Category Archives: Home insurance information

Learn about home & property insurance coverage, limitations, exclusions, rates, eligibility, discounts & shopping tips. Learn how to avoid big mistakes with your insurance which can cost you a lot of money.

Buying Insurance Direct from the Company

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Progressive, Geico, Esurance, 21st Century, The General, Amica, USAA, Unitrin Direct, GMAC Online, all sell insurance directly to the public without the personal service of an agent. Are these insurance companies cheaper because they don’t pay commissions? Is the price low because they cut back on service, and low ball you or refuse to pay claims?

This blog post will tell you what you need to know about insurance companies selling auto insurance & home insurance direct to the public, and decide whether insuring with an insurance company without a local agent is a smart decision for you.

As I said in yesterday’s blog post, the personal service provided by local insurance agents is usually not worth paying more for your insurance. You are not anymore likely to have the coverage you need, good claims service, and the best price the company can offer you, if you buy from an agent or buy direct from the insurance company.

Wise insurance consumers educate themselves about the coverage available, and shop with all the leading insurance companies, to get the best combination of price and service for the coverage they need. Don’t get ripped off by paying too much, or not having the coverage you need when you have a claim.

The good news about buying insurance direct is you don’t get worse service than having an agent. In fact, USAA and Amica insurance don’t have agents, and they are usually at the top of the annual JD Power auto insurance & homeowners insurance customer satisfaction studies, out-scoring many insurance companies using agents.

The bad news is buying direct, without paying an agent commission, does not mean lower rates.

The commission insurance companies pay agents is only one of many marketing expenses costing insurance companies money. Agent commissions are not excessive for auto or home insurance, often being only 10% of the premium. Common sense may tell you an insurance company not paying a 10% commission to an agent should be 10% lower than insurance sold through agents.

But insurance companies without agents have other expenses. They pay salaried salespeople, and pay for their employee benefits, like health insurance, to staff their call centers. Insurance companies selling direct have to advertise a lot more to get their call center phones to ring, where insurance companies using agents have their agents get customers and market for them. Companies using agents sometimes have less marketing expenses, even though they pay commissions, than insurance companies selling direct to the public.

It is very possible the insurance company with the best price for you has a local agent. Buying direct does not mean low rates. The last time I shopped my auto insurance, the lowest prices I received were from Progressive (sells direct), Esurance (sells direct), and Metlife (sells through agents).

Now, the insurance companies having a good or poor rate for me does not mean they have a good or poor rate for you, but Amica (sells direct), Allstate (sells through agents) and Pemco (sells direct) had very high rates for me, compared to the lower quotes I received. State Farm (sells through agents), Safeco (sells through agents), Travelers (sells through agents) & Geico were in the middle.

Which insurance company has the best rates for you depends on where you live and your situation. Progressive has a great auto insurance rate for me, and Allstate does not have a good rate for me. But I have sold auto insurance for Allstate, and for some customers, I could easily beat Progressive’s auto insurance rates.

No one can tell you which insurance company will have the lowest rate for you. This is why I recommend shopping with all the leading insurance companies to find the company with the best rates for you.

However, some insurance companies selling auto insurance direct to the public, try to gain more customers by competing on price, since they can’t offer personal service. Many drivers may find Geico, Progressive, iMingle, or Esurance have the best rate for them.

Progressive and Geico are among the fastest growing auto insurance companies over the last 10 to 15 years. They have done this by extensive advertising and low pricing.

So, shop with all the leading insurance companies to find the lowest priced insurance companies for you. If you get a low price with a local agent, from an insurance company with a good reputation for customer service, it will be your best option.

But it’s not unlikely an insurance company selling direct to the public will have the best price for you.

Here are some things to consider to decide if buying insurance direct is a good choice for you:

1. Use the information on my website to make sure you are likely to receive good customer service.

A good agent can help you get good service from a mediocre insurance company. Buying direct from an insurance company with so-so service can be a nightmare to deal with on your own.

2. If you need to pay for your insurance in cash, you need a local agent to accept payment and give you a receipt.

3. Do you need personal service?

Even though I don’t think its worth paying more for your insurance, some people don’t mind paying more to meet with someone face-to face to discuss their insurance needs. Insurance is complicated, and having an agent can make it easier for you.

But remember, agents can’t make your insurance decisions for you. You need to understand your coverage and options. Getting opinions from other agents and insurance companies can help you avoid paying too much and having the proper coverage when you need it.

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Do I Need an Insurance Agent?

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Buying auto insurance or homeowners insurance direct from the insurance company is easier than ever. Modern technology enables you to contact your insurance company when it is convenient for you. In the 21st century, is there any need for a local agent, working 9 am to 5 pm weekdays, in an office close to you? What’s the benefit to you? What do insurance agents do for you?

In my opinion, most agents are not worth paying more for your insurance.

The argument made by insurance agents is the personal service they provide is worth it. Buying home or car insurance is not like buying groceries at the supermarket. Applying for insurance is like applying for a loan: insurance companies have rules and you need to qualify for the insurance. How insurance works, and the coverage options available, can be confusing for the average consumer to understand.

Having a good insurance agent working for you can help you understand and buy the coverage you need, get all the discounts you deserve, prevent problems, and fix any problems when they do occur. The trouble is there are very few agents doing these things for their customers.

It’s not because there are few agents competent and caring about their customers. It’s because insurance agents don’t work for you, they work for themselves and the insurance company. Although many agents want to provide you with the best service, they have to put their needs ahead of yours in order to stay in business, or be successful.

Having a personal agent is rarely a bad thing, but its not worth paying a lot more for your insurance.

Fortunately, insurance companies paying commissions to agents are not necessarily more expensive than insurance companies selling direct to the public online. Get price quotes from all the leading insurance companies to find the best price for you. You can save $100s. Some insurance companies charge twice as much as others, for the same coverage, so its worth it to search for the best rates.

When shopping for auto or home insurance, first consider the insurance companies with the best price. Use the information on my website (see the link below) to evaluate the customer service of the insurance companies with the lowest prices. You may choose the best priced insurance company with a local agent. But some insurance companies with great reputations for customer service, like Amica & USAA, don’t have local agents.

Here is why I think it’s not worth it to pay more for having a local, personal insurance agent:

Insurance agents often fail to get you the insurance coverage you need at the best price.

The worst offending agents are the agents who don’t review your coverage options when you buy an auto insurance policy or homeowners insurance policy, or when you make a policy change, like adding a car.

An agent once quoted a price for my auto insurance without discussing the coverage I wanted. I had to ask about the coverage, and the agent quoted me a $1,000 deductible for Collision coverage on my car, when I had a $500 deductible. Had I bought his insurance, thinking I was saving money, when I was really getting less coverage, I would have been very upset when I had a claim.

However, there are many agents doing a good job of reviewing your coverage options. Yet there is still a problem. Many insurance agents represent one insurance company, and can’t offer you the coverage you need because their insurance company does not offer it.

Here’s one example:

If you buy a new car, owe more on the loan than the value of the car, which is not unusual due to the great amount of depreciation on new cars once you drive them off the lot, you should buy gap coverage, which covers the difference between the loan amount and the value of the car, if it is totaled.

Yet some insurance companies do not offer gap coverage, or may not offer it for leased cars, when other insurance companies will offer it on leased cars.

Agents don’t discuss your need for coverage they can’t sell you, if that means they will lose your business. You may need a coverage your agent’s company does not offer, but you will never find out about it.

This matters even more with homeowners insurance, where an insurance company not offering a coverage, available from another insurance company,  can cost you tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, by not covering a claim.

Independent insurance agents have an advantage regarding coverage, because they represent several insurance companies, and they can choose the insurance company with the most appropriate coverage for you.

But even if your insurance company offers a coverage you need, it is very likely your agent will not mention it.

When I reviewed a customer’s insurance policy, or when I was selling an insurance policy, I tried to be very thorough in explaining the coverage available and what is not covered. But no agent, or customer, has the time to review all the options available.

When you contact an agent for a home or auto insurance quote, the agent has to collect the information needed to qualify you, quote you the correct price, and discuss your coverage. Although the agent will include and discuss all the “important” coverage, agents rarely invest the extra time to get the information from you to determine your insurance needs.

For example, you may be buying a house in your name alone, where you and your longterm boyfriend or girlfriend will live. Much of the furnishings are jointly owned, or owned by your significant other. Your unmarried (unless you are in civil union) significant other’s property is not covered unless your agent includes them as an “insured,” if the insurance company allows it. Many agents may never discuss this with you.  You may find out the hard way much of your personal property is not covered when you have a claim.

Your home could be subject to an expensive clean up, if your sewer or drains back up into your home, which you may have to pay for yourself, since your agent did not think to tell you about buyng the additional water back up coverage.

Most agents want you to be happy with your coverage when the unexpected happens. But your agent has no legal responsibility to make sure you bought the coverage you need.

The personal service offered by insurance agents does not even mean you will get the best price your insurance company can offer you.

If your agent is concerned they are going to lose your business, because they know you shop your rates once a year, or their insurance company recently had a large rate increase, they will most likely look at your policy to make sure they are getting the best price for you.

But if your agent knows you are a loyal customer, or does not think you will shop for better rates, your agent is not going to spend their time reviewing all their customers policies to make sure they are not missing any discounts.

Agents are paid a commission which is a percentage of the insurance premium. The more expensive your premium, the more money your agent makes. If your agent does not think they will lose your business, they are not going to spend a lot of their time looking for ways to reduce their income. Your agent usually isn’t deliberately charging you a higher premium, but they have no incentive to find ways to lower your premium.

Customers can depend only on themselves to make sure they ask the questions, and spend the time needed, to make sure they get the proper insurance coverage, and not over pay for it.

Using my website, and reading my blog, can give you the information to help you work with insurance companies and agents to get the coverage you need. Shopping your auto & home insurance once a year can make sure you don’t pay too much for it.

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Evaluating your auto or home insurance company’s claims service

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Insurance companies know nothing wins customer loyalty, and keeps customers from shopping for lower insurance rates, better than the fast and fair settlement of a claim.

Customers often think twice before switching to a less expensive insurance company, when they were happy with how their insurance company handled their last claim, afraid the new insurance company with the lower price may be difficult if they have a claim. People are concerned you get what you pay for, and a lower price must mean less service.

When it comes to auto insurance and homeowners insurance, paying more for your insurance does not mean better service.

The truth is most insurance company’s claims service is acceptable, and the majority of claims are handled to the customer’s satisfaction. However, there are plenty of accounts on the Internet and elsewhere, of poor claims service from every insurance company.

How should you decide to choose an auto or home insurance company? Go with the best rates, or go with the best claims service? How do you determine if an insurance company really provides good claim service, when you are insured with company X and had a good claims experience, but your co-worker is having a terrible claims experience with company X? How do you avoid getting ripped off?

First, get insurance price quotes from all the leading car insurance &/or homeowners insurance companies, to find the lowest priced insurers for you.

Then, visit my website, to make sure you received price quotes from all the leading insurance companies in your state, and compare their customer service ratings & complaint records, by clicking the link to my site below. Choose an insurance company with a good price and good service.

www.smartshopyourcarinsurance.com

Most major insurance companies settle simple claims quickly and easily. Did someone vandalize your car? Did you hit a deer? Did an unknown vehicle hit your car? If you have the proper coverage, many insurance companies will get a check to you, or get your car repaired right away.

However, will you be happy if you have a large claim, and you disagree with your insurance company when it decides you are not covered?

Will you be happy when your insurance company decides you are at fault for a car accident, and pays a claim to another driver, whom you think was responsible for the accident, and your auto insurance rates go up because of it?

Will you be happy, if your landlords insurance policy, which says it does not exclude damage caused by tenants, denies your large claim, when a tenant deliberately causes extensive damage to your rental property, because the insurance company says the damage is the result of normal wear & tear?

Just because your last claim went like a dream, does not mean your next claim won’t be a nightmare. There are many insurance company reviews on the Internet mentioning how great their insurance company used to be, but now it is terrible. The real truth may be the insurance company was never as good as they thought it was.

Unfortunately, there are no “superhero” insurance companies, sticking up for their customers no matter what the cost or risk to them. If you have been a loyal customer for 40 years, and the insurance company decides you are a higher risk, due to your recent claims history, or other factors, they will cancel your policy.

Insurance companies are not “super villains” either. They aren’t looking to cheat their customers out of valid claims. But insurance companies are not going to pay any claims they are not contractually obligated to pay. The larger the claim, the more it is in the insurance company’s financial interest to make sure it is a claim they HAVE to pay.

If you wake up one morning to find your car windshield smashed by an unknown vandal, the claim will usually be paid with few questions asked.

If your house has a major fire caused by an unknown arsonist, the insurance company is going to find out if it was caused by your emotionally troubled adult child living with you, and deny coverage. You may have to consult a lawyer to contest the denied claim, and sue your insurance company to have a court determine if the claim should be paid.

Despite many people’s opinions, insurance companies are not crooks, but you would be naive to think they are always compliant with the law, and don’t consider their own financial interests.

Insurance companies won’t pay even a small claim if it is not covered, or deny a large claim if it is clearly covered, but there are many claims situations open to interpretation, and you can’t expect the insurance company to act in your best interest.

So, you can’t choose an insurance company where you are guaranteed satisfaction. What should you do to reduce your chances of having a poor claim experience?

1. Rather than insuring with an insurance company based solely on your own claims experience, or stories you have heard from other people, look at the insurance company’s national complaint ratio on my website.

The national complaint ratio is based usually on valid complaints made against an insurer to each state’s regulatory governmental body in which it operates.

For example, say my car insurance company denied a valid claim, and I had to complain to the Oregon Insurance Division to get my insurance company to pay. This would be an example of a valid complaint.

The national complaint ratios are good for everyone in the USA to use, but the most important complaint ratios are the ones for the state in which you live.

Company X may provide great service in Arkansas, but it may provide lousy service in California or New Jersey.

Not all states provide this information, but if they do, it is usually available at each state’s department of insurance websites. You can find your state’s website by clicking the link. I am also blogging about each state’s complaint information, and best & worst insurance companies, so check my blog for that category, and see if I have reviewed your state yet.

2. Shop your auto & home insurance once a year, and check the most recent year’s national & state complaint ratios, and JD Power rating, if available for your insurance company.

Insurance companies are always reorganizing, closing & opening offices, changing procedures, & computer systems. These changes can make the customer service better or much worse, in the short term or long term.

Claims service can be cyclical. Sometimes insurance companies hire more claims representatives and push for great claims service. Other times, probably most of the time, there is too much work for the claims representatives, not enough staff, and pressure to contains claims costs. An insurance company providing great service 3 years ago may be terrible now.

Keep up on how your insurance company is performing when you shop for better rates each year.

3. Shop for better rates each year. You can great service AND great rates. Shop with all the leading insurance companies and use my website site to get the best combination of price and service.

Insuring with the same insurance company for 20 years won’t get a claim covered which should be denied. It’s illegal for insurance companies to show favoritism in the claims process.

The best thing you can do is to shop your car & home insurance each year,  choose a reputable insurance company with a great price, and do what you can to protect yourself and your property from needing to file an insurance claim.

