Close calls with wildlife on the road are frighteningly common. If you do hit an animal while driving, a clear head and preparation are vital.

Even with ever-longer days, wildlife on the road is still very much a hazard. Deer, elk, and even moose can be difficult to see at the best of times, but especially so in the dim light of dawn and dusk.

Blending easily into roadside flora, wildlife can all of a sudden appear as though from out of nowhere, launching with frustrating randomness into the road and oncoming traffic. When you live where we do, being extra attentive to animals while driving is essential to road safety. Yet, accidents that involve collisions with large game are frighteningly common.

Despite how often it happens, most of us aren’t at all prepared with how to handle a vehicle collision with an animal. But, with a little education and preparation, you can respond calmly and humanely as you manage the situation as well as your insurance.

Below are the recommended steps to take if you find yourself in such an unfortunate situation. Preparation is key, particularly when it involves such a common potentiality as hitting an animal with your vehicle.

Follow the steps below should you find yourself in the frightening and unfortunate situation of having hit an animal while driving.

Ensure for the safety of yourself and your passengers

You can’t anticipate an animal all of a sudden appearing in front of you while driving. If it occurs, and you hit the animal while driving, follow these safety protocols to reduce further risk of harm:

• Pull off the road immediately, or as soon as it’s safe to pull over
• Check that everyone in the vehicle is unharmed
• Turn on your hazard lights
• If the animal is incapacitated on the road, direct your headlights towards it to alert other drivers
• Don’t approach the injured animal – it will be in great distress and possibly very dangerous.
• Don’t leave the scene without checking your vehicle for possible damage, including missing parts, fluid that’s leaking, or smoke. You may need the help of a tow truck.

It’s not unusual to want to help an injured animal, particularly if it’s still alive. But it can be very dangerous. You should call Animal Conservation and inform them of the situation so they can take care of the situation safely and humanely.

Collect information from the accident scene

No matter what kind of accident you’re involved in, it’s important to collect as much information as possible at the scene. And that includes a collision with an animal. When you make an insurance claim you want to ensure that you have photos or video of the animal, the surrounding area, the damage to your vehicle, witness documentation – statements and contact information.

If necessary, call 911 for the police

In the event of a bad collision, where the animal is incapacitated and blocking the road, it’s best to err on the side of caution and call for help. After you have hit an animal while driving, the police can help direct traffic and notify other drivers until the animal can be removed safely from the road.

Certainly, if there is damage to your vehicle or you or any of your passengers have sustained injuries, you should notify the police. You may have to fill out a police report, and your insurance provider may, in fact, request it.

Be sure to call the police in the event of the following circumstances:

• You’ve hit a large animal and it is incapacitated in the middle of the road and a hazard to other drivers.
• If you have sustained damage to the vehicle or injuries – the police will help you file a report.
• If you need help to move the animal.
• If the animal is still alive and needs to be transported to get the help of a veterinarian.

Contact your insurance provider

Along with a call to the police, it’s recommended that you call your insurance agent as soon as possible if your vehicle is damaged when you hit an animal while driving. It’s not unusual for your insurance provider to request all details including any photo or video. When you call your insurance broker right away, you are better able to recall all the necessary information much more clearly and specifically. The sooner you report damage to your vehicle, the sooner you’ll get the assistance you need.

If you have an auto insurance policy with comprehensive coverage, you may be covered if you hit an animal while driving.

Speak with one of our agents today to see if you have comprehensive coverage. 

Get in touch with a Creston Valley Insurance representative today!

You want to have the right coverage in the event the unexpected happens. We can provide the expert, professional advice you need to help you navigate any unforeseen accident such as this. Whether you’ve had an accident with another vehicle or with an animal, we will help guide you through the claims process.

We make it easy to get the insurance you need:

• Request a quick car insurance quote
• Request a quick home insurance quote

Do you have questions about your auto insurance? Talk to us!

Back to work and school. How to protect your home and family from COVID-19 in this age of the new normal.

This week marks back to school for many local youngsters. And while most of us seemed to resume some degree of normalcy throughout the summer, the spectre of COVID-19 still continued to influence our social behaviours.

Many of us are now wearing masks when we enter into public spaces. We dutifully bring our grocery lists so we don’t spend too much time browsing the store aisles. We are now always washing our hands and sanitizing – everywhere we go, and seemingly constantly.

And there’s no end in sight. COVID-19 will continue to be part of our everyday consciousness. With our kids going back to school and workplaces allowing more and more employees back into the office, chances are we’ll continue to be on high alert for the days, weeks, and months to come.

While we may provide home insurance to help protect your home, the presence of COVID-19 and protecting your household will be up to you, with the support and cooperation of the rest of the community.

To keep your home and family safe and healthy over the next many months, it’s critical to continue to follow the recommendations of our public health authorities, experts, and officials.

