Personal Perspective

If you rent out residential property, you face a variety of financial risks, everything from damage from fires and windstorms, through fines for building code violations, to a disgruntled tenant who sues you.

Landlord insurance to the rescue! These policies cover losses to the property, medical payments for tenants or visitors injured on the premises, and your personal liability for alleged negligence.

The amount of coverage depends on your financial situation. If you’ve taken out a mortgage on the property, the lender will probably insist that you buy a policy large enough to cover the loan balance. As a rule of thumb, the higher the value of the property and the greater the risk of potentially catastrophic liability, the more coverage you’ll need.

Your premium will depend on the type of losses covered and the extent of reimbursement. If you choose comprehensive or all risk coverage (which will pay for damage from all causes unless specifically excluded), your cost will be higher than if you buy “named perils” coverage (which covers only losses due to specific causes). Expect a higher premium for replacement value, which will reimburse you fully for rebuilding your property, than for actual cash value coverage, which will pay only the value of the property, less depreciation.

You can also reduce your premium by increasing the deductible (which usually range from $100 to 5% of the building coverage).

Optional coverages include repayment for rental income lost if the property becomes uninhabitable, and for risks of doing business with tenants, such as legal fees and liability against claims for libel, slander, and discrimination.

Our personal insurance specialists would be happy to help you choose the landlord coverage that offers the best value. Just give us a call.

You know the drill after an auto crash, heart stopping panic, and then, especially if there’s major damage or a serious injury, exchanging names, addresses and insurance information with the other driver. Easy, right?

However, if the other driver refuses to provide these particulars (or you’re so shaken that you forget to ask for them), you could end up in serious financial, or even legal, trouble.

Dan Young, Senior Vice President of Insurance Relations for CARSTAR warns, “[After an accident] sometimes drivers just don’t do what they’re supposed to do.”

To make sure you’re prepared for such a mishap, follow these guidelines:

• Remain at the scene. Although state laws differ, failure to exchange information or notify police can lead to a hit-and-run charge or loss of your license.
• Keep a “cheat sheet” in your glove compartment about what to ask after an accident.
• Use your cellphone to take a photo of the other vehicle, (preferably showing its license plate) as visual proof of the incident.
• Write down details. As soon as you and your vehicle are out of traffic and harm’s way, record the date and time, location, make and model of the cars and actions or statements by the other driver.
• Ask any bystanders or eyewitnesses for their names and contact information.

In the meantime, review your auto policy to make sure that you carry: 1) collision coverage, which will pay for repairing your car and providing a replacement vehicle, if needed and 2) uninsured/underinsured motorists insurance (UM/UIM), which will cover damages for injuries caused by an uninsured or underinsured driver.

For more information, feel free to get in touch with our agency.

Imagine that you ignored or forgot to pay a few minor traffic tickets – and that the police arrested you as a scofflaw.

It can happen. For the past seven years, the “Great Texas Warrant Roundup” has mailed thousands of notices a year giving citizens with outstanding warrants for offenses such as minor traffic violations two weeks to pay up –or face arrest.

Although this is an extreme example, if you have accumulated numerous tickets for minor violations, you’ll need to choose between hiring an attorney to go to court (assuming that you have a strong case) or paying the fine.

Even though using a lawyer will set you back several hundred dollars, it might make financial sense. If you’re acquitted, the tickets won’t show up on your driving record, which will play a major role when the insurance company sets your renewal rate; if you pay the tickets, your premiums could rise as much as 40% to 50% — a hike that will probably be far more than the attorney’s fee.

If you lawyer up, ask the attorney:

1. Do you charge by the hour or a flat fee?
2. What is your rate?
3. What does the rate cover – and not cover?
4. How and when do you expect payment?

However, paying up for minor traffic offenses is often the way to go. For one thing, unless you have a strong case, you did break the law. If you have several tickets, taking a driving course, might help erase points from your record. If a driver picks up a few minor violations a year, most insurance companies won’t factor them into the renewal rate.

As always, we stand ready to offer our professional advice.

Because relationships can be complicated – and insurance almost always is – when the two intertwine misunderstandings often lead to insufficient coverage, as well as marital distress.