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Firearms, Homeowners Insurance, & Self Defense

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If you are sued for the injury you cause when you use your gun to defend yourself, your family, or your property, are you covered by your homeowners insurance? The answer to this question may depend on which insurance company you chose to insure your home.

If you are a gun owner, or someone willing to use reasonable force to protect themselves, it is important for you to shop your homeowners insurance with all the leading insurance companies, to find the insurance company with the broadest coverage in this situation.

Homeowners insurance policies exclude liability for intentional acts, even if the resulting injury was not intended.

For example, if you get in an argument with another shopper over a sales item, the other shopper moves to try to take the sales item out of your hand, you shove the other shopper away from you, and the other shopper falls and injures their head.

Although you did not intend the other shopper to fall and injure their head, you intentionally shoved them, so your homeowners insurance will no cover you if the other shopper sues you for their head injury.

Note this is different from an act where the contact with the other person is accidental.

For example, if you are playing golf, and accidentally hit another person on the golf course with your golf ball, your homeowners insurance policy covers you if you are sued for the injury, because the intentional act was hitting your golf ball in playing a game of golf.

However, you would not be covered by your homeowners insurance if you intentionally hit your golf ball at a person, whether you were aiming to hit the person or not.

The reason for the exclusion of intentional acts should be obvious. Insurance companies, and society in general, does not want to encourage anti-social behavior and physical violence by covering the cost of these lawsuits. Our society has enough problems with violence, without making it worse by insuring away the financial impact of civil lawsuits in these situations.

Wouldn’t you be more willing to punch your soon-to-be-ex spouse’s new significant other in the face, for ruining your relationship, if you knew your homeowners insurance would pick up the bill, for the cost of legal defense and settlement, if they sue you for hitting them? Hopefully not, but you may be surprised how many people would.

All homeowners insurance policies exclude liability for intentional acts, but some insurance companies have an exception for intentional acts using reasonable force in the defense of your home or person.

If you own a firearm, or have a family member who is a self-defense enthusiast, it is a must for you to find a homeowners insurance or renters insurance company with this exception, and a good complaint record.

Insurance companies pay claims, but they don’t pay any claims they don’t have to pay.

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If your use of force was excessive, no insurance company would cover the claim. But situations in the real world are not always clear cut, and you may have to sue your own insurance company to get a claim covered.

Insuring with an insurance company covering home & self defense, and  having a good complaint record, reduces the chance you will have a problem with a claim. Go to my website to get the information you need.

Insurance agents for some insurance companies may be unaware of this issue, or tell you not to worry about it, because of the laws of your state and court cases ruling in favor of home defense as not being an intentional act.

Some states, like Texas, supposedly prohibit someone breaking into your home from suing you in civil court if you injure them (I’m not a lawyer, so verify this with a lawyer licensed in Texas).

You can’t depend on the law to keep you from being sued, since the situation may mean the law will not apply, and the law can be reinterpreted or found unconstitutional — maybe on the basis of your lawsuit!

No one loves a burglar, but what if an innocent party is injured? Maybe someone walking their dog by your home is hit by a stray shot while you are defending your home?

The huge cost of having to pay for your own legal defense, and any settlement, for something like a wrongful death lawsuit, is too expensive for you to take a chance, by not choosing the homeowners insurance company with the broadest coverage and fewest complaints. You are most likely to never need the coverage, but not having it, if you do need it, can bankrupt you.

You can use my website to find out complaint information about insurance companies, but where can you find insurance companies specifically covering home defense in their homeowners insurance policies?

First off, ask the insurance company insuring your home now about liability for the use of your gun. If they say you are covered, have them show you where it is written in the policy and provide you with a copy. You may want to have a lawyer review it.

If your homeowners insurance policy does not have a self/home defense exception to the intentional acts exclusion, shop for one that does. Independent agents, representing several insurance companies, are usually most knowledgeable about the difference in each insurance company’s homeowners insurance policy.

You don’t get a copy of the homeowners insurance policy until after you buy it, so get the advice of a few agents, and work with agents willing to prove to you in writing what their homeowners insurance covers. Don’t take any agent’s word alone on this issue, because what an agent told you will not be able to be proved, if your claim is denied.

Do you own firearms? How do you insure them? Tell me about it. Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

Insurance Policy Exclusions

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Why do insurance policies have exclusions? Do insurance companies convince you to buy insurance, then send you a policy with so many exclusions, it is almost impossible to be paid for a claim? Are there bad insurance companies with more exclusions than other, more reputable insurance companies? You buy auto or home insurance to insure your property, why should there be ANY exclusions in your insurance policy? Are insurance policy exclusions another way insurance companies rip you off?

A psychological benefit of buying insurance is it gives the buyer peace of mind. If you buy homeowners insurance, you don’t have to worry about the financial consequences of something bad happening to your house. If you buy auto insurance, and ask for “full coverage,” you don’t have to worry about paying for damage to your car.

A wise insurance buyer does not rest that easy. All insurance policies have exclusions and limitations, and you need to know them, to make sure you are buying the coverage you need.

Unfortunately, home insurance & auto insurance do not cover you for everything that can happen to your car or home. But insurance policy exclusions are not arbitrary to avoid paying any claims. Exclusions are used by insurance companies to avoid covering things the policy, and the policy rates, were not designed to cover.

For example, homeowners insurance excludes damage to your home caused by vermin, such as rats, or insects, such as termites. Auto insurance excludes damage to your car caused by mechanical break down.

Rodent infestation, or termite damage to a house,  are home maintenance issues easily in control of the homeowner. Likewise, with car insurance, it is the responsibility of the car owner to maintain their car. Because these things are excluded by your auto & home insurance, the costs involved are not considered in the insurance rates. Imagine how expensive car insurance would be if the car insurance company picked up the bill every time a car broke down. There are other financial products, such as car warranties, to help people cover these expenses.

In addition to excluding causes of damage resulting from common maintenance issues, insurance companies exclude damage from events, where the damage is so catastrophic and expensive, they would bankrupt the insurance company.

For example, your homeowners insurance covers the cost of damage to your home from riot or civil commotion, but the costs involved to the large number of customers from war or nuclear contamination are too excessive, so damage to your home from war or nuclear contamination are excluded from homeowners insurance.

Sometimes exclusions, or policy limits on coverage, are used to remove the cost of claims not applying to the average customer.

Homeowners insurance liability doe not cover you for the use of an aircraft. Unless you fly planes, this exclusion is not a problem for most homeowners and their families.

Homeowners insurance policies limit how much they will pay for the theft of jewelry, because not everyone has jewelry, and they shouldn’t have to pay more for homeowners insurance for expensive jewelry claims which will never apply to them.

Do some insurance companies have different exclusions than other insurance companies? Yes, but insurance companies have many of the same exclusions, and insurance companies use very similar wording in their insurance policies.

There have been a lot of court cases & verdicts over the years, to determine exactly what the policy wording means, involving many claims situations open to interpretation. When insurance companies deviate from the usual phrasing, they may open themselves to pay for claims not intended to be covered. Policy language can also change based on new court decisions and new issues involving unexpected claims, such as the issues and costs involved with the illness and property damage associated with toxic mold.
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Most insurance companies used to use a standardized policy form (or their own version of it), published by the Insurance Service Office. Some insurance companies still use these forms, but many insurance companies use their own policy forms now, which effects how the customer is covered.

When it comes to auto insurance, in my opinion, there is still very little difference among insurance companies’ policies, when it comes to covering claims.

Auto insurance policies may vary as to what conditions they will cover a rental car, or a newly purchased car, or how they will cover a friend driving your car. For most customers, these differences do not matter much, and won’t result in huge unpaid claims other car insurance companies would cover.

The more important factors for most people buying auto insurance are price and customer service. I strongly believe in shopping for the best combination of price and customer service for car insurance, which you can find by going to my website home page.

However, with homeowners insurance, there can be BIG differences in coverage available, exclusions, and policy language, which can create a situation where a large lawsuit is covered by one insurance company, and not covered by another insurance company.

For example, some insurance companies exclude coverage under their homeowners insurance policies for “concurrent causes of loss.” If one of the causes of loss is excluded, all the damage caused by the concurrent causes of loss is not covered.

Using the situation of Hurricane Katrina to illustrate this exclusion, many homes sustained flood damage from a flood surge, as well as wind & storm damage from the hurricane. Since flood damage is excluded by homeowners insurance, there would be no coverage for ANY of the damage, whether caused by the winds of the hurricane or the flood surge, if you have the concurrent loss exclusion in your homeowners insurance policy.

The effect of different policy language and exclusions in homeowners insurance becomes apparent for those few people experiencing a large property loss or liability lawsuit.

Although many homeowners are likely to never need the broader protection available from some home insurance companies, the costs of not having the proper coverage can be catastrophic for those who end up needing it.

Because these differences come up infrequently, many insurance agents are not aware how much homeowners insurance coverage can vary among insurance companies. Many agents may tell you all homeowners insurance is the same, but some insurance companies have better prices or service.

If you own a home, don’t play Russian roulette with your biggest financial asset — find knowledgeable insurance agents knowing the difference in homeowners insurance policies, and shop to find the best coverage you need at a reasonable price.

Do you know what’s excluded in your insurance policies? Tell me about it. Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

Insuring Guns & Homeowners Insurance

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Are insurance companies anti-gun? No, but people who own firearms need to know the common limitations in homeowners insurance policies for guns, and how to discuss getting the proper coverage with insurance companies, without getting their homeowners insurance canceled.

Some gun owners feel insurance companies are sending a political message, when they may refuse to offer homeowners insurance, or cancel coverage, for firearms owners keeping guns in their homes. Insurance companies are not really concerned with 2nd amendment rights, but they are concerned with paying out large claims regarding the use of guns, such as a wrongful death lawsuit, if someone is accidentally killed by the use of your gun.

The good news is insurance companies differ as to how concerned they are with their customers owning guns, and many insurance companies have no problem with responsible gun ownership, and do not ask you a lot of questions about your firearms. For most gun owners, getting homeowners insurance is no problem.

A greater concern for you should be if your homeowners insurance policy will protect you from lawsuits, if you have to use your gun to defend yourself, your family, or your home or property. Whether you have coverage in this situation depends on the insurance company you choose, and other factors, and I will discuss this matter in a separate blog post.

In the mean time, shop around for homeowners insurance where the policy says specifically you are insured for using reasonable force to protect yourself and your home. Have your insurance company show it to you in writing. Don’t get ripped off by buying a homeowners insurance policy without the coverage you need as a gun owner.

This blog post will tell you how the basic homeowners insurance policy limits coverage for the loss of your guns, how to insure your guns properly, and what to say to insurance companies to avoid problems, and cancellation of your coverage.

The usual limitation on a basic homeowners insurance policy is limiting coverage for your guns to a certain dollar amount if they are stolen.

For example, you may have a $1,000 limit for ALL your guns (not per item) if they are stolen.

If you have 3 guns, worth $5,000 to replace with the same kind and quality (make sure your homeowners insurance has the replacement cost option, like most customers have) and all of your guns were stolen, you would have a property loss of $5,000. Subtract your deductible from the property loss.

For this example, we will say you have a $500 deductible. $5,000 minus $500 leaves you with a claim for $4,500.

But since your policy has the $1,000 limit for guns in the event of theft, you get only $1,000 for all 3 guns. Whether one or all your guns were stolen, the most you could get for the claim is $1,000.

Now, if all your guns are damaged in a fire, you don’t have the limitation, since it applies only to theft, so you would get $4,500 ($5,000 cost to replace or repair the damaged guns, less your $500 deductible).

Why is there limited coverage for guns on your homeowners insurance? It is not because insurance companies hate gun owners. Guns, like certain other types of personal property (jewelry, watches, camera equipment, stamp & coin collections, etc.) are targeted by thieves, but not every homeowner has these types of property.

Every homeowner has the risk of their house burning down, but not every homeowner has the risk of theft of $50,000 of jewelry, and does not want to pay higher homeowners insurance rates to cover these types of claims. Customers usually have the option to adjust their insurance coverage to cover their high value items, if they need it.

Do you need to adjust your homeowners insurance coverage to properly cover your guns? Here is what you need to consider to make this decision:

1. How much would it cost to replace all your guns with the same kind and quality if they were stolen, and compare the cost to your deductible. Do you really need insurance on them?

It may cost $5,000 to replace your guns, but if you have a high deductible, like a $2,500 deductible, the most you could collect from a claim is $2,500 — without considering the dollar limit for guns on your policy.

You could pay more for a lower deductible, and more gun coverage, but if you have a claim, it could also increase your rates a lot.

Paying more for homeowners insurance to cover smaller claims, which will increase your rates even more if you file them, is rarely a good idea. Having 2 claims in 5 years can often get your homeowners insurance canceled, leaving you to purchase a high risk policy to insure your home, with limited coverage and very high rates.

Paying out of your own pocket to rebuild your stolen gun collection is no fun, but it may be a better option than losing your homeowners insurance.

If the cost to replace your guns, if needed, is bearable for you, you may decide you don’t need to have insurance for them.

I can’t speak for all homeowners insurance companies, but most companies limit coverage for guns only if they are stolen. The best option for you may be to better protect your guns by buying a gun safe.

2. If you think you need insurance coverage for your guns, contact your insurance company and find out about your homeowners insurance policy’s limitation for guns, and what you can do about it.

What is the limit for all guns? Is there a per item limit, too? Does the limit apply to anything other than theft?

The answers to these questions will depend on the details of your own homeowners insurance policy, so you need to ask your agent or insurance company. Ask about the cost to increase your guns coverage.

For example, you ask about increasing your $1,000 gun limit to $5,000. Even though you have $5,000 for all your guns, there may be a $1,000 per item limit. If you have one gun worth $4,000, the $1,000 per item limit makes this a poor option for you. Are accessories, like scopes, and ammo also included in the gun limit?

Some insurance agents & insurance company representatives make the mistake of subtracting the deductible from the coverage limitation.

For example, your agent may tell you with a $5,000 gun limit and a $1,000 deductible, the most you can collect for the theft of your guns is $4,000.

However, you can collect up to the full amount of the limit amount, as long as the property loss, less your deductible, is the limit amount or more. That is if you have $6,000 or more worth of guns stolen, and a $5,000 gun limit, and a $1,000 deductible, you can collect $5,000 for the claim.

Some insurance companies may not offer higher limits beyond $5,000 for your firearms. Some insurance companies may allow you to schedule your guns (list the items specifically, for a specific amount, based on an appraisal or bill of sale) for expensive guns or large gun collections.

3. When you contact your insurance company and ask about gun coverage, they may ask you questions about the guns you own and how they are kept. If the insurance company decides your situation poses a “substantial increase in hazard,” you can see your homeowners insurance canceled, and you will have difficulty getting replacement coverage.

Usually, this applies in less common situations, like if you have an assault rifle, or a shooting range on your property. Though, if you are an avid gun enthusiast, this may apply to you. I never had an issue with it in my work experience, but I have read complaints about some insurance companies refusing to insure people keeping loaded guns in their homes.

