Insurance expert has tips to consider with 2021 around the corner

FOX 2 - Kris Hall is with Meadowbrook Insurance and says one of the things we have to keep tabs on with our auto insurance is the major changes this year.

"I would recommend that if you have not reviewed your auto insurance policy, they were two major changes to cover. Personal injury protection which is what covers your medical bills if you're injured," Hall said. "But also to bodily injury liability work. For the first time, you can now be sued if you are responsible for an auto accident if the other driver doesn't have enough medical coverage. So the idea is to make sure you have enough coverage to protect yourself but also to protect your assets."

FOX 2: "We know that home insurance is important but particularly you say there's something we should all be doing right now before the end of the year, what is that?"

"That's called a home inventory checklist and what it is as simple documenting the items that you own to help make your life easier if you ever have a substantial claim on your homeowners' policy," Hall said. "So picture having a fire or a tornado come up would you be able to recall all the items that you own? So make a home inventory checklist, it will be a lot easier to make the claim. 

"A couple of tips for you, there are cell phone apps that you can download to help walk you through that process or what I do, grab your smartphone put it in video and walk through each room in your home and do a 360° view and document all the items, zoom into serial numbers, model numbers, don't be shy. Talk over it, talk about how much it costs, where are you purchased it from. 

"All of those things will be valuable at the time of loss, and a bonus tip for you - don't keep it on your phone, upload it to the cloud so it's always there for you when you need it."

FOX 2: "Good advice. What about life insurance?"

"We've actually seen life insurance applications go through the roof this year because of the pandemic," he said. "A couple of things to keep in mind. You may have life insurance through our employer which is great, but if you ever lose your job, oftentimes you risk losing that life insurance policy. So that's why we are seeing a lot of people purchased their own life insurance. The sooner the better, because this is not like health insurance. Remember with life insurance pre-existing conditions can, and do count against you, so the sooner you put a policy in place, the less expensive it will be, and the better off you will be in the long run."