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We will now be blogging from the Rhodes & Williams learning center!

Come check out our completely revamped website and Learning Center for the most up-to-date tips and information surrounding the insurance industry.

We hope our Learning Center will help ensure you are informed and protected.

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What you need to know this SPRING!

With the warm weather finally making an appearance, it’s time to start thinking about spring maintenance of your home.

It is important to ensure proper maintenance practices and inspect your home on a regular basis in order to avoid future claims and problems.

Here are a couple quick tips to keep your home in working condition;

1.       Check and clean your furnace air filters 

2.       Clean or replace your air-conditioning filter

3.       Check your smoke, carbon monoxide and security alarms and replace the batteries

4.       Clean your windows, screens and hardware. 

5.       Examine your foundation walls for cracks, leaks or signs of moisture. 

6.       Clear all drainage ditches and eaves troughs of debris   

7.       Ensure that your downspouts are directed away from your foundation

Stayed tuned for more great tips on summer maintenance!!!

Written by Geneviève St-Denis,
Rhodes & Williams Insurance

Recent regulations prohibit Canadians from driving in Florida - Insurance Implications??

Thursday morning February 14th, news hit that Canadians were technically no longer able to operate a motor vehicle in the sunshine state of Florida. Legislators passed a law that would require non-U.S motorists to have an international driver’s permit in addition to their regular driver’s license.  

Immediate action was taken by the federal government in order to ensure Canadians driving in Florida were protected. A decision has been made to suspend the law for all Canadian drivers. However, in March, the Florida Legislature will reconvene to view the legislation.

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles are proposing that Canadians should be given an official exemption from the law, which was originally put in place to help law enforcement interpret foreign licenses in other languages.

Following the announcement of the suspension, the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario confirmed with the majority of insurance companies that they will not deny coverage.  Please contact your local insurance broker to specifically understand how your insurer will handle this situation.

Written by Geneviève St-Denis, Account Executive, Rhodes & Williams Insurance Brokers

The Dangers Of Driving

"..driving alert is driving safe"

A recent tragedy has hit close to home. A tour bus crashed killing seven Canadians on a trip from British Columbia to Las Vegas. The bus, carrying 47 passengers, crashed near a cliff after veering off icy roads.

Image by "Salvatore Vuono" from www.freedigitalphotos.net

The Vancouver travel company is now being sued by two survivors of the accident.  They claim the bus driver violated American federal laws by working 90 to 100 hours during the first eight days of their trip.  They indicate in the lawsuit that the tour company’s driver seemed extremely fatigued and ignored evident dangerous road conditions.

After the driver lost control, the bus spun and crashed through the guard rail. There were 9 fatalities and 38 others were hurt.  Although this is an extreme case of getting behind the wheel of a vehicle without acknowledging ones mental and physical capabilities to drive, this is a subject that relates to all Canadian drivers. 

All drivers should be aware of their mental and physical state before operating a vehicle. Being overly tired and drowsy is a “silent killer”.  Drivers’ nodding off while at the wheel leads to fatal accidents. Some of the signs you should look out for besides the obvious ones of yawning and heavy eyelids, are daydreaming, missing road signs or exits and feeling irritable and restless. If you experience any of the mental or physical signs of exhaustion, pull over to the side of the road immediately and phone a relative or a friend to come help. In the event that you are out of town, you can call a tow truck to come help you in this type of situation.

And remember, driving alert is driving safe.

Written by Geneviève St-Denis, Account Executive, Rhodes & Williams Insurance Brokers

Is your pet insured on your homeowner’s policy?

Some of you may remember the story of the sales associate at Home Depot who was bit by a customer’s Shih Tzu last summer.  She was bending down to pet the dog when it leaped out and bit her right in the face! The woman sustained severe injuries from the little pup and required plastic surgery in order to fix her torn off nose. 

 

The photo above is a Shih-Tzu; the same breed that is
responsible for the attack of the Home Depot Associate.
Regardless of the size, any dog can be dangerous.

 The 66-year-old customer was fined $610 by a bylaw officer and ordered to keep her 12-year-old Shih Tzu muzzled at all times in public.    

