21 Apr
Posted by Insurance Blogger as Automobile Insurance
Shouldn’t safe drivers who never get tickets and who never get in accidents be rewarded for their safety behind the wheel? Most insurance companies feel this way, and why wouldn’t they? Historically, the safer a driver is, the less likely that driver will be of getting in an accident. This, over time will end up saving the insurance company thousands upon thousands of dollars. That is why many insurance companies now offer Good Driver Discounts for those who are historically save drivers - meaning that they rarely, if ever, get moving violations, and are seldom, if ever, involved in traffic collisions and accidents.
By offering a good driver discount, insurance companies are accomplishing a few things. Firstly, and most importantly, they’re saving themselves money. By insuring safer drivers, insurance companies will directly be handling less claims for accidents. Since auto insurance companies will be making more money by insuring good drivers, they can offer Good Driver Discounts to good drivers, this will entice new business. Secondly, knowing that safe driving will save them money on car insurance, drivers will in turn change their driving habits for the better. By becoming safer drivers, insured drivers will become eligible for safe driver discounts.
What are the requirements for a Good Driver Discount? It will vary from each different insurance company, but in most cases, they’ll be looking for the following things:
If you fit all of, or most of the above criteria, it may be a good idea to call your insurance company and ask about a Good Driver Discount if you do not currently get a special rate for being a good driver. It may be possible that you could get the rate just by asking, or you may just have to fill out some additional paperwork to get the discount. In any case, it doesn’t hurt to call and ask about Good Driver Discounts.
Many insurance companies won’t offer discounts to drivers under the age of 21 (sometimes 25), but there are some companies out there that will offer a Good Student Discount. When I was in high school, my parents would always want me to keep my grades up just for this reason. Teenagers are very expensive to insure, so any sort of teenage driving discount would be helpful. Good Student Discount programs are typically offered to full time students who have high GPA (3.5 or higher).
Next time you’re in the market for insurance, make sure that you do your research and choose a car insurance policy that is right for you.
21 Apr
Posted by Insurance Blogger as Automobile Insurance
When shopping for car insurance or automobile insurance, there are typically three main areas of coverage that you want to consider prior to selecting a policy. Within each area of coverage, you’ll need to decide the amount of coverage that you want. Below, I’ve outlined the three main areas of coverage, two of which are required and included with every insurance policy, and the final will be additional/optional coverage that can be added onto your auto insurance policy.
Liability Coverage
If you are at fault in an accident that is covered by your policy, and others (people or property) are injured or damaged, liability coverage will help to protect you from the cost of these damages. Without insurance, and more specifically liability coverage, the entire cost of damages from an automobile accident could become your financial responsibility.
Medical Payments Coverage
If you’re involved in an accident, the medical payments coverage option will help pay for necessary medical bills. It’s always a good idea to have a high amount of medical payments coverage on your car insurance policy.
Underinsured / Uninsured Motorist Coverage
If a driver with little or no insurance damages your car, or injures you or someone riding with you, the uninsured motorist coverage option can help cover repairs and expenses. Though its always a good idea to have uninsured motorist coverage, the amount of coverage that you need will often depend on the area that you live, the type of car that you drive, the amount of driving that you do and the areas that you typically drive your car. If you live in the suburbs in a nice neighborhood and don’t leave often, you won’t have a very high need for uninsured motorist coverage, however if you live in the city and drive through poor parts of town, uninsured motorist coverage would be a good idea for you. (Underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage is often subject to certain limitations, however, so check your individual policy, or talk to your agent for more details.)
Collision Coverage
This option helps protect you from repair costs to your car if you’re involved in a covered accident. Considering it’s a covered loss (that’s insurance-speak for an accident that’s specifically covered by your policy), Collision coverage helps pay for the repairs needed to get your car back on the road. Keep in mind that if you are not at fault in the accident, the repairs will typically be paid by the at fault party’s insurance (unless the at fault party is uninsured - that is where uninsured motorist coverage comes in handy).
Comprehensive Coverage
This option helps protect your car in situations that do not necessarily involve other drivers or vehicles. If your car is damaged by a storm, vandalism, or “passive object” (such as a tree or a post in a parking garage) which fell and was not caused by collision or some other freak accident, comprehensive coverage will save you. I wish I had higher comprehensive coverage and lower deductible when my car was broken into last year.
Personal Injury Protection
Some insurance companies will offer coverage that will help to reimburse you for lost income, child care expenses, medical expenses, and other similar things if you’re hurt in a covered accident. Personal Injury protection is not available in some states, and not available through all insurance providers. The amount of reimbursement is typically based on the coverage that is purchased in your policy.
Additional Coverage Options
Additional coverage options offered by auto insurance companies can include, but are not limited to:
These additional coverage options might be included through some insurance companies policies, and sometimes will have to be added on separately.
All of these options and optional items should be considered when you are looking to purchase new auto insurance policy.
