Some of us have the occasional ‘bad day’ – you forget to set an alarm clock in the morning, traffic is a bear & your day is an endless stream of papers showing up on your desk. What a headache. Well, bookmark this page to feel better if you’re ever feeling a little clumsy because we’re about to give “John” a really, really bad day…
At 5 PM, John is homeward bound after a day at his office. En route, he makes a pit stop at a drive thru for a quick take-home dinner before he watches Monday night football. The aroma from a few salty french fries fills the car and before you know it, there is an empty hole in the to-go bag where the fries once were. Right before John pulls into his garage, he gets a phone call. It’s his wife. He reaches for the phone but it slips out of his grip – terrible timing, as he’s pulling into the garage and “LOOKOUT!!!” – John crashes into the pillar next to the garage. Luckily nobody is hurt but John’s new Mazda 6 isn’t looking so hot. Nor is the pillar. 
He gets out to look and sees the damage to the car & the house. While John is mulling over his disappointment with his move, he hears the dog upstairs yelping. John’s pup, a 17 year old shiatsu is having a seizure. Yes, pets have seizures and smaller pets are more likely to have them so keep reading… Sprinting upstairs, John grabs the pup and drives to the vet. An hour later, he finds out his dog is going to be OK but it will require some take-home medication, which John gladly agrees to implement. So John’s bad day is over right? Wrong! It turns out that John hit a water pipe when he collided with the pillar in his garage and there’s 2″ of water in his basement. The football game has long ended by the time an on-call plumber arrives and John helps to clean up the mess. Finally, John falls asleep on his couch, dog on stomach.
Let’s assess this situation: Many insurance providers will classify John’s damages as a “self-inflicted accident.” These types of accidents name John as the responsible party but he’s also the party sustaining the damages. In this situation liability coverage, which results in payment to third party, would not apply but comprehensive or collision would. Another common example of a self-inflicted accident is when a husband backs his car into his wife’s. He caused the accident but also has sustained property damage. John’s lucky this did not happen to him or he would be spending the next couple weeks in the dog house!
So now, let’s see why John is actually quite lucky…
The total damage amount for John’s car, his garage, the basement and visit to the vet is $26,500. However, since he’s insured, John’s total out of pocket is combined deductibles of $1500. (Note: If John had bundled his auto and home insurance with the same carrier, his carrier may have waived the deductible on one of the claims.) If John hadn’t carried these three critical lines of insurance it would have been an entirely different story… Instead of making improvements to his house and taking a vacation John would have needed to spend all of his saved cash (and then some) just to get the house and the car back to the condition it was in 10 minutes before he came home. What a bummer that would have been…
Don’t hesitate to call us when you breath a sigh of relief for John to make sure your vehicle, home/apartment and even pets are adequately covered by clicking here or by calling us at 1-800-258-5101. image
*This is a hypothetical situation
