Our job at Al Hattie Insurance is to make sure our clients have the best and most comprehensive understanding of their insurance. Whether it be a home, condo, auto, travel, commercial, or agro policy, it is important to stay up to date on changes to your company's policies and their wording. This blog is going to focus on Wawanesa's recently updated wordings to their habitational policies.

Companies often revise their policy wordings to stay current ad competitive. They also change to adapt to our changing needs and to ensure clarity. Wawanesa's habitational coverages haven't changed, but wordings, definitions and limits have.

'Coverage D - Additional Living Expenses' has been renamed to 'Coverage D - Loss of Use'. This is simply a cosmetic update as the three original areas of this coverage - Additional Living Expenses, Fair Rental Value and Prohibited Access - remain unchanged.

One of the main changes can be found in the Special Limits of Insurance. Here are a list of the limits that have changed:

- Money, "cash cards", bullion - $1,000

- Personal Property of a Student away at school - $25,000

- Personal Property of a dependent in a care home - $25,000

- Fur garments and garments trimmed with fur - $6,000

- Numismatic, coin or banknote collections - $1,000

- *** Collectibles, including sports cards,m memorabilia and comic books - $250/item, $5,000 total

Water

Regarding water and water damage there are a few things to note. Flood is excluded from Water Damage coverage. However, flooding originating from a Domestic Water Container is covered. These are defined as "a device or apparatus for containing, heating, chilling or dispensing water for personal use." Examples include swimming pools, water coolers, hot water tanks and washing machines. Ice damming is not a part of the Sewer Backup/Water Damage Extension form and is covered as a Specified Peril on all policies. Coverage for freezing water pipes while policyholder was away from the premises for more than four consecutive days will be provided if any of the following precautions have been taken:

- Arrangements were made for a competent person to enter the dwelling and/or private structures each day to ensure heating was maintained

- The water supply to the dwelling and/or private structures had been shut off and all pipes and domestic water containers were drained

- The heating system was connected to an alarm that is observed 24 hours a day by a central monitoring service

Condo

Condominium owners will find a new section titled "Additional Coverages - Condominium Unit Owners". This section was created to make it easier for condo owners to find coverage specific to their situation. Coverages include:

- Condominium Loss Assessment

- Condominium Additional Coverage

- Condominium Unit Owner Improvements

- Condominium Deductible Assessment

Separating these coverages allows condo owners to purchase specific additional limits of insurance to fit their needs. All Condominium Unit Owners policies will be automatically renewed with $25,000 Condominium Deductible Assessment Coverage. Policyholders will now have the option to raise their limit to $50,000, which may be beneficial for those whose Condominium Corporation's carry high deductibles.

Other

Other coverages have had changes as well. Pollution incidents are now restricted to the escape of a pollutant arising from an insured peril under Section I - Property Coverage. Pollutant has been defined as "any solid, liquid, gaseous or thermal irritant or containment, including but not limited to fuel oil, vapour, soot, chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, waste and smoke from agricultural smudging or industrial operations."

Wawanesa has also adopted the Insurance Bureau of Canada's (IBC) Liability wording to ensure it is comparable to others in the industry. Wordings of a commercial nature referenced previously have been removed. They have also excluded liability for claims arising from the use or misuse of social media or the internet (cyber liability).

Finally there has been a significant reduction in the paper included with the renewal policy, as the additional printed forms - such as Statutory Conditions, Limited Sewer Backup Endorsement and Innocent Co-Insured - are now included in the new wording booklet. Electronic booklets can be found at wawanesa.com.

Join us on Saturday June 7th for our mall's Customer Appreciation Day! We will be hosting a Car Seat Clinic, a free Shred-It Station (with Food Bank donation) for your documents, and a free Child Find ID Clinic. The full day's event's can be found on the flyer below. Thank you from our family for having us as your Saskatchewan Insurance Brokerage for over 30 years!

SGI has just introduced their new Prestige Home Insurance policy for your higher-valued home that provides tailored coverage to suit your needs. Whether you are a home business owner, a specialty items collector, a savvy investor or have an impressive collection of recreational toys, Prestige has the right coverage for you.

All Prestige policies include:

Lifestyle Coverage Options - allowing you to tailor your insurance protection to your specific lifestyle needs.

Priority Claims Service - access to dedicated Prestige adjusters to provide you with faster service, including a 30-minute guaranteed response time.

Roof/Siding/Flooring - if matching materials are no longer available, your entire roof, siding, flooring or sets of vehicle entry doors will be replaced in the event of a claim.

Home Systems Protection - coverage for the sudden and accidental mechanical breakdown of home equipment such as furnaces, central air conditioners, deep well pumps, pool pumps and heating equipment, electrical power panels, and more.

Homeowners' Guarantee Coverage - coverage to repair or replace your home or outbuildings with materials of similar kind and quality, even if the cost to do so is more than what you have insured them for.

Higher Limits on Property with Specific Amounts of Protection - increased coverage for items such as tools, spare auto parts, business instruments and computer software protection, lawnmowers, tractors, snow blowers, jewelry and furs, and much more.

