Archive for Great Insurance Tips
May 31, 2008 at 9:30 pm · Filed under Great Insurance Tips
We are all looking for ways to save money, but driving with out auto insurance is irresponsible, as well as illegal in most states. Today, even small accidents can result in thousands of dollars in damages.
Good news is that cars built today are designed to absorb ever-increasing levels of impact and are filled with technology, like air bags, Dual side-curtain air bags, Side Impact Protection Systems. All of these innovations have made today’s car the safest ever built, but all have added cost to the price of both buying and fixing these cars and trucks.
Due to the high price of vehicles, ever increasing medical costs, and new bankruptcy laws that make it more
difficult to eliminate your debits; it is financial suicide to drive with out insurance. When looking for car insurance, no one wants to pay more than they have to in order to get the needed coverage. Below are some suggestions to help you lower your insurance costs.
1. Shop Several Companies
Prices vary widely from company to company. The carrier that offers the lowest rate on a middle-aged married couple might be one the highest on a 20-year-old male single. Get quotes from different types of insurance companies. Some companies sell direct through a captive agent force. Independent agents offer policies from several different insurance companies. You can find agents by searching Online, using a telephone directory or asking family or friends.
2. Move to a Higher Deductible
The deductible is the amount you pay on a claim before the insurance company pays. By requesting higher deductibles, you can lower your insurance costs significantly. For example, increasing your deductible from $250 to $500 could decrease your comprehensive and collision coverage cost by as much as 30 percent. Switching to a $1,000 deductible can reduce your expense by 40 percent or more. Just keep in mind, if there is a claim you are going to need to come up with that amount in order to get your car repaired. However, remember that the deductible is for the damages to your own car, rarely is there any deductible for the car that you “Hit”.
3. Decrease Coverage on Older Cars
When your car was new, of course you purchased “Full Coverage’ to protect your investment. However if your car is no longer a “late model” or does not have a value over $3,000.00, consider dropping collision and comprehensive coverage. Ask your agent to provide you with a quote both with and without these coverages. Your agent can tell you the Blue book value of your car.
4. Ask about Alarm Discounts
Does your car have any anti theft devices? Most cars today do have both passive and active systems. Most insurance companies will give you a discount of your insurance if your car is so equipped. The discount can be as much as 20% of the comprehensive portion of your policy. It is important that you let your agent know.
5. Exclude a driver
Not all drivers are created equal when it comes to car insurance. The rates on teen drivers are much higher than drivers in their 30s or 40s. If you have young drivers in the household that do not drive your car, you can save a considerable sum by taking them off your policy. A word of caution: If you exclude a driver from your policy and they do take your car out for a spin and have an accident; you will not be covered for that loss.
6. Part-Time Drivers
Most companies give a discounted rate for a part-time or occasional driver. This is of no use if the part time driver is an older driver, but can make a dramatic difference when the part time driver is a young driver. But remember to ask your agent, and not assume they gave you the discount.
7. Maintain a Good Credit Record
It might seem that is no connection between “Good Credit” and low insurance costs, but many insurance companies will now run credit reports each time you apply for a quote on your car insurance. Many people would be surprised to learn that a “Bad Credit Score” can raise your insurance rate more than having speeding tickets. Not all companies credit score; always ask the agent if they are going to run your credit. If a representative asks you for your social security number, assume they are planning on running a credit check. Verify your credit record on a periodically to check for any errors.
8. Check Your Driving Record
I have had clients whose driving record show accidents and tickets that were inaccurate. Such mistakes happen more frequently than many agents or representatives at the Security of State are willing to admit. These mistakes can significantly increase the cost of your insurance. Check your credit record on a from time to time to check for any errors.
9. Shop Before You Buy The Car
Insurance carriers heavily surcharge some cars, motorcycles or trucks. That means that even though two cars that have the same value, might have dramatically different insurance rates.
After you buy the car, you might find that the monthly insurance payment is more than the monthly car payment. This is particularly true for the combination of young drivers and high performance cars.
10. Don’t Put In The Small Claim
Insurance works best when it is used for which it was intended- to protect you against major financial losses. Insurance companies today share loss information through a central network. As a result these losses follow you from company to company. Companies count “Frequency” as well as total pay-out; so if you have $600 in damages and a $500 deductible
It might be wise to avoid having the claim on your record.
Larry Lubell is President of Urban Insurance Agency. He has been providing insurance advice to his clients for over 20 years. Urban Insurance Agency specializes in auto insurance including SR22 Filing, commercial vehicle insurance and Motorcyle Insurance. For more information visit http://www.urbaninsuranceagency.com
May 27, 2008 at 11:28 am · Filed under Great Insurance Tips
Term life insurance is a low priced life insurance policy which simply offers a pay out upon the holder’s death, with no cash build up. Many people opt for term life insurance because they only seek to be able to supply their families with money in the event they are no around.
But term life insurance can also be used for another important objective.
Estate planning is the process of setting up an estate so that when it passes on the next generation it does so in the most efficient manner.