You never want to lie to an insurance company, but you don’t want to volunteer information they are not asking of you.

I suggest, if you need to find out information from your homeowners insurance company about guns, you ask about your insurance company’s policy towards guns on behalf of a “friend.”

Ask if the insurance company has any concerns regarding guns, and how they cover guns. This is even more important when you talk directly to the insurance company, and not your agent.

If you have an extensive gun collection, contact an independent insurance agent, representing several insurance companies, who does NOT insure your home. Ask about a separate insurance policy to insure your guns. These types of policies are called inland marine policies or personal property floaters. A separate policy for your guns can keep you from having problems with your homeowners insurance, and avoid higher rates or cancellation of your homeowners insurance due to claims.

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Renters Insurance: If you rent, do you need it?

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It seems at least once a week I hear about a building fire on the news. More often than not, the building catching fire is a rental home or apartment building.

During the holiday season, there are more residential fires, from faulty Christmas lighting, candles, Christmas trees, deep-frying turkeys, or other merriment gone awry. When I hear about residential fires on the news, it is sometimes noted the occupants do not have renters insurance.

Although more landlords these days require their tenants to have renters insurance, the majority of renters take their chance and go without it. The odds of you not having a huge financial loss involving your personal property, or a lawsuit against you, are in your favor, but not having renters insurance, if you need it, can ruin your life.

Don’t gamble with your future by going without renters insurance. Did you know sometimes having renters insurance & auto insurance with the same insurance company costs the same as auto insurance alone, due to multiple policy discounts? In some circumstances, it may cost LESS to have auto & renters insurance together, than only having auto insurance!

You may think you don’t have any personal property worth insuring, but it makes sense for everyone who rents to consider renters insurance, and at least look at how much it costs. Who knows? You could save money.

Before you decide to go without renters insurance, read my reasons why every renter should buy renters insurance.

1. Although you think you do not have any personal property worth insuring, you need renters coverage. Your landlord’s insurance does not cover your personal property.

Even though you may not have expensive personal property, like top-of-the-line electronics, high-end furniture, jewelry or other luxury items, or expensive sporting equipment, losing all your personal property to an event like a fire, is financially devastating to everyone.

Imagine if you lost everything you own: your bed, your clothing,  your sofa, your TV, your computer, your furniture, and your furnishings.

Maybe you could make do without your TV, computer, and some of your furniture. But you need a bed. You need clothing. You needs pots, pans, dishes & utensils. You may be able to replace some of these items inexpensively, but I think even the least materialistic of us would spend at least $20,000 replacing the personal items they need if they lost everything. Do you have $20,000 you want to pay to replace your personal property, if you lose it?

Also, say you come home from work to find a fire has made your apartment or home unlivable. Renters insurance will cover the extra cost you have to live somewhere else for the short term.

Losing everything you have may not be likely to happen to you, but it is not completely in your control to prevent it from happening.

If you live in an apartment building, what is the likelihood one of your neighbors has reckless habits like smoking in bed, leaving a candle unattended, or a bathtub overflowing? You may rent a one family home, but the rental house next door could go up in flames, causing fire & smoke damage to your property.

You may not be one of the people saving money with combined auto & renters insurance, but it is worth $10-$15 a month to avoid being unlucky, or having an irresponsible neighbor.

2. Signing a rental agreement makes you responsible for your rental unit. You have more to lose than your personal property.

You may decide, if you lose all your personal property, you can survive living out of a duffel bag and couch surfing at your friend’s homes. There is still a good reason, and probably the most important reason, to buy renter’s insurance.

The most important part of renters insurance, to protect you from a huge financial loss, is the personal liability protection it provides.

Say you are snowboarding or skiing, and you accidentally injure someone on the slopes. If you are negligent for the injury, you could be responsible for medical bills, compensation for pain & suffering, & lost wages, that could result in you owing tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands or dollars. Depending on the severity of injury and the situation, you could be looking at a multi-million dollar lawsuit. It doesn’t matter if you have no money. You could see your paycheck garnished and have to pay back the debt for the rest of your life, or file bankruptcy, promising you will have financial difficulties for at least a decade to come.

Okay, maybe you are a couch potato. Do you have kids or pets? What if they run into the street and cause an auto accident when a driver swerves to avoid them?

Losing all your personal property to a fire is a large financial loss most people are unwilling to bear on their own, but it won’t bankrupt most people, if they don’t have renters insurance.

An injury lawsuit CAN bankrupt you. You may not be negligent, but some people will take you to court anyway, and you will be out-of-pocket for the cost of your legal defense, without renters insurance.

When you sign a rental agreement, you are responsible for damage to your rental unit and the building. What if you, or your child, family member, or roommate forget to turn off an electrical appliance, and it causes a fire? You could be held responsible for the fire damage. Do you have $100,000 on hand to pay for it? That’s okay, your landlord’s insurance will pay for it, then sue you and take what assets you may have, and garnish your future wages until the insurance company gets its money back from you. Don’t think it can’t happen — I read on an Internet message board recently how this happened to someone having a fire in their rental home.

The renters insurance offered by insurance companies may differ to how they cover the contractual liability you assume when you rent a place to live, and under what situations they will cover damage to it.

Almost all (if not all) insurance companies will cover fire & smoke damage, but some insurance companies cover little more than those two things. Broader liability coverage is a better option for you, and may not cost you any more than a more restrictive renters insurance policy.

If you have a water bed or aquarium, you want to make sure these are covered if they leak and damage the building you rent. An agent telling you it is covered does not mean it will be covered if you have claim. Have your agent show you the wording in the policy showing it is covered, or have your agent put it in writing themselves.

You get a nice discount when you buy your auto & renters insurance together, but you need to have renters insurance with the broadest liability available. Shop with all the major insurance companies for both your auto & renters insurance. You may be able to get lower rates AND better coverage. Click the link below to see all the major insurance companies in the USA.

3. If you think you can’t afford renters insurance because your auto insurance is too expensive, you may be able to SAVE MONEY by buying renters insurance from your auto insurance company.

A typical discount on an auto insurance policy, for having renters insurance, is 5%. If you are under 25, and have an accident or ticket or two, your auto insurance might cost $2,500 a year. A 5% savings would be $125. If renters insurance costs you $100 a year, you will save $25 a year by having auto & renters insurance together, rather than paying $25 more a year to have auto insurance alone.

To find this savings, you want to get quotes from insurance companies offering both auto insurance & renters insurance. Companies like Geico, Esurance, 21st Century, & Progressive insurance sell auto insurance, but partner with other insurance companies to sell renters insurance, and may not have the biggest savings for buying renters & auto insurance together. As I always recommend, shop with as many insurance companies you can, to find the biggest savings, and get the best combination of coverage, service, and low price.

4. Buying renters insurance can save you a lot of money when it is time for you to buy homeowners insurance.

Homeowners insurance companies often give a substantial discount on their homeowners insurance for being claims free. To get this discount, you need to have property insurance, like renters insurance, for a period of time, such as one year to three years, up to the start date of the homeowners insurance, to qualify for the discount. Usually, the longer your continuous, uninterrupted property insurance history, the lower your rates.

If you are planning on buying a home in the next 5 years, get renters insurance now. Having it can save you money on homeowners insurance, and if something bad happens, where you are sued or have a large loss to your personal property, having renters insurance can protect you from financial setback, so you will be able to buy that home in 5 years.

If you float through life from job to job, from place to place, with no savings and few possessions, you can get by without renters insurance.

But if you are working on establishing a career and a life for yourself, or if you have people dependent on you providing them with a roof over your head, Don’t take the chance you will never need renters insurance.

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Renters Insurance: A Landlord’s Guide

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Many landlords understand the importance of requiring their tenants to have renters insurance. However, many landlords fail to implement a program to make sure their tenants have an active renter’s insurance policy when a claim occurs. This can be a very expensive mistake! I will explain what you need to do to make sure your tenant has renters insurance when you most need it, but first I will list a few reasons why it is so important for landlords to require their tenants to have renters insurance.

1. Renters insurance reduces the chance of tenants suing you if their personal property is damaged or stolen.

For example, a fire or theft, because of a failure to maintain the rental property, can lead to a lawsuit. Even if you don’t think it is likely you will found negligent, you may still have to bear the cost of legal defense. If your tenant is compensated for the damage to their property from their renters insurance, they will be less likely to sue you.

2. Requiring renters insurance for all your tenants reduces the likelihood you will be sued due to the negligence of your tenants.

For example, a tenant leaves an unattended candle burning, causing a fire which damages the personal property of other tenants. The liability of the tenant responsible for the fire will be covered by their renters insurance.

3. Requiring renters insurance can protect your property, if your tenants are negligent and damage it, and keep you from having to place a claim on your own insurance — which can cause your insurance rates to increase, or your insurance to be canceled.

Take the example used above of a fire caused by a tenants unattended candle. The damage to your building is covered by the tenant’s renters insurance if the tenant is negligent, so you won’t have to place a claim on your own insurance.

Now, here is how to implement a program to make sure your tenants have renters insurance.

1. Don’t trust your property management firm to handle your renters insurance requirement for you.

A good property management firm can help you avoid the hassle of screening tenants, collecting rents, and handling repair calls and tenant complaints. But you don’t want to depend on the property management company to make sure you have a proper insurance program.

Even if managing the insurance for the property is one of their contractual obligations to you, would you rather have the insurance you need in force when you need it, or sue your property management firm for failing to do their job? Not only do you have the cost and hassle of a lawsuit, if the property management firm files for bankruptcy, you may not be able to be compensated.

Don’t worry about this creating more work for you. Monitoring your renters insurance program for your rental properties, and your own insurance on the rental, is as easy as checking & reading your mail.

2. Make sure your rental agreement requires your tenant to have renters insurance, and make sure your tenant is aware of this requirement before they sign the lease or rental agreement.

You should discuss this matter with your property management firm or lawyer, to make sure their are no legal issues. If any of your rental units are rent-controlled, there may be an issue with requiring your tenants to purchase renters insurance.

Renters insurance is inexpensive, usually costing $10-$15 a month. If your tenant buys the renters insurance from their car insurance company, they may get a discount on their auto insurance, which will offset the cost of the renters insurance.

3. You or your property management firm should work with a local insurance agent, to help your tenant get renters insurance.

Some insurance agents will tell you all renters insurance policies are the same, but knowledgeable agents know different insurance company’s renters insurance policies differ in how contractual liability is covered.

For example, almost all (if not all) renters insurance cover a tenant’s legal liability if they are legally responsible for a fire damaging your building. But some insurance companies do no cover other causes of damage to your property, due to the negligence of the tenant. If the tenant has a water bed, or aquarium, or if the tenant accidentally lets his bathtub or toilet overflow, there may be no coverage under the tenant’s renters insurance. Some insurance companies do cover these events under their renters insurance, if the tenant is negligent. It will be to your benefit to work with an agent whom is aware of this advantage in coverage, and can educate your tenant, and offer renters insurance with the broadest liability possible.

4. Make sure you are listed as and interested party on the renters insurance policy, and you will be notified if the renters insurance policy lapses or cancels.

This is something most landlords and property management firms fail to do!

You need to make sure you are listed on the renters insurance policy, so a certificate of insurance is mailed to your address when the policy is issued, or if it cancels for any reason.

As mentioned in #1, don’t rely on your property management firm to handle this for you: make sure it is your name and mailing address as the certificate holder.

This is important, because if a tenant buys renters insurance, then lets the policy cancel for non-payment (like many tenants do), you will be notified by the insurance company about the cancellation.

You, your insurance agent (if your agent agrees to help you manage your renters insurance program), or property management firm can contact the tenant to get them to reinstate the renters insurance, or buy a new policy. You will be notified by mail of the reinstatement, or new renters insurance policy purchase, if you are listed as the certificate holder.

Ideally, you want to be listed as an Additional Insured on your tenant’s renters insurance, but it is very difficult to find an insurance company willing to do it, since doing this creates more risk for the insurance company.

Making sure your tenant has renters insurance is as easy as checking your mail and making sure you have the current renters insurance on file. Most insurance companies will not send you the annual renewal, but will notify you by mail if the policy is not renewed. You can contact the insurance company anytime to make sure the policy is active. Though contacting the insurance company after a claim won’t help you if the renters policy has canceled.

5. Require liability coverage on the renters insurance to be equal to the reconstruction cost of your rental building, or $500,000, whichever is less.

You may rent to low income people, if you have a 4-plex costing $600,000 to rebuild, you want to make sure your tenants have enough liability to rebuild the building if they are negligent and cause substantial damage to it.

Liability coverage is inexpensive, and it usually costs not more than $15 more a year to go from $300,000 to $500,000 liability. However, some insurance companies may be unwilling to go above $300,000 for liability coverage on their renters insurance policies. If the value of your building is more than $300,000, you want to require as much liability as possible, while allowing your tenant the freedom to choose their renters insurance company.

Informing your tenant THEY are legally responsible, even if they have no money, for the cost of any damage to the building not covered by their renters insurance, if they are negligent and cause a fire, may help them choose the insurance company willing to offer them the most liability.

6. Requiring your tenants to have renters insurance does not mean you need less insurance or coverage on your own insurance policy. Shop with a few agents to make sure you have the coverage you need at a reasonable price.

Insurance companies differ in how they insure rental properties, and what coverage they may offer you.

Some insurance companies allow you to have the broader coverage of a homeowners insurance policy, on a building with up to 4 units, if you live in one of them. Other insurance companies require you to purchase multiple policies in this same situation: a policy for the building, then a renters insurance policy for you.

Some insurance companies will insure your rentals on a business owners policy, with a million dollar liability coverage, and others won’t offer you that much coverage.

Having all your insurance with one company — car insurance, home insurance, rental property insurance — usually gets you multiple discounts, but the coverage available and price can vary greatly among insurance companies.

When you have rental property, your insurance needs are complex, so you should not buy insurance online, but shop with insurance agents knowledgeable about the insurance needs of landlords, and have the best products for your situation. This can be hard to find since many agents work with only one company, and even independent agents representing many companies, may not represent the insurance company with the best product for you.

Get insurance quotes from multiple insurance agents by clicking the link below. You may have a great agent now, but it is wise to get a second opinion from at least one other agent once a year, to make sure you are covered as you need to be, to avoid finding out you have inadequate coverage when you have a claim.

It is wise to shop your insurance once a year — even if you decide to stay with the agent you have now. Who knows? You may be able to get a lot more coverage AND save money.

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Credit Scores for Auto & Home Insurance

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What does credit have to do with insurance? Why are insurance credit scores used to rate & qualify you for car insurance & homeowners insurance? If you have a clean driving record, why should you pay higher auto insurance rates if you have bad credit? What if you have only an average credit score? Is using your credit report just an excuse to charge you higher rates? Are you being ripped off? I will explain in this blog post why insurance companies use credit scoring, and give you the knowledge you need to get the best insurance rates for you.

How can insurance companies order your credit report? Isn’t that illegal?

A few states do not allow insurance companies to use your credit information to qualify you or rate your insurance policy. Some states limit the use of credit, but most states allow insurance companies to use your credit information to determine the price of your insurance.

