CHICAGO—The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) urges consumers to prepare for approaching winter storms with the following tips to protect lives and property.

Winter Driving Tips

Hazardous road conditions make it even more important to take safety precautions and drive defensively. Other winter driving and automobile tips include:

• Winterize your car by checking your antifreeze, battery, tires and windshield wiper fluid. Make sure your headlights, taillights and emergency flashers are working.
• Prepare an emergency travel kit with items such as blankets, jumper cables, a shovel, a flashlight, salt, flares and other emergency supplies. A toolkit, bottled water and snack food are also useful items to include.
• Keep at least half of a tank of gas in your car at all times.
• Slow down and keep extra distance between your car and other vehicles.

If you are in an accident, it’s important to take the following steps:

• Stay calm.
• Get immediate help if anyone is hurt.
• Call the police to report the accident.
• If possible, move your vehicle out of traffic to a safe place. Use your emergency flashers to alert oncoming cars.
• Secure and conceal any valuables before exiting your vehicle.
• Write down the other driver's name, address, phone number, vehicle make, license number, insurance company and insurance policy number.
• If possible, get witnesses' names, phone numbers and addresses.
• Examine the damage to any vehicles involved.
• Do not admit fault to anyone. Limit your discussion of the accident to the police and your insurance agent.
• Contact your insurance company immediately to report the claim.

Cold Weather Homeowners Tips

 

Frozen water pipes represent the biggest potential problem for most homes. A little advance planning will usually prevent frozen pipes.

• Insulate pipes, especially those leading to the outside, and plug holes around the pipes with insulation or spray-in foam. Make sure there is warm air flowing around pipes that are located near an outside wall. Check pipes under sinks to make sure they will get adequate heat.
• Set the heat in the home warm enough to avoid problems. At night, the heating system needs to circulate water through radiator and baseboard heating units to avoid freezing.
• Make sure there is clear access to the main water shut-off valve in case there is a leak or a pipe suddenly bursts.
• Open the water faucets in your sinks enough to allow a slow trickle of water to maintain the flow of water in the lines and help prevent freezing. Make sure your sink drains are open.

Ice storms are predicted this week throughout much of the Midwest. In an ice storm, the most frequent problems are power outages, falling trees and damage caused by those falling trees. Consumer should take note of the following:

• Stay away from downed power lines, even if they do not appear to be “live.” Call the power company to report any outages.
• Generally damage to refrigerated food caused by a power failure that originates off the ‘residence premises’ would not be a covered loss.
• Damage to trees, shrubs and other plants during an ice storm is not covered under the standard homeowners policy. However, insurance may pay to remove the debris from a fallen tree if it caused damage to a structure covered by insurance.
• If your tree damages a neighbor’s property, he or she should file a claim with his or her own insurer. 
• If the tree falls on your own house, damage to the house is covered. Generally the policy covers the cost to remove the tree from the house.
• However if the tree or branch falls and does no damage to a covered structure, generally there is no coverage for the tree or to remove the tree from the premises.

If your property does sustain damage, take the following action:

• Report all damage to your insurance company or agent as soon as you can in order to settle your claim more quickly and accurately.
• Take steps to protect your property from further damage and theft by making emergency repairs. Use plywood, tarps and other materials to cover openings in roofs, walls and windows.
• Keep receipts for anything you buy so you can submit them to your insurance company later.
• Inventory all damaged property, take pictures of the damage and check with your insurance company before throwing away any damaged property. Identify the structural damage to your home and make a list of everything you would like to show the adjuster.
• To settle your claim more quickly and accurately, prepare as much information as possible about your damaged possessions when your insurance adjuster comes to look at your property.
• Talk with you agent about what your deductible will be for the storm damage. The deductible can be either a flat dollar amount or a percentage of the home value.
• Many standard homeowners and renters policies provide for reimbursement of additional living expenses when the property is determined to be uninhabitable due to damage. This provision helps in paying for increases to necessary living expenses such as temporary housing and restaurant meals. In addition, extra expenses such as overnight parking and laundry services may also be covered. Additional living expense coverage does not pay for all living expenses. It covers only the increase over normal living expenses. This coverage typically is limited to 20 percent of the value of the home or 40 percent of the personal property limits of the condominium or rental property.

PCI is composed of more than 1,000 member companies, representing the broadest cross-section of insurers of any national trade association.  PCI members write over $198 billion in annual premium, 40.5 percent of the nation’s property casualty insurance.  Member companies write 51.6 percent of the U.S. automobile insurance market, 39.7 percent of the homeowners market, 33.2 percent of the commercial property and liability market, and 38.7 percent of the private workers compensation market.