Lots of positives have come with the rise of the sharing economy, as ride-sharing companies like Uber have become our Saturday-night rides home and Airbnb has become our go-to for weekend-trip lodgings. People all over the world have juiced their income with supplemental (or even primary) sharing-economy jobs, taking more control of their schedules and their bottom line. Good news, for sure.

But the gig economy has its complexities, and insurance coverage is definitely one of them.

If you’re thinking about putting your home up on Airbnb or VRBO, or joining up with Uber or Lyft as a driver, there’s a lot more to it than just signing up on an app — getting proper insurance coverage is a must. And what you have as an individual isn’t going to do it.

I work with a lot of homeowners in Nashville, sorting out their home insurance needs. And homeowners are, necessarily, on top of that — if you have a mortgage, you get home insurance, whether you feel inspired to or not.

Renters, on the other hand, don’t always look into insurance to protect what’s under their roofs. According to the Insurance Information Institute, in 2015, about 40 percent of renters had renters insurance, and although that was up from 29 percent in 2011, it’s still far too low a number for my liking — beyond the fact that I wrangle insurance for a living.

If there’s one thing I’m willing to get naggy about, it’s the topic of renters insurance. Even if your budget is tight, renters insurance should be a priority, and I say that not just as an independent Nashville insurance agent, but as a guy who hates seeing my neighbors end up in a bad financial way when it could’ve been easily (and affordably) avoided.

There are days when I wish I was, say, a dentist, and could simply encourage you to schedule the next appointment with your friendly Nashville insurance agent on a scientifically calculated, best-practices basis. But when it comes to insurance, things are a little more wiggly — routine “maintenance” doesn’t tend to be simply routine.

A lot of financial experts recommend searching for new insurance coverage annually, and I can see the logic in that — you may not necessarily want to change policies every year (like I mentioned previously, there can be rate benefits to being loyal), but it’s good to scan the landscape and make sure you’re not leaving money behind. Still, that’s a little simplistic, and there’ll be times when I’d encourage a client to reassess their coverage earlier, or later.

If you’re reading this and thinking, “I can’t remember the last time I looked into my insurance options,” let’s definitely talk about it. I can almost guarantee you’ve had a significant enough life event (or three) that’s changed your picture enough to also change your insurance needs.

Last week, I shared a rundown of factors that can cause your car insurance rates to rise, like your massively powerful engine or length of commute.

This week, I’m digging into the factors that affect your home insurance rate. Some are similar, some are different; some are things you can tweak, others just are what they are. But I’m always happy to arm my friends and clients with insurance knowledge, so here are some things you may or may not know feed into your homeowners insurance policy picture:

It can understandably feel like there’s some kind of mystical tea leaf-reading happening when insurance companies calculate your rates — you pour out buckets of information, it’s mixed up behind a curtain, then poof: a number you couldn’t have predicted and can’t necessarily explain.

Part of what I try to do, as an independent insurance agent in Nashville, is bring clarity to the process of finding the right insurance coverage, and outline how different factors can affect how insurers see you, your home and/or your car, in terms of risk and in terms of rate. There’s a bit of science and a bit of art that goes into their calculations, and different insurers approach things different ways, so one company’s policy might be a much better price — and much better fit — than another.

All that said, certain things do tend to make anyone’s insurance premiums go up; the specific figures will differ from company to company, but many insurers take them into consideration.

This week, I’m going to share a few factors that can feed into car insurance rate increases. Next week, I’ll focus on homeowners insurance.

It's almost a New Year, and I'm starting it off with a new addition to the Tucker Coverage website: our new blog.

In the coming weeks and months, I'll be sharing lots of info, advice and experiences here, from recommendations on the type of insurance coverage you might need and want as you move through life's milestones, to pitfalls you can avoid by finding the right home, auto and renter's insurance. (We go well beyond those types of insurance, too -- whatever insurance needs you might have, let me know, I'd be glad to help.)

I hope this'll be a valuable resource to Nashvillians in need of insurance guidance, and I hope it'll be a fun read (I'll make sure to share a fair share of interesting/bizarre insurance facts, particularly on our Instagram).