The invasion of the pod people

"The pod people are coming!" Men, women and children are all affected by this phenomenon. They're running through the streets, jumping up and down, letting other family members know they have arrived. What causes all this excitement? No, it's not the sequel to the movie "The Blob" or another "Body Snatchers." 

These pod people (those who deliver the POD and other portable storage units) provide a great service while they meet a variety of needs. Some instances one might need to rent a POD are:

• If you're remodeling, you might need to put some furniture in storage.
• If you're moving, you'll probably want to declutter, and need a place to store your "extras" while staging your home.
• If you sell your house before finding your next one, it's possible that you'll choose to rent an apartment. Most likely you'll need to store quite a bit of your belongings while living in your (usually smaller) temporary residence.

In the midst of all of the other things you need to do, there is one item that is a must - check to see if your belongings are covered by your homeowners insurance. One policyholder told me that her insurance policy only covers these items for 30 days, then she'd need to find different insurance.

We asked a couple insurance agents what type of coverage their company offers:

Jim Metzler (317-844-4402,  Jim@InsuranceInIndy.com) of State Farm said, "Generally speaking, your personal property is covered for the 'named perils' anywhere in the world.  So if someone has personal property stored in a 'storage unit, or a portable pod' they would have the same coverage extended to that unit that they have in their home. Of course the deductibles and other limitations would still apply."

As we often state, coverages are different. This is evidenced by comparing Jim's statement with the response from Barbara Hook of Sentry Insurance (317-919-1769; Barbara.Hook@Sentry.com). "There is 100 percent contents coverage while on insureds premises and 10 percent coverage when moved off insureds premises such as a storage facility."

These 3 examples show how insurance policies differ. If you're going to be calling the "pod people", be sure to check with your insurance agent to see if and how much coverage you will have for these items.