Personal Liability Coverage - $3 million in coverage to protect you if you are sued by someone who is hurt or whose property is unintentionally damaged because of your actions

Roof Snow Removal - access to $1000 to have snow removed from your house following a claim caused by an ice dam.

Single Amount of Protection - provides 150% of the coverage of your home, allowing you to allocate coverage as you wish towards your personal belongings, increased living expenses, lost rental income or expenses to cover the cost of being evacuated from your home.

Prestige Lifestyle Options

Prestige home insurance policies allow the addition of any or all Prestige Lifestyle Options tailored to your needs.

Lifestyle Option A: Home Business Owner 

Additional protection provided for:

- books, tools and instruments for your business

- business computers

- enhanced coverage for credit card/cheques or damages from counterfeit money

-increased limits on voluntary medical and property damages and lost wages

Lifestyle Option B: Collectables & Treasures Protection

Make sure your lifetime of memories is not lost in an emergency by selecting this option that covers:

- per-item protection for priceless comic books and trading cards

- enhanced protection for jewelry, watches or gems

- extra coverage for furs, manuscripts, stamps or coin collections

Lifestyle Option C: Family & Security

Get additional protection for the security that matters with Option C:

- enhanced limits on identity theft protection

- additional coverage for securities and bonds

- protection on bullion, money and gift cards

- additional coverage for childcare costs or loss of income to attend to a home insurance claim

- enhanced coverage for cemetery property such as burial plots

Lifestyle Option D: Recreational Protection

You take care of your quality of life and the value of your home, and you need protection to match:

- increased limits on shrubs and outdoor trees

- enhanced boat and motor coverage

- increased protection for pets

- enhanced protection for bicycles, tricycles or similar, including accessories

- enhanced coverage for yard machines

- increased lock replacement coverage

The new Prestige home insurance policy also provides you with an enhanced Customer Claims Service, which includes a 24/7 dedicated claims line, 30 minute response time, faster payment process and a dedicated adjuster from start to finish. Stop by our office or call 306-955-2700 if you think Prestige is the right policy for your home or if you require any further information.

Got some new gadgets in your home, maybe a radiant floor or some valuable mobile medical equipment? Wawanesa offers Saskatchewan residents a Special Limits Enhancement that can be extremely useful on your home or condo that not only increases some of your existing coverage limits but adds coverage to key systems you rely on in your everyday life. This Home Equipment Breakdown coverage is extremely handy in covering costly gaps to basic policies, protecting you from expensive repair or replacement to key pieces of equipment and systems.

The Special Limits Enhancement raises limits to these existing coverages:

- $20,000 Jewellery and Furs

- Personal property of a student away at school

- Watercrafts

- $20,000 Building Bylaws Coverages

- $20,000 Fire Department Charges Coverage

- Home Freezer Contents

The Special Limits Enhancement also adds $50,000 Home Equipment Breakdown coverage for equipment, systems, and personal property that includes:

- Central air conditioning

- Boilers, furnaces and heat pumps

- Radiant floor heating

- Pool and spa pumps, heating and filtration

- Electrical service panels

- Home security monitoring and control devices

- Kitchen and laundry appliances

- Home entertainment equipment

- Computers, peripherals and wireless devices

- Mobile medical equipment

- Portable generators and sump pumps

If you would like more information regarding Wawanesa's Special Limits Coverage, please give us a call at 1-800-450-2700 or 306-955-2700.

We strive at Al Hattie Insurance is to ensure that as a policy holder at our office you are properly covered under your insurance to cover modern claims scenarios in Saskatchewan. In years past, $1 million in liability coverage to a home, tenant, condo, or auto policy may have seemed more than enough. Unfortunately, this year has seen several claims rising not only above the $1 million but $2 million mark. Due to this trend, we are making sure that our customers are aware of the rising cost of fire and other claims to make sure they are fully covered in case of an accident.

A major fire claim in May this year was one of several incidents that show that rising cost of living and growing density in the city and province inevitably are leading to higher and higher claims. As people's busy lives don't always leave them enough time to or to study the claims market, we strive to make sure that you as the insured are provided with coverage that will do what it is supposed to in case of an emergency; make sure you are going to be covered in case of incident.

As of Jan. 1st 2014 all home, condo, tenant, and auto policies are going to be automatically renewed with $2 million liability coverage. We have unfortunately seen claims in the province that are well exceeding the previous standard of $1 million liability coverage and we don't want you to be paying for insurance and still end up with an enormous bill at the end of the day when an accident occurs. On most policies, to raise liability coverage from $1 million to $2 million will only see an increase of $1-$2 per month per unit on your current policy. $2 million liability coverage won't be mandatory, but will now be recommended for all policies as a minimum limit. If you feel like you are at risk of needing higher coverage, it is possible to also purchase up to $10 million liability coverage when you add an 'Umbrella' liability policy.

If you have questions regarding your policy, getting your coverage changed or increased, or don't know what coverage is best for your needs, please call us (306-955-2700 or toll free 1-888-450-2700) or stop by our office at 3020C Arlington Ave and talk to one of us.