Do You Know Your Stuff?

Having recently made two insurance claims as a result of a tree falling on both my house and my car, the importance of having ready access to both my homeowners and auto insurance policies really hit home.  As fate would have it, I’d recently been reviewing those policies, so I knew exactly where they were, and I was able to immediately provide the adjuster with the policy numbers to get the claim rolling.  

But what would I have done if I couldn’t get to my policy information? And just suppose I’d also suffered damage inside my home and lost personal items, furniture, artwork, appliances? I don’t have a complete record of what I own or its value. I would have been doing a lot of searching through some old files, hoping I’d kept those receipts, etc., and consuming a lot of time.    

All of that sent me on a quest, should I ever have to go through an insurance claim again, looking for an easy way to keep an inventory of my “stuff” along with insurance information. Having information readily available for your adjuster will help make your claim processing move quickly and smoothly.

What I found was an app for smartphones from the Insurance Information Institute. With that app, you can keep an inventory of your “stuff”, complete with pictures, your insurance policy information, and contact info for your insurance agent. It automatically syncs with free cloud storage, so you can access it from your phone, tablet or computer.  

The "Know Your Stuff®” app can be downloaded for iPhone or Android.  Know Your Stuff® is also accessible on the Web. Check out www.KnowYourStuff.org to start your home inventory today. I know I’m going to, and I hope I never have to use it!

And, of course kudos to Erie Insurance for handling my claim so efficiently and to my insurance agent Randall Hall for answering all my questions.