We make a lot of assumptions. They are commonly based on past experiences, general knowledge, or what seems so good, convenient, fair, and obvious that they must be true. Often, they work out for us. But not always. Some examples:
Guinness beer is so dark and thick, it has to be loaded with calories. Not true. Despite its rich flavor and creamy texture, it doesn’t have that many more calories than Bud Light.
Oil is slippery, so putting olive oil in the water while boiling pasta will keep it from sticking. Not really, and it mostly winds up keeping your sauce from sticking to the pasta.
Saginaw Children’s Zoo takes Styrofoam to recycle, and Kroger takes plastic bags to recycle, so I can put Styrofoam and plastic bags in my recycling bin for weekly pickup. Not true. And, clean cardboard is acceptable and greasy pizza boxes are not. Just face it.
If you loan your car to someone and they’re in an accident, their auto policy will protect you. Not so. Your policy pays to repair your auto, and usually the vehicle owner gets sued first for damage to other people and their property.
If a tree in your yard blows over in a storm and lands on your neighbor’s house, your insurance will pay to repair their house. This is not how it works. Your neighbor’s home owner policy will need to cover the damage, unless it can be proven that you were seriously negligent and had full awareness that the tree was going to smash their house.
If you have full coverage on your auto policy, when something happens to your auto, your insurance will pay for it. You know what, don’t even use this term unless you’re talking about your pants. In the insurance world, “full coverage” is a non-technical, undefined term that can mean a lot of things to a lot of people.
There are a lot of other assumptions floating around about insurance. Rather than wait until some sort of disaster to check your assumptions, your insurance agent would be happy to have a good conversation with you about your assumptions and just about anything else related to insurance. Give them a call!
