I was able to tune into Handel on The Law on KFI over the weekend. It was citywide clean up day and I had the van all loaded up with junk that you can’t fit into the trash. While I waited for my turn to unload all of the trash I was able to catch a few minutes of Bill Handel doing his “marginal legal advice”. It's my turn to give some questionable insurance advice too. This is an area were Bill struggles but I appreciate that people continue to call and ask insurance related questions anyways!
The first auto insurance related question he got was about uninsured motorist coverage. Apparently, a driver got hit by an uninsured motorist and the caller was asking if he had to pay his deductible. It sounds like Bill Handel has some experience getting hit by uninsured drivers. Even with his experience he fumbled over how he didn’t have to pay his deductible but wasn’t sure if normally you have to pay.
Here’s how your auto insurance works if you get hit by someone who doesn’t have insurance. Let’s use the premise that the driver hits you, they stop and give you their information. They then tell you that they don’t have insurance or their auto insurance has lapsed. At that point you can go call your auto insurance company and tell them what happened. You give your auto insurance company the drivers information, you give them the license plate off the car that hit you. At that point your insurance company checks your policy limits. If you have collision coverage you will get your car fixed. You would be out of pocket for your deductible however. Your insurance company will try to collect money back from the party that hit you. If they are able to collect money for the damage you will get a check to reimburse you for your deductible. If they are unable to collect money from the driver that hit you then you are stuck paying your deductible. Now there is an exception to this rule. If you carry uninsured deductible waiver you would not have to pay your deductible. Your insurance company would waive it and they would pay from dollar one to fix your car. It's not an expensive coverage and you should include it on your policy.
Let’s look at this situation and now you don’t have collision coverage on your car. If you have uninsured collision coverage you could collect up to 3500 dollars from your insurance company to repair or replace your car and there is no deductible. Now if you don't have collision or uninsured collision then you are completely out of luck. No coverage from your company will be afforded and your only option is to sue the driver who hit you. Call Bill Handel to get a recommendation for a lawyer on that one.
The last situation here would be someone hits you, and then leaves without giving you any information. In this situation you would definitely have to pay your deductible. Even if you have uninsured deductible waiver you are stuck. That coverage only applies if you identify the driver that hit you.  Also, uninsured collision will not pay out in this situation.
The second caller had a question about collecting payment for food spoiled in his refrigerator due to a power outage. Now this person had lost power when his utility company turned it off to prevent fires during windy weather. This was an interesting question and Handel answered it in an interesting way. He started going on a tangent about how the caller should get in line behind all the people who lost their houses in the fire and all the other people who lost property in the fire caused by the utility. Well, actually most policies have a coverage for food spoilage included as part of the home insurance. Now some companies might waive your deductible if you have a small claim. Others might require your losses to exceed your deductible. Some companies might require the claim to be related to a covered loss. That means a wind storm knocks out your power and your food goes bad they would cover it. But, this brings up an interesting question. If the power company is turning your power off to prevent a possible fire would the home insurance company pay out? I would say the best practice would be to call your insurance company and see how they would handle a preemptive power outage.
Those are the items that I thought would be interesting to cover. Hey, Bill Handel. Maybe you should have me on your show to help you out with all these insurance questions. If you or Bill want to get in touch to talk about insurance you can reach me at 951-395-0754.

Over the weekend the San Diego Union Tribune reported that a truck driver backed into a power pole in Oceanside. The driver hit the pole which then fell over and ignited the dry grass near where the pole fell. From the report the fire burned for about a half hour before it was put out by the Oceanside fire department.
Let’s take a closer look at what could have happened here. It seems odd to hear a truck backing into a power pole and it just happens to falls over. Generally, if a truck backing up are moving at pretty slow speeds. Aren’t these poles supposed to be buried deep into the ground. It seems reasonable that if a big semi truck were to hit a pole it would end up leaning. But, how did this pole actually fall over.
Since my antenna was up on this story I decided to take a closer look. The news article listed the intersection of Melrose and Santa Fe Ave in Oceanside. Further into the story the fire Battalion Chief mentions the pole was at Willowbrook drive and Melrose. 
Going to Google street view I scanned Willowbrook. I came to a turn in the road and I found what looks like a storage area for trailers (see photo above). Where trailers are parked that usually means trucks come and go. Then I noticed this in the Google street view.
