Homeowners insurance provides financial relief if a covered event damages your home, property, or personal belongings. It can also pay out when you’re held responsible for an accident or injury. Homeowners insurance is required by most mortgage lenders. Homeowners insurance provides coverage to repair or rebuild your home after events like fire, smoke, theft, vandalism, a falling tree, or damage caused by weather such as lightning, wind, or hail. Most standard homeowners insurance policies also cover furniture, clothing, and other possessions.

Is homeowners insurance paid monthly or yearly? If you pay for your homeowners insurance directly, and not through an escrow account, then you can choose whether to pay monthly, quarterly, semiannually, or yearly. If your lender requires you to have an escrow account, your insurance payment is generally made yearly.

In addition to industry-wide price increases, your home insurance quotes may also be high because of your credit, a home’s age and value, construction type, location, and exposure to catastrophes, among other factors.

California has nearly 16,000 known earthquake faults, you are not required by state law to carry earthquake insurance. Your basic homeowners and renters insurance policies do not cover earthquake damage. 

You’ll only need renters insurance if your landlord or your building requires it. While not required otherwise, anyone renting any type of residence long-term would benefit from having renters insurance to protect against potentially devastating financial consequences.

Renters insurance policies cover…

• Personal property damage: If your personal belongings are damaged are destroyed by an event covered by your renters insurance, your insurer will cover the cost of the damage up to your policy’s limits.

• Personal liability: Protects you against the legal liability of an accident in your residence, such as your responsibility for medical bills and lost wages if someone is seriously injured as a guest at your place.

• Loss of use: If your residence becomes uninhabitable due to a covered event, your renters insurance policy will cover expenses exceeding your normal living expenses.

• Medical protection: Pays for reasonable medical expenses for someone injured in your residence

• Choose older vehicles to insure before purchasing a new car
• Improve your credit score
• Stay clear of accidents and violations
• Take a defensive driving course
• Offer to pay higher deductibles
• Stop paying for car insurance you don’t need
• Park in a garage
• Bundle policies under the same company
• Join group insurance
• Earn low mileage discounts
• Get good student discount

In general, when you borrow a car, you borrow car insurance, too. Insurance typically follows the car, not the driver. That means if you are involved in an  accident while driving someone else’s car (not on your insurance policy), the owner of the car will probably be held responsible for any financial damages. It’s still a good idea to make sure whoever borrows a car has their own insurance policy.  Their coverage can help pay for damage caused by an at-fault accident, in certain circumstances.

Yes, you will need full coverage on a vehicle if you have a car loan. If you drive a financed car, your lender will require you to carry liability insurance, collision insurance, and comprehensive insurance, often called “full coverage”.

Comprehensive insurance is a coverage that helps pay to replace or repair your vehicle if it’s stolen or damaged in an incident that’s not a collision.  Comprehensive, sometimes called “other than collision” coverage, typically covers damage from fire, vandalism or falling objects (like a tree or hail).

Collision insurance covers damage to your vehicle in the event of a covered accident involving a collision with another vehicle. This may include repairs or a full replacement of your covered vehicle.

Full coverage car insurance is a term that describes having all the main parts of car insurance including Bodily Injury, Property Damage, Uninsured Motorist, PIP, Collision and Comprehensive. 

A CGL insurance policy will usually cover the costs of your legal defense and will pay on your behalf all damages if you are found liable—up to the limits of your policy. CGL coverage is one of the most important insurance products, due to the negative impact that a lawsuit can have on a business and because such liability suits happen so frequently.

Standard CGL includes:

Coverage A: Bodily Injury and Property Damage Liability
Bodily injury and property damage coverage provides protection against losses from the legal liability of insureds for bodily injury or property damage to others arising out of non-professional negligent acts or for liability arising out of their premises or business operations. Mental injuries and emotional distress can be considered bodily injuries, even in the absence of physical bodily harm.

Workers compensation and employment practices liability insurance are excluded but can be purchased as separate policies. In addition, pollution liability is excluded and can be purchased as an endorsement. However, this coverage is very limited, and high-risk businesses should consider purchasing a separate pollution liability policy. Liquor liability, professional liability and other risks may also be excluded. An insurance professional can help you to determine endorsements that are right for your type of business.

Coverage B: Personal and Advertising Injury

Personal and advertising injury liability protects an insured against liability arising out of certain offenses, such as:

• Libel
• Slander
• False arrest
• Infringing on another’s copyright
• Malicious prosecution
• Use of another’s advertising idea
• Wrongful eviction, entry, or invasion of privacy

Coverage C: Medical Payments

Limited coverage for medical payments includes payments for injuries sustained by a non-employee caused by an accident that takes place on the insured’s premises or when exposed to the insured’s business operations. Medical payments coverage can be triggered without legal action. This provides for prompt settlement of smaller medical claims without litigation. It is included in the CGL policy and pays for all necessary and reasonable medical, surgical, ambulance, hospital, professional nursing and funeral expenses for a person injured or killed in an accident taking place at the insured’s premises or arising from business operations. There is no defense or legal liability coverage—as there is with bodily injury and property damage (Coverage A) and personal and advertising liability (Coverage B) —since coverage is provided on a no-fault basis.

Additional Liability Coverages to Consider for your business GL policy

Depending on your type of business you may want to consider other additional liability coverages a apart from the commercial general liability insurance.

• Directors and Officers liability
• Liquor liability
• Pollution liability

California employers are required by law to have workers’ compensation insurance, even if they have only one employee. And, if your employees get hurt or sick because of work, you are required to pay for workers’ compensation benefits. Workers’ comp insurance provides basic benefits, including medical care, temporary disability benefits, permanent disability benefits, supplemental job displacement benefits and a return-to-work supplement, and death benefits.