For example, in Oregon, when you apply for home or auto insurance, the insurance company uses your credit to rate your policy. But if your credit gets worse, the insurance company can’t increase your insurance rates because of it when your insurance policy renews.

In fact, in Oregon, customers can request their credit be reviewed once each year, and if their insurance rates go down because of better credit, they will get a better price. But if their credit is worse, their insurance rates cannot go up. A lot of people in Oregon are saving money each year by requesting to have their credit reviewed.

In other states, you may have the option to have your credit reviewed each year, but you may have to pay higher rates, depending on the results.

So, the first insurance shopping tip regarding use of your credit, is know how your state allows insurance companies to use your credit. Start by asking your insurance agent or company for information, and then check out your state department of insurance website (click the link to go to my website to find the one for your state) for how your state regulates insurance companies’ use of credit.

When you contact an insurance company for an insurance price quote, they usually get your permission to order your credit, in addition to other reports (such as your claims history). Or, if you get an insurance quote online, you agree to the use of your credit in the terms of service.

However, the insurance company you have now does not need your permission to order your credit report, since as your insurance company, they are considered to have a “need to know” certain information about you.

For example, your homeowners insurance company may non-renew (cancel at your renewal date) your policy if they found out you have had a bankruptcy or foreclosure. The insurance company can order your credit information, but the insurance company still needs to comply with your state’s insurance laws, so if your state does not allow the cancellation of your home insurance due to bad credit only, your insurance company cannot cancel your insurance.

Some insurance companies are more quick to cancel your insurance coverage than others, so always check to see if your insurance company has a good complaint record.

Why do insurance companies use your credit, and what does your credit have to do with your insurance?

Insurance companies love using credit because it is very accurate in predicting future claims. The explanation is, people who are careful with their credit, are also careful in other aspects of their lives, and less likely to have claims. People who are reckless with their credit tend to be reckless in other aspects of their lives, such as driving habits, and have more claims. The statistics agree with this assumption.

However, what is true for an overall group of people (people with bad credit) is not necessarily true for the individual. A careful, responsible person who maintains and protects their house & car from damage, and drives defensively, can have their credit ruined by the unexpected costs of a major illness.

Insurance companies often have an appeal process from extraordinary events damaging your credit, such as identity theft, bankruptcies due to medical bills, and sometimes divorce if bad credit resulted from a vindictive spouse.

These appeals are rare, and although many people feel they are blameless for their bad credit, it is hard to qualify for a credit appeal which will be worth your time to lower your rates. Make a few calls, and speak to several people at your insurance company about it to see if an appeal is an option for you.

You may know your credit does not make you a higher risk of claims for the insurance company, but insurance companies have to treat all people with the same risk characteristics equally, and they cannot make an exception for you.

What you need to know about how insurance companies use credit when shopping for insurance

Here is your second insurance shopping tip: allow the insurance company or agent to order your credit report.

Some insurance shoppers do not want their credit report ordered, fearing it will make their credit score go down. I understand this concern, particularly if you are buying a house and need to qualify for a mortgage, since high credit scores are so important these days.

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Don’t be afraid to allow an insurance agent or company order your credit. The agent or insurance company representative never sees your credit report. The insurance company’s computer program reads your credit information for certain characteristics, such as late payments, to develop an insurance score.

The insurance credit score is a numerical scale using your credit information and other information to rate your insurance quote.

For example, one insurance company may have an insurance score scaled from 1 to 15. 1 is the best. 15 is the worst. People with really good credit may score anywhere from 1 to 5, with people scoring “1” getting the lowest rates, based on the specifics of their credit information. All these people may pay their bills on time, but other factors, such as length of credit history, or available credit, may have some people with good credit scoring better than other people with good credit.

I worked for a certain insurance company over 2 years, and checked the rates for my auto insurance each time it renewed. I saw my Insurance Score go from a “6” to a “1” over time for no apparent reason. A far as I know, my credit had not changed.

If you ask for a price for auto insurance or home insurance based on estimated “good” credit, you will get a meaningless price, because the insurance company is not likely to guess your correct insurance score.

Some insurance companies may low ball you with the most optimistic price, and then when you want the policy it is hundreds of dollars higher.

Other insurance companies, not wanting to mislead you, may be too pessimistic, and quote you a price hundreds of dollars higher than the actual price, leading you to keep shopping and miss the insurance company with the best price for you.

Here is another shopping tip: Give the insurance company all the information it needs to get you the most accurate and best credit score. Most agents are content to get your social security numbers and dates of birth for you and your spouse. But also make sure you give the insurance company all addresses you have lived at for the last 5 years, or at least your current address, and the address you have lived at the longest in the last 5 years. I have seen this make the difference from a very good insurance score to a great insurance score.

If you co-own the car with someone to whom you are not married, have the person with the best credit be the primary owner (first named insured) of the policy. Unless you are married, insurance companies will usually use the credit of only the first person listed on the policy.

Good credit can help you get low insurance rates!

Say you have a speeding ticket or two on your driving record. If you have bad credit, too, you may not qualify for some insurance companies, and have to pay high risk auto insurance rates.

However, if you have a ticket or two, and good or great credit, you may still qualify for low auto insurance rates with insurance companies having more sophisticated rating plans. Good credit is such a strong predictor of a low risk of future claims, some insurance companies will charge you only a little more for one or two moving violations.

Whether you have good or bad credit, insurance companies will treat your credit differently, so it really pays to shop all the major insurance companies to find the best rates for you. You will find some insurance companies will want to charge you double the rate of other insurance companies for the same coverage.

 What if you have a clean driving record but bad credit?

 You will still be rewarded for your good driving record, even though you have bad credit. If you can find an insurance company with low rates for good drivers and does not use credit, get a quote from them. But I don’t think there are any more.

There are auto insurance companies not using credit, offering insurance for high risk drivers, (DUIs, multiple at-fault accidents, etc.), but unless you have a really bad driving record, you will pay less with a standard or preferred auto insurance company using credit.

Here is my final insurance shopping tip: Whether you have good credit or bad credit, shop with ALL the leading insurance companies to save hundreds of dollars on insurance, and find the best price for you.

What do you think about insurance companies using credit? Tell me about it. Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

Get Your Insurance Questions Answered & Problems Solved!

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People often have questions about how their auto insurance or homeowners insurance works, or how they should handle a claim. In our wired and socially networked world, many people’s first instinct is to turn to the Internet. People will put questions into an Internet search engine such as, “Who is insured to drive my vehicle?” Or, “Can I get money back if I cancel my insurance?” And the ever-popular “How much does it cost to insure…” which I discussed in a previous blog post.

The Internet is a great resource, but not for accurate information about your own insurance policies. Even I, a 20-year insurance veteran, can lead you astray.

The laws and regulations regarding insurance vary greatly by state. For example, a practice like using your credit information to rate an auto insurance policy may be legal in one state, but prohibited in another state.

I have sold insurance in many states in the past, but insurance laws & regulations change frequently. I have no doubt what I learned about New Jersey state insurance law in 1992 is completely different now. I certainly have no business telling anyone what is allowed, or not allowed, regarding New Jersey auto insurance.

You will notice when I talk about insurance, I use words like “often” and “usually” when talking about what most (not all) insurance companies do, and often disclaim by stating, “if not prohibited by law.”

For example, having one year of continuous auto insurance without a lapse of coverage is needed to qualify for auto insurance in many states.

However, it used to be in California (and may still be), auto insurance companies cannot decline to offer auto insurance for not having previous auto insurance. Since I have not sold California auto insurance in over a decade, I should not be considered the best source for what is going on for California auto insurance now. Even if I had stopped my involvement in California auto insurance only 3 months ago, my knowledge could be out of date if there was a change to auto insurance law & regulations a month ago.

Also, each insurance company may interpret the law differently. In Oregon, where I live, auto insurance companies can use only your most recent three year driving record (other than drug or alcohol related driving offenses). But one auto insurance company told me they use a 5 year experience period when I tried to get an auto insurance quote from them. It’s possible this insurance company is not in compliance with the law, or found a way to comply with the law while still using a 5 year driving record history.

In addition, many auto insurance & home insurance companies use different policy language in their insurance policies. This may be expected by people not working in the insurance industry, but there was a time when most insurance companies used the same policy language.

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One major auto insurance company covers a newly purchased car for only 14 days until you notify the insurance company and insure the recently acquired car.

How you are insured depends on the wording of your insurance policy. If I do not currently work for your insurance company, and have access to your policy, I don’t know how you are covered.

I provide a lot of useful information to you, but the only accurate source of information for YOUR insurance policy is someone working for YOUR insurance company NOW. So, when you have questions about your insurance policy, ask your agent or company representative.

Now, it is still possible your agent will be incorrect, or the insurance company may not be properly following the state (or federal) insurance laws & regulations.

If you think your insurance company is not treating you properly, contact your state’s regulatory authority over insurance. Here is a list of websites for each state’s regulatory body, usually called a “department of insurance.” Some states have great information about state insurance laws and consumer information, and all states tell you how to file a complaint against your insurance company.

Use the Internet to get a second opinion, to see if you have a valid complaint against your insurance company, but take any advice (except mine?) with a grain of salt.

A lot of the information on the web about insurance is bad or generic. Message board responses can be completely wrong, too, even from insurance industry veterans. Never rely on only one person’s opinion. But if more than one person advises you the same way, you should consider the advice.

I would love to help you with your insurance questions. Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Or, you can e-mail me at help@smartshopyourcarinsurance.com if you have questions and would like my help. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

Insurance & Small Claims

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My last blog post explained why insurance is needed to protect people from large financial losses. A wise insurance customer is selective when filing claims, and uses their insurance only for large claims.

But why do insurance companies punish you with cancellation or much higher rates when you file claims? You pay for the coverage, and if the claim is covered, isn’t that what you pay for? Insurance agents & companies brag about what is covered by their insurance policies, but then they advise you to not file a claim when a small claim occurs. Isn’t that a rip off?

The contradiction lies between selling you on why you should buy their insurance, and properly advising you on the use of your policy, to avoid cancellation from being deemed a “higher-risk” customer, once you have purchased the policy.

Insurance companies pay claims. Insurance companies don’t sell insurance expecting to never pay any claims. Insurance companies insure hundreds of thousands of customers, if not millions, and some of them will have claims.

Insurance companies determine their rates based on the average claims costs of a certain risk class of customers. If you are considered a preferred risk or average risk, you don’t have a problem getting insurance or paying reasonable rates.

When you are considered a “high risk” customer you pay higher rates, or your insurance policy is canceled, and many insurance companies may decline to insure you.

Frequents claims, even if they are small claims, are a major expense for insurance companies to process, and are an indicator you are more likely to have claims in the future than the average customer.

Say you live in a bad neighborhood and park your convertible on the street. You have an alarm, and you never leave anything in your car, but every couple of years, someone cuts your convertible top to break into your car. You can carry a low Comprehensive deductible, and you place a claim each time it happens.

What if it happened every year? What if it happened every month? Every time it happens, you have coverage.

Your annual Comprehensive premium cost $100. Your insurance company has paid you $24,000 to replace your convertible top 10 times in the last year, plus the insurance company had the cost of adjusting the claim.

The cost of the average Comprehensive claim may be $6,000, and the average customer has one Comprehensive claim every 5 years.

Because you have Comprehensive claims more often than the average customer, you are considered too high a risk to insure. The insurance company does not have a rating plan to adjust the cost of your Comprehensive premium to reflect your greater risk, so your insurance company may no longer offer Comprehensive coverage for you at your next renewal.

Customers with an average risk or preferred risk of having a claim do not want to pay higher rates to cover people with a much greater risk of having a claim. Insurance companies, not wanting to lose low risk customers because of higher rates, cancel the insurance of high risk customers.
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The above example was exaggerated to explain the concept. In reality, to qualify for preferred auto insurance, you want to have no Comprehensive claims in 5 years, other than glass claims. You can often get by with one Comprehensive claim, but two claims in 3 or 5 years (depending on the state you live in) may mean some insurance companies will not quote you when you shop your insurance.

People should not use their insurance unless the cost of not using it is too high for them.

Couldn’t insurance companies avoid small claims by changing their insurance policies to not cover them? Some insurance companies do this, particularly when claims expenses keep rising, by such things as no longer offering lower deductibles.

However, competition between insurance companies has them offering broader and broader coverage to make their insurance company stand out in the market.

For example, some insurance companies offer broader coverage for personal property on their homeowners insurance policy.

A selling point from an agent might go like this, “Say you are moving your big screen TV and you accidentally drop it. We’ll cover damage above the deductible and many insurance companies don’t offer this coverage!”

In this situation, if you fall for the sales pitch, you pay more for your home insurance to cover small claims. But if you drop your TV and call to place the claim, your agent may advise against it, and if you do put in the claim, and have another claim in the next 5 years, you may see your homeowners insurance canceled.

Sometimes broader coverage is worth the money, if it gives you better protection from catastrophic claims.

For example, dwelling insurance can be on a more limited “named peril” basis (the policy states what causes of damage are covered, such as fire, falling objects, windstorm) or and “open peril” basis (if the cause of damage is not excluded from coverage in the policy, it is covered).

Open peril coverage is always worth purchasing.  I once heard of an homeowners insurance claim denied by an insurance company, when a dam broke and flooded the home. Damage from flood was specifically excluded under the “open peril” policy, but the case went to court, and a judge determined the cause of damage to the home was the breaking of the damn, not a flood, which was NOT excluded under the “open peril” policy. If the homeowner had a named peril policy, there would have been no coverage.

Shop for the insurance you need, and ignore the hype of broader coverage covering only small claims you can afford to pay yourself.

Have you filed a small insurance claim and regretted it? Tell me about it. Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

Should I file an insurance claim?

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If something happens to your home or auto, and it is covered by your home insurance or auto insurance, should you file a claim? Why wouldn’t you file an insurance claim? Isn’t that the reason you buy insurance? Sometimes filing an insurance claim, even though it is a legitimate claim and you have coverage, is not in your best interest.

Isn’t that a rip off? The insurance company wants you to pay for insurance, but they don’t want you to use it. Why bother having insurance in the first place?

Before I explain why filing some insurance claims is bad for you, and not just bad for the greedy insurance company wanting to keep your money, let me explain the real reason why you need insurance.

The purpose of insurance is to protect you from an event which would ruin you financially if you do not have the insurance.

For example, you buy a house, financed by a mortgage. You make your mortgage payments for 10 years without incident.

Then, in the 11th year, 75% of your house burns in a fire. Your house was worth $300,000 when it burned down. You still owe $150,000 on your mortgage. The city requires you to pay for the cost to demolish and remove the 25% of your house still standing.

Without any homeowners insurance, you have lost the $150,000 equity in your house, your mortgage company will demand you pay the $150,000 balance owed on your mortgage immediately, and your city will charge you for the demolition & removal costs of the remains of your home.

You no longer have a place to live. You lost all your personal property in the fire. You paid $120,000 in mortgage payments over the last 10 years, and end up with nothing.