Since the IRS will expect taxes on estates with a value of over a set amount, people seek ways to reduce or eliminate those taxes for their heirs.
While the actual owed taxes cannot be eliminated there are methods to help heirs pay those taxes without having to pull money out of their taxes.
One common method is for heirs to sell the assets of the estate to pay their taxes that are due.
But the pressure to do so might force the inheritors to sell off the assets at reduced prices since they are under pressure to come up with money to pay the taxes.
Another method is for the owner of the assets to purchase a term life insurance policy which will list the heirs as the beneficiaries.
Once he passes away the heirs can use the proceeds from the term life insurance policy to pay the taxes owed on the estate.
Since the proceeds of a life insurance policy is not taxed it is easy to calculate what the heirs will receive.
The next step would be to calculate what the owed taxes on the estate will be, and then purchase a term life insurance policy that has a large enough pay out to cover the taxes.
Donny Lowy manages http://www.americanlifedirectonline.com an online term life insurance portal.
May 5, 2008 at 3:46 am · Filed under Great Insurance Tips, School of Information, Streets + Wheels
Car insurances have increased a lot in the past decade. Almost every person who buy a car gets it insured, its one of the first thing that you do. There are huge number of companies offering car insurances and for this reason its quite difficult to find the right car insurance quotes. The car insurance quotes that are provided to base on a simple formula, they are determined by the amount of information provided by you.
Online or offline quotes are almost same and not much difference exist among them. Based on these insurance quotes you get the option to pay them on monthly basis or annual basis or semi annual basis. If you already have an insurance policy than you should ask the same company, they will provide you with quotes that are much less than others. Its best to ask a broker to provide you with the necessary information, this is a quick and easier way of gathering information. They provide you different range to select from; on the other hand if you have done it yourself it would have taken a lot of time. You can expect cheap rates if you have not made any claims in your life.
April 17, 2008 at 8:52 pm · Filed under Great Insurance Tips
More and more people in the UK are buying life insurance online and the numbers seem to be doubling every two years. The reasons are clear. Prices are lower on the Internet and life insurance is fundamentally a simple insurance product.
Despite the underlying simplicity of life insurance, most web sites channel their online clients through a telephone based help and advice service manned by experienced personnel. They represent your safety net so if a little technical knowledge is called for, help is at hand.
But it’s always a good idea to have a few Top Tips in your back pocket when you’re shopping online for life insurance. They’ll help you ask the right questions and find the best policy.
1. Always have your Life Insurance policy “Written in Trust”.
This means that in the event of a claim, the money goes directly and immediately to the person(s) you nominate when you first take the policy out. It also avoids all possibility of your estate having to pay Inheritance Tax on the proceeds of your policy and that could represent a 40% tax saving !
All you have to do is tell the online brokerage organising your policy that you want your policy “Written in Trust” and the names of the people who the life insurance company pay in the event of a claim. They will then sort it all out for you. The extra good news is that this service is invariably free of charge. So it’s a win win situation and there aren’t many of those around these days !
2. In the early years a Reviewable Life Insurance Policy will be cheaper but a Guaranteed Policy will work out a better buy in the longer term.
With a “Guaranteed Policy” the insurance company guarantees never to increase your policy’s premium.
With a “Reviewable Policy” you agree that your insurance company can review the cost of your policy at regular intervals. But don’t be kidded - in our experience a “review” is just another word for a price increase. After all, who’s ever heard of an insurance company passing up a chance to charge you more! The review intervals are usually between 2 to 5 years but this does vary between insurance companies. You will find the details of the review intervals on the documents sent to you before you accept the insurance - these are called The Key Features Documents.
So, comparing otherwise like for like policies, in the early years the premiums for a “Reviewable Policy” will undoubtedly be lower than the premiums for a “Guaranteed Policy”. Thereafter, the premiums for a Reviewable Policy increase eventually catching up with and overtaking, the premium for a “Guaranteed Policy”.
In our experience, you can expect the monthly premiums for a Reviewable Policy to exceed those of a Guaranteed policy in about 7 to 10 years and then within the following 10 years, more than double again. If your budget is currently tight then by all means choose a Reviewable Policy - after all your salary may increase in coming years and ease the strain. On the other hand, if the premiums for a Guaranteed Policy are affordable, we think they represent your best buy.
A footnote. Many insurance companies have stopped offering “Guaranteed” rates for standalone critical illness insurance policies. This because they have experienced much higher claim rates than they initially expected. However, you may still find a Guaranteed life insurance policy that also provides critical illness cover. As we have explained, “Guaranteed” rates are especially good value and if you can get a quote for a Guaranteed life policy that includes critical illness cover, you may have a real bargain.
3. Thinking about a Joint Life Insurance Policy?
A Joint Life Insurance policy is usually written on a first death basis. This means that the policy will pay out on the death of the first policyholder, subject to the policy being in force at the time. This leaves the second person uninsured and older. Older people can struggle to get life insurance at an affordable premium, so rather than a Joint Policy consider taking out separate policies now. Overall it will work out a little dearer - but you get twice the cover and double the peace of mind.
