Do We Really Need Insurance?

So much have been said about buying insurance, one begins to wonder about it all. There are so many insurance policies out there; one begins to wonder which one is important. Many people go through life being under-insured. Being under-insured has its demerits on its own but when your property gets damaged by an under-insured, then you are dealing with whole new different sets if problem.

If you own a business, you would definitely need to give it all the protection it truly deserves. For instance, putting locks on your doors would help prevent theft and unauthorized entry. What if someone was able to get access into your company and damage or steal items? The locks on the door will not be able to repair or replace the items. A business owner’s policy would be able to cover all the damages.

If you own a car and get involved in an accident, the last thing on your mind is how to repair the car. As a matter of fact, if you were at fault, you would have your car and the other driver car to worry about. With the right auto insurance policy, you will be able to get the car repaired and get covered for injuries, if you have any.

2 Things Your Insurer Must Have

The quality of your insurance policy is directly related to the reliability of your insurance company. The basic idea of buying insurance is to have coverage and protection when needed. To get the best insurance experience you must make sure your insurer has these two things.

24/7 Service

One of the reasons you opt to buy an insurance policy is to be able to get coverage if you suffer a loss or damage. For instance, if you are involved in a car accident, one of the first things you would do is to call your insurance company. You have to make sure your insurer offers a 24/7 customer care service. Accidents are as unpredictable as they come. It is best to only settle for an insurer you are sure will always be available.

Experience Level

There's absolutely nothing wrong with newer insurance companies but you would need much more that a good profile. The more an insurer has been able to settle claims and pay compensation, the more experienced they will be in handling similar situations. Make a good research on the experience level of the company. You should go out of your way to ask some of their clients on how well they offer their services.

Is Your Employer's Health Insurance Coverage Enough?

In today's business world, employers provide insurance coverage for their employees. As good as this may seem, insurance experts always advise that you purchase a separate health insurance policy for yourself. There are several reasons why this is advised as it gives you a surer coverage any time of the day.

Is It Sufficient?

Yet again you have to take a closer look at what this health policy provided has got to offer. If you have reasons to visit the hospital more than is covered, you would soon discover that the policy is grossly insufficient. This leaves you to bear the remainder expense costs.

What If You Change or Lose Jobs?

This is yet another factor many people don't like to talk about but it keeps occurring every day. If your current employer offers health insurance coverage, this would usually be terminated when you leave the job. There's always the option of transferring your policy to your next job but it has one immediate setback. If you choose to buy a new health insurance policy, you usually have a waiting period in between. During this waiting period, the insurance company will not cover any medical expenses that may be incurred.

With just these two reasons, among others, you need to take control of your health insurance. By buying a separate health insurance policy than what is offered by your employer, you are rest assured that you are always covered, no matter what happens to your job.

Auto Insurance: Information to Exchange with Other Driver

Once you call the police to the scene of the accident, you would need to get insurance information of the other driver. It is professionally advised by insurance experts not to get into any argument with the other driver. The insurance information you would need to collect include all of these highlighted in this post and any other you could think of.

Name and contact Information

If you are meeting someone for the first time, you would ask for their name. Well the same applies in this situation. You should not just settle for a first name. Get the full name of the driver and the contact information. By contact information, we mean a reachable cell number, home and office addresses, if possible.

Insurance Company Information

You should ask for the name of his insurance company and their policy number. This would help with easy identification of the insurer. When your insurer contacts their insurer, it would be easy to identify the driver.

License and Plate Number

The next information to take down is the driver’s license number. You would have to politely request this from the driver. The plate number is easy to take down. Ensure you write it down in a place you can easily access it.

Vehicle Information

There are three main things to look out for here - the type of car, the color, and the model of the car. Every other thing to know about the car will fall into place once these and the plate number is known.

Location

Obviously you would need to tell the exact location of the accident to your insurer. The company may send an adjuster to the location to review and inspect the level of damage.

Getting the Best Deal Out of Your Car Insurance

Over the years, auto insurance premiums have slowly by steadily soared from what they use to be. Yet as the premium rates rise, there are always ways to get the best deal from your insurance. The topic on its own cannot be exhausted in a single post. We will just take a look at some tips to lower your premium rates.

Park Your Car in a Safe Place

One of the things you would expect your auto insurance to cover is damages or loss caused by theft or any other related activities.  The idea with lowering premiums is to reduce the risk associated with your car. You can reduce this risk by parking your car(s) in a secured garage or driveway.

Install a Car Alarm

A car alarm on its own does not have the capabilities to prevent theft but it can fend it off. Modern cars come fitted with a car alarm with gets triggered whenever there is an unauthorized entry or an attempted entry. You have to ensure you have a car alarm that is approved by your insurer.

Drive a Less Expensive Car

If you have a thing for cars, this may not go down well with you. For insurers, the less expensive a vehicle is, the less risk it has. This is because it costs more to repair or replace an expensive car than it is to repair or replace a less expensive car.

Bodily Injury Liability vs Personal Injury Protection

The first time you get insurance, especially auto insurance, you would almost be confused with all the policies thrown your way. It is for this reason that it is advised to seek the assistance of an expert auto insurance agent. Bodily injury liability and personal injury protection offer coverage for medical expenses incurred after an accident. Their major difference is whose medical expenses it covers.

Personal Injury Protection (PIP), just like its name suggests, is a coverage that takes care of you and your passengers. This means when you or other occupants in your car are involved in an accident, irrespective of whether you are at fault or not, the insurer will take responsibility for all medical expenses.

Bodily Injury Liability (BIL) is a direct opposite of the PIP. This policy does not cover you or any occupant of your car. If you are the cause of the accident, this policy looks to cover and protect your interest. It does this by taking care of all the medical expenses needed to get third party occupants treated. By third party, we are referring to anybody involved in the accident apart from you or anyone in your car. 

Homeowners Insurance: Flood and Earthquakes

Homeowner’s insurance policy protects your home from all damages and loses. This is usually the leading line some insurance companies would use to sell you their policy. While there is nothing out rightly wrong with this, it is somewhat misleading. It just takes a simple "all" word to not only make the statement invalid but has the tendency of causing problems later in the future for clients and insurers.

The standard homeowner’s insurance policy covers damages and loss to homes but usually excludes flooding and earthquake related damages. This is not the time to question why or why it isn't included. When buying your homeowners insurance policy, do not go with the impression that it is included. For further clarification, you should feel free to ask your insurance agent.

If you live in areas that are prone or susceptible to flooding and earthquakes, it is best to include their coverage in your policy. Like other reasons for buying insurance, you cannot predict when and to what extent the damage from these natural disasters could be. You will always be safe to have it included to your insurance policy.