Without homeowners insurance, or without the proper amount & coverage, many people would be financially ruined and have to file bankruptcy. You lose everything you own in the fire, you are broke, in debt, and you can’t rent an apartment because of your ruined credit.

That is what insurance is for: to protect you from catastrophic events which can ruin your life. Obviously, these are the types of claims you DO file.

Fortunately, catastrophic events do not happen to everyone. Most people go their whole lives without having a house fire.

Although you are not likely to need your homeowners insurance to protect you from financial ruin, losing your home to damage from fires, hurricane, tornadoes, etc. is not so unlikely you can ignore the risk. This is why insurance was created.

Here is how you should consider insurance: you give up a relatively small amount of money (the insurance premium) to have the insurance protection you need if you are one of the unlucky few who need it.

Insurance companies can afford to pay you $500,000, to rebuild your house & replace your personal property, when your home burns down, even though you have paid only $7,500 in homeowners insurance premium over the last 10 years, because of all the other homeowners insurance customers paying their premium and not having a claim.

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Say, in the example I used above, The customer’s home did not have a fire. The customer paid $7,500 in homeowners insurance premium over 10 years, and has never had a claim.

Does the customer wish his roof will blow off his home, so he can pay his $500 deductible, but get his “money’s worth” from his homeowners insurance? I should hope not.

Home & auto insurance is not gambling. You don’t “win” by having a claim. The insurance company does not “win” by you not having a claim, because the insurance company will be paying someone else’s claim. And there is ALWAYS someone having a claim.

When you look at a large number of people, the number of people having claims, and the average dollar amount of a claim, is predictable. This is how an insurance company knows how much to charge each customer to pay claims, and make a profit.

Paying for auto or home insurance is the lesser of two evils. You give up your money in exchange for protection from a large financial loss which may never happen — and you hope it never does.

Over the years, insurance coverage has become broader to attract customers. Fire insurance became homeowners insurance, covering much more than fire.

Some auto insurance companies offer deductible rewards and accident forgiveness to get your business, but these features encourage you to file a claim.

Some homeowners insurance companies offer expanded coverage for personal property.

Say someone steals your $1,000 mountain bike, and you have a $500 deductible. You can file a claim and get paid $500.

Having your bike stolen is unfortunate, and it’s a shame for it to cost you money. But when you think about the real purpose of insurance, would the theft of your mountain bike cause you financial hardship?

Small claims are a big expense to an insurance company, and filing them can make your insurance expensive, or get your policy canceled by the insurance company.

Future blog posts will discuss property insurance — home, condo, mobile home & renters, then auto insurance, to help you know when and when not to file claims, and what can happen to your insurance when you have a claim.

Have you filed an insurance claim? Did you regret it later? Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Or, you can e-mail me at help@smartshopyourcarinsurance.com if you have questions and would like my help. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

Can your company or agent match auto insurance rates?

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So, you have shopped for the best auto insurance quote, with all the leading auto insurance companies, as I recommend. I know I’m still searching for that $9 a month auto insurance I see advertised, but I think I am more likely to find Bigfoot before I find it. You can save a lot of money on auto insurance by following my shopping advice, but don’t get fooled by deceptive advertising. Continue reading →

Stopping your auto pay does not cancel your insurance

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Have you ever had a month where money was tighter than normal, and you did not have enough money to cover your auto insurance company’s deduction from your bank account?

Maybe you called your insurance company to stop the deduction, only to find out it was too late to stop it, because your insurance company had already notified the bank how much money to send for your insurance on your deduction date this month.

If the deduction doesn’t go through, does your insurance cancel on your deduction date? Will you be driving uninsured? Maybe you want to cancel your insurance, so you close your bank account, or tell your bank to stop the automatic deductions.

If you want to continue your insurance, the good news is a missed automatic deduction does not cancel your insurance.

But for those people wishing to cancel their insurance, it is important to know a missed deduction won’t stop your insurance. Coverage will continue, you will be billed for it, and if it is not paid, your account will be referred to collections, damaging your credit.

My blog post today will tell you what happens when an automatic deduction paying for insurance is not received, and what you should do, depending on whether you want to keep the insurance, or cancel it.

First off, even if you want to cancel your insurance, and your insurance company can’t stop your next deduction (read stopping automatic deduction plans to find out why), it is best to have the money available in your bank account on the deduction date, and allow it to be paid. If you are canceling, you will get any money back beyond what is needed to pay for insurance coverage until the cancel date, regardless if the deduction goes through or not. This is the least expensive option, because you pay no fees.

If you stop pay the deduction, your bank will charge you a fee, and your insurance company may charge a fee.

Not having enough money in your account is worse, when it comes to fees. There are usually two attempts (depending on your bank’s policy) to have the bank send your monthly premium to your auto insurance company, so you may get two NSF (non-sufficient funds) fees from your bank.

When you stop pay, or if sufficient funds are not available, your insurance company may stop your automatic payment plan, change you to direct bill, and mail you a cancel notice canceling your insurance at a future date.

Each insurance company has its own billing policy, so procedures may vary, but no insurance company will cancel you for a missed deduction, without sending you a cancel notice, and giving you the opportunity to pay before the cancel date. The one exception to this rule is if your initial payment to start an insurance policy does not clear the bank, there is no coverage provided by the insurance company.

States have laws about providing advance notice to customers if the insurance company is canceling the policy for nonpayment. Your insurance company will continue to provide coverage up to the cancel date, and you will owe the premium for the insurance coverage provided.

You may have missed one month because it was not deducted from your bank account, but the insurance company will send you a cancel notice to pay by a date in the future, before canceling your insurance coverage.

If you switched to another insurance company, you don’t want to ignore the bills & cancel notice you receive from the old insurance policy. If you do that, your old insurance will be canceled with an amount still owed, and it will be referred to collections, if it is not paid. You don’t want to pay for double coverage from both insurance companies, if the new insurance company’s coverage started, before your old insurance coverage canceled. Contact your old insurance company, and they can help you cancel your old insurance policy as of the start date of the new policy. There are a few things to know when switching insurance companies, to properly cancel your old insurance policy, and I will cover this in a future blog post.

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1. Contact your insurance company, and ask them what happens if you stop pay the deduction, or if it turns out to be NSF. Know what to expect, and what you need to do to get back on automatic deductions, if the insurance company removes you from the payment plan.

2. Wait for your bank or insurance company to contact you about the deduction not clearing your bank account. As I mentioned, banks usually make a second attempt, a day or two later, if the bank was unable to draw the money from your account the first time.

3. If you need to stop pay the deduction, but want future deductions to pay your insurance, ask your bank if next month’s deduction will be processed, or will you need to authorize deductions again in writing. Your bank may require your insurance company submit a new authorization form signed by you.

4. Make sure your insurance company has your correct mailing address, and check you bank statements.

Your insurance company may bill you for the missed month, and continue automatic deductions for the next month. Or, the insurance company may deduct an amount including the missed month & the current month’s payment next month from your bank account.  Or, the insurance company may remove you from the pay plan, and bill you for the balance owed on your policy. Don’t let a bill or deduction take you by surprise, and watch for any cancel notices.

Most states have insurance policies cancel at 1 minute past midnight on the cancel date, so if you get in an accident on January 1st, and the cancel date is January 1st, you are not covered. You want to make sure the insurance company receives payment before January 1st.

5. Although you may not be billed right away, save your money as if you were still paying for the insurance monthly, so you have enough money to pay the bill you receive.

For example, deductions for your auto insurance are $100 a month. Last month, you did not have the money in your bank account, and your insurance payment was not deducted. By the time your insurance company knows about the missed deduction, & removes you from the deduction plan, they are not able to send you a bill for this month. Next month, you receive a bill for the missed month, the month they could not bill you, and the amount due for the current month, plus a $20 NSF fee, so the amount of your bill is $320. Be ready to pay the amount due, and ignore the normal human impulse to think you had an extra $100 to spend on other things for the last 2 months.

6. Keep in touch with your insurance company to know what is going on with your billing, and when you can expect your next automatic deduction.

In the above example, it is easy to ignore your insurance, until you receive the $320 bill after a month or two, and freak out.

Know what’s going on with your insurance billing, because ignoring it can lead to an unexpected deduction from your bank account, a large surprise bill, or the unpleasant news of finding out you have been without insurance for a period of time, when you finally get in touch with your insurance company.

I have had more than one call from a customer asking when they are going to get new auto insurance id cards, or they notice their auto insurance id card has expired, only to find out their auto insurance canceled for non payment over 6 months ago.

Do you like automatic payment plans to pay your insurance? Tell me about it. Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Or, you can e-mail me at help@smartshopyourcarinsurance.com if you have questions and would like my help. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

Insurance Check Up Step 5

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You’ve learned how to choose & save money on home & auto insurance coverage by reading my Web site. You’ve learned the importance of an annual insurance policy review with your agent or insurance company — what to expect from the review, what to do to make sure you have the right coverage for you, and how to make sure your agent or insurance company are working for you, to get you the best rate they can offer.

You’ve learned the importance of telling your agent or insurance company you are checking with other insurance companies, to see if you can find a better price, so your agent or insurance company do not take having you as a customer for granted.

You’ve used my list of leading home & auto insurance company reviews to get comparison price quotes for the same coverage as you have now. You have requested & received quotes in writing for the lower-priced insurance quotes you received, so you can double-check the price quoted, and the coverage quoted is comparable to the coverage you have now.

Now, you are ready for the final step of your annual insurance check up.

Step Five: Decide to stay with the insurance company you have now, or switch to a better insurance company, or the insurance company with the best price.

If you shopped with all the leading insurance companies, and determined the insurance company you are insured with now has the best price, acceptable customer service, a good complaint record, and the right insurance coverage for you, all you need to do is contact your agent, ask if they were able to discover any other ways for you to get a better price, thank your agent for their help, and tell your agent you are happy to continue to insure with them for another year.

However, unless you have made it a habit of checking the rates of all the leading insurance companies each year, it is very likely you will find another insurance company (maybe more than one) saving you a TON of money.

Before you switch to the insurance company with the lowest price for you, you want to consider a few things.

First, some people may think (and your agent or insurance company insuring you now may tell you this, in hopes to keep your business) you get what you pay for. With auto & home insurance, this is NOT true. When I last shopped my insurance, some of the best prices I received were from insurance companies with very low complaint ratios & high rankings by JD Power. Some of the highest prices I received were from well-known insurance companies with mediocre customer satisfaction ratings, and higher than average complaint ratios.

A recent TV ad for an auto insurance company warns the consumer to beware “cut-rate” insurance, which may not cover certain claims. This is only a danger when choosing your level of insurance coverage, not by choosing the insurance company with the best price for the coverage you need.

This is why, when you shop for auto insurance & homeowners insurance, you want all the insurance companies quoting you the same coverage, often referred to by the slang term of an “apples to apples” comparison.

As long as you have adequate coverage, depending on your needs, paying a lower price does not mean you will “get what you pay for.” Also, paying a lot more for your insurance, does not mean “you get what you pay for.” Insuring with the most expensive auto insurance company is not the same as owning an insurance policy the equivalent of a Mercedes. It is more often like having an auto insurance policy the same as an extremely over-priced Ford Focus. The price you pay for insurance has no connection to the level of customer service, or how happy you will be with how your claim is processed.

Although the price you pay has nothing to do with it, there are a few better-than-average insurance companies, some worse-than average insurance companies, and the majority, in my opinion, being mediocre insurance companies.

Use the link above to my Web site, to evaluate the insurance companies providing you with the best-priced quotes, and to check their customer service rating & complaint record, so you can choose an insurance company with a good price & good customer service.

Also consider coverage. If you owe more on your car loan than the value of your car, you may want to choose an auto insurance company offering gap coverage, to pay off the difference between the loan or lease, and the market value of your car, if it is a total loss due to a covered claim.

Particularly with homeowners insurance, coverage offered by insurance companies will vary.

Lastly, consider how important having a local agent is to you. It is a myth buying auto & home insurance without an agent costs less because there are no commissions paid by the insurance companies. Companies selling directly to the public have other expenses, which insurance companies using agents may not have to pay.

However, insurance companies selling direct to the public cannot use the benefit of having local agents as a selling point, so they often try to compete by having the best price.

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Having a good local agent can turn a mediocre insurance company into a great customer experience. Unfortunately, most agents are mediocre, too. But having someone to fix the problems which sometimes arise, or help you if you have a problem or delay with a claim, is better for most people than trying to work directly with the insurance company.

Before you switch to another insurance company, contact your agent or insurance company, and tell them you have found a lower rate.

Allow your agent to explain any reasons why you should keep your insurance with them. Consider the reasons, to see if they have merit.

If your agent explains a benefit of your insurance policy not offered by the new company, or if your agent explains a time the agent was able to help a customer with a problem, think about the quality of service and features of your current policy, before you change insurance companies.

In my experience, most agents are not providing a level of service beyond other agents, making it worthwhile to pay much more for insurance. Sometimes, policy features, like a guarantee renewal for claims, or accident forgiveness on auto insurance, should be considered.

If your agent makes unsupported claims of personal service, or tries to manipulate you out of friendship or loyalty, this should have little value to you.

Insuring with the same insurance for many years needs to translate into tangible benefits to you, as the customer, otherwise the only thing you lose by switching insurance companies is a Christmas or birthday card from your agent.

Do NOT cancel your old insurance until your new insurance policy is effective.  

Once you have chosen your new insurance company, call them to verify the insurance company or agent has everything they need to confirm the rate they quoted you.

Tell your new insurance company or agent the effective date you wish to start coverage, and have them confirm the price. Ask if you need to provide any documents to get the rate, and if there are any reasons why the rate might go up.

These days, most insurance companies will check your driving record, claims history, credit history, and insurance history, without you having to provide any documentation, and the price can be confirmed before you pay for it.

However, some insurance companies may quote you based on what you tell them about yourself, and then ask you to provide proof of continuous insurance, and check your motor vehicle report & claims history after you have paid for and started your insurance. If you forgot a ticket on your driving record, or the former owner of your home filed a claim, or if you had a claim inquiry which was not paid or covered, this could increase your rate, or cause your insurance application to be rejected. You may run into this situation with some of the smaller insurance companies, but most companies check everything now before you pay, making changing insurance companies easier than ever.

Congratulations! You have learned everything you need to know to have a successful insurance check up, to make sure you have the proper coverage, and save $100s on insurance. What’s stopping you from saving money now?

The Other Steps:

Insurance Check Up Step 1

Insurance Check Up Step 2

Insurance Check Up Step 3

Insurance Check Up Step 4

Many car & home insurance companies charge a lot more than other companies for the same coverage, but no company has low rates for everyone. You have to shop with all the leading companies, to find the company with the best coverage and best price for you.

Do you have any questions about my 5 steps for your yearly insurance check up? What do you think about the importance of an insurance check up each year? Tell me about your opinions. Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

Insurance Check Up Step 4

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This week, I’ve been telling you about the importance of a yearly insurance check up, and how it can save you money on insurance, and improve your coverage.

