Oh No! A Grinch Stole My Christmas Packages!
At Hanby Insurance, we’re so excited about the upcoming holiday season! However, we want to make you aware of a few things that increase regarding insurance claims around the holidays.
Car Break-ins Around the Holidays
One big insurance claim we hear about a lot is car break-ins. Every year, people are out doing their Christmas shopping and buying all of the fun things for their family members and friends. Unfortunately, around the holidays, there are a lot more people looking to break into cars. So, we see an uptick in claims where people have been out shopping and someone broke into their car and stole all of their Christmas packages. We’ve even had people going to celebrate Christmas at a relative’s house or out of town, and someone broke in and stole their Christmas packages.
Where Personal Belongings Aren’t Covered
The first thing you need to know is that your personal belongings are not covered under your auto insurance. If you are out traveling and have personal items in your vehicle, such as Christmas packages, laptops, work devices, etc., and someone breaks in and steals those items, they are not covered under your auto insurance.
Where to Find Coverage
So, where would you find coverage for stolen personal belongings if your car is broken into? That would be covered under your homeowners or renters’ insurance. Most homeowners and renters’ insurance policies have a clause that covers up to 10% of your personal property for off-premises. Let’s say you have $100,000 in personal property on your homeowners or renters’ insurance policy. Then you would have $10,000 coverage off-premises for your personal items that are not at your residence. This is subject to the deductible, so most of the time we see the stolen items do not meet the deductible. However, there is some coverage there if it should happen. The best course of action is not leaving the items in your vehicle. Make sure you take them with you or stop by home and drop them off before you go to your next destination.