To help maintain financial and emotional harmony in your marriage, avoid these errors:

1. Failure to admit bad credit before marriage. Credit issues have a long reach in a variety of ways, such as setting auto insurance rates. Ask how your score will be used and whether both spouses’ credit will be reviewed.
2. Not naming a spouse as the beneficiary under your life insurance. If there’s no beneficiary and no will, he or she might receive less than half of the benefit. If a life policy is part of a divorce agreement, tell your new spouse.
3. Trying to save money on auto coverage by not listing your bad driver spouse on your policy. This can lead to denied claims, policy cancellation, and even prosecution for fraud. Because most auto insurance companies offer multiple discounts, you might pay less with a joint policy.
4. Failure to insure your home and valuables properly before a fire or other catastrophe causes significant damage. Cover your dwelling for its full replacementcost. If your possessions have value, either sentimental (wedding rings) or real (antiques, fine arts, etc.) they’ll need to be insured.
5. Letting insurance lapse for non-payment. If you’re the spouse who pays the bills, make sure you do your job. If your auto or homeowners policy lapses, you won’t be covered. Even if you don’t suffer a major loss, you’ll need to re-apply and might have to pay more for less coverage. Be aware of grace periods for insurance payments, which vary by state and type of policy.

For a complimentary, comprehensive review of your insurance give us a call.

As you go about your daily business, insurance fraud is probably one of the furthest things from your mind. However these all-too-common scams, everything from homeowners who report a non-existent burglary to collect on their policies to drivers who stage auto accidents and file injury claims – are criminal acts that you have a legal obligation to report.

If you’re aware of, or suspect, a fraudulent act that involves insurance follow these steps:

• Inform the insurance fraud bureau in your state either through its telephone “hot line” or online.
• Contact the fraud department of the insurance company involved. Most companies have hotlines for this purpose. If a fraud hotline isn’t available, or if you’re uncomfortable using it, write the fraud department instead.
• If the alleged fraud involves a medical issue – such as a claim for a non-existent condition – contact your state medical board or chiropractic board immediately in order to protect the complainant, as well as other possible victims.
• If appropriate, notify other authorities, such as the police (if someone’s life might be in danger) or your local Social Security office (in case of suspected Social Security fraud).
• Remember that, as a witness, you must report all the details involved: full names, dates, organization, company name, the amount of money involved, etc. Provide any documentation or other information you think might help with the investigation.
• Be patient. Investigating complaints takes time; it might be months before the investigators have gathered enough evidence to bring the perpetrators into court.

A word to the wise. insurance scams costs billions of dollars a year, driving up premiums for everyone – including you.

Adding a teenager to your auto policy can raise your rate by more than 40%. The good news: you and your teen can reduce these hikes significantly in a variety of ways:

1. Get good grades. Most insurance companies offer high school or college students with a B average or better a discount of up to 10%.
2. Live away from home. Students at college or living at least 100 miles from their parents without a car can usually get a 5%-10% discount.
3. Take an additional driving class. Although most insurance companies don’t give a discount for mandatory drivers’ed instruction, some companies will reduce premiums by 5% for teens who go to follow-up classes.
4. Sign a parent-teen driving contract. Your insurer might offer up to a 5% discount if your teen agrees to follow such rules as not driving at night or with friends in the car.
5. Raise your deductible. However, bear in mind that you’ll have to pay this deductible if your teen driver damages the car. If you repair every ding, you could spend a lot more than you’ll save on premiums with a higher deductible.
6. Reduce or drop some coverage. If you have an older car, you might not need Comprehensive or Collision insurance. Be wary of lowering Liability limits. In most cases, it makes sense to keep Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage, which pays medical expenses of anyone injured in an auto accident.
7. Choose a safe vehicle. The higher the safety rating of your car, the lower your premiums – and the safer your teenager will be behind the wheel.

We’d be happy to help you minimize the sticker shock of adding a teen driver. Just give us a call.

Strokes, heart attacks, seizures, undiagnosed diabetic comas, or other medical emergencies trigger auto accidents every day.

If you suffer a medical emergency while driving, an Auto policy can provide financial protection against your losses.

Consider these scenarios:

You have a medical crisis behind the wheel that injures another driver and damages their vehicle. Depending on the circumstances, your insurance company might or might not cover a Bodily Injury Liability or Property Damage claim. Many states allow a medical emergency defense against Liability claims, provided the driver hasn’t had previous health problems or shown negligence (for example, if a diabetic hadn’t taken insulin and went into a coma behind the wheel).

You experience a medical emergency while driving and damage your own car – say by running into a sign pole. Repairs will be paid by your Collision coverage, if you carry it (Bear in mind that many drivers, especially those with older cars, choose not to buy Collision insurance).

