Farm Insurance
Your farm is your home and your livelihood. At Campbell & Haliburton, myCH, we help you protect it. We know what insurance coverages you need to enjoy peace of mind and sleep well at night.
Farm insurance has essentially two separate components:
The Homeowner’s Insurance Portion
The Farming Exposure Portion
Homeowner’s Insurance
Your home is one of your most valuable assets. But we know that it is more than just an asset. This is where you live, relax, and raise your family. At Campbell & Haliburton, myCH, we help you protect it.
How Much Insurance Do I Need?
Knowing the amount of home insurance you need can be confusing. Generally, you should insure your home for the cost to rebuild it if something happened. This may, or may not, be what it would sell for today (market value). At Campbell & Haliburton, myCH, we will help you determine what it would cost to have your home rebuilt should the unthinkable happen. We have tools that can help you determine the cost to rebuild so that you can be properly insured.
What Kind of Insurance Do I Need?
Home Insurance packages are not one size fits all. We all have different needs and different budgets. At Campbell & Haliburton, myCH, we will help you figure out the best home insurance for you. Confused by terms like Prestige, Broad From, or Comprehensive Insurance? We’ll explain this to you in ways that will make sense. Plain talk you can understand – not insurance speak.
Homeowner’s Insurance Components
Your Home –
– Replacement Cost and potentially Guaranteed Replacement Cost
– Sewer Back-up and Overland Water Protection
– Service Line Coverage
– Equipment Breakdown Coverage
– Building Bylaws Coverage
Your Personal Belongings – everything from couches to clothing and toothbrushes to TV’s
– And coverage for special items
o Jewelry
o Boats and Motors
o Bikes
o ATVs
Additional Living Expenses
Personal Liability Insurance
Discounts – How do I save money on my insurance?
– Age
– Security Systems
– Credit Scoring
– Deductibles
– Being “mortgage free”
– Being “claims free”
The Fine Print
This is a summary. All farm insurance policies contain terms, limitations and differences. We understand them, and we’ll walk through them with you. For all of these coverages there are limitations and exclusions. And in all cases the actual insurance policy wording is what will be used in the event of a claim. While we are not writing each and every exclusion here, we do have the wordings and will make sure that you are not just given a copy of the them, but also that they’re explained to you before you purchase, and more importantly before there is a claim.
Replacement Cost and potentially Guaranteed Replacement Cost
Replacement Cost means that if you have a loss that is covered by insurance your home would be repaired or replaced.
If the damage was not so great as to destroy the entire home, such as a small kitchen fire, the damage would be repaired. You would essentially have the old damaged area replaced with new materials.
If the damage was catastrophic, such as a fire that destroyed your entire home, it would be rebuilt. What you had before would be replaced with new. How much would you receive? You would receive the actual cost to rebuild your home or the amount of insurance that you had – whichever is less.
Guaranteed Replacement Cost means that if your home was totally destroyed it would be rebuilt even if the cost to do so exceeded the amount of insurance that you had.
Sewer Back-up and Overland Water Protection
Water is the new fire. Roughly 60% of all home claims are now water related. Water in the basement is a very real possibility and a very unpleasant one. There is insurance that you can purchase to protect you in the event that this happens. Insurance is available for sewer backup and sudden and accidental damage caused by the unusual and rapid accumulation of surface water, flood or ground water. As in all cases, each insurance company has their own specific wordings which take apply.
Service Line Coverage
Service Line Coverage provides you with insurance in the event that your underground lines such as your water line or sewer line are damaged. This could include damage caused by tree roots or collapse. Typically, it covers the service line from the edge of your foundation to the edge of your property line and would cover the costs associated with digging out the yard or driveway, replacing/repairing the line and re-landscaping.
Equipment Breakdown Coverage
Our homes now have some fairly technologically advanced equipment. Equipment Breakdown Coverage is there to provide insurance for sudden and accidental electrical or mechanical breakdown. This would cover things such as your furnace, air conditioner, appliances, high end electronics, and in floor heating.
Building Bylaws Coverage
Bylaws coverage provides coverage for the event that, as a result of a claim, you have additional costs associated with fixing the damaged portion of your building to conform to the current municipal bylaws or building codes.
Jewelry
Many home insurance policies provide you with coverage for jewelry, however, most limit the amount that they will pay. If you have more jewelry than is covered by the policy, it is possible to increase that amount and reduce the deductible.
