Remember the game “Memory?” Where you had to flip over matching cards on a table full of identical upside-down cards? You remember seeing the picture at some point, but to remember which exact spot the matching one was, becomes difficult. This is similar to when you experience a fire or theft in your home/business/workshop and you are trying to remember which items you had before the loss.

A fire can be devastating, you can lose everything very quickly and now you have to start from scratch. Your photos, computers, mobile devices, everything could be gone and how do you even start to remember what you all had. Certainly, there will be major items that stand out. The fridge, grandpa’s priceless watch, the TV. However, there are many little things that can be forgotten. With your insurance policy, you will most likely have replacement cost coverage for your belongings. However to receive that replacement value, you need to physically replace the items you lost. So if you can’t remember them, you won’t be receiving replacement value from the insurance company. To avoid this, we recommend you take some measures to make sure that if there is a claim, you have steps in place to help with the process.

The easiest step, is to download our app. This may not be easy for everyone, as not all of us are on mobile technology. However, with our app, there is an easy feature that allows you to input a list of belongings, tools, etc. directly into the app. You can be as detailed as you want. It also allows you to attach a photo to that item’s description, so you have evidence of the item and its condition.

Now, we’re not saying you need to go take a picture of every fork and towel in your house. But if you have certain items of significant value, please take a picture and document those items. For the rest of your belongings, we recommend you going through each room and taking pictures of those rooms. Closets, Bathrooms, Mechanical Room, Garage – All of them. Then write a brief description of the items in that room and a replacement value for those items. With this information, you will have a very good idea of what you had in those rooms and you will end up with an accurate estimate if something awful happens.

All the photos and data are saved within our app and stored online under your locked username and password. If your phone happens to be destroyed, you simply download the app onto another device, sign in, and you have all that information back at your fingertips. This is an amazing tool for you to use; to make sure you have your precious belongings accounted for.

Another way to protect yourself from this problem, is to make detailed lists of your items. This can be quite cumbersome, and will take more work than taking photos, but it is effective. Keeping this list off-site, such as in a safety deposit box, would be a good idea.

This simple task, is something very few people do. Please take 15 minutes out of your day, download the app, and take some photos of your house, business, shop and save yourself a potential headache later. How a future claim is handled can start here; so let’s work together to make sure that if you experience a claim, it is handled as smoothly as possible. If you have any questions about the app, please come in and talk to one of our brokers.