​Does anyone see what I do? It looks like the power pole had prior damage and now was being supported by a small metal post strapped to the power pole. Uhm, should we be fixing power poles with a stop sign pole? No wonder a truck was able to back in and knock over the power line so easily. I’m not saying this was in fact the power pole that fell over. But, it seems like a good possibility.
Hopefully, this power pole will get a more permanent fix this time around. It is very fortunate that the fire was put out so quickly. Great job Oceanside FD for getting to the scene and putting it out after only a few acres burned. There is a lot of vegetation in the surrounding area and it could have easily grown quickly and caused damage to the surrounding homes.
In this case the truck driver has a commercial auto insurance policy. He or she would have a limit probably in the range of a million dollars for anything they could hit with their truck. The driver would be charged an at fault accident for hitting a non moving object. It will be interesting to see what the truck’s insurance company ends up paying in this accident. Clearly, the driver was at fault and would be responsible for fixing or replacing the power pole. I'm not sure what that costs is but, I saw one site online saying it runs around $3,000. That seems like a pretty good bargain.
If you want to review your auto insurance limits give me a call at 951-395-0754.

Halloween is a holiday that my kids get super excited about. Between the costumes and the candy what isn't to love? Adults also enjoy the festivities but there are some important things to remember as the holiday approaches. With the help of Metlife Home and Auto Insurance here are some things to remember. 
1. Use extra caution when driving at dusk. It's always important to remember that kids will be out in abundance on Halloween. They might be so excited about where they are going that they may not be looking out for cars. They will also be running across the road to get to houses. They could also be dressed in dark clothes. So, if you need to drive that night use extreme caution and watch out for people in the road. A few good tips to keep your kids safe are to attaching glow sticks to them and make them carry a flash light. Kids love glow sticks anyways so they will happily wear them. The flash light will help them avoid tripping hazards and also help them to be seen.
2. Keep the path to your front door clear. If you are planning on giving out candy make sure that the path  getting to your door is clear. Kids in costumes are easily tripped up by Halloween decorations and dark conditions. 
3. Secure your pets. With the excitement of the evening pets can easily sneak out the front door. They can also get anxious when confronted with people in costumes, flashing lights or sounds. It is best to keep them away from trick or treaters. 
4. Fire It can be fun to light candles and put them in and around the pumpkins. Maybe you want a spooky display outside the front door. Just keep in mind that candles can fall over and cause fires. They now have great battery operated lights that you can safely use inside and outside.
5 Halloween Pranks. Some kids take the opportunity to play pranks on Halloween. It could be eggs, it could be a smashed pumpkin. It could be shaving cream. If you find vandalism damage after the holiday is over that is usually covered under home or auto insurance. 
6 Halloween Party. If you plan on having people over for the holidays make sure you keep your home safe. Make sure decorations are not where people could trip over them. Make sure if you are serving alcohol that everyone gets home safely. 
Overall important things to remember are to make sure you limit your exposure to dangers. You will have a probably more people coming onto your property during Halloween than any other time of the year. Makes sure things are picked up and put away. Make sure the pets are put away. Make sure your home insurance is up to date and that your liability limits are appropriate to protect you. And be careful driving. If you want a free Halloween insurance review give us a call at 951-395-0754
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​A few days ago actress Helen Hunt was involved in a car accident in Los Angeles. I remember her from the amazing blockbuster Twister. Her and Bill Paxon were storm chasers in that one. You probably remember the cow getting sucked up into the tornado. That’s pretty much what I remember from it. Back to the story about the accident.  Helen Hunt reportedly was a passenger in a black Cadillac Escalade at the time. Maybe she was heading to an acting job or an interview and they sent a driver to get her. The good news is that she will be fine after suffering some minor injuries in the accident.
Here’s where I need to give TMZ some accolades. In a world where reporters just seem to write down whatever anyone tells them and then reports the information as facts. TMZ actually goes after stories. They try to get eye witnesses information. They aggressively pursue video to show the story.  Here’s a link to their story if you want to check it out.
https://www.tmz.com/2019/10/16/helen-hunt-car-accident-crash-flipped-hospital-los-angeles/
Love them or hate TMZ they sure do get information. In this case you can picture one of the TMZ people getting a call that Helen Hunt was in an accident. They immediately go out to the scene. They must look around the area for any cameras that cover where the accident happened. In this case from google maps I can see a camera on top of the Jiffy Lube on a nearby corner. After finding a camera they go to the location and in this case someone with a cell phone camera records the monitor where the accident is played back. I’m sure some Jiffy Lube employee got a few hundred bucks. TMZ gets the story and a shaky cell phone video.
