new Massachusetts hands-free driving law is now in effect

Distracted driving – 5 seconds is all it takes

Reprinted from Renaissance Alliance – no usage without permission.