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Show SUPPOSE YOUR GARAGE US? Are You Sure You Will Get the Insurance? 1 By Frank Farrlngton, In Motor LIfef You can toll off-hand, perhaps, how much Insurance you are carrying on your garage or on the building of which your garage Is a part Can you tell as certainly whether you will get that Insurance if the garago burns down ? In the cold, gray dawn of the morning morn-ing after, will you be able to look over the premises with a satisfied feeling that, after all, it might havo been -worse and that you havo monoy enough coming from the Insuranco company to rebuild? Or will you then be worrying about oertaln clauses in your policy that you never noticed until you sat down and read it after the fire? It Is not that you have any reason to doubt the ability of the Insurance company to pay, or that you think they are .dishonest or unfair. Most companies are honest enough and sound enough. It is not that" your policy pol-icy is not a good policy, because it is probably the standard form approved by the laws of your state and by the insurance department The question at the vital moment will be whether you have understood Just what your part of the contract was and whether you have lived up to it. Merely having a standard form of policy does not mean that your duty endB with paying the premium. An Insuranco policy is a contract and, like all contracts, It has two parties to it, each of whom must do certain specified speci-fied things. If you think your policy Is going to mean anything more favorable to you than the expressed terms in it indicate, indi-cate, you will be disappointed. Ver- bal agreements with the agent about 3 matters not mentioned in the policy ? will not bind anybody. Get every-- every-- thing down in black and white. There Is Just one proper time for making sure of what your policy contains con-tains and that Is when you accept it, or If you failed to do so then, right away, now. After the fire starts It will bo too late to obtain any special permits or to change the warranties. Tho loss will be adjusted on the basis of the existing form of the policy, not on what you thought or supposed or hoped it contained. If you have hitherto neglected finding find-ing out Just what your policy promises and just what you promise when you accept It, don't go to bed tonight without with-out making sure of those things, oven If you have to get the agent out of bed 'o explain what you cannot understand. under-stand. Every provision of tho policy that places a responsibility upon you must be kept or the company will refuse re-fuse to pay on the ground that you, the assured, have not complied with tho provisions of the contract. See that your policy fits tho building. build-ing. If you have been using tho same garage ior years anu naving tne oia policy renewed from time to time, it is entirely possible that the conditions in and around the property may havo changed so that the old form of policy Is no longer of any value. When you have the policy renewed each time, see that the agent is Informed regarding regard-ing any possible influential changes In tho conditions. Because tho policy fitted In the first Instance is no sign that it fits today. The "old line companies," so called, are properly regarded as tho standards of insurance safety, but it does not follow that small mutual companies may not also be perfectly safe. Companies Com-panies which scatter their risks widely, wide-ly, taking only a certain sum in a block, will not be likely to meet with disastrous losses in any one big conflagration. con-flagration. The secret of the soundness sound-ness of an insurance company, after honesty in management, is careful distribution dis-tribution of risks. Any business man knows the danger dan-ger of giving an insurance agent, along - with his application, false data that might influence the rate of premium, or enable him to secure a policy that he could not get on a true representa-? representa-? tion of the conditions. Not everyone, however, realizes that tho omission, J intentional or otherwise, of important I Information may prove fatal. Omls-) Omls-) sion of part of tho facts may be taken as indicative of Intent to dofraud, thus I Invalidating tho policy. It is necos-$ necos-$ sary to toll all the truth as well as to I omit falsification. See that everything incorporated In tho policy as a part of the warranty you give tho company is accurately complied with. For example, there Is the "standard chimney warranty" In somo states. If there is a chimney in your garage, or if the garago is a part of a building with chimneys, are the chimneys so constructed as to comply com-ply with the terms of this warranty? Have you changed a chimney without consulting tho Insurance agent? I started to put a tile chimney, a short and 1 believe perfectly safe ono, In one of my buildings and the Insurance agont just happened along and saw It. By his happening to see It, I was saved taking it out after it was finished, or Invalidating my policy. Another chimney chim-ney that is objectionable la tho ono that starts up In tho "attio" or what might correspond technically to an attic. The insurance companies are very fussy about chimneys. When it conies to making any kind o chuuges In this line, consult tho ?rgent first. The "standard electricitv permit" Is one that will make Interesting reading read-ing if. you use electricity "in your garage, ga-rage, and if you wait to read it aftor the fire, it may make expensivo read-1 read-1 ing. You want your wiring and everything every-thing connected with the electric cur- rent to be a kind such as will pass ? inspection. You probably havo given proper at-j at-j tention to the location of your gaso- I line tank outside- of the buIlding-Don't offset this care by, keeping an extra can of gasoline lnsldo the garage, con-J con-J taining enough gasoline so that the f policy, is invalidated -by--vlolailou,oi, f one of Its express stipulations. If your garago is an annex to ,or a part of your house or other building, Instead of standing by itself, don't think it is all right to fix up this annex an-nex for a garage and Like no Insurance precautions because It is already covered cov-ered by tho policy covering the whole building. The ordinary fire insurance policy on a building docs not allow keeping an automobile In tho building. build-ing. Get a special permit covering the automobile. If your garage- Is large enough for more than one car, see that your insurance in-surance permit covers what cars can bo stored there. With a permit for one car, If you want to accommodato a neighbor with over-night storage, you invalidate your policy by doing so. If you have a guest, you take a chance. You can get permits for extra cars up to six, at nominal rates, and you can got a 'Guest" permit without any charge In most companies. When you apply for Insurance, a verbal application may hold the company, com-pany, If the agont Is honest, but the best and Bafcst way Is to get a "binder" "bin-der" or a temporary contract that will hold the company until your policy arrlveB. If there Is any portion of the inaured property that is In tumble-down condition, condi-tion, look to Its repair, or at least when a roof or wall falls, report to the agent at once. A clause in the policy reads like this: "If any building or any part thereof fall, except as a result of fire, all Insurance on such building or on Its contents shall Immediately cease." That Is a drastic clause and worthy of attention by the man with a shaky old lean-to or a weak bit of roof, or a dilapidated shed that may be construed to bo a part of an insured in-sured building. Don't assign your insurance policy to anyone without first getting permission per-mission from the company. The policy pol-icy Is very explicit about this, and a form for permission as well as for assignment as-signment appoars on the back of most policies. Be careful to take up with your agent ag-ent such matters as the Introduction of an Illuminating gas plant into any building, the placing of a mortgage on insured property or the reduction of your interest in the property to anything any-thing less than full ownership; the employment of mechanics for more than 15 days on the premises; the increase in-crease of your fire risk by any means within your knowledge; rental of space In your garage. When you do have a fire, there are certain things you need to do. When the fire is put out, make It your business bus-iness to protect the property from further damage or loss. Make out an Inventory of the property before and arter the fire. Get the damaged premises prem-ises into the. best possible condition. Notify the Insurance company in writing. writ-ing. Later do not fall to get "Proof of Loss" blanks from the agent and send the company a "Sworn Proof of Loss" within 60 days of tho date of the fire. We have all heard more or less about insurance companies trying to crawl out of paying their losses; escaping es-caping on a technicality. Woll, we have to admit that they aro apt to settle in a technical manner but that Is all the more reason, for the policy holder seeing that he understands the situation and lives up to his part of the contract. There are thousands of men who have their savings all Invested In-vested in their homes, and a large percentage per-centage of them have never read their fire insurance policies. They do not know that they are protected in case of fire; they only think they aro. . Read your policy. Read It from beginning be-ginning to end and take time to read it Intelligently and understanding!'. |