Documenting Storm Damage

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy Pixabay

Now that the start of Hurricane Season is only a couple weeks away, I thought I’d take the time to show you how to document storm damage.  When it comes to storms in Florida, it doesn’t take a hurricane to produce damage.  The typical afternoon gully washer packs enough of a punch to knock down trees, strip shingles from roofs and pepper your home with hail.  If your home does sustain storm-related damage, do you know how to document it so you can file a claim?  Do you know what steps to take to make sure you get paid?  Below are some helpful hints designed to give you a leg up after the squall has ended.

The ABC’s of Mobile Home Insurance

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy Public Domain Pictures

Many mobile home owners think that insuring their property is identical to homeowner’s insurance.  I like to point out the fact that while the two are similar, there are a number of subtle differences that they need to note before purchasing insurance.  To make life simple for all you mobile and modular home owners out there, this week I’ll cover the ABC’s of mobile home insurance.

Teaching Your Teen to Drive

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy flickr

When it comes to teaching your children life lessons, one of the toughest is giving your teenager driving lessons.  While many parents outsource the nerve-wracking job to a driving school, I’m here to tell you that taking on the task yourself can be rewarding.  Particularly if you find you and your teen have little in common and/or your teenager has devolved into sullen silence, one thing that can strengthen your connection and brighten their disposition is holding out your car keys and saying, “Want to drive?”

That being said, finding yourself in the passenger seat while your inexperienced teenager takes the wheel of your car can be a daunting prospect.  To help you keep from having a nervous breakdown or further alienating your teenager, I have come up with my top-10 list of things you can do to make the effort less stressful on both of you.

10 Reasons to Consider Adding Roadside Assistance

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy flickr

Americans love their cars.  That’s a fact.  Another fact is while modern automobiles are extremely reliable, they are also extremely complicated.  This means that there are more ways than ever for cars to wind up breaking down far from home.  If you’ve ever had your car’s dashboard light up only to feel the engine cut out when you were tooling down the interstate, then you know that unless you’re lucky, you’re going to need a tow.  Unless you have roadside assistance of some kind, the cost to tow your vehicle to a service center could cost you several hundred dollars.  Since adding Roadside Assistance to your insurance costs a fraction of that amount, I thought I’d take the time to give you 10 reasons to consider adding it to your auto policy.  

Beating Burglars at Their Own Game

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy Pixabay

Being a homeowner means always fretting over the security of your home.  The problem with having nice things is there are always some people looking to take them away from you.  In fact, there are those who make their living doing exactly that for a living.  The police refer to them as burglars.  These marauders come in a variety of shapes and sizes.  There are daylight robbers that specialize in breaking into your home while you are at work.  There are cat burglars who creep into homes in the dead of night while you sleep.  Last but not least, there are home invaders that don’t think twice about staging a raid on your domicile while you and your family are wide awake.  The trick to warding off burglars of all stripes is to make your home a hard target.  This week, I will show you how to think like a thief in order to ward off burglars.

What Condo Insurance Can Do

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy Pixabay

If you own a condo you most likely have condo insurance.  Many people think that condo insurance and homeowner’s insurance are one and the same.  This couldn’t be further from the truth.  While both insure the structure and contents of a home, there are a number of differences between the two.  The good news is condo owners for the most part pay less for their insurance than do homeowners, for the simple reason that condos are partially owned by the owner and partially by the condo association.  However, to properly insure a condo and protect the property that condominium owners do possess, it’s important that you understand what condo insurance can and can’t do.

Will Self-Driving Cars Drive Humans Out from Behind the Wheel?

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy wikimedia

Last week I had a chance to take a ride in a Tesla Model X SUV.  Equipped with everything including a pair of gull-wing back doors, the all-electric vehicle was a revelation for someone born and raised on the internal combustion engine.  Not only doesn’t the Tesla require a stop at the gas station, as I was soon to learn, it doesn’t really need a driver behind the wheel.  As my friend who owns the Model X explained as he engaged the Autopilot, “This baby pretty much drives itself.”  As we headed west on Beach Blvd. he took his hands off the wheel and the car quickly settled into the middle lane where it maintained a safe distance between it and the pickup truck ahead, even when the light turned red and traffic came to a stop.  When the light once again turned green and the traffic once again rolled onward, so did the Model X.