In Step 3, I told you the secret to getting your insurance agent or insurance company to work hard to find you the best price they can offer: Tell your agent or insurance company, after they have reviewed your insurance policy, you are going to shop with other insurance companies, to see if you can get a better price.

Your insurance agent or company may once again take a look at your policy, and double check to see if there is anything they can do to get you a better price. If the agent or insurance company recommends lowering your coverage, make sure it is because you do not need the coverage.

Your agent or insurance company may think all you care about is price, and reduce something very important, like your auto insurance liability coverage, which protects you from owing people money for injuring people, or damaging their property in an auto accident, to get you a lower price.

Warning: Do not change or reduce coverage at this time. Only eliminate coverage you don’t need, per your insurance policy review. Step 4 involves you getting price quotes from other insurance companies, and you may save a significant amount of money by keeping the same coverage, but insuring with another insurance company.

You can always lower or remove coverage, after you have shopped for the best rate with other insurance companies, if you need to save more money. Reducing or removing coverage you need can be VERY COSTLY if you have a claim, and should be a last resort, when you can’t afford the insurance, and you have shopped around with other insurance companies, and done everything else you can to get a better price.

If your agent or company, can’t find any other way to get you a better price than reducing your coverage, while you are speaking to them during your insurance policy review, allow them to get back to you, in case they later realize a way to save you money.

I have had customers contact me, after finding a lower rate with another insurance company (and sometimes after they have started their coverage with another insurance company!), and tell me they will keep their insurance with me, if I can get them a better price. Sometimes I notice something right away, and sometimes I will think of something after I have had time to consider it.

Don’t put your agent on the spot and expect an instant solution to get you a lower price. If you like your agent or insurance company, give them every opportunity & some time to find a way to keep your business.

Once you are finished with your insurance policy review, and your agent or insurance company will get back to you, to confirm you are getting the best price they can offer, it is time to shop with all the major insurance companies, to see if you can get a lower price for the same or better coverage than you have now. Discounts save you money, but the best way to save A LOT of money, is to get insurance quotes from all the leading insurance companies.

For example, I shop my auto insurance every year, and some insurance companies want to charge me TWICE AS MUCH, OR MORE than the lower-priced quotes I receive. Every year, I find a better price with another insurance company, though I don’t always switch my insurance. If you are still uncertain if it is worth your time to shop for better rates each year, please read my 8 things every auto insurance buyer needs to know.

Here is the next & very important step:

Step Four: Use my list of reviews for leading insurance companies (Bookmark the Web page, or place it in your favorites to use next year, or any time you want to research auto insurance & home insurance companies), to find all the major insurance companies in your area, and get price quotes.
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Beware agents claiming to shop the market for you. These agents are independent agents, representing some insurance companies selling through independent agents, like Safeco, Metlife, & Travelers.

Independent agents can have advantages, and I prefer them if they have a competitive price for me, but they can’t shop the market for you.  These independent agents can’t quote you some of the most important insurance companies, selling though their own agents, like State Farm, American Family insurance, or Farmers insurance, or insurance companies selling direct, like Amica, Geico, or USAA.

My Web site is the only place on the Web to find ALL the major insurance companies (If you think I missed one, let me know!) across the USA offering home & auto insurance, and provides you with their AM Best rating, JD Power customer satisfaction score, & complaint record.

Find all the important insurance companies on my Web site, and click on their ads to get price quotes, or use the Google search bar on my Web page to find their insurance company Web sites. Getting insurance quotes by clicking my ads costs you nothing, and helps support my Web site, and allows me to keep giving the public tips on how to save money on insurance, avoid expensive mistakes, and choose the right coverage.

When you get price quotes, make sure you match the insurance coverage as close as possible to the coverage you have now.

I recommend working through my list from the first company, to the last insurance company. Skip over insurance companies if you are not eligible (New Jersey Manufacturers, or USAA if you have no connection to the military) or insurance companies not offering coverage in your state. Some insurance companies will not insure you if you have a major moving violation, license suspension, less than 3 years driving experience, no insurance, or more than 1 ticket or accident. If you don’t qualify, just move on to the next insurance company.

Get prices, request quotes in writing, or e-mail, for the lower-priced insurance companies quoting you, then compare the price & coverage to the coverage you have now.

Tomorrow, I will show you the last step of the insurance check up, which will help you make the very important decision to stay with the insurance company you have now, or switch to another insurance company.

The Other Steps:

Insurance Check Up Step 1

Insurance Check Up Step 2

Insurance Check Up Step 3

Insurance Check Up Step 5

Many people make the mistake of never shopping with other auto & home insurance companies. If you shop with enough companies, you’ll find many insurance companies charge a lot more than other companies for the same coverage. But no company has low rates for everyone. You have to shop with all the leading companies, to find the company with the best coverage and best price for you.

Do you shop each year for better insurance rates? Why not? Tell me about it. Comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch. Read auto & home insurance company reviews for over 40 different companies, rating each company’s pricing, claims handling and customer service, at smartshopyourcarinsurance.com.

Insurance Check Up Step 3

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Each day this week, I am walking you through my steps to a successful insurance check up, which may save you $100s on insurance. Step one is go to my Web site and learn what you need to know about insurance coverage to save you money, & avoid headaches when you have a claim. Step Two is knowing what to expect during your insurance policy review.

Now, you are ready for step three.

Step 3: Saving money on the insurance coverage you need during your insurance policy review.

In Step 2, I told you to expect your insurance agent or company to recommend additional coverage or policies you need.

In addition, a good insurance policy review should cover reviewing each coverage, not only to see if you need more coverage, but to see if you still need the coverage at all.

For example, if you are paying $200 every 6 months for Collision coverage, with a $500 deductible, on an old car worth only $1,500, your agent should discuss with you whether you still need the coverage.

Also, a good insurance policy review should cover all the policy exclusions and limitations. You should be informed of all additional coverage available, and your agent should ask you questions to determine your insurance needs.

Finally, a good insurance policy review will focus on getting you the best price possible for the coverage you need, by making sure you get all the discounts for which you qualify, what you can do to get additional discounts, and inform you of any new products available which can replace your policy with a lower price.

Unfortunately, some agents & insurance companies sole focus is to sell you additional products & coverage during policy reviews.

Agents may talk about insurance policy discounts you can get by buying an additional policy, like a multi-policy discount, but if you seem like a content customer, not willing to shop for lower rates with other insurance companies, your agent is not likely to ask you questions to find out about all the discounts offered. This happens, not because agents (at least not ALL agents) intentionally want you to miss out on a discount and pay a higher premium. The agent’s main role is to get you the coverage you need, determine your eligibility, and quote you the correct price. This takes time, and it’s easy for an agent to miss discussing a discount for you.

For example, I had a customer paying a lot for car insurance, because he had several new cars and 2 teen drivers in his household. I enjoy doing insurance policy reviews for customers, and I have always prided myself on being thorough, and getting my customers all the discounts I could get for them.

I never needed to schedule a policy review for this customer, because every 6 months, when the customer received their auto insurance renewal, he would come into my office and complain about his auto insurance rates going up. I would review his auto insurance policy, and I always seemed to find a way to get him a lower rate, without reducing his coverage.

The first time he came into my office, I was able to get him a better price on his policy, but I was new to the agency, and no one had reviewed his policy in a while. 6 months later, he came in when he received his auto insurance renewal, because the auto insurance company had a rate increase. I reviewed his policy, and once again, I was able to find a way to lower his rates. I also noticed in 2 months, I could re-rate one of his teen drivers as being a year older. I followed up and did it, 2 months later, which lowered his rates. When his auto insurance renewed again, his rate went down — but he still pays a lot because auto insurance is expensive for his cars & teen drivers.

Even though his rates went down, he came into my office and complained about his rates going up! I thought to myself: I reviewed his policy twice recently, there is no way I can find him a lower rate. But sure enough, I found something applying now, which did not apply before, which gave him a better rate.

Even though this was a very unusual situation, the moral of the story is the squeaky wheel gets the oil. If you are not having annual reviews focused on getting the coverage you need at the best price, you are likely to be paying too much for insurance.

If you are not shopping for better rates with all the leading insurance companies each year, you are very likely to be paying too much for insurance. Don’t believe me? See why and find out at 8 things every auto insurance buyer needs to know.

Agents are busy people, focusing on finding new customers to stay in business. There are good agents wanting to get you the coverage you need & all the appropriate discounts. But agents are compensated by getting a percentage of the premium the insurance company charges you. The higher your premium, the more money your agent makes.

So, how do you make sure you are finding out everything you need to know about your insurance, and your agent or company is getting you the best price?

Do these 2 things:

A) Have your agent or insurance company give you a copy of your insurance policy contract and all endorsements.

Endorsements are amendments to the wording of your policy contract to change coverage. For example, if earthquake damage is excluded from your homeowners insurance policy contract, paying more for an earthquake endorsement gives you coverage for earthquake, subject to the wording in the endorsement.

Review the policy contract & endorsements, and pay special attention to any exclusions & limitations. Contact your agent if you have any questions or concerns.

B) Here is the key to getting the best price on insurance: After your insurance company reviews your coverage with you, tell them you are happy with their service, but you are shopping around for a better rate with other insurance companies, which you do each year, to make sure you are getting a good price.

Even evil, greedy insurance agents will work hard to get you all the discounts and best price possible, if they think they are going to lose your business.

Some people may be reluctant, particularly if they have been insured with the same agent for years, to tell the agent they are going to shop their insurance.

Politely telling your agent you are going to shop around for better rates is actually a great check of the professionalism of your agent.

Most agents understand customers shop their insurance, and they will respond by trying to make sure they are getting you the best price they can offer you. A good agent will also tell you about benefits to staying with your current policy. For example, some insurance companies provide accident forgiveness at no additional cost, if you have been insured with them for many years.

If your agent says their customer service is worth you having them as your agent, ask for a specific example when the agent’s expertise & customer service benefited one of their customers.

Every insurance company will tell you they have the best customer service. Anyone can tell you they are best at their jobs. People who are really great at their job can prove it to you.

If your agent gets upset about you shopping for better insurance rates, and tries to manipulate your emotions, by trying to make you feel guilty, because the agent questions your loyalty, or your agent claims his family will have to eat dog food if the agent loses your business, you are not dealing with a professional insurance agent.

Allow your agent to get the best price possible for you, and explain to you why you should keep your insurance with the agent.

However, it doesn’t make sense for you to be loyal to an insurance company or agent, because the insurance company will NOT be loyal to you, and they will cancel you, even if you have been a customer with no claims for 30 years, if the insurance company thinks you now have a greater-than-average risk of having a claim. Your agent won’t be much help to you.

Once you have had an insurance policy review, you will be ready for the very important Step 4, and shop for better rates & coverage options.

Don’t wait to save money, or take a chance on not having the insurance coverage you need if you have a claim. Contact your agent and have them review your insurance policy as soon as you can. There is no need to go to the agent’s office, you can get your insurance policies reviewed over the phone.

If you have an agent, you want to have your agent, or someone on your agent’s staff, conduct your policy review. But if you don’t have an agent, because your auto insurance company sells directly, like Amica, USAA, Geico, Esurance, or Progressive, you can call the insurance company, and request the policy review.

The Other Steps:

Insurance Check Up Step 1

Insurance Check Up Step 2

Insurance Check Up Step 4

Insurance Check Up Step 5

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Insurance Check Up Step 2

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Yesterday, I explained the importance or an annual insurance check up, and showed you the first step: use my Web site to understand & decide on the auto insurance & home insurance coverage you need.

Each day this week, I will walk you through my steps to a successful insurance check up, which may save you $100s on insurance. Now you know the coverage you need, here is step 2.

The second step: Know what to expect when you have your policy review with your insurance agent or company.

Before you contact your agent or insurance company for a policy review, it is important to know what to expect.

Agents & insurance companies often recommend additional coverage or policies during insurance policy reviews. From my own experience, customers often pass on additional coverage they need, or do not give it the proper consideration. However, customers should not blindly buy whatever an insurance agent recommends.

Agents & insurance companies love to have policy reviews with customers, because it gives them a chance to show their value to the customer, and sell you additional products.

Discussing additional insurance needs is a very important part of the policy review, and it is not about selling you something you don’t need.

If you could get a 20% discount on your auto insurance, if you insure your home with your auto insurance company, isn’t it in your interest to at least get a homeowners insurance price quote from your auto insurance agent?

If your agent knows you have kids, or other people financially dependent on your income, the agent is not doing their job if they don’t discuss life insurance with you. How would you feel, if you had regular insurance reviews with your agent, then one day you found out you have a terminal illness, and your agent never brought up term life insurance, which you could have had for $30 a month?

Given the reputation of insurance agents, I understand why customers may consider agents, recommending you purchase additional coverage or policies, the same as a car sales person trying to get you to buy the extended warranty, undercoating, & rust-proofing.

It is normal for people to be wary of sales people trying to sell them something. Particularly with insurance, it is human nature to think you will never need it, then regret not having it, if it turns out you needed the coverage.

However, when I conducted insurance policy reviews, I was often astounded at customers declining to make prudent decisions to buy the additional coverage they need, when they could afford it.

Do you want to make smart insurance decisions and avoid expensive mistakes?

LISTEN to what your agent or insurance company has to say.

Don’t tune out your agent because you think you are getting a sales pitch. If your agent recommends buying additional coverage or another insurance policy, listen to(or ask) the reason the agent recommends it. Don’t be quick to dismiss it.

For example, if your agent recommends an individual life insurance policy for you, don’t ignore your agent because you have life insurance through work. It is easy to think, if you have some life insurance coverage, you have enough life insurance. There are drawbacks to group life insurance through your work, and depending on life insurance through work can be a huge mistake. Your agent can explain why this is so.

Take advantage of your insurance agent’s knowledge & expertise, and listen to your agent. If you have questions, ask them. Make sure you are understanding what your agent is saying to you. Remember, you are in control. Your agent can’t force you to buy anything. The advice you get from your agent is free, so take advantage of it.

A good insurance agent will ask you questions to discover your insurance needs, and then discuss the pros & cons of any option. Good agents will discuss with you the consequences of not buying the additional coverage, actions you can take other than buying insurance, and the likelihood of you needing the coverage.

Generally, insurance coverage at a reasonable price, which protects you from a large financial loss, is a good purchase, unless the event is extremely unlikely to occur.

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Not too long ago, I increased my Bodily Injury Liability (covers you if you are legally liable for injuring someone due to the use of your vehicle)from $100,000 per person, $300,000 per accident, to $250,000 per person, $500,000 per accident. The increase in premium was less than $20 more every 6 months.

In this example, the pros to making the decision is more coverage, in case I am responsible for injuring someone in an auto accident. Also, higher liability limits are a sign of a responsible driver, so you can actually save money, when you shop your auto insurance with other companies, by having higher liability on the auto insurance policy you have now. Don’t expect your agent to tell you about this benefit (but my Web site does, along with other money-saving tips).

The con is the higher premium, but since it is less than $20 more every 6 months, it makes sense to increase the coverage.

Even though I am not wealthy, and don’t drive much, I don’t know if I will be in an accident where my coverage may not be enough. If it happens to me, and I don’t have enough coverage, my assets are at risk, and I might have to file bankruptcy. Even though I think it is very unlikely I will be liable for auto accident injuries that severe, the additional cost is low enough, and the financial impact of not having enough coverage is so severe, increasing my Bodily Injury Liability coverage was an easy decision for me.

However, say I was an 18 year old, just licensed, having only $15,000 per person, $30,000 per accident for Bodily Injury Liability. It may cost several hundred dollars more every 6 months to take $250,000 per person, $500,000 per accident, for Bodily Injury liability. An 18 year old may not be able to afford it. The cost of the higher liability coverage is an indication the 18 year old is much more likely at risk of needing that much coverage, but the cost may be too much to pay.

A good agent discussing this with the 18 year old, would ask about any assets owned & the type of work the 18 year old does. If the 18 year old has no assets, like a healthy bank account or owning a home, and is working part time to get through school, risking the need to file bankruptcy, because of not having enough Liability coverage in an auto accident, might be the only option, due to the high cost of the insurance.

Furthermore, a good agent will offer higher liability in an amount of coverage, the 18 year old may be able to afford, such as $50,000 per person, $100,000 per accident, for Bodily Injury Liability.

A good agent gets information from you, recommends insurance coverage you need, shows you different options, and lets you make the decision to buy it.

But what if  you DON”T have a  good agent?

You can protect yourself, by getting unbiased information on auto insurance & home insurance coverage, at my Web site, www.smartshopyourcarinsurance.com, as recommended in Step 1. Bookmark, or place my site in your favorites, and you can access it when you need it, to find out if you are getting a good recommendation from your agent. If you have a question not addressed, or not clear on my Web site, e-mail me, and I will give you my opinion.

How do you know if your agent does not have your best interest at heart? Almost all agents are likable people. They couldn’t make it in this business if they weren’t nice. Every agent will tell you they put their clients ahead of their own interests. Not all of them do, so you have to watch out for warning signs.

Not-so-good agents ask few questions, don’t explain your options, and are most concerned with trying to close a sale.

Don’t buy anything you don’t understand, and if you feel pressured by your agent to buy, tell your agent how you feel. Your agent may strongly believe in the importance of the coverage, and may not realize you feel uncomfortable. If the agent persists & pushes you to buy, it is time to change agents.

Insurance agents have the reputation for being aggressive sales people, but few really are. Don’t put up with a pushy agent, when there are many good agents out there wanting your business.

The Other Steps:

Insurance Check Up Step 1

Insurance Check Up Step 3

Insurance Check Up Step 4

Insurance Check Up Step 5

Some insurance companies charge a lot more than other companies for the same coverage, but no company has low rates for everyone. You have to shop with all the leading companies, to find the company with the best coverage and best price for you.

How good is your insurance agent? When did your agent last contact you for your insurance policy review? If you haven’t spoken to your agent in over a year, your agent is not doing their job. Tell me about your experiences. Comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

An annual insurance check up may save you $100s!

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Insurance sucks. It’s expensive. It’s boring. You pay for it, but you hope you never have to use it. Using your insurance premium to light your cigar, seems more fun & useful than giving it to your insurance company, when you never have a claim.

As wasteful as spending money on insurance seems to be, many people voluntarily WASTE EVEN MORE of their money, by over-paying for coverage, or not getting the coverage they need. How does this happen? It happens because lots of people do not review their insurance coverage and shop for lower rates with other insurance companies each year.

An annual insurance check up may be as fun as dental cleanings every 6 months, but most people know it is important to get your teeth cleaned. An annual insurance check up is as important to your wallet, as regular cleaning is to your teeth. And should you have a claim, and not have the coverage you need, the results can be as painful as having all your teeth pulled, and 100 times more costly.

Your life changes every year. People change jobs, get married, get divorced, have kids, and your financial situation changes. An insurance coverage you did not need when you purchased your policy, you may need now. You may need more coverage. You are older. You may have different financial obligations. You may have more or less assets.

Also, insurance company discounts, rates, and policies change over time. Your auto insurance company may now offer a different auto insurance policy, with much better rates. There may be a new discount you can get to lower your rates. There now may be other insurance companies with much lower rates for you.

I will show you how to do your annual insurance check up by using my Web site, and show you how to find lower insurance rates, get discounts, and decide on coverage.

Each day this week, I will blog about one step.

The First Step: Go to www.smartshopyourcarinsurance.com, or click these links for auto insurance and homeowners insurance (If you own a home) and review your coverage.

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These two links on my Web site review auto & home insurance coverage, so you can compare it with what you have, if you are insured now, and decide on the coverage you need.

There are plenty of Web sites describing auto & home insurance coverage. My explanation of coverage is different, because it describes coverage with tips for you to decide if you need it, how much you need, & helps you avoid the mistakes many people make when choosing coverage.

The information is lengthy, but I don’t waste words on anything you don’t need to know. If you are pressed for time, at least read everything written in bold — it can save you a lot of money and heartache when you need your insurance.

Once you have used my Web site to decide on the coverage you need, you are ready for Step 2, which  I will blog about tomorrow.

The Other Steps:

Insurance Check Up Step 2

Insurance Check Up Step 3

Insurance Check Up Step 4

Insurance Check Up Step 5

If you haven’t shopped your auto or home insurance in the last few years with at least 5 other companies, there is a good chance you are paying too much. Has your agent or company ever thoroughly reviewed your coverage, policy limitations, & exclusions?  If you don’t think you need to shop with other insurance companies, you need to read my webpage showing you the 8 things every insurance buyer needs to know here.

When was your last insurance check up? Do you have any questions? Comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

Stopping Automatic Payment Plans For Insurance

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Automatic payment plans to pay auto (or boat, renters, motorcycle, etc.) insurance, such as EFT (electronic funds transfer) from a bank account, or payroll deductions, can be convenient for customers, and help them save money. But automatic payment plans can be tricky, when stopping the plans, because you have changed banks or employers, or you wish to cancel the insurance policy. Unexpected deductions from paychecks or bank accounts is a common complaint among insurance company customers, and can be avoided, once you know how these plans work, and the proper way to stop them.

I have blogged before about how automatic deductions plans paying for auto insurance can be a nightmare for some customers, and this blog post is part of my series of blog posts, showing people how to avoid hassles when canceling insurance policies.

Stopping automatic deductions paying for your insurance, is part of knowing how to cancel insurance without difficulty or unexpected bills, but the information in this blog post will also assist anyone stopping or changing an automatic payment plan to a new bank, or different payment option.

Here are the steps to follow to avoid problems stopping an automatic payment plan:

1. As soon as you know you want to stop your automatic payment plan, or cancel your insurance policy on such a plan, call your agent.

If you don’t have a local agent, call your insurance company directly. Whether you speak to an agent or the company, make note of the date, time, name of the person to whom you spoke, and what was said. Do this any time you speak to your agent or insurance company.

2. Tell your agent or company you are switching your plan or canceling your insurance, and ask them if they can stop the next deduction from your bank account or paycheck.

Even if your insurance company requires you to give them a signed cancel request in writing before they will cancel your insurance, or require a new form to authorize deductions from a new bank, they still can stop your automatic payment plan, and change your policy to direct billing, while the insurance company waits to receive your written cancel request.

(If you are simply changing banks, it is best to not stop your deduction plan, but leave your old account open, with enough money to pay for your insurance, while you wait for the insurance company to change your plan to the new bank. Keep in touch with your insurance company, and wait for written confirmation to let you know when it is okay to close your old account.)

However, insurance companies need advance notice to stop deductions from bank accounts. You can’t call on the 3rd or 4th of the month to stop a deduction on the 5th of the month. Some insurance company automatic payment plans need  almost 2 weeks notice before the deduction date, but this can vary from company to company.

It works like this: say your auto insurance premium is deducted on the 25th of every month from your checking account. The insurance company will notify your bank electronically, on the 15th, for all the insurance company ‘s customers having a deduction on the 25th, using the same bank as you, telling the bank how much to pay the insurance company for each insurance policy on the 25th.

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In the above example, when you call on the 16th to stop your automatic deduction plan, your agent will tell you there will be a deduction on the 25th, but future deductions will be stopped.

3. DON’T tell your bank to stop pay the deduction, or close the account, or allow it to go NSF (non-sufficient funds).

If you ask your bank to stop pay, your bank will charge you a fee. Also, your insurance company may charge you a fee.

If you close your account, your insurance company may charge you a fee.

If the deduction does not clear because of insufficient funds, your bank charges you a fee, the insurance company may charge a fee, the deduction is often automatically attempted again, and you once again occur fees if it is not paid.

The best thing to do is to leave the account open, and have enough money in the account to cover the deduction, and to not stop pay it. If you are canceling your policy, any possible refund will be based on what was paid. So don’t worry, you will get all the money back paid into the policy, paying for coverage beyond the cancel date.

4. Call your agent or insurance company again if you do not receive mailed (or electronic) notification of your automatic payment plan being stopped in 10 business days from your original request to stop it.

Assume deductions will continue until you receive written notification your plan has been stopped, or it has been changed over to your new account.

Don’t make the mistake of never shopping for better rates with other companies. Some insurance companies charge a lot more than other companies for the same coverage, but no company has low rates for everyone. You have to shop with all the leading companies, to find the company with the best coverage and best price for you.

Have you had problems with an automatic payment plan? Is it a good way to pay for insurance? Tell me about it. Comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch. See my auto & home insurance company reviews for over 40 different companies, rating each company’s pricing, claims & customer service at smartshopyourcarinsurance.com.

Biggest Insurance Mistake: Choose Your Coverage Carefully When Buying Insurance

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Have you been ripped off by insurance? Many people think insurance is a rip off. After all, you pay a lot of money for something you hope you will never use. Many homeowners pay their whole life for homeowners insurance, and never have a claim. However, these homeowners did not pay for nothing, because they had the protection provided by their homeowners insurance, even though it turned out they never had to use it.

Was all the money in premium paid by people never having a claim wasted? No, because the personal & financial consequences of having your house burn down is so devastating, it is worth it to give up some of your money, in the form of insurance premiums, to have the protection, even though most people’s homes do not burn down.

Rip-off: A product or service that is
overpriced or of poor quality.

But it is hard for someone, paying for homeowners insurance every year, for the last 30 years, and never having a claim, to not feel like they have paid for nothing, and they were ripped off.

Yet, house fires are not a remote possibility, unlike being hit in the head by a piece of falling space debris. For those people having house fires, having homeowners insurance, choosing the proper coverage, and insuring with a good insurance company, are some of the best & most important decisions they may make.

Some people feel ripped off by insurance because they pay too much, or their claim was not covered or paid as they expected. Paying too much, & not having the insurance coverage you need, are insurance rip offs you can avoid by shopping for the best price, understanding your coverage options, deciding what insurance coverage you need, and knowing how your insurance works.

This blog entry is the first in a series of blog posts, to help you avoid mistakes many people make with their insurance, leading them to feel ripped off, either by the price they pay, or by not having the coverage they need when they have a claim.

Here is the first rule of avoiding the insurance rip off:

1. When buying insurance, have the insurance company or agent explain each coverage — know all coverage options available, how they work, and their cost.

Few people get excited about buying insurance. Most people find it complicated and boring. Shopping for insurance is not fun, unlike test driving a sporty new car you want to buy.

A lot of people take no interest in their coverage, thinking they will be covered as they expect to be covered by simply having insurance, such as auto insurance, particularly if they ask for “full coverage” auto insurance.
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If you buy homeowners insurance, you are covered for anything happening to your house causing a major expense, right? WRONG! Homeowners insurance policies have many limitations on coverage and exclusions.

Okay, so you buy homeowners insurance, but the insurance company excludes a lot of things to avoid having to pay a claim? What a rip off!

No, there are reasons for the exclusions & limitations in homeowners insurance policies, and the cost of homeowners insurance is lower because of them.

Flood damage to your home is not covered by homeowners insurance, but the costs of damage from floods are not used to determine your homeowners insurance rate because of the exclusion.

Earthquake damage is also excluded from homeowners insurance, because homeowners with almost no risk of earthquake damage do not want pay the higher rates to have protection for something they are extremely unlikely to need. But some insurance companies allow homeowners concerned with earthquake damage to their home to purchase extra coverage to insure for earthquake damage.

This is why it is important to know your coverage options, so you can cater your insurance coverage to your needs.

For example, if you work from home, have a package related to your business delivered to your residence, and the delivery man slips, injures himself on your property, and sues you, the cost of defense or any liability for the injury is not covered by the basic homeowners insurance policy.

However, many insurance companies will cover liability & the cost of defense for injury resulting from a business pursuit (like the example above) for an additional premium, usually under $30 a year. If your claim was declined because you did not have this inexpensive additional coverage, wouldn’t you feel ripped off?

Not too long ago, I shopped my auto insurance, and an agent gave me a price for his company. He did not ask me about what coverage I needed before giving me the price. I asked about the coverage, after he gave me the price, and he quoted me less liability, and higher deductibles than I have now. If I liked the price, I could have purchased an auto insurance policy with much less coverage than I have now. I would have been very upset to find out I had an $1,000 deductible if my car was damaged by hitting a tree, or from being vandalized.

If you want to accurately compare prices when you shop for insurance, make sure the agents & insurance companies quoting you, quote the same coverage. But before you buy, have the insurance company or agent review all your coverage options, so you can make sure you have the protection you need. It will be too late, once you have had a claim, to find out you had the wrong coverage.

Have you felt ripped off by an auto or home insurance company? Tell me about it. Comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch. Read auto & home insurance company reviews for over 40 different companies, rating each company’s pricing, claims handling and customer service, at smartshopyourcarinsurance.com.

AM Best Ratings — What do they really tell you?

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When you shop around for home, life, or auto insurance quotes, insurance agents or company representatives often tell you their insurance company’s AM Best rating, to convince you it is a good insurance company. But what is the AM Best rating, and what does it really tell you about an insurance company? Should you use it to pick a better company, by choosing a company with a higher AM Best rating? This blog post will tell you what you need to know!

What is the AM Best rating, and what does it tell you about an insurance company?

First, let me explain what the rating does NOT tell you: The AM Best rating is not a measure of customer service, or how good the company is at handling claims. If you want to know about an insurance company’s customer service, click the link below.

AM Best has several types of ratings, but when it comes to insurance companies, the rating usually referred to is the AM Best Financial Strength Rating, which is defined by AM Best as:

“AM Best’s Financial Strength Rating is an independent opinion of an insurer’s financial strength and ability to meet its ongoing insurance policy and contract obligations. It is based on a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative evaluation of a company’s balance sheet strength, operating performance and business profile.” ( from the AM Best Web site)

AM Best, similar to other insurance ratings agencies, such as Moody’s, Standard & Poor & Fitch, rates an insurance company’s financial strength & ability to pay claims.

You do not want to insure with a company with a low AM Best rating, because the insurance company is having financial difficulties, and may delay paying your claim or go out of business.

However, an insurance company with a very high AM Best rating is financially strong, but that does not mean the insurance company has good customer service, or will not be difficult to work with when filing a claim.