The following checklist will help you do your part to help reduce exposure and slow the spread of illness as the pandemic persists:

1. 1. 1. Keep up-to-date with factual information from local health authorities and experts.
      2. Keep up with school closures in the community – rely on local news sources that report on school alerts.
      3. If you get sick, stay home from school, work, and any other activities where you would be at risk of exposing others.
      4. If you learn about others who are ill, steer clear! Help where and how you can, but don’t risk exposure.
      5. Continue with physical distancing measures as best you can when out and about – stay at least two metres apart.
      6. Practice prevention:
         • Frequent handwashing with water and soap for the length of time it takes to sing ‘Happy Birthday’. When soap and water are unavailable, keep hand sanitizer (with at least 60% alcohol) nearby – in your purse and in your car, for instance.
         • Always cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze – the inside of your elbow provides good protection. Dispose of any tissue you may use immediately and don’t use it again.
         • Wipe and sanitize items such as mobile phones, television remotes, laptops, and other electronics – as recommended by the manufacturer.
         • Keep high touch zones and items as well as high traffic areas clean and disinfected using household cleaner and water. Your typical EPA-registered household disinfectants are just fine. Utilize disinfectants that are appropriate for the surface.
      7. If a member of your household gets sick, isolate them as best you can, including a separate room as well as a separate bathroom, if you can.
         • Provide ill family or household member with clean and disposable masks to wear at home
         • Do not share personal items – drinking glasses, silverware, food, or drink.
         • Keep the room and bathroom used by sick household member clean, sanitized, and disinfected.
      8. Keep in touch with friends and family to check in on their health and well-being – phone, text, email, video-conference.
      9. Keep lines of communication open with family members and your children – talk about the pandemic. Offer calm reassurance that they are safe and what they can do to help contain the spread.
      10. If you find yourself or a family member is sick, notify school and workplace immediately. Request to work and school from home if you are able.
      11. If a child has to be home from school, keep communication open with school administration and teachers to ensure your child doesn’t fall behind in schoolwork.
      12. Teenagers and young adults may find it particularly difficult to maintain recommended protocols.
          • Keep communication open with your older children and discourage kids’ gathering after school hours.
          • Let them choose a mask they like and stress the importance of wearing it when they’re outside the home.
          • Make it clear how their behaviour could potentially impact the spread of COVID-19 in your community as well as your household.

When you go to buy coverage – as we all need to do – it’s very helpful if you’re familiar with the terminology. Here are 32 insurance terms to help you navigate the murky policy waters!

We’ve all stood in front of our insurance broker and nodded in agreement, even if we don’t fully understand what it is we’re actually purchasing. The terminology can be confusing and isn’t language that we often use in our day-to-day.

To help, here’s a quick reference guide to 32 of the most used insurance terms and what they mean:

1. Actual cash value (ACV): What your property is worth. It takes into account factors such as the cost of replacement minus depreciation.
2. Adjuster: The person assigned to identify the extent of the damage or loss so they can determine a settlement amount.
3. Bareland condominium: A detached home built on commonly-owned land. The owner possesses both the structure and the plot of land on which it’s built. The condo corporation receives fees from the owners to maintain those common areas within the community.
4. Claim: The request you present to your insurer after loss or damage to your property.
5. Comprehensive coverage: Coverage for all risks, other than those that have been specifically excluded.
6. Deductible: The amount you have agreed, and are required, to pay before your insurance company fulfills your claim. Once you have paid the deductible, your insurer covers the rest.
7. Depreciation: The inevitable decrease in value over a period of time due to age and wear and tear.
8. Effective date: The date your insurance policy goes into effect.
9. Endorsement: Any addition to your insurance policy.
10. Exclusion: A term that refers to those incidents or losses that aren’t covered by your insurance policy.
11. First party: Also referred to as “named insured”. The primary policyholder identified in the insurance policy.
12. Indemnity: An agreement between your insurer (in your insurance policy) and you where your provider is required to compensate you for loss or damages and return you to your status prior to the incident.
13. In force: An insurance policy that hasn’t been canceled or hasn’t expired and is still active.
14. Insurable interest: If the loss or damage of something causes you to suffer financially or otherwise.
15. Liability/Liability coverage: Addresses risk – you’re protected financially if someone has an accident and gets hurt on your property. Expenses for any damages, losses or injuries are covered.
16. Lienholder: A lender who legally owns your property (e.g. a vehicle).
17. Limitation period: The defined period of time in which you are able to take legal action against your insurance company.
18. Loss assessment: If you own a condo, you are responsible financially for covering part of the cost of damages to anything in the common areas of the condominium property.
19. Mortgagee: An entity (e.g. bank) who lends money to an individual for the purchase of a property.
20. Mortgagor: The individual who borrows money from a lender.
21. Named insured: The individual to whom the insurance policy has been issued.
22. Overland water coverage: Additional coverage (if available) that you add to your home insurance policy to protect you financially from loss due to damage from overland water – freshwater (from rising rivers or lakes and rainstorms or melting snow and ice). Damage from coastal water (saltwater) will not be covered under overland water insurance. Overland Water Coverage varies from market to market.
23. Personal liability: Protects you and others in your home in case you’re sued – if someone trips on your stairs and gets hurt during a visit to your home, for example. Typically included in your home insurance policy. It can also protect you if you happen to damage someone else’s property.
24. Policy: The legal and binding document that details all the information about your insurance coverage, including terms and conditions.
25. Premium: The rate that you pay for your home insurance coverage.
26. Pro-rata cancellation: If you cancel your policy before it renews, you receive back any unearned premium – that is, premiums you’ve paid for but not yet used.
27. Replacement Cost: The cost to repair or replace your home or personal belongings after an incident, including materials and labour, without any deduction for depreciation. (For homeowners, this isn’t the same as market value which includes the cost of the land.)
28. Risk: The probability of loss, damage, injury or liability.
29. Seasonal dwelling: Typically defined as a vacation home – cabin, cottage, or chalet that isn’t occupied full-time.
30. Sewer backup coverage: Additional insurance coverage to protect you financially for any loss or damages if your sewer system backs up.
31. Specialty belongings: Items that might require separate coverage as their value exceeds the limits of standard contents coverage. This includes items such as jewelry, artwork, silverware, furs, and collectibles (rare books, stamps and coins, sports memorabilia, and comic books, for example.
32. Specified perils: Losses experienced as a result of events specifically defined in your policy: lightning, fire, hail, windstorm, earthquake, theft, explosion, and riot/civil disturbance.

