To all our valued customers, please be advised that due to systems upgrades our telephone services will be interrupted on the morning of Tuesday August 23rd.

We hope to keep any disruption to a minimum.  We will have no voice mail during this time, so please try your call later on.

Also during this time we will not have any fax services, or ability to process credit/debit transactions for Autoplan.

We apologize in advance for any inconvenience.

****Update 3:37 PM August 23rd.  Our upgrades are complete and service has returned to normal.  Thank you to anyone that called during the disruption this morning.

Last night, while you were laying in bed, did you wonder why it felt like a truck was driving through your living room?  Well that rolling feeling was actually an earthquake!

11:02 pm last night, a 3.3 magnitude earthquake occured with an epicenter located in Golden Ears Park.  That size is pretty much harmless, however it was a very shallow shake, which is why many people in Maple Ridge and the Tri-Cities did indeed feel it.  It was located only 4.6 km under the surface. I live in Port Coquitlam, and can tell you that it was a very odd feeling indeed!

Time for a good reminder of all the things you need to know in case of a large earthquake. First off there is a great guide - 26 weeks to family preparedness which you can find here.  Or if you would prefer to just purchase something prefab, we recommend our friends at www.qsquakesafe.com

Did you share a “thank you” wave on the road?  Tell the world about in and you could win a 2012 Fiat 500!

http://www.icbcdrivesmart.ca/

During the ongoing mail strike, we wish to advise our clients of the procedures that our agency, and the insurers are following.

1) Policy documents - Fawcett Insurance is couriered a copy of all documents, so should you require a copy please contact our office and we can arrange to have you pick one up or fax you a copy.

2) Payments - Your premiums are still due and payable on the effective date regardless of if you have received your invoice.  Many of our companies accept credit cards, please feel free to call our office to make arrangements.  You can also drop your cheque off at our office, and we will forward them by courier.

3) Claims - All claims cheques and documents will be sent to our office via courier and we will contact you to make arrangements.

All documents held during the strike will be distributed as soon as it’s over.

Although spring has barely sprung, we are still talking about forest fires.  Recent events in Slave Lake serve as a reminder of what can happen here.  We live in a forest - that’s one of the things we cherish about our city.  With that however comes risks, so be prepared.

The fire season in BC has not been to bad so far this year, less than 10 reported so far this year, but that doesn’t mean that this summer won’t be bad.  Some precautions you can take to protect yourself:

Prune tree branches to a height of 1 or 2 meters
Store fire wood well away from the house
Remove trees within 10 meters of house
Branches are clear of power lines (if possible bury power service)
Remove brush, mow and water lawn
Dispose of fireplace ashes into an approved container.
Chimney installed to code complete with spark arrestor screens
All soffit vents and gutters should be screened
Position propane tank with valve pointing away from house
Fire resistant exterior roof and walls
Protective drapes and or shutters on windows to protect interior from radiant heat

Wildfire news can be found at http://www.bcwildfire.ca/Situation/

Many of our clients have either done renovations or are contemplating starting some.  Have you told us what you’ve done to your home?  If not, you’ve got a potentially big exposure on your hands.

Policies generally contain a “guaranteed replacement cost” wording.  This means that the insurer will replace the home no matter the cost (certain restrictions apply).  However, the failure to report any renovations renders this part of your policy invalid.

Call us today to review your insured building value, and let’s make sure that you are adequately protected!

Last year, a Vancouver jury awarded one of the biggest personal injury awards in BC History. $12 million. Yes it’s staggering. Never mind the fact that the Jury overstepped itself by about $6 million, it’s still a huge number. So huge in fact that you can not purchase that much coverage from ICBC (personal vehicles can have a maximum of $5 million).

Of course the decision was appealed, and a new trial has been ordered. However this still underscores the need for you to at least consider increasing your limit of liability coverage. $2 million just simply isn’t enough anymore.

Call us today to find out how to increase your liability coverage.

Last fall, ICBC invited 19-25 year olds in B.C. to create a short film that would make their friends “do a 180″ with their risky driving habits.

They had a fantastic response, receiving 124 entries in three film categories: impaired driving, speeding and distracted driving.

ICBC’s press release can be found here.

We will be posting some of the winning videos to our Facebook page, or you can view them here.

Yes, you read that right. Paul Kovacs of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction made this bold statement to CBC News recently.  He attributes this to several factors, including the fact that few Japanese policy holders actually carried earthquake insurance - only 14-17%!  Also, cover is provided under a government run scheme (like ICBC), so the global reinsurance companies are not involved.  You can read the original article here.

As good as that sounds for our marketplace, with an estimated $35 billion US in damages, it is too early to tell what will happen.  The affect on the global economy, the seismic data that could lead to new forecasts, and much more could affect how both local insurers and re-insurers treat earthquake coverage.  Like past disasters, there is always a ripple effect and the consequences won’t be felt for some time.