Buyers Beware! Free Windshield Repair could cost you!

Most of us are familiar with the adage.."Nothing in life is free", and if you don't live by this advice you usually end up becoming a horror story that warns others. Many people, especially after a hail storm or in a car wash, see the advertisement for FREE WINDSHIELD REPAIR. The selling point for this service is that your insurance company will cover the cost. What they don't tell you is that they repair company files a comprehensive claim on your behalf and it will count against your when you renewal comes around. Our brokerage just ran into someone that had a couple of these claims and if he gets one more claim he will be dropped and it will be difficult for him to get a competitive policy! Many insurance companies have a threshold of claims that they allow before they will drop the customer and each windshield repair counts as a claim against you. If you want to get it fixed, just pay the $50 bucks out of pocket and save yourself the grief of putting yourself at risk for a rate increase or worse. Be very very careful when coming across "free" ads and understand that these companies are not charities and they are getting paid from someone...usually YOU! 

Ways to cuts premiums for teen drivers...Finally

Many times parents of young drivers experience a little sticker shock when it comes to auto insurance. Lets start by saying...there IS a reason for this and no matter how great your kids are the statistics are not in their favor. The likelihood that a teen driver will receive a violation or be in an accident is higher than most "seasoned" drivers. However, there are some ways that you can lower the boom of that premium by implementing some pro active measures. Trust me, in the end the savings are out there you just have to grab on to them. Now if your hope is to have a full comp/collision policy for junior for $60 then you are in Dreamy Dreamtown...its not going to happen. However if you want to save 5% here and maybe 10% there then this is the blog for you. Also note that some of these discounts apply for adults so pay attention for ways YOU can cut costs as well.

Good Grades

The first discount that you can get for you new driver is a good grades discount. The type (A's, B's) of grades that are required varies within each company but you will save a pretty good chunk of change. Most carriers require brokers to show a report card or get a school administrator to sign off on the grades, but this is a great place to start getting those savings.

Safety Features

The second way that you can save some green is to make sure that your teen's car has as many safety features on their auto as possible. Airbags, anti-lock breaks, alarm, etc will make a difference when it comes to premiums. Make sure you articulate this to your broker when you are describing your auto. Whenever we are running a quote we have a checklist of safety features that we want to ask about to give a better chance of a better rate.

Defensive Driving

This is a good one for drivers young and old. By taking a defensive driving course you are communicating a increased driving awareness. This can make a huge dent in your premiums and is as easy as going to a website or taking a Saturday morning course. I have found online courses for $20 and you will make this back 10 fold in premium savings. Make sure you keep the certificate of completion to prove that you took the course

Shop Around

If you haven't shopped your insurance in a while...what are you thinking? There are a lot of companies out there that change their pricing fairly often. Make sure you are with a company that is going to stay competitive for your business. Even if you have a broker who has access to many different companies how do you know that you are actually being shopped around. I give a written handout of all the companies that we shopped it with and show them where they actually stand. Take a little initiative and find a broker that you trust to help you make the right decisions.

Reward Safe Driving

The best way to save money is to keep as much off your record as possible. One great way to do this is communicate the importance of safe driving with your teens and try rewarding them for safe driving. If they are on your policy..they affect your driving record and you want to protect yourself at all costs.

In the end..its expensive to have teen drivers, but by taking certain steps to lowering your payments you can rest easy. While the odds are not in your favor statistically for teen drivers by educating yourself and finding a good broker you can cut costs and keep more money for the non-insurancey things.

Life Insurance: How much are YOU worth to your FAMILY

I have heard life insurance called a lot of different things and most of them are not very positive. Some people say.. well, its really death insurance. Really? Life insurance is payable at death, but it protects the lives you left behind. Another term I have heard life insurance called is un-necessary or a bad investment. Well, I guess that depends on why you bought the insurance in the first place. If you bought a $100,000 term policy for your kids and paid $18/mo for 15 years you would have spent $3888. Now after the 15th year you get into a car accident and lose your life. Tell me another product that you can swap out $4000 for $100,000. I am a huge believer in life insurance because it is the most selfless product you can buy. The intangibility of life insurance makes it easy to procrastinate purchasing it because you think if I just put it off a few more weeks, months, years I wont waste all that premium. The problem with this argument is that hospitals and morgues are filled with people that had the best intentions of purchasing a life insurance policy but are now gone or un-insurable. If you haven't looked at term life insurance do it. If you have looked at term life insurance and keep putting it off, do it today. Term life insurance is a very very inexpensive option but will be a huge blessing for your family in the event that you are no longer with them. With any insurance product there are many different options (riders) you can add to the policy. I will cover these at a later time so I don't cloud the intention of the message which is to buy life insurance, NOW. Find someone that you trust, and someone that will help you shop around for the best product at the best price. The reason you should go through a trusted broker is because there are a lot of start up insurance companies that are a very unstable but they have "too good to be true" prices, like $8/year for $100,000 term! If it sounds to good it probably is. Also you want someone that can provide you with the resources to help you find the amount of insurance that is right for you. Buying arbitrary amounts is better than nothing but your family deserves better than that. If you want to know more about the different riders and options or want help shopping around you can get me at my office (972-930-7086) and I would love the opportunity to speak to you about something that I am very passionate about. The bottom line... get life insurance for you loved ones. You will never regret doing this for the people you love the most. At the end of the day ask yourself...is my families financial future more important to me than the montly payments.