Even though the customer was reprimanded for her dog’s actions, the Home Depot employee still decided to take legal action against the dog’s owner. 

In this case, the employee would have sued against the Personal Liability portion of thecustomer’s property policy for the actions of the dog. Keep in mind that every claim is investigated on a case by case basis and that all insurance companies have different exclusions.In this situation, the insuring company did pay out the claim, however the amount was undisclosed. 

It’s important to know that a situation resulting in a liability claim can happen anywhere at anytime. Therefore, it’s important to have sufficient liability coverage on your tenants, condo or homeowners policy. In this case, it benefited the customer greatly as she did not have to bear the cost of the settlement.  

Contact your local broker for more information on liability coverage. 

*Please note that your pet is not insured on your policy as property. Meaning you would have no coverage for health benefits for your animal or coverage if they were to be stolen. 

Written by Genevieve St-Denis, Account Executive,
Rhodes & Williams Limited

Do you have signage on your vehicle? Here’s what YOU need to know!

Although signage on a vehicle may indicate that it is being used for business purposes, signage does not determine the classification of the vehicle.  The broker or insuring company would typically determine the correct use of the vehicle during the quoting process. 

Making sure your vehicle is being properly rated is very important regardless of signage. If you’re using your vehicle for business purposes but fail to disclose the correct use of the vehicle to your broker, this could result in a potential claim being denied.

Here’s an example to help illustrate this point; 

A stay-at-home mom has a small home-based business baking sugary sweets. She uses her vehicle to deliver her homemade treats to local businesses. Her vehicle is only being rated as personal use. If she were to be involved in an accident while commuting to a location to deliver her baked goods, the insurance company may deny her claim seeing the vehicle wasn’t properly rated. In this case, her vehicle should have been rated for occasional business use. The annual mileage used for business purposes will also determine the correct classification for business use of the vehicle.

Contact your local broker for any questions concerning personal or business use on your vehicle.

SINKHOLE INSURANCE!!! GET YOUR SINKHOLE INSURANCE HERE!

The recent sinkhole on the 174 east, close to Orleans, has generated some interest about insurance…… yes, you read that right - INTEREST ABOUT INSURANCE!.  Various comments appeared on twitter and facebook like a few samples below:

Facebook comment

Sooooo…. Let’s see if we can shed some light on the situation.  Remember that every situation is unique, you should talk to your insurance broker, and we only know the details about this specific case, that we can read in the newspaper.

Although the ultimate decision about claims rests with the particular insurance company, in this type of situation, we would expect the claim would handled under the loss or damage section of the policy as a collision.

If the person in question did not have collision insurance at the time of the accident, they would be financially responsible for the loss of the vehicle. They would also have to pay for their own rental vehicle (if required) and have to purchase a replacement vehicle at their own expense. They would also be responsible for the costs involved in recouping the lost funds from the province, if that was an option they wished to pursue. This would take time and money.

If the person in question had the full, appropriate physical damage coverage on the policy at the time of the accident, the insurance company would cover the loss of the vehicle, according to the terms of the insurance policy. They would also pay for a rental vehicle (assuming that coverage had been purchased), giving the client sufficient time to find a replacement vehicle. The claim would be subject to the policy deductible.

Since the collision was a single car accident, it is technically considered to be an at fault claim. However, in situations such as these, the outcome of the claim would be handled on a case by case basis. A thorough investigation would take place in order to properly negotiate the settlement with the claims adjuster.

If the insured sustained injuries (which fortunately in this case, I understand that they were only very minor) from the accident he/she would be entitled to compensation under the accident benefits portion of the policy up to a certain limit. The option to increase accident benefits on an automobile policy is available for all licensed drivers in Ontario. Increasing this coverage comes with a minimal cost but could help protect you and your loved-ones in the event of a catastrophic accident.

Free, Public Wi-Fi Can be Dangerous to Your Health

This guest blog comes from Steve Anderson. Steve provides useful tips and information that can help generate revenues and prevent loss.

A few days ago I was sitting at a local coffee shop and watched a young lady come in with her laptop. She sat down at the table, connected her laptop to the free wireless network, and proceeded to log into her online bank account. I remember thinking at the time, "That is a dangerous practice."

