The weather report said severe thunderstorms. Okay, I can h andle that. No need to crowd into the tub with a mattress over our head. Twenty minutes later, we cowered away from the windows as golf-ball sized hail rained over our little house.
It was one of those moments when you say, “Oooh, are we glad we have insurance!” We submitted claims through both our auto insurance company and home insurance company, as the hail had damaged all three vehicles and both roofs (house and garage).
The estimated damage to our vehicle was a couple thous and dollars and the verdict is still out on our roofs, but so far the tally is well over $2,500. To say that we were extremely relieved to have insurance is an understatement. With four children, the van has become a necessity, and to have it out of commission does not bode well for my sanity. We are planning on selling the house within a couple years and a br and new roof will really help.
Paying insurance premiums can feel frustrating sometimes, and believe me, I have been tempted to reduce or cancel ours many times. When you are staring at your budget and numbers are not quite fitting how you imagined, you start getting really crazy ideas of how you can trim it down to size. Trust me, insurance is not the way to go.
Suffice it to say, I don’t have an extra four or five gr and laying around, waiting for a sunny day. Or should that be, a hail-y day. Each month, we pay our house insurance right with our mortgage payment. Honestly, it doesn’t even feel like we are paying it, as we have escrow set up and just have to make one monthly payment to the mortgage company.
Our vehicle insurance is set up to be directly debited from our account, and again, no biggy (as long as I remember to subtract it in our register). So with these two premiums taken care of automatically, it was an even bigger and nicer surprise when they actually paid off.
Some people feel like insurance is a bit of a gamble; sure, it’s nice if you need it, but if you never need it, then it’s a waste. Well, that’s why we have it. It’s for those times in life that we could never have foreseen and are now facing possible emotional and financial ruin. Just imagine how stressed out I would be if I were trying to scramble up money to pay for a damaged vehicle and a damaged roof.
I know some people who choose not to fix their vehicle because of a few dents from hail. That’s all fine and d andy, but if you don’t fix your roof, it can start leaking. It doesn’t take much to rot out your wood and start dripping on your head.
Just don’t be like our neighbor. One of his summer projects was re-roofing his house. He spent the time and money to get it done, and three weeks later, hail destroyed it. Just think if he would have waited just a few more months. I hope your story ends up more like mine!
