How smart is your home?
Because the smarter it is, the better it may be for your insurance.
It seems that as soon as our devices became “smarter” (landline > pager > “saved by the bell” cell phone > blackberry > smartphone [thanks, Apple!]), society is now focused on making everything else around us “smart.”
This means “smart” in the way we’re utilizing technology to its fullest capacity to save time, energy, and money and add convenience and efficiency to our lives.
More people are beginning to integrate new technologies into their homes.
Appliances, lighting, heating and A/C, TV’s computers, entertainment centers and camera systems all have the capacity to be interconnected and controlled remotely from any room in the home and any location in the world.
So what does this really have to do with insurance?
Everything, actually.
Last year my husband and I woke up to nearly a foot of water in our basement.
We had just refinished our basement in February, and come March – everything (literally, everything) was floating in water.
Our furniture, our pictures, the kids toys… everything was damaged.
We even ended up having to replace our washer and dryer, our hot water tank, and our sump pump.
Let’s just say, it was a mess…
And I quickly learned, it was a mess that could have been prevented.
We could have avoided this altogether with something as simple as a smart home device.
State Auto Offers Smart Sensor Kits and Smart Home Discounts
One of our insurance carriers, State Auto, recently partnered with Roost, a smart home device company, and is offering Smart Sensor Kits to new State Auto policy owners.
In addition, new State Auto policy owners also receive an existing smart home discount for simply using the smart home devices to protect their homes.
The Smart Sensor Kit includes two smart devices:
- A smart water leak and freeze detector
- A smart 9V battery
Smart Water Leak & Freeze Detector
The smart water leak and freeze detector is designed to sense water leaks and frozen pipes. Upon detection, the smart device will send an alert directly to your smartphone.
You could place this smart device beneath the kitchen sink, near the sump pump or hot water heater, behind the toilets, or next to pipes that could potentially freeze.
This device alone could have saved my husband and me a lot of time, stress, and money.
SMART 9V BATTERY
The smart 9V battery is designed to fit directly into your smoke detector and is also set up to alert your phone upon the detection of smoke.
In addition, after 3-5 years when the battery runs low, it notifies your phone.
In other words, there’s no chirping. :)
Both products, the smart water leak and freeze detector and the smart 9V battery could be considered lifesavers.
But these are just two of the many smart devices out there to protect your homes.
Other smart devices can include smart window and door sensors to detect break-ins, smart door locks that can be opened and locked remotely from your mobile devices, and smart cameras to supervise what’s happening in your home while you’re away.
Many smart home devices can add that extra layer of protection to your home, and detect potential problems before they result in significant damage.
Going Beyond Insurance To Protect You!
We are always educating our clients and our communities on the importance of securing the right protection for their home.
While we offer every type of insurance you could possibly need, we also go beyond insurance to make sure you and your family are safe and protected.
Interested in learning more? Call us at (330) 334-1561 or email us at insurance@oneillinsurance.com to speak with one of our Personal Account Managers.
