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Ever since Covid-19 has come on the scene, the way we've had to adapt to doing business has been altered drastically. Social-distancing rules have greatly increased the demand for online services and delivery services such as Uber eats, Door Dash, and others. The no-contact food delivery has become a new normal this past year. If you participate, or plan to, in making extra money by becoming a driver for one of these food delivery services, make sure you have a conversation with your insurance agent to find out what your policy covers and excludes. Unless you have a specially-designed commercial auto insurance policy, it's very likely your policy will not cover any accident which you are involved during the course of these operations. In fact, your personal auto insurance policy specifically excludes coverage for these types of activities. Here's an example of just one companies underwriting guidelines for "Ineligible Vehicles": "Used for full/part-time hire, route delivery, pick-up or delivery of goods...

Time to Honor Dad   With summer drawing near and the weather warming up, Indiana’s neighborhoods come alive with the sights and sounds of the season: lawnmowers, power tools and backyard barbecues, to name a few.   For many people, those things all bring to mind one specific person: Dad. And since Father’s Day is just around the corner, we at Wilkinson Insurance Agency thought we’d give you some gift ideas - and some fun history trivia, too!   The history of Father’s Day Marked on the third Sunday of June in the United States (and in many other countries), Father’s Day was first celebrated in 1910 to complement Mother’s Day. According to Wikipedia, the day was created by Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Wash., who wanted to honor her father, Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart.   Although Dodd originally suggested her father’s birthday in early June, she had not provided organizers with enough time to arrange the event - and the celebration was delayed until the third...

Like most people, you probably own certain things you can't bear the thought of losing. Items you cherish and are very hard or impossible to replace. If you have a homeowner's or even a renter's insurance policy, you know they can be very helpful for covering the loss or damages to both your home and personal property. Some items, however, are only covered up to set limits as written in your policy. Nearly every company has "special limits" for certain types of items, although the limits vary from company to company. Some common items might include: jewelry, watches and furs antiques musical instruments art collections precious metals silverware and china autographed items one-of-a-kind or rare items So, look around your home and take an inventory of items that are precious and valuable to you and have a talk with your agent to discuss the best way to insure them. Adding a scheduled property endorsement, or rider, is usually the best way to insure items that fall under special limits. Keep in mind you...

Is it flood or is it not? One of the most confusing areas of a homeowner's insurance policy has to do with covering water damage. Is it covered or excluded??? No traditional homeowner's policy offers any protection for flood insurance yet there is protection for water damage but it depends on the cause.  Without over-simplifying it, if water is purposely brought into the home (ie. plumbing) then any resulting damage is typically covered. If a pipe freezes or your water heater leaks and damages your carpet, for example, most homeowner's policies cover this.  It's important to keep in mind, insurance usually covers the cost to repair the damages only.  Suppose your water heater tank leaks and ruins your kitchen floor.  Your policy will cover the cost to replace your kitchen floor, but not necessarily the cost of a brand new water heater. Sump pump failure A similar optional coverage for homeowner's is called "water & sewer drain backup".  There are some instances, say, if you...