August arrives and many families are doing their last minute purchases for school supplies and dorm needs, books are purchased and a roll of quarters packed for laundry (like they will ever DO laundry). All the last minute needs before that trip in the car loaded with the top carrier full and everyone with more on their laps, a quick run to Walmart by the college for a closet curtain and then mom having a few tears on the way home. After all that thought into sending them to school, there were things I DIDN'T think about when it came to the insurance. I sent her with her guitar, banjo, cameras (the professional kind) and laptop... you know, all the necessities. Ha. When she purchased her camera and lenses, we had them scheduled on our home owner's insurance and we were very glad we did. It doesn't cost very much at all and proved important when our daughter was on a missionary trip and while taking pictures at a baseball game in Germany, a line drive hit her camera and bent in the base and had to be sent away to be fixed. We turned in the estimate to our insurance company and the bills were paid. We had no deductible with how we had chosen to cover it. We also have always scheduled her musical instruments, but I am happy to say they have not had any incidents needing insurance as of yet.
One thing I DIDN'T think about was her laptop. Her laptop with tons of high quality pictures because of her photography jobs and passion crashed when trying to do upgrades. Of course none of it was on a back up at the time. Although our Computer tech tried to save them, she lost almost everything! So we decided that the new laptop needed to be scheduled on our insurance since it would also cover breakage which we don't have under the normal homeowner's insurance. I'm so glad we did! Right before finals, the cord of the laptop caught her foot and it sent the laptop to the floor. It was only from a low coffee table, but enough damage to crack the screen and render the computer useless. Her huge report she was working on was GONE! She was able to rush to the store, have the computer gurus look it over and after assessing that is could not be fixed- she got the new computer and was up and running before the weekend was through, paper done!
If you have similar concerns, give us a call. We would like to take the time needed with you to review your insurance needs- - including what to do for your college bound kid!
Kathy Hembree
Agency Support Manager