Questions about home insurance or other policy? We can help — TALK TO US!

If you rent your home, don’t risk potential liability. Be sure to have Tenant’s Insurance to ensure coverage of yourself as well as the things you own.

Renting a home offers such freedom – no worries about landscaping and home maintenance, for instance, or the burden of a multi-decade debt commitment. But, when you don’t have to concern yourself with the details of homeownership it’s easy to overlook certain particulars that are required by homeowners but can also be of benefit as a renter.

Even if you are renting, it’s vitally important to protect yourself and be prepared. In other words, to expect the unexpected. And that means not simply relying on your landlord’s property insurance policy.

If you’re making assumptions as to the scope of your landlord’s insurance coverage, and how it takes your unit – including your personal liability and belongings – into consideration, think again.

Take nothing for granted when it comes to protecting yourself and what you own. That’s why there’s Tenant’s Insurance.

Tenant’s Insurance is intended to address potential shortfalls and discrepancies in the insurance coverage your landlord maintains for the property he or she owns and in which you live.

If there are any parents of young adults attending college, given the increased chances of mishaps (some potentially quite costly) Tenant’s Insurance is a must to protect your child (and, quite likely, yourself) while providing just that little bit of extra peace of mind!

As a renter, there are several reasons to seek the coverage of Tenant’s Insurance. Chief among them is to ensure that you and your belongings are adequately protected in the event of the unexpected.

Even if you are renting on the most temporary basis, Tenant’s Insurance ensures you can replace your belongings and the contents of your unit in the event of an insurable loss. This includes everything from dishes and housewares to expensive electronics such as TVs and laptops to furnishings.

Despite not owning a home, you may actually own more than you think! You might be surprised at how much you have accumulated and how much it would cost to replace it all at once. It’s helpful to keep a consistently updated record of all that you own – photo and video documentation works if you aren’t one to keep a written list.

Understand too, that Tenant’s Insurance doesn’t just cover the loss itself. You can purchase coverage that will cover potential additional expenses after the loss as well.  For example, if you are the victim of an apartment fire, you will somewhere else to stay temporarily. Your insurance will cover the necessary expenses like this as you await the repair of your unit.

Anything can happen. If you’re unfortunate enough to damage your landlord’s, or a neigbouring tenant’s, property in your building, with Tenant’s Insurance, you know you’re protected. When you’re renting, if you haven’t thought to protect yourself with additional coverage, you could be liable for damage caused to not only damage to your rental unit but, in some instances, the building as well. Tenants are held responsible for any harm or damage they cause to any portion of the building and Tenant’s Insurance ensures you’re able to cover any damages.

Tenants can be held responsible for any harm they cause to others who visit or live in their unit. If you have the tremendous misfortune to accidentally cause someone harm in your rental or even your building, Tenant’s Insurance provides the coverage and protection you need. Tenant’s Insurance assists, covering the costs related to this type of claim.

Additionally, Tenant’s Insurance provides the coverage you need in the event of any legal action associated with your rental unit. In the case of a lawsuit initiated by a third party, a standard insurance policy will provide coverage, including defense fees and potential settlements.

Keep in mind, as well, that Tenant’s Insurance contributes to your claims-free history. If you have a clean record, with several years of insurance history without making a claim, a tenant’s policy can help you establish that positive insurance history. Bonus: as a result of being claims-free, most insurance companies will offer a discount on your insurance.

Questions about insurance as a renter? Talk to us!