21 Apr
Posted by Insurance Blogger as Automobile Insurance
When shopping for a new car insurance policy, there are many factors that should be considered before deciding on the plan, policy and company that you choose to insure your automobile with. The first, and best piece of information that I can give you is to get out and shop around for insurance prior to choosing a new policy, don’t just go with the first one that you see - even if it does sound like a good deal.
When I shop for automobile insurance, the first place I start is with the company. I begin by choosing three to five companies who I would trust. If you are in a hurry to find car insurance and three to 5 companies is too much for you to research, make sure you find at least two or three to compare. Here are some questions that I ask myself when choosing a car insurance company:
Once you’ve found three to five companies that you’ll consider doing business with, you’ll want to compare those companies against each other to see if any of them stand out among the rest as being much better or much worse.
Once you’ve selected a few companies, you want to learn as much about the company as possible to make sure that company will be there when you need them most - when you get into an accident, when your car is broken into or worse, stolen. Some questions that I ask when I am researching the history and strength of individual companies are:
When considering the above questions, compare the answers for each company against each of the others. If they’re better for any reason, you’ll probably want to consider using them more heavily, and likewise, if they’re worse for any reason, you may want to remove them from the list prior to moving to the next step.
Once you’ve got a good idea of the reputability and reliability of your selected insurance companies, you’ll want to consider the price for the insurance premium at each of the different companies. To determine the price for your new policy, you’ll first want to determine the Car Insurance Coverage Options that you’ll need, such as coverage limits on bodily injury, property damage, and deductible amount. A standard place to start is $100K/$300K (bodily/property) and a $500 deductible. If you’re very accident prone, you may want to get quoted on a lower deductible or if you’re a very safe driver and have never had a problem you may want to consider a higher deductible like $1,000 as this will lower your monthly premium. Anyways, once you decide the coverage options that you want and need, call the insurance companies and ask for quotes directly - Do not call an insurance broker, as they act as a middleman and that will increase your price for car insurance. Compare all the prices that you are given and then make a knowledgable decision based on everything that you’ve learned about each insurance company and the pricing that they offer you. Note: if two or more of the companies offer you pricing that is very close to the other, you may want to ask each about Car Insurance Discount and Incentive Plans that they may offer.
04 Apr
Posted by Insurance Blogger as Pet Insurance
I’ve often considered purchasing pet insurance for my 2 dogs. It seems that whenever we have a large dog-related expense come up, I contemplate signing up for a pet insurance plan, but in the end, I always decide that pet insurance will end up costing more in the long run.
There are many pet insurance programs out there, and most of them range from $19/month to $50+/month. If you’re looking for a decent plan that covers just about everything (with the exception of pre-existing conditions) you’ll be looking at about $40/month, or $480/year. Now figure that your dog (or cat) has a life of 10 years, that’s $4,800 over the course of your dog’s life. The other thing that you need to consider is that when you have pet insurance, you’ll also have office visit copay and drug & medicine copay, which both will add to the total cost of pet insurance.
Let’s just put together some rough number of someone who goes without pet insurance. Let’s say about $100/year on veterinary visits, for a total of $1,200 over the life of the dog. And just to be fair, let’s just throw in $3,000 worth of emergency/surgical expenses. With these numbers, were only at $4,200, about $600 less than the pet insurance cost alone - not including the copay amounts that will be added in for pet insurance.
So after considering pet insurance multiple times, I’ve always decided against it. If you’re on the fence about pet insurance, take a look at this site, as they have a nice list of pros and cons of pet insurance. You can also read this pet insurance ebook if you’re seriously considering buying pet insurance; some of the stories in the book will make you a true believer in pet insurance.
03 Apr
Posted by Insurance Blogger as Health Insurance
My health insurance premium increased by about 25% this year. I’ve heard of increasing premiums, but this seemed a little bit excessive. I tried calling my health insurance provider for an explanation, but in addition to “the run-around”, the only answer that I really got was that my insurance premium was increasing due to the increasing costs of operations and providing health insurance coverage to subscribers.
Is it time for me to start shopping for a new health insurance provider? I don’t know if I can continue to keep paying these high premiums, and next year when my policy renews, will I be in for the same type of increase?
The only thing that helps me justify the high cost of my health insurance premium is the fact that health insurance and medical expenses are tax deductible. Not that being able to write-off my health insurance cost actually justifies the high price, it really only gives me an excuse to keep paying for it.
03 Apr
Posted by Insurance Blogger as Travel Insurance
After the happenings of the past week, first with Aloha Airlines declaring bankruptcy, now today, ATA Airlines declaring bankruptcy, thousands of people have found themselves with a plane ticket, but with no plane to fly on.
In both of these cases, it is very unlikely that travelers will see any sort of refund from either of these companies, but the few travelers who had purchased travel insurance are the happy ones right now. Travel insurance, which is a fairly uncommon purchase by my standards, except when traveling internationally, can cover a wide array of things that can happen during your trip, from loss of transportation to injury. Here’s a brief list of what travelers insurance covers:
In the future, consider purchasing travel insurance when booking large scale vacations to help protect yourself against large travel companies declaring bankruptcy or encountering other unforeseen problems.
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Apr | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |