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What You Must Know About Home Owner’s Insurance
What You Must Know About Home Owner’s Insurance
Having home owner’s insurance is definitely a smart idea. Catastrophes often happen unexpectedly and can result in enormous expenses, and possibly the loss of your home. Having home owner’s insurance will help you cover the cost of everything from a burst pipe, to fire damage. Home owner’s insurance helps you to fix or rebuild your home quickly.
Lower your annual home insurance premiums by raising your deductible. The higher the deductible, the less you pay. Even though you will be stuck with footing the bill for smaller problems you may encounter, it is worth it in the long run. Insurance companies tend to raise a homeowner’s premium after any claim they make, no matter how small.
Review the value of any collectibles on a regular basis to make sure your coverage is appropriate for current value. Many items increase in value over time and you may need to increase the amount of contents coverage on your home owner’s insurance policy to make sure your collections are fully covered.
Consider buying car insurance through the same company your homeowner’s insurance is through. Most of the time insurance companies, will give you a discount for having more than one policy through them. This can save you 20% or more on both insurance policies and make it easier to make one payment instead of two.
Not cleaning your gutters can lead to costly roof and wall repairs, which will either come out of your pocket or end up as a claim on your home owner’s insurance. If you choose the later route to finance them, you could end up with a large increase in your premiums. Have your gutters inspected every year!
When damage to your home occurs, take appropriate action to protect your property from additional damage until it can be repaired. For example, if your roof is damaged, be sure to cover the damaged area with a tarp or other protective covering to prevent water damage until the roof can be repaired.
When it comes time for you to renew your home owner’s insurance, give your company or broker a call. There are many discounts being added that you might not know about which your insurance company or broker can apply to your renewed plan. It could save you a lot of money for a little time invested!
Homeowners insurance is a very big necessity in life. Keep in mind that some mortgage companies will not even make the loan unless a person can provide proof of coverage for fair or full value of the home. It can be very expensive so be sure to research the different companies and compare their policies so that you can find the best rate and coverage.
Having home owner’s insurance will give you peace of mind that no matter what happens to your home, you are covered. There are many different companies that offer insurance and countless different options available. Use the tips from this article to guide you towards what home owner’s insurance is right for you.
10 Auto Insurance Myths You Should Know About
10 Auto Insurance Myths You Should Know About
The truth about fallacies of many car owners believing that the insurance premium coverage for their new car is covered, and maybe the truth just might make you change course.
(1) “No-fault insurance means, is it not my fault?” That means that your insurance company pays for your damages regardless of who’s at fault. No they don’t!
(2) “Can the color of my car affect my insurance rate?” No!
What do influence your rate are your vehicle’s year, make, model, body type, engine size, credit history and driving record.
(3)”If I lend my car to a friend and that friend is in an accident, his or her insurance company will pay for the damages…right?” Wrong!
Your car is your responsibility! And guess what, even though you weren’t present at the time of the accident, you still will receive a mark on your insurance record and your insurance premium could possibly go up.
(4) “Is my insurance rate is set by the government?” No!
The government has nothing to do with your car insurance rate. Where you live, your credit score, marital status and your driving record is what actually affects your premium.
(5) “I recently paid my insurance premium. Is my new car I just purchased is covered?”
Not necessarily. Most automobile policies require that the policyholder notify the insurance company or agent within a specified number of days, if indeed coverage is desired for the newly purchased vehicle.
(6) “Is it a fact that male driver under the age of 25 pay more for auto insurance?” Yes! Male driver under 25 years old can potentially pay more for car insurance than female drivers. However, across the board, teenagers and mature adults pay more for auto insurance, due in large part because these age groups are typically involved in more automobile accidents.
(7) “Can my credit score have any affect on my insurance rate?” Your credit score really does matter! Many Insurance companies take your credit score into consideration when deciding to increase or renew your auto insurance coverage.
(8) “Even without comprehensive coverage, am I still covered for theft, windstorms, and hail and deer accidents?” Many drivers believe that if they only purchase collision insurance, which covers accidents involving objects, that they will also be covered for incidents that involve vandalism, hail, animal accidents and fires. That simply is not true. You need to purchase both collision and comprehensive coverage in order to fully protect your vehicle from all of these situations.
(9) “Can my personal auto insurance cover both my personal and business use of my car?”
If you occasionally use your personal car for business purposes such as transporting clients, going to and from meetings or hauling business equipment, then you will more than likely need to extend your personal car insurance to cover your business use as well. Plus, if your employees use their car while working for you, you will want to also obtain a separate non-owned car insurance policy.
(10) “I’ve never had nor been involved in a car accident, do I still need automobile insurance?” Yes!
Some drivers are lucky enough never to have been or to be involved in an accident. However, if by chance you do have an accident; your risk of losing everything is great. Car insurance is the best protection you can have in the event an automobile accident occurs. It’s also a legal issue – you are required, by law, to have some basic form of auto insurance, and failing to do so carries some fairly strict punishments.
The Life Insurance Policy and What You Need to Know Before You Buy
The Life Insurance Policy and What You Need to Know Before You Buy
Are you looking to buy a life insurance policy? Well, be careful. Life insurance can be difficult to understand and it’s easy to be conned into buying something under false pretenses.
Recently a prominent life insurance company together with several of its agents paid a huge fine because it permitted the sale of a life insurance policy disguised as a retirement plan. There was little attention given to what a life insurance policy is truly designed to provide.
Life insurance is not an investment for your benefit. It’s guaranteed income tax-free cash paid to someone you designate in the event of your death. If you deeply care for someone and want to protect them, then buying a life insurance policy makes sense.
As primary bread winner in your family, your lost income could jeopardize the ability of those you love to continue to enjoy their standard of living.
The only way to guarantee an immediate replacement of this money is with the intelligent purchase of a life insurance policy.
Notice I didn’t say term life insurance, low cost life insurance, or whole life insurance.
To your loved ones … this doesn’t really matter.
Over the years I’ve delivered millions of dollars of life insurance benefit to the families of deceased bread winners. And you know what?
No one ever asked me what type of life insurance policy it was. They were just extremely grateful to get the money.
Term is the cheapest, but it’s unlikely the death benefit will be paid since the life insurance policy will probably lapse before you actually die. Right now the premium may seem cheap compared with other types. But what happens when you’re older?
Term life insurance premiums can be level for a specific number of years, but when that number of years is up the price will skyrocket to a point you won’t be able or willing to pay.
Whole life insurance provides a lifetime level premium until the policy is literally paid-up. This could be 10, 20 years … or when you reach age 65, 85 or 100. One big advantage is you don’t have to worry about your policy expiring before you do.
One type of life insurance policy is not necessarily better than another. But it’s critical you understand what you are buying, how it works and your net cost.
After all, if the policy isn’t in force when you die you have thrown your premium dollars right down a rat hole.
By the way, don’t fall for that line about buy term and invest the difference. Anyone who cons you with this bunch of malarkey has absolutely no idea how to intelligently evaluate the purchase of life insurance.
An excellent life insurance policy to consider is universal life. This is the type of policy that guarantees the death benefit up to age 115 regardless of the performance of the underlying investment.
Although more expensive then term life insurance, universal life is far less costly than a typical whole life insurance policy. But be careful because some universal life policies are sold by focusing on projected interest rates rather than contractual guarantees.
If you are considering the purchase of a whole life insurance policy from a mutual company that declares annual dividends, ask the agent for a hypothetical illustration using a dividend forecast at least one percent less the current rate.
In the past when long-term interest rates were higher, mutual companies credited very handsome dividends to their policies. But today with long-term rates still depressed, it’s unlikely a life insurance policy will perform as illustrated.
In summary, pay close attention to the guarantees of whatever life insurance policy you decide to buy. Also, make sure you know the credit rating of the life insurance company.
There is nothing wrong with term life insurance, but understand your options about converting to a permanent plan. This could be critical if you become uninsurable before the policy expires.
Remember, you may never get a second chance to make the right decision.
What You Need To Know About A Car Insurance Adjuster?
What You Need To Know About A Car Insurance Adjuster?
If you’re in need of a car insurance adjuster then there are a few facts you should know before you meet with him/her. The first rule of thumb is that if your car insurance adjuster is over friendly remember, he is there to save money for the company he works with, not especially for you.
Don’t ever sign anything without reading every detail and never underestimate the good will of the car insurance adjuster. If the adjuster wants to discuss anything on the phone, request that you would rather meet with him/her in person until after your insurance claim is settled.
You can be pleasant with the insurance adjuster but stay firm. No matter what happened at the scene of the accident, it is not the car insurance adjuster’s fault if the person that hit you was an idiot. Don’t underestimate the importance of an adjuster’s impressions because they all go into your file. The way you act toward him/her could have an influence on your insurance claim later.
Even if, for example, your car hit a deer, insurance adjusters will even be called for this too, to estimate the amount of damage to the car. Again let the adjuster do his/her job and be friendly. When you hit a deer it can cause the same amount of damage in some cases as hitting a car, or even worse. Let the car insurance adjuster look at the damage and make up his/her own mind regarding the extent of damage. Again don’t sign any thing until your car insurance claim is settled.
An independent car insurance adjuster is also expected to settle insurance claims quickly. This person may not owe a particular allegiance to a specific insurance company, but they want to collect the fee from the company. An insurance adjuster’s authority to settle a claim is restricted, but the adjuster will do everything possible to make sure you get treated fairly
The bottom line is don’t let a car insurance adjuster suck you into thinking he’s your best friend in the world, only to be let down later. This is the nature of job and no matter how friendly the adjuster is, he/she is there to do a job. You have little to do with that except provide them with information needed to assess the damages to your car.
Just be a little careful when dealing with a car insurance adjuster.