Since I am becoming an expert on recreating accidents here’s what it looks like happened. I’m totally not an expert by the way just an insurance agent. Helen Hunt’s SUV was traveling south on Tremaine. It looks like the driver got passed the first two lanes headed west on San Vicente. But the driver then drove into the east bound lane where the SUV was hit in the side by a white sedan.
San Vicente is a pretty major road in Los Angeles. It’s a four lane road. Two lanes going each direction separated by a grass divider. Now, if you want to get across the road North to South on Tremaine you need to cross all four lanes of the busy road. A lot of drivers will cross the first two lanes and get to the wide separation between the north and southbound lanes and wait there to cross the next two lanes. It looks like a driver of the SUV didn’t stop either thinking the other drivers had a stop sign or just not seeing the white car.
Either way it wasn’t a high speed accident. The SUV was hit at a what appears to be a low rate of speed but the angle caused the SUV to roll up on it’s side. You can see from the TMZ videos that the side curtain airbags did deploy. I’m sure it was a scary accident for Helen Hunt and the drivers of both cars.
Auto Insurance time! If the driver of the black SUV is found to be at fault by insurance adjusters he would be hit with a point on his driving record. His auto insurance would be responsible for paying to fix the white car. He would have to pay his deductible to fix the Cadillac. And if there were any injuries his insurance would also have to pay for those. Hopefully this driver has a commercial insurance policy. Generally, those policies have a million dollar limit for liability. The liability pays for injuries and damage done to others.
On a side note, Jiffy Lube really needs to power wash their driveway. Just because you do oil changes doesn’t mean you need to look like you do them. If you are doing any driving it’s time to get an auto insurance quote. Give me a call at 951-395-0754

The first major wildfire event happened in my area last week. The fire was named Sandalwood. It was named after one of the cross streets where the fire started. The other was 7th St. So, I'm assuming naming it 7th wasn't as appealing.  From the reports and videos I've seen online it appears that a trash truck was hauling a load of trash when the driver realized the truck was smoking. I'm sure he has been trained to find an open area and dump the trash so that the truck doesn't catch on fire. Those trucks are pretty darn expensive. In this case it was a tragic lapse in judgement, On a day when it was extremely dangerous to unload his truck that's exactly what happened with deadly results.
I watched the video of a motorist that was following the truck and I located the area where it pulled over by comparing google maps with the video. On the map above you can see a small outcropping next to the road. I marked it with a red star. That is where the truck pulled over and then dumped his burning load of trash. The mobile home park was due west of this location. The winds easily blew the flames across the dry grassy area below the mobile home park. The flames then went directly into the park. Out of roughly 100 structures in the mobile home park 76 were lost. Even more tragic two people lost their lives. It just shows the speed and ferocity of the flames that burned through the area.
The park was in a very isolated area and if the trash was dumped in a different location this fire may have been averted. There is only one entrance in and I'm assuming that's how everyone got out. Looking at the map it is very fortunate that more people didn't get stuck in the park. If the flames had burned a little more towards the north the entrance could have been blocked, and the residents would have had to drive through the flames to get out. 
I never considered what would happen if a trash truck caught on fire. How often does something like this actually happen? Why don't these trucks have some sort of fire suppression system on board? Why isn't there an alarm that notifies the driver sooner? Shouldn't they call the fire department before dumping? I'm sure all the things that went wrong that day will be reviewed and changes and policies for dumping trash will be changed. 
For now the residents Villa Calimesa mobile home park will have to start over. Hopefully, the residents have mobile home insurance. I imagine that almost all of them do because I'm sure the park requires home insurance. 
Mobile home insurance works slightly different from a homeowners policy. The dwelling coverage on a mobile home is based not on rebuilding but replacement. Some policies can insure a mobile to a actual cash value. That means an older home would get less money because as mobiles age they lose value. A better policy has replacement cost coverage. The replacement cost gives them money to buy a new home, not replace it with an old used model. The policies also cover loss of use. So, while they can't live in the park they would get money to rent a place while their home is being replaced. It also covers personal property. That means they can go out and start replacing their clothing and their belongings that were lost. Once again you want to have replacement cost, because that gives you new stuff for your old stuff. Not yard sale prices for your lost belongings. 