Did you know you spell "pit bull?"........ L-I-A-B-I-L-I-T-Y

So we have found that a very popular question recently deals with homeowners insurance options for people with "aggressive breeds". I got the question.."will my homeowners policy go up if I get a pit bull?" Unfortunately, the question that they should be asking is "Am I going to be able to get insurance?" The fact of the matter is that very very few insurance carriers will allow you to have an "aggressive breed" at all. Here is a why..Over 90% of ALL liability claims on homeowners are due to dog bites. 75% of the bites were done by pit bulls, rottweilers, chows, dobermans, and wolf breeds. So it isnt hard to recognize why an insurance company would be hesitant to insure a homeowner that is going to pay $80 a month and have a possible million dollar lawsuit arising from a dog attack. I am not suggesting that pit bulls are bad dogs and I have know some great examples of how proper training is a bigger factor than breed, but that is not going to convince any insurance companies to put themselves into a liability exposure like that. Anytime you have a liability magnet on your property (ie. pool, trampoline, dog) you are going to pay higher premiums and/or get a cancellation notice. If you are thinking about getting a dog I suggest that you look at how much "mans best friend" will cost you in the long run when you have limited options for insurance and possibly put yourself into a position where you have to come out of pocket 100% for a lawsuit. Understanding your options before you make dog purchase will help you make the best decision for you and your family. If you have any additional questions as to your options if you already have an "aggressive breed" you can give me a call and I can hopefully point you in the right direction. My number is 972-930-7086.

UM UIM is a fancy term for..if you dont got it..you dont like yourself

There is a lot of fun jargon out there for fancy insurance terms. It is almost like it should be a required second language in high school. Today I want to focus on an important acronym that has some people confused. UM UIM stands for "Uninsured and Under Insured Motorist" and is a coverage that some people view as an "optional coverage". Optional...what?!? Let me tell you the type of person that doesn't need this coverage...NOBODY. I guess it would be beneficial to describe what this coverage is and why it is such a no brainer to throw on your policy. UM UIM is a coverage that protects YOU (the owner of the policy) if you were to get into an accident with someone that didn't have insurance or didn't have sufficient limits. The limits are chosen, similar, to the liability limits, and are for your own protection. Now, why some people put 100/300/100 on liability but only 25/50/25 on their UM UIM is beyond me. When you do this you say... I am not as concerned with my family and I as I am with some random person I might get in an accident with. This doesn't make sense to me and it shouldn't to you. The best thing to do is to set good limits (ie. 100/300/100) for BOTH your liability exposure and your personal exposure with UM UIM. Now that I told you what this coverage is, here is the the why. The Insurance Research Council estimates that roughly one out of every six drivers may be driving uninsured by 2010. Now add in the fact that many people are dropping their insurance down to "legal minimums" (25/50/25) to save a little money and you realize that you are one of the very few people in this country that is properly covered. The fact is that this coverage is your way of protecting your family from a huge financial pitfall and since it only raises the premium around 7%, it is a no brainer. So do that right thing and protect you and your loved ones because if you don't..nobody will.

To HSA or Not to HSA, That is the Question..

As health care costs rise higher and higher, consumers are looking for ways to make their health care dollars go farther. One way to do that is to create a Health Savings Account or "HSA" to help. A few questions might come to mind when looking at an HSA. The first one for many Americans is..what is an HSA? The second question is..would this be a good option for me and my family? Lastly, where would I find an HSA? These are great questions and finding the right answers can help you manage your health care expenses. An HSA is a personal, tax-advantaged saving account that works with an qualified health plan these plans are known as high deductible health plan (HDHP). Like the name implies these plans come with a minimum deductible of $1,150 for single coverage, or $2,300 for family coverage, and will go up as much as $10,000 a month. When shopping for HSA qualified plans make sure you see the word "HSA compatible". There are three main reasons that someone would use an HSA. First, contributions and investment earnings are tax-free up to the specified limit. Finally, withdrawals used for qualified medical expenses are also tax-free. Sounds pretty good right? Understand that HSA's are not for everyone and there are few things you want to consider before taking out a HDHP.
The person that is right for an HSA is one who is wanting to save some money on monthly premiums and self insure yourself on small claims by using your own tax deferred dollars. Since this is not a “use it or lose it” provision, the account stays with you through your entire lifetime. Also, someone who has a family will typically spend more than 10% of their entire income on medical care (check ups, glasses, braces, etc). An HSA is a great way to make these dollars stretch. If you have any questions you can email me personally at j.marvin@comparemyinsuranceonline.com to get more information and find out if this step is right for you. Finally, there are many places that offer HSA's. Many financial planning institutions, banks, insurance companies offer these plans. A great website that I have found for having a policy that is not connected to a specific product (so if you change carriers you still have the same HSA card) is hsabank.com Before you take the plunge into the HSA pool make sure you get all of your options and understand these options to guarantee you make the best decision for you and your family.

dont throw out your life raft when your in dangerous waters..

There is no doubt that we are faced with tough economic times. As more and more people are re-evaluating their monthly expenses, there is a tendency to cast out anything that doesn’t provide a tangible benefit. Insurance is a product that many people have, but don’t fully grasp the overall concept of how it is intended to protect you. When you reduce (significantly) coverage you are agreeing to "self insure" any risk that could happen to you. Now, if you are trying to figure out how in the world you are going to make the electricity payment at $200 then how are you going to be able to pay a $80,000 liability lawsuit. Now I am not saying that you might be able to save some money by shopping around, but you do not want to just cast aside your safety net because you haven't used it yet. Lets put it in another way, if you were on a cruise ship, how would you feel if they took away 1/2 of their emergency boats because they were having trouble paying for the slot machines. Well, I surely don’t want to be floating in the cold, dark, shark infested waters clutching to a slot machine, would you? If you need help with your insurance you can call us at 866-452-4344, and we can help you find ways to cut costs without cutting your families main security net. If you don’t think planning ahead for catastrophes is important think about how the story of the Titanic would have been different if everyone had a seat on an emergency life raft.