Here are the AM Best ratings grades, from best to worst:

A++, A+ (Superior)
A, A- (Excellent)
B++, B+ (Good)
B, B- (Fair)
C++, C+ (Marginal)
C, C- (Weak)
D (Poor)
E (Under regulatory supervision)
F (In Liquidation)

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Personally, if I am shopping my auto or homeowners insurance, and one company has an “A++” rating, and another company has an “A-” rating, it will not sway me to insure with the company rated “A++,” unless the level of coverage, customer service, claims handling, & price are about the same. I am more concerned with getting a good price, and evaluating an auto or home insurance company’s JD Power customer & claims satisfaction ratings and customer complaint record, which I consider in the ratings I use in the insurance company reviews I publish on my website.

If an insurance company has a “B++” or lower rating, or is not rated by AM Best, proceed with caution. It is rare to find an insurance company not rated by AM Best (I know Homesite insurance is not rated). If you are interested in an insurance company not rated by AM Best, be sure to see if the company is rated by any other rating company, such as Moody’s, Fitch, Standard & Poor, etc., and make sure the unrated company is really the best option for you.

Can you trust the AM Best rating to keep you from insuring with a financially troubled insurance company?

Not really. Remember the financial crisis, when sub-prime mortgage debt received top ratings from rating agencies? AM Best has the same conflict of interest as other rating agencies, such as Moody’s, S&P, etc., because AM Best is paid by the insurance companies being rated, so there is an incentive to be overly optimistic about the insurance company’s financial condition.

There is a rating service called Weiss ratings, which may be more objective, and does not receive payment from the insurance companies it rates. You can find out more about Weiss ratings, and a link to their Web site, by clicking any of the links in this blog post going to my Web site.

An “A” rated insurance company can lose its “A” rating very quickly.

In the early 1990s, I remember Mutual Benefit Life was taken over by the state, because it ran into financial troubles with investments in junk bonds. Mutual Benefit Life had an “A+” rating by AM Best until shortly before its failure.

With life insurance, where you may keep the same policy for decades, or the rest of your life, and may not be able to change to another insurance company due to cost or health conditions, the financial strength ratings of insurance companies are extremely important.

However, with auto & home insurance, switching to another insurance company is fairly easy. If you become suddenly aware your auto insurance or home insurance company is having financial troubles, you should have no problem changing to another insurance company.

What if you have a claim when your insurance company goes belly up? Many states have guaranty funds to pay the claims for insolvent insurers. But the coverage through the guaranty fund may not be as much coverage as provided by the bankrupted insurance company, and making a claim may be an arduous task. Don’t rely on state guaranty funds, and make sure you keep up on the financial strength of your insurance company.

But don’t worry too much. Auto & home insurance companies are regulated and required to maintain adequate reserves in conservative investments. During the 2008 financial crisis, none of the insurance company subsidiaries providing auto insurance or homeowners insurance were at risk of failing. Even AIG, which would have collapsed without government bail outs, had insurance subsidiaries insuring homes & cars with adequate reserves, which continued to pay claims. Had AIG failed, these subsidiary companies would have been sold to healthy insurance companies. In fact, 21st Century insurance, once owned by AIG, was recently sold to Farmers Insurance Group.

A lot of insurance companies charge much more than other insurance companies for the same coverage, but no single insurance company has low rates for everyone. You have to shop with all the leading companies, to find the company with the best coverage and best price for you.

Do you have any questions about AM Best ratings, or opinions on the financial strength of insurance companies? Comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.

2011 JD Power National Home Insurance Study: The Best & The Rest

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My last blog post discussed the winners & losers from the JD Power national 2011 auto insurance study, which is great timing, because JD Power released its 2011 national homeowners insurance study a few days ago. So with this blog post, I can review JD Power’s latest homeowners insurance rankings.

Why are JD Power’s annual insurance studies important?

I think JD Power is the most credible source, with information available for free on the Internet, for evaluating customer satisfaction for home & auto insurance companies. Consumer Reports may be a good source, too, but you have to pay for their information.

However, just like it is important to thoroughly comparison shop for home & auto insurance to get the best price, it is smart to use multiple sources to evaluate an insurance company for customer service.

I have searched the Web, and unfortunately, I can’t find any other reliable resources to compare with JD Power.

Complaint Web sites are not objective. Insurance Web sites usually provide boiler plate facts, like the AM Best rating, when the insurance company was founded, etc. and they don’t have much useful information.

Other insurance Web sites have too much bias, either run by lawyers, body/repair shops, or disgruntled customers. Can you really get an unbiased opinion on Allstate or Farmers, from allstateinsurancesucks.com or farmersreallysucks.com? You can also find people on the Internet raving about how great both these companies are, and how they have been happy customers with them for years.

Even the Web sites I have reviewed by former claims adjusters and industry insiders are, in my opinion, biased and not reliable.

Maybe I’m biased, too, but I think my Web site has the most objective information on auto & home insurance on the Web, by showing you JD Power ratings, AM Best ratings, and complaint ratios for insurance companies, you can choose an insurance company without being swayed by a few people’s complaints or recommendations.

Now you know why the JD Power insurance company rankings are important, lets look at the JD Power 2011 national homeowners insurance study results.

There have been changes from the JD Power 2010 homeowners insurance study, and several major home insurance companies have been downgraded. No homeowners insurance companies were upgraded for 2011, from the 2010 study.

4 homeowners insurance companies have been downgraded from 4 power circles (better than most) to 3 power circles (about average).

3 homeowners insurance companies have been downgraded from 3 power circles (about average) to 2 power circles (the rest).

However, unlike my look at the 2011 JD Power auto insurance study, I took note of the raw scores for the 3 home insurance companies now rated lower than “about average,” to see how much below average they might be.

JD Power uses a 1,000 point scale to determine its rankings. The 2011 study average for overall satisfaction with homeowners insurance was 769 out of 1,000 points, up 19 points from 2010. But the lowest scoring homeowners insurance company, Travelers Insurance, with 732 points out of 1,000, is only 37 points, on the 1,000 point scale, away from average.

Also, the lowest rated homeowners insurance company with a 3 power circles (about average) rating is Liberty Mutual Insurance, with 750 out of 1000 points, which shows Travelers was only 18 points away, on a 1000 point scale, from being rated at 3 power circles (about average).

I’m not convinced the 3 homeowners insurance companies ranked at 2 power circles are providing significantly less customer satisfaction than home insurance companies rated 3 power circles, when in some cases they are within a few points of being rated “about average.”

My future blog posts will review leading insurance companies in-depth, to evaluate their customer service, and I will consider each company’s JD Power rating for auto & home insurance more closely.

For now, instead of declaring winners & losers (with one categorical exception), like I did with the 2011 auto insurance study review, I will list the downgrades, the 6 top scoring home insurance companies (two companies are tied for 3rd place), & the 7 bottom scoring (scoring was close enough to note the 6th & 7th lowest scoring companies) homeowners insurance companies, so you can sort the best home insurance companies from the not-so-good insurance companies. My last list will be for the few insurance companies rated lower than “about average” for both the auto & home insurance studies by JD Power.

First, let me note 4 homeowners insurance companies rated last year, were not rated this year, because JD Power was not able to get enough data because of these companies’ small market share, or lack of a presence nationally, since most of their customers are in small region of the USA. The fact JD Power did not have the proper data to rate these companies this year should not be considered negatively against the companies.

Homeowners insurance companies not rated this year are: Alfa Insurance, American National Property & Casualty, Fireman’s Fund, & Shelter Insurance, but I still list their 2010 JD Power homeowners insurance study ratings on my Web site.

Homeowners Insurance Companies downgraded from 4 power circles (better than most), in the JD Power 2010 homeowners insurance study, to 3 power circles (about average), in the JD Power 2011 homeowners insurance study, for overall satisfaction.
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1. Auto Club Group

2. Automobile Club of Southern California

3. Chubb Insurance

4. Country Insurance

Homeowners Insurance Companies downgraded from 3 power circles (about average), in the JD Power 2010 homeowners insurance study, to 2 power circles (the rest), in the JD Power 2011 homeowners insurance study, for overall satisfaction.

1. Metlife Insurance

2. Safeco Insurance

3. Travelers Insurance

The 6 Highest Rated Homeowners Insurance Companies

USAA — 5 Power Circles (among the best) 883 out of 1000 points

Amica Insurance — 5 Power Circles (among the best) 831 out of 1000 points

Auto-owners Insurance — 4 Power Circles (better than most) 806 out of 1000 points

Erie Insurance — 4 Power Circles (better than most) 806 out of 1000 points

State Farm Insurance — 4 Power Circles (better than most) 788 out of 1000 points

American Family Insurance — 4 Power Circles (better than most) 783 out of 1000 points

The 7 Lowest Rated Homeowners Insurance Companies (listed highest to lowest)

Farmers Insurance — 3 Power Circles (about average) 755 out of 1000 points

Mercury Insurance — 3 Power Circles (about average) 755 out of 1000 points

Encompass Insurance 3 Power Circles (about average) 751 out of 1000 points

Liberty Mutual Insurance — 3 Power Circles (about average) 750 out of 1000 points

Safeco Insurance — 2 Power Circles (the rest) 747 out of 1000 points

Metlife Insurance — 2 Power Circles (the rest) 742 out of 1000 points

Travelers Insurance — 2 Power Circles (the rest) 732 out of 1000 points

TWO-TIME LOSERS

2 Power Circles (the rest) for the JD Power 2011 auto insurance study & for the JD Power 2011 homeowners insurance study.

Metlife Insurance

Travelers Insurance

Many people pay too much for their insurance because they never shop for better rates, or if they do shop, they don’t check the rates of enough companies. For a lot of people, the best auto & home insurance companies are the ones with the coverage they need at a lower price. With auto & home insurance, you don’t get better service or coverage because you pay more. Some of the best companies have competitive rates. Some companies charge twice as much as others for the same coverage. But no single company has low rates for everyone. You have to shop with all the leading companies, to find the company with the best coverage and best price for you.

What do you think of the JD Power study results? Comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter to keep up on which companies I’ve reviewed, & new blog entries at CarInsWatch. See auto & home insurance company reviews rating each company’s pricing, claims handling and customer service for over 40 different companies; customer complaint analysis for the major insurance companies in each US State; term life insurance rate surveys and more, at smartshopyourcarinsurance.com.

Multi Policy Insurance Discount

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The multi-policy discount may go by different names, depending on the insurance company, but it is a discount you receive for having auto insurance and homeowners, condo, mobile home, or renters insurance with the same insurance company.

Many insurance companies give substantial discounts — 15%, 20%, or 25% on both your home & auto insurance.

However, when comparing prices among insurance companies, knowing the percentage discount does not help you much — and sometimes not all coverages are discounted — leading you to not get the price you expect.

When shopping, have each insurance company give you the price for both your home (condo, renter, etc.) & auto insurance with, and without, the multi-policy discount.

Remember, you are trying to get the best price for all your insurance policies — not collect discounts.

For example, say your annual premiums total to $1,200 ($800 for auto, $400 for home) for insuring your home & auto with Company A with 20% multi-policy discounts on each policy.

But you can find a $600 annual premium for auto insurance with Company B, which does not offer a multi-policy discount.

It makes more sense to insure your home with Company A for $500 a year (losing the 20% multi-policy discount) and insuring your cars with Company B for $600 per year.

Your total cost of insurance would be $1,100, rather than the $1,200 you would pay per year for insuring your home & autos with Company A.

It is not unusual for insurance companies to have very good rates for home insurance, but be expensive for auto insurance, with other insurance companies having great rates for auto insurance, but expensive for homeowners insurance.
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Also, you want to consider the insurance company’s customer service & the coverage options available to you. It makes no sense to pay low insurance rates, but not have the coverage you need, or receive poor customer service when you have a claim.

Some popular auto insurance companies, such as 21st century, Esurance, Progressive, and Geico do not offer home insurance through their own company, but partner with other insurance companies to offer home insurance, and may not offer very good multi-policy discounts.

Progressive advertises their “bundling” discount for insuring your home & auto together. I called to ask about it, and there is a discount on the homeowners insurance Progressive sells through Homesite insurance, but there is no discount for insuring my home on my Progressive auto insurance.

For me, insuring my condo with one insurance company, due to price & coverage options, and my car with another insurance company, gets me the best price for auto & condo insurance.

Some insurance companies now offer even larger multi-policy discounts if you insure your home, auto, & life insurance with them.

If you need only term life insurance, and a term life insurance policy qualifies you for discounts lowering your auto & home insurance rates, by all means, get a quote.

However, if you need permanent life insurance or have health issues, agents selling home & auto insurance policies rarely have the expertise, knowledge of the life insurance market, or the best life insurance products.

Many homeowners need or desire term life insurance to pay off their mortgage. See this link to another of my blog posts to find out more information, decide what you need, and get mortgage protection life insurance quotes.

Do you get the multi-policy discount on your auto & home insurance? How much do you save? Comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch. See auto & home insurance company reviews rating each company’s pricing, claims handling and customer service for over 40 different companies; customer complaint analysis for the major insurance companies in each US State; term life insurance rate surveys and more, on my home page at smartshopyourcarinsurance.com.

Insurance Company Complaint Ratings Explained

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To help you choose an auto insurance company with good customer service, I have added national complaint ratios for each of the home & auto insurance companies I list on my Insurance Company Reviews Web page.

A complaint ratio of “1” is average. Less than “1” is better than average. Greater than “1” is worse than average. The lower the number, the less complaints for the insurance company. The higher the number, the more complaints filed against the insurance company. Therefore, a complaint ratio of .19, would be very good, and a complaint ratio of 7.88 should be a concern for you.

Some insurance companies listed are large organizations, and own many subsidiary insurance companies. If you are insured with Safeco, you want to know the full name of the company, such as Safeco Insurance Company of Oregon, in order to check the correct complaint ratio.

You can find the full name of your insurance company on your auto insurance ID card, or your insurance declarations page, which is sent to you each time you have a policy change, or when your insurance renews, and shows your name, address, coverage, cars, and premiums, or you can call your insurance company and ask them for the name of the subsidiary insurance company insuring you.

Although the national complaint ratio for your insurance company is very useful, you will also want to know complaint information for your insurance company for the state in which you live, when it is available.

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For example, an insurance company with few homeowners complaints in Oregon, may have a lot of complaints in the Midwest, due to the higher frequency of hail & tornadoes.

You can check your state’s insurance complaint information at my State Department of Insurance Web Sites Web page.

To make things easier for you, I will blog about the best auto & home insurance companies in each state, based on their national complaint ratios, or state complaint information, when it is available. Follow my Twitter account (CarInsWatch) to find out when I get to the state in which you live.

Ask me your auto & home insurance questions! I have 20 years experience selling & servicing auto & home insurance, and I want to help you. Reach me through my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news & new blog entries at CarInsWatch. See auto & home insurance company reviews rating each company’s pricing, claims handling and customer service for over 40 different companies; customer complaint analysis for the major insurance companies in each US State; term life insurance rate surveys and more, on my home page at smartshopyourcarinsurance.com.