Fire season is always a little scary. You never know when or how a fire will start. You just need to be prepared in case you need to evacuate. If you are told to get out don't hesitate. Call your insurance company and if you need money to cover hotels or meals many policies will pay those expenses for you. If you need mobile home insurance I have three great companies. I'd be happy to review your limits. 951-395-0754
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Have you ever driven down a pitch black highway at night and all of a sudden in front of you see a cow or a couch? Well, I’ve had the experience of a full size Lazy Boy recliner sitting in the third lane of a highway. The chair was right side up with the legs extended. It was brown and man it came out of nowhere. I quickly swerved at 70 mph and avoided running into that trophy of manhood. My heart was beating fast, my palms were sweaty and I was happy that the freeway was mostly empty that night. I also wondered as I put some distance between me and the chair, where did this chair come from? If someone had it in the back of their truck how did they not realize it was no longer there? On top of that how on earth did it end up perfectly sitting in the middle of the road with the feet reclined? All it needed was a dude with a beer and a remote.
​I do get a lot of questions from people asking how their insurance works if they run into objects on the road. Here’s the quick run down of how claims work with random things on the road.
The first scenario is the one where you find a lazy boy sitting in lane three of the freeway. Yes, you didn’t put the chair there, yes you didn’t know it would be there. But, if you hit an object on the road that is stationary you will be considered at fault in an accident. The insurance company assumes if an object is stationary that you should be driving at a speed which you could either stop or avoid hitting the object.  I would have been pretty mad if I got a point on my record because I hit a dark colored chair on the freeway at night with no street lights. But, most likely that is what would have happened.
The second scenario is a pretty common one. You are driving behind a truck and off the back of the truck flies a tool or rock or brick or cooler. If that tool hits you while it is moving you are not considered at fault in the accident. If you don’t get the person’s information where the flying object came from then you will probably have to pay your collision deductible. But, you wouldn’t be considered at fault and have a point on your driving record.
The final scenario involves animals. I’m sure you’ve heard of someone hitting an animal while driving. I’ve heard of people hitting deer, elk, goats, cows, dogs and cats. Here’s the scoop with that. If hit an animal running into the street the accident is actually considered a comprehensive claim. It doesn’t impact your rate, but you do have to pay your deductible. Now, if you swerve to avoid hitting the animal and you drive off the road and damage your car. That is considered a collision accident and you will get a point on your record.
There’s your little insurance lesson for the day. Flying objects are collision and no fault. Standing objects are collision with a point on your record. Animals are comprehensive and no point. Avoiding the animal and hitting a curb is an at fault accident under collision. I’m surprised the animal rights activists haven’t passed a bill for this to be changed yet. Stay tuned… and give me a call to get some insurance quotes at 951-395-0754.

​A vehicle crashed into the outdoor dining area of Tabu Sushi in Old Town Temecula late Sunday night. What used to be an outdoor seating area has been re-imagined as a much smaller seating area and modern metal sculpture. Fortunately, it doesn’t look like anyone was injured. And from what I’ve been told the driver backed out and took off. If you see a large SUV or truck with front end damage, maybe a few metal spikes sticking out the front grill please give Temecula PD a call.
Visiting the site today it’s almost hard to imagine how a vehicle got into that area without hitting anything else. First, there was a fire hydrant that was missed. Second, there was some sort of R2D2 piling that was also missed. There were three street signs that also survived and amazingly, the fence absorbed all the impact so that the building itself wasn’t damaged. With no formal accident recreation expertise here's what I propose happened in the auto accident.
A truck or SUV was driving south on front street. At the intersection of Front and 3rd the car went off the street in front of Old Town Pub and Grub. It took out the stop sign there and then skipped over the curb and headed straight towards the entrance of Tabu Sushi. The vehicle then went up the handicap ramp and plowed almost straight into the patio area located on the sidewalk. It sheered off the gate in one section, the gate and fence acted as a braking device and the car came to a stop on the sidewalk where the outside seating was once located.
The front end of the vehicle probably sustained pretty major damage. This person's auto insurance is going to be getting a call soon. There wasn't much paint transfer onto the metal fence. If there was it was dark in color like the fence. That makes me think it was a dark colored vehicle. I’m going to say that it was a truck or large SUV based off the fence getting crushed in not up. 
