Early one morning, Bill fried some bacon on the stove, and then took his dog for a walk.
As he walked back to the house, he noticed smoke coming from his house. He called the fire department and 4 trucks arrived and extinguished the fire. The cause and origin’ investigation showed that he had not turned off the cook-top burner, and the skillet had melted and started a fire. The owner of the home had all of his costs covered by insurance, but the occupant had a Piper Cub airplane stored in the garage. There was no coverage for the airplane from the landlord’s policy or the tenant’s renter’s policy. Reason: anything with a motor of its own, needs its own insurance policy to be covered. This rule applies to things like cars, trucks, boats, and in this case, aircraft. Only exception is a lawnmower or other equipment to care for the yard or grounds.
An older lady complained to the property owner that water was leaking from the air conditioner. The owner’s adult son went out and determined that the ‘condensate’ line was clogged. The clog was caused by a thick, jelly-like substance in a long plastic drain pipe. The owner’s son removed the pipe and decided to clean it out using swimming pool acid that he carried on his truck. He asked an elderly man who was visiting the lady, to hold the end of the pipe over a bucket, while the son poured the acid into the other end. It worked…but when the acid broke through, it splattered acid all over the chest, arms, hands, face, and head of the man. The owner’s insurance paid over $900,000 in damages to the older man.
A woman investor owned 3 small rental houses in an older Tempe neighborhood. They were frame buildings on adjacent parcels of land and relatively close to one another. At about 3:00 PM one afternoon, a neighbor noticed smoke and flames and called the fire department. Old, dry bougainvillea plants along the alley to the rear of the properties, had caught fire…maybe from a discarded cigarette…and the burning plants and shrubbery caught all 3 of the houses on fire. Extra fire units arrived from Phoenix to assist, but each home was a total loss. The cost to re-build all 3 homes was covered by the landlord’s insurance policies.
Several ‘Townhomes’ shared common walls between them. A neighbor smelled smoke inside his home. He went outside and still smelled smoke. He got out a ladder, set it against his house, and climbed to the top. From there, he could see flames leaping skyward from the roof of the house next door. The FedEx delivery man was walking up to the neighbor’s house with a delivery, and became curious about the man on the ladder. The neighbor shouted down to the FedEx man, to call the fire department. Although you could see no signs of a fire from the exterior, the entire inside was severely damaged and repairs took over one year. Fortunately, the insurance policy contained coverage for changes to the ‘building code’, because there were multiple extra costs associated with complying with the current building code.
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CLARK SANCHEZ is a 38 year Arizona insurance agent who has been a Vendor Affiliate with AZREIA for over 15 years. You can contact Clark if you have any insurance related questions at clark@clarksanchez.com or (602) 803-2179.