What Is Umbrella Insurance?

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You may have a number of other types of insurance policies and wonder just what umbrella insurance is and whether you need it. Umbrella insurance adds coverage to policies that you already have. If you have a home and an auto policy, you could get an umbrella policy to boost your coverage from both of those policies. It’s a smart move to be better insurance with an umbrella policy. When you need more coverage, call us at BES & Associates Insurance in Walford, MD to find out more. 

Liability Coverage

You have liability coverage built into your home and auto policies. However, these policies often don’t have much of this coverage. This can leave you vulnerable to a lot of medical bills after a serious accident. Once your auto or home policy reaches its maximum, everything else is left for you to pay. That’s why you need umbrella insurance. It adds more liability coverage to both your auto and home policies. This leaves you much better protected in case of serious, expensive accidents. The amount of coverage that umbrella insurance comes with is extremely high. It’s unlikely to need more coverage than an umbrella policy provides. 

Save Money

When you have an umbrella policy, you get a lot of extra liability coverage for a small price. If you were to add more liability directly to your home and auto policies, it would cost you much more than getting an umbrella policy. When you have an accident, the home or auto policy is the first to come in. If there are still bills to pay, your umbrella policy will take care of those. This is valuable protection that also allows you to save money on your coverage. 

Get Your Umbrella Policy

If you’re interested in more liability coverage, give us a call at BES & Associates Insurance in Walford, MD. 

How Flood Insurance Works

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If you own a home, it’s always important to have flood insurance. Flood insurance protects you against the extreme amount of damage that a flood can do to a home. A flood can be devastating to any property it touches. It can ruin the building as well as all of the items that are inside it. If you don’t have flood insurance, it’s time to get it. When you want to know more about flood insurance or want to get started, call us at BES & Associates Insurance in Walford, MD. 

The National Flood Insurance Program

When you want flood insurance, those policies are backed and supported by the National Flood Insurance Program. This is a federal program that guarantees insurance and pays out in the event of a flood. Because it’s backed by this program, flood insurance will have the same price no matter where you get it. That makes it easy to get this insurance because you don’t have to shop around for it. 

Floods and Home Insurance

It’s common for people not to get flood insurance because they assume that their home insurance covers flooding. However, it doesn’t. If you only have a home policy and not a flood policy and a flood were to occur, none of the damage would be covered. With flood insurance, both the damage to the home and the loss of belongings would be covered by the policy. It’s never a good idea to go without this type of policy with the prevalence of flooding. Even if your area isn’t designated as a flood zone, a flood can still occur. 

Get Flood Insurance

When you don’t have flood coverage, it’s time to call us and find out more about these policies. Call us now at BES & Associates Insurance in Walford, MD. 

Common types of auto insurance coverage

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You are not required to carry anything but basic auto insurance in Waldorf, MD. That is not the right coverage for everyone, and it is important to be aware of all the options you have to protect yourself and your assets. Our team at BES & Associates Insurance works for our customers to make sure they understand all the auto insurance options that are available to them. 

Common types of auto insurance coverage

Liability coverage

Basic auto insurance required by the state of Maryland is liability coverage. This is insurance that covers injuries that may be sustained by people in a vehicle that you have an accident with when you are responsible for the accident. It also covers repairs to their vehicle, and it covers legal action they may take against you. 

Comprehensive coverage

Often referred to as non-collision coverage, this insurance covers your vehicle. What it covers are things other than a collision with another vehicle. It does, however, cover a collision with a deer. It also covers theft, vandalism, floods, a stone to the windshield, and damage from a variety of weather conditions. 

Collision coverage

When you are responsible for an accident or are the victim of a hit and run, this insurance will help to pay for your vehicle to be repaired or replaced. 

Uninsured or underinsured coverage

This insurance protects your vehicle if it is damaged by another driver who has no insurance or inadequate insurance.

Gap coverage

If you have a new car, and it gets totaled, your insurance may not pay you enough to pay off your car loan. This coverage fills the gap so that you don’t lose your vehicle and still owe money on it. 

Reach Out To Us

Contact BES & Associates Insurance in Waldorf, MD to discuss your auto insurance needs. 

What Types of Insurance Products Fall Under the Commercial Insurance Umbrella?

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If you are looking to purchase commercial insurance in the greater Waldorf, MD area, BES & Associates Insurance is here to help you. One of the questions that we are often asked is what exactly is commercial insurance. Commercial insurance is a general term that refers to the many commercial insurance products that fall under the commercial insurance umbrella. If you own a business, commercial insurance products can benefit you.

Here are some of the most common types of commercial insurance products available. 

Commercial Auto Insurance

If you are using any type of vehicle for business purposes, you need commercial auto insurance. This includes vehicles that are being used to make deliveries or to transport items or materials to your customers. If you have commercial vehicles and you have a standard auto insurance policy, your claim can be denied if those vehicles are used for commercial reasons. 

Workers Compensation Insurance

If you have one or more employees working for you, you are required to carry workers’ compensation insurance. Workers’ compensation insurance helps to pay for your employee’s medical expenses and lost wages if they are injured on the job. 

Business Interruption Insurance

Your business can be interrupted for a number of reasons, including a health pandemic, a natural disaster, or a fire or pipe burst in your business. If business is interrupted, you may not make the money that is needed to pay your bills. Business interruption insurance helps to pay you for the business profits you lost due to things out of your control. 

Give Us A Call

There are many different types of commercial insurance products, all designed to help you with a specific aspect of your business. Here at BES & Associates Insurance, serving the greater Waldorf, MD region, we can help you select the insurance products that are best suited for your business needs. Reach out to us today to schedule an appointment. 

How to Prevent Ice Dams From Damaging Your Roof This Winter

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Winter weather is not always nice to your home. And while there are some issues that arise that you cannot prevent, there are other issues that you can try to minimize or prevent from happening altogether. At BES & Associates Insurance, serving the greater Waldorf, MD region, we provide home insurance to residents in the state of Maryland. We also want to provide tips to help minimize the frequency with which you may need to use your home insurance policy.

Here are a few tips that can help to prevent ice dams from forming on your roof and causing roof damage.

Preventing Ice Dams From Damaging Your Roof This Winter 

Remove Snow From Your Roof

One of the ways that you can prevent ice dams from damaging your roof this winter is to remove snow from your roof. As the snow starts to melt, it turns to water. This water can then turn to ice if it starts to freeze again, which creates the base for an ice dam to form. By removing snow from your roof with a snow rake, you can prevent a lot of ice dams from forming. 

Clean Out Your Gutters

The other way to prevent ice dams from forming is to clean out your gutters during the fall months. When your gutters are free and clear of debris, water can flow from your roof and away from your home. If the gutters are filled with debris, that debris can trap water, and then that water may freeze. This can lead to the start of an ice dam. By cleaning debris from your ice dams, you can prevent ice dams from forming. 

Get Your Home Insured Today

Ice dams can form on your roof during the winter months. They can become quite heavy, and unfortunately, they can cause a lot of damage to your roof or even cause your roof to cave in. While you cannot prevent all types of damage from happening to your home, you can prevent some types of damage, including most ice dams. Here at BES & Associates Insurance, serving the greater Waldorf, MD area, we can help you with all your home insurance needs. Contact us today to get started. 

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