Now, let’s say you were the one that ran into Tabu Sushi. If you have auto insurance your insurance will pay to fix the fence. Based off the amount of damage it looks like it could have been much worse. The driver managed to avoid hitting any city property minus the stop sign. No street signs, no fire hydrants, no weird pillars. They also didn’t hit the building. I’d say this driver was very lucky because things could have been way worse.
Here are a few of the worst case scenarios that could have happened. If you hit a fire hydrant and it gets knocked off it's base you have a major incident. Not only could the water damage the buildings you also would have to pay to repair the hydrant which is not cheap. You also get tabbed with a water bill for any water that escaped while the water shot into the air and the workers try to turn it off. That water bill can really add up. The driver could have hit the building. Any building damage would be expensive. The owners of the restaurant could also sue the driver for any time they couldn’t open for business. Power lines, electric boxes could also have been hit. Both of those could have caused a fire and been very expensive to repair.
Now, the driver would be at fault in the accident. As long as there were no injuries it is considered just a property damage accident. It doesn't matter if the insurance company pays 500 dollars to fix the property of 50,000 dollars it is still considered property damage. That would mean that the driver would get one point on their driving record. The Property Damage limit on your auto policy pays to fix anything you damaged up to your limits. The collision coverage would pay to fix the drivers vehicle after the deductible. 
This was a good reminder to make sure you keep your PD limits high. You never know what you might hit. Also, don’t forget a hit and run is illegal. You could face serious fines and penalties. Make sure that you stop, give your insurance information to the officer before leaving the scene. Give me a call to get some auto insurance quotes and to review your coverage at 951-395-0754.

​Ever since last years fires in California insurance companies have been non renewing houses at a torrential pace. Even homes far from native growing brush and trees are dealing with non renewals. What do you do if you get a non renewal letter in the mail? You can get mad, yell and scream. But, what are really your options?
The first thing most of us would do if we got a non renewal letter is call your current insurance carrier and ask them why they are being non renewed. Yeah, the letter usually spells it out pretty clearly. But, sometimes you actually want to hear from a human that they are in fact non renewing your home. If you haven’t had any claims and you have been paying your bill loyally for years it’s easy to feel offended that your insurance company has dropped your home coverage. Legally, home insurance companies can't cancel your policy during the policy period. That's why they use the non renewal to get off business they feel is too risky.
A few things to know. Don’t take it personally. You didn’t do anything wrong. Your home just happens to be in an area that the company no longer wants to cover. It’s not about you. It’s just the companies effort to reduce their exposure in certain areas. Also, it’s important to know that once they non renew you. They probably won’t change their mind and offer you a renewal.
I have one company that will remain nameless for now. At the beginning of the year they were happily collecting money to cover homes all around town. A few months later they stopped issuing policies for my entire city. Not just the houses that are near the hills or situated in rural areas. They turned off insurance for everyone and then started non renewing all the policies that they had in force in the city. Does this make for a great customer experience definitely not.  Is it costing this company a lot of money? Yes, absolutely. Good news is that for most people in my city there are ten other carriers willing to insure their home and autos and it’s just a matter of taking some time and switching everything over. Other locations aren't as lucky.
I had actually planned on switching my home insurance to this company. I had filled in the application. Updated my mortgage company. And then I quickly realized that next year they would non renew me and I would have to shop my home insurance all over again. I decided at that point to stay with my current home carrier that wasn’t acting so drastically. I had to call my mortgage company and tell them to pay my current carrier. I had to cancel the new policy I had started. I needed to reapply my refund to my impound account. Oh, the fun.
Is it a pain to deal with a non renewal. Yes, it’s much easier when the home insurance just renews automatically, your mortgage company pays it and you don’t think about it. Unfortunately, a lot of people are finding themselves shopping for new insurance this year.  Most homes will be able to easily find new insurance. But, there are some homes that based off the location or claims history will struggle to find a new carrier. It’s just a matter of calling around and letting your agent know what your situation is. Most insurance agents have been dealing with this all year and we can pretty much tell you right away what your options are. The nice thing about calling an agency like mine is that we have lots of options. So, instead of calling ten different carriers you can call me and I’ll do the shopping and let you know your best options. Since we have so many home insurance options we still have carriers that will cover higher risk homes. We also work with the California FAIR Plan. They are the last resort, but we can get you covered. Call today 951-395-0754