One of the most often underinsured items on farmowners policies is farm personal property. Most farmers choose to insure this under blanket coverage rather than specified amounts for each category of personal property. Property that gets lumped into this category might include such things as livestock, hay and grains, farm machinery, tools and supplies and others.
When insuring on a blanket basis, it is important to remember that the policy will require an insured to keep at least 80% of the replacement value of such items (if insuring on a replacement cost basis) to meet the coinsurance requirement on the policy. That is, the insured value carried on the policy must be at or above 80% of the total value of all such property owned by the insured to be considered fully insured. If the amount insured falls below that level, the insured will not be fully covered in the case of loss to any of this property.
There are two major reasons this category of property is often underinsured:
- Many times, farmers might forget to add up the total amount of all types of personal property they own and are surprised that the total value is as high as it is at the time of loss. Therefore it is really important to add up the totals of all types of farm personal property when selecting an insured amount to carry on the policy.
- Farm personal property can vary by season, especially such things as livestock and crops/hay. It is important then that the farmer regularly review their farm personal property to insure that the amount carried appropriately reflects the needed coverage throughout the year.
We urge all of our farm members to be in touch with their MAX agent or our Sales & Service Center anytime we can help provide support to this incredibly important area of coverage. We are your partners in meeting your insurance needs.