Your car is damaged by a driver who has a medical emergency. In most cases, the other driver’s Liability insurance will pay for the repair. However, if the driver’s insurance company decides that he or she isn’t liable for the accident, your Collision coverage will pick up the tab.

An Auto policy will remain in effect after a medical emergency because insurance follows the car, not the driver. Depending on the nature of the problem, a doctor might recommend that you don’t drive anymore. If your doctor OKs driving after you recover, the insurance company can raise your rates, impose a premium surcharge, or not renew your policy when it expires.

To learn more about how Auto insurance can help protect your pocketbook, just give us a call. We’re always ready to help!

Despite a dramatic rise in the level of home break-ins, nearly one in three homeowners (30%) don’t take basic steps to protect their homes. That’s the bottom line of a survey sponsored by Nationwide Insurance of more than 1,000 policyholders coast-to-coast who carry Homeowners or Condo insurance.

“We conducted this survey to identify common behaviors that could expose home and personal property to thieves,” says Pete Lore, Nationwide’ Associate Vice President of Property Technical Claims. “What we found was that homeowners can, and should, do more to protect their belongings.”

To help keep your home safe from thieves – and, in some cases, benefit from significant premium discounts – we’d recommend that you:

• Put deadbolts on doors and always lock them (nearly one third of all thieves enter homes through front doors, which are often unlocked, according to National Burglar & Fire Alarm Association).
• Make sure that doors and windows (on all levels) are locked.
• Install a home security system and keep it on 24-7 (one in five respondents to the Nationwide survey turned off their systems during the day – even though that’s when home burglars are busiest).
• Have motion-detection lights on the outside of your property.
• Do not hide a spare key outside the home – burglars know the most common hiding places.

If you’re going on vacation, tell police or the neighborhood watch about trip plans and ask them to drive by your house to see if it’s secure. While you’re away, put newspaper and mail delivery on hold or have someone pick them up for you. Keep quiet online about your travel plans; bad guys often use social media to target people who are out of town.

For a comprehensive complimentary, review of your home security needs, just give us a call at any time.

Preparing for a vacation can be one of the most exciting times in life. However, it comes with responsibilities beyond buying plane tickets and making hotel reservations.

For example, it’s all too easy to overlook the need for Travel Insurance. These “‘peace of mind” policies can protect travelers against everything from trip cancellation, and travel delays to lost luggage, medical emergencies (most Health policies have only limited coverage abroad) – and more.

Because coverages and rates vary widely, it can be difficult to choose the policy that’s best for you – and your pocketbook. To help you make the right decision, ask yourself these questions:

1. Do I have a tight flight connection?
2. Am I going to be travelling on non-refundable flights?
3. Where am I going and what are the risks associated with traveling and the situation at my destination?
4. Do I have any health problems that might crop up during my trip?
5. Will I be driving?
6. Will I be taking part in downhill skiing, surfing, or other high-risk activities?
7. If I missed a flight or get injured, would I be able to afford a return ticket?
8. What is the refund policy on my coverage?
9. Have I read the fine print make sure that you understand exactly what is covered and – just as important – what isn’t?
10. Have I compared similar policies to note any major price discrepancies?

Our Personal insurance specialists would be happy to help you answer these and other questions, to help ensure your peace of mind as you travel.

Bon voyage!

Floods happen – and nearly half of all deaths related to them involve vehicles, says the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The best advice for drivers during periods of heavy rain or flooding is to stay off the road. If that’s not possible and you see signs of high water or stranded vehicles, pull over or take a different route ( “Turn around, don’t drown”).

However, an unexpected flash flood can easily catch you unawares. If this happens, safety experts recommend taking these precautions to prevent an accident or a water-damaged car:

• Never drive beneath an underpass during a heavy rainstorm because they’re prone to flooding.
• Be wary of water levels. According to FEMA it takes only one foot of water to float a car, or even an SUV, sweeping it off a bridge or down a road.
• If your vehicle gets caught in a flood and stalls, or you lose control, get out before the car is carried downstream.
• If you can’t escape and your vehicle is going under, don’t panic. Once the car is submerged, open the doors, hold your breath, and climb out.

The good news: If your car is involved in a flood-related accident, Auto insurance can make sure that you don’t get swept away financially. Comprehensive coverage will pay for any type of damage to your car up to its actual cash value caused by natural events, such as flooding. If you hydroplane during a storm and flip your car or hit another vehicle or tree, Collision insurance will pay to repair it or cover the actual cash value of the car.

To learn more, please feel free to get in touch with our agency.