I then received an email from Steve Aronson, an agent in Massachusetts, highlighting the same issue. He suggested I write about how to protect your information when using free public Wi-Fi.

Wireless access to the Internet has become a necessity for many people so they can stay connected. Whether you're on vacation at a resort, waiting in an airport or sitting in a coffee shop, it's likely you will be able to connect to the Internet through a wireless network provided by the property owner. Sometimes these will be offered for a small fee and sometimes they will be free.

But be careful: sometimes free Wi-Fi can be a scam perpetrated by criminals hoping to steal your personal information. You could end up being the target of a "man in the middle" attack, in which a hacker is able to steal the information you send over the Internet, including usernames and passwords. And you could also have your files and identity stolen and end up with a spyware-infested computer. The attack could even leave your laptop open to hackers every time you turn it on, by allowing anyone to connect to it without your knowledge.


How the attack works

You go to an airport or other hot spot and fire up your PC, hoping to find a free hot spot. You see one that calls itself "Free Wi-Fi" or a similar name. You connect. Bingo -- you've been had!

The problem is that it's not really a hot spot. Instead, it's an ad hoc, peer-to-peer network, possibly set up as a trap by someone with a laptop nearby. You can use the Internet, because the attacker has set up his PC to let you browse the Internet via his connection. But because you're using his connection, all your traffic goes through his PC, so he can see everything you do online, including all the usernames and passwords you enter for financial and other websites.

In addition, because you've directly connected to the attack PC on a peer-to-peer basis, if you've set up your PC to allow file sharing, the attacker can have complete run of your PC, stealing files and data and planting malware on it.

You can't actually see any of this happening, so you'd be none the wiser. The hacker steals what he wants to or plants malware, such as zombie software, then leaves, and you have no way of tracking him down.

All that is bad enough, but it might not be the end of the attack. Depending on how you've connected to that ad hoc network, the next time you turn on your PC, it may automatically broadcast the new "Free Wi-Fi" network ID to the world, and anyone nearby can connect to it in ad hoc peer-to-peer mode without your knowledge -- and can do damage if you've allowed file sharing.

Security company Commtouch (previously Authentium Inc.) has found dozens of ad hoc networks in Atlanta's airport, New York's LaGuardia, the West Palm Beach, Fla., airport and Chicago's O'Hare. Internet users have reported finding them at LAX airport in Los Angeles.

Commtouch did an in-depth survey of the ad hoc networks found at O'Hare, visiting on three different occasions. It found more than 20 ad hoc networks each time, with 80% of them advertising free Wi-Fi access. The company also found that many of the networks were displaying fake or misleading MAC addresses, a clear sign that they were bent on mischief.


How to protect yourself

The easiest way to protect yourself from Wi-Fi fraud is to not connect to any free wireless networks. If you're in a coffee shop, airport or hotel that has a legitimate Wi-Fi connection for a small fee, it's worth the price for peace of mind. Ask the business' staff if there is a hot spot available and get the name from them.

Mobile device users should make sure they have downloaded all the security updates for their operating systems.

If you function in a wireless environment on a regular basis, you are better off spending the money on a wireless card that you get through AT&T, Verizon or Sprint. This way, you have your own relatively secured wireless connection. This is what I do for access.

If you choose to take advantage of free Wi-Fi availability, here are some things to keep in mind.

• Never connect to a "computer-to-computer" network. When choosing a wireless network, check out the description of each one. A normal wireless network is simply called "wireless network" not a "computer-to-computer" network.
• Use HTTPS to access webmail and avoid protocols that don't include encryption.
• Turn off your computer's file sharing capabilities. The instructions will vary slightly depending on what computer system you're using (Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, etc.).
• Use a software firewall to further control who can connect to your computer and how.
• Avoid conducting financial transactions or accessing any sensitive websites if you aren't using an Internet connection that you know and trust.

It pays to be vigilant whenever you are connecting to a wireless network. If you have any doubt about the Wi-Fi connections, then don't connect. It's just not worth the potential problems.