4. Taking out a Life Insurance Policy? Now would be an ideal time to include Critical Illness cover.
Are you likely to need Critical Illness Insurance in the future? Yes? Then consider adding it now to the life insurance policy you’re arranging. Why? There are three reasons.
Firstly, a Life Insurance policy combined with Critical Illness cover will work out significantly cheaper than buying two separate policies. Secondly, as we have already explained in the footnote to Tip 2, you may be able to buy a combined Life and Critical Illness policy with a guaranteed premium. That could be e real bargain. Finally, premiums for critical illness cover increase rapidly as you get older - so the sooner you take it out, the cheaper it will be.
5. Don’t confuse Terminal Illness cover with Critical Illness cover.
There’s world of difference between Terminal Illness and Critical Illness cover so it’s important to understand the difference.
Terminal Illness cover pays out the insured lump sum if a Medical Doctor diagnoses you with an illness from which the Doctor expects you to die within 12 months. Most good life policies automatically include Terminal Illness cover at no extra cost. It’s basically an early, and welcome policy payout.
A Critical Illness policy pays out the insured lump sum if you are diagnosed with one of a wide range chronic illness and there is no life expectancy criteria. Indeed, with many of the insured illnesses you could expect to survive for many years. For example: certain cancers, heart disease, stroke, multiple sclerosis, loss of speech, sight or hearing, onset of Parkinsons or Alzheimers disease, third degree burns etc. Say you were an engineer aged 40 and you lost your sight. A Critical Illness policy would pay out immediately and that money could well be vital in helping you and your family through many difficult financial years ahead. If you just had Terminal Illness cover there’d be no chance of a payout.
So as you can see, Critical Illness cover is far more comprehensive than simple Terminal Illness cover and for that reason critical illness cover always costs you extra.
Michael Challiner has 15 years experience in financial services marketing at senior level, the last 5 of which specialised in online marketing. Prior to that he spent 15 years in advertising with two of the world’s top advertising agencies, J Walter Thompson and Saatchi & Saatchi.
Michael now Works as the editor of Express Life Insurance . All future work by Michael and additional news stories about life insurance may all be found at his life insurance resource
April 4, 2008 at 7:13 am · Filed under Great Insurance Tips
True, the earth, we live in, is the most beautiful of the
planets in the solar system. But in order to live in this
charming place, we need to put up with its negative sides a well
- natural disasters and earthquakes to name a few in this
regard. To a larger extent, we humans are helpless in
anticipating an earthquake. Who knows what providence has in
store for us. The closest thing one can do is to remain prepared
for the worse mentally and financially. In this article we talk
about earthquake insurance, as a secure means of protecting
oneself from the losses that can happen due to a destructive
earthquake.
Earthquake insurance covers for financial losses caused due to a
devastating earthquake or earth movement such as land slide,
mudslide or sinkhole that involves the shifting, sinking or
rising of earth surface. But earthquake insurance comes with a
twist - it does not pay for losses incurred due to a tidal wave
or flood, even the effect is compounded or affected by a prior
earthquake. Sometimes ridiculous technicality that is, but a
common man has no other choice than living with it.
An important aspect with earthquake insurance is that it is no
part of the homeowner or tenant insurance policies. Instead,
earthquake insurance stands independently like a life insurance
or auto insurance.
Let us see how earthquake insurance works. Earthquake insurance,
unlike most homeowner insurance types - covers mainly
substantial losses. The claim is paid after accounting for the
deductibles that may vary from 10-25%. The damages that exceed
the deductibles are only paid to the customer.
Even though there are no hard and fast rules in deducing claims,
while doing so, some insurance providers may take in to account
structure and contents as separate entities. In such analysis,
deductibles apply separately to total losses incurred on the
structure, contents and damages to external constructions like
garages, sheds and driveways.
Certain insurance companies put forward strict requirements
before issuing one an earthquake insurance policy. That is, they
might insist on undertaking a detailed inspection of the
client’s property before moving further ahead with the policy.
For example, some insurance providers insist that the client’s
home should be securely bolted to the basement. The inspection
also covers other aspects like the bracing on the interior walls
and how strapping guards are used to support fixtures. Hence, it
would be better if the homeowner clears his side and plug all
loop holes before inviting the insurance company to inspect
his/her house.
Now the most important thing; once the damage occurs due to an
earthquake, make the claim promptly and within the time period
as stipulated by the rules and regulations governing the policy.
Also, make sure that your claims are supported with all valid
documents and proof of damage incurred. One might wonder, but it
is these two points in which many people error and subsequently
have their claims rejected by the insurance companies.
Let us conclude with the biggest and funniest of the points to
make - what is the point in applying for earthquake insurance if
your home lies on a non-earthquake prone zone? Won’t it be a
waste of money??
Well, it is more of a personal choice to make. If your home is
situated on a fault area, better go for insurance. Else, one can
play with your chance, depending upon the confidence you have on
your destiny. Either way, we wish you good luck!