Boats and Motors
Most home’ insurance policies provide a very limited amount of insurance for boats and motors. If you own a boat, we can help ensure that you have enough insurance.
Bikes
Home insurance policies will usually provide some insurance for bicycles. Depending on the value of your bike you may require additional insurance.
Note: Home insurance, however, will generally not provide coverage for motorcycles whether licensed or unlicensed as they can be insured in other ways. If you have a dirt bike, we can help you with that as well.
ATVs
In Saskatchewan ATVs are not licensed. In most cases they can be added to your homeowners’ insurance.
Additional Living Expenses
If you have a loss to your home, you may need other accommodations while your home is being repaired or replaced. Your home insurance policy provides insurance to cover this expense for you.
Personal Liability Insurance
Personal liability insurance provides you with protection if you cause unintentional injury to others or damage to other people’s property. This could include things like people slipping on your steps and being injured.
Age
There is a reason that we ask your date of birth when we complete your application form. Many insurance companies provide a discount to your policy based on your age.
Security Systems
If you have a professionally installed and monitored security system for break in or fire, many insurance companies will provide an additional savings on your home insurance policy.
Credit Scoring
Many insurance companies are providing a discount for doing a credit check. This is a soft hit and does not impact your credit rating. It is done completely behind the scenes so that neither we, nor your insurance company sees your actual credit score. Over the past few years we have seen discounts up to several hundred dollars. This is an optional discount and you choose whether you consent to having the soft credit check done or not.
Deductibles
A deductible is the amount that you pay in the event of a loss. For example, if you have a $500 deductible and a claim of $5,000, you would be responsible to pay the first $500 of the claim. The insurance company would pay the $4,500 remainder. If the claim was under $500 you would not file a claim as it would not exceed your deductible. The higher the deductible the greater your savings.
Being “mortgage free”
Not having a mortgage or secured line of credit attached to your home can result in a savings on your insurance premium.
Being “claims free”
If you have not had a claim on your home insurance policy there is a savings on your insurance premium.
Types of Insurance Coverage
Essentially there are two different ways that you can insure your home and your belongings with a couple of variations.
There is a more bare bones form of insurance. This is sometimes referred to as named perils coverage. What the insurance company does is to specifically itemize or name the coverages that you have. These would include, among other things: fire, explosion, smoke, vandalism, wind/hail, water escape and theft. This is the more restrictive form of coverage that is available. While it does address some of the major things that can happen, it leaves gaps in coverage.
The second form of insurance is comprehensive insurance. Rather than tell you what is covered the insurance company indicates that all losses are covered unless specifically excluded. Typical exclusions would include: war, terrorism, ground shifting, damage by rodents or pets and normal wear and tear.
There are some day to day practical advantages to comprehensive insurance over the named perils form. Two of the more significant advantages would be:
– Mysterious Disappearance. While named perils insurance usually covers theft it does not cover if something is lost or misplaced. Especially for high value items such as jewelry this may be more of a concern, should you lose a stone out of the ring, or the ring itself.
– Accidental Damage. Let’s face it, accidents happen. Whether spilling red wine on the new white carpet or dropping a $4,000 TV, accidents happen. This sort of accidental damage is covered under comprehensive insurance whereas the basic insurance would not provide coverage
So which is right for you? Named Perils or Comprehensive? At Campbell & Haliburton, myCH, we realize that each individual situation is different. We will give you the options, explain the differences in coverages and cost, and then let you decide which is right for you.
Replacement Cost means that in the event of a loss the building will be repaired or replaced without depreciation.
Ø In the event of a total loss the home will be rebuilt with new materials (subject to the terms of the policy).
Ø In the event of a partial loss the damage will be repaired with new materials.
Actual Cash Value means that in the event of a loss the building will be insured on a depreciated basis.
Ø In the event of a total loss, the claims adjustor will look at the age, condition, life expectancy and resale value of the home. Those factors will be used to determine the actual cash value. You will receive the cash value at the time of the loss or the amount of insurance shown on the policy – whichever is less.
Ø In the event of a partial loss, depreciation will be applied to the settlement and you will be responsible for the difference between the actual cash (depreciated) value and the actual cost to replace.
The Farming Exposure
Farm Buildings.
– Quonsets
– Shops
– Barns
– Fuel Tanks
– Granaries
Machinery
Irrigation Equipment
Tools
Tack Equipment
Fertilizer & Chemicals
Grain
Fodder
Livestock
Firefighting Coverage
Farm Liability
Insurance for Custom Farming