Month: July 2014

A free new mobile app released by NAIC lets people protect their property and their identities after experiencing a traffic accident. Research shows that very few people know what steps to take after an accident. In addition to this, the majority of the population does not know what information to share and what information to avoid sharing following a collision. By giving too much personal information to another party, people may put their identities at risk.

As a rule, individuals should only share their names, the names of their insurance providers and their insurance providers’ phone numbers. Any additional information shared can put a person at risk. Research found some of the most common mistakes people make. The most common misconceptions and their resulting risks include the following:

– About 25 percent of people were willing to share their personal addresses. However, this gives identity thieves an exact location to go through mail and garbage containing personal information.

– Almost 40 percent of consumers felt they must share the data on their driving licenses. In addition to this, one of every six people interviewed were willing to let other parties photograph their license information. Since many merchants accept driving license data as identification verification, sharing this data is very risky.

– About 20 percent of respondents thought local law enforcement officials should only be contacted if there are injuries. Filing a police report can help expedite the claims process, so it is a wise idea to file a report for any auto accident.

– Approximately 30 percent of the drivers surveyed said they felt they should share their phone numbers with the other party involved. However, this is not necessary. The other party could easily become a nuisance if he or she is prone to making frequent calls about petty details.

With a step-by-step guide, the WreckCheck app outlines what to do immediately after an accident. These steps also help app users create their own accident report. In addition to the report steps, there are helpful tips for keeping calm. There are tips for capturing the types of photos insurers prefer, and tips for filing insurance claims are offered. When the report is finished, there is a feature available to email the document to an agent. This free app is available for both Android and iPhone users. For more information about this app and accidents, discuss concerns with an agent.

When warm weather arrives, so do crooked contractors wanting to steal from homeowners. They provide bogus repairs that are not even necessary. In some cases, no work at all is done. These dishonest contractors love the warmer months when hurricanes, tornadoes, hail and severe storms are more common. After such disasters pass, they are happy to swoop in on unsuspecting homeowners who are desperate for quick repairs.

While the majority of contractors out there are honest, it is usually the ones who go from door to door offering help who are untrustworthy. Good contractors do not need to solicit themselves in this manner to find work. People who go knocking on doors usually say they walked by and happened to notice something wrong. They may offer to get the house ready for storm season before any major cells hit. If there was a recent storm, they may simply show up and offer to fix something that is clearly damaged.

When falling victim to these scams, homeowners could lose thousands of dollars. In addition to this, the ensuing headaches from trying to pay even more for real repairs or trying to recover money from a con artist complicate the situation. If a person’s insurance company does not cover fraudulent repairs, compensation may never be gained. The five worst scams these crooks pull off include the following:

1. Poor Work Quality
Con artists often use very cheap materials if they do any repairs. The work is obviously low quality, and homeowners must usually have the repairs redone with their own money.

2. Prepayment
With this type of scam, the contractor asks for a large sum of money upfront. After receiving the funds, the individual disappears or does very little work. In some cases, he or she may ask homeowners to pay for bids.

3. Inflated Damage
In order to increase billable expenses, contractors performing this type of scam may make the holes in roofs larger. They may instead just inflate the bill for work that was not done.

4. Phantom Damage
With this type of scam, the contractor says there is storm damage when there actually is none. However, the dishonest individual damages sidewalls or roofs to create damages and repairs them.

5. Deductible Payment
Some contractors offer to pay the homeowner’s deductible in order to gain business. However, this is always a plot to lure people in for fraudulent work.

How To Avoid Scams
Fortunately, there are several ways to combat these actions. The following tips are simple and easy to remember.

Verify a contractor’s license. Most licensed contractors are not willing to lose their reputation by doing fraudulent work. Such actions could be connected to a licensed contractor for a long time. Check with local and state licensing agencies for proper verification procedures.

Stay away from door-to-door contractors. Good contractors are usually too busy to knock on doors. Only someone who is desperate for money has to go from door to door.

Contact the Better Business Bureau. Search for the contractor on the BBB’s site or call to make an inquiry. Avoid people with a sketchy history. It is also helpful to check Angie’s List.

Demand a contract. Do not sign a contract and leave blank spaces. Make sure the contract specifies what work will be done. The repair schedule and price should also be included.

Work with the insurance agent. Do not let a contractor talk to the insurance company alone. It is much better to work directly with an agent who will survey the damage and decide what repairs are necessary. It is crucial to get the right repairs done by a reputable professional in order to be covered by the insurance company.

Look out for any red flags. Many con artists do not have references or business cards. Their appearance is usually poor. They may also be hesitant to provide an address. If they do provide one, it is usually a post office box instead of a street address. When these individuals’ vehicles are parked within view, they are usually run down. These contractors also cannot produce insurance proof.

While every couple hopes their wedding day will be perfect, there are many cases each year where disasters happen. Unfortunately, most disasters become what they are because couples do not have wedding insurance. This type of coverage protects couples financially and covers their wedding arrangements against various mishaps and bad weather. Wedding insurance is affordable enough to fit into almost any couple’s budget. With policy price tags starting around $125, couples planning expensive weddings cannot afford to go without coverage. Even if couples do not have to make claims against their policies, the investment is worth the peace of mind at such a hectic time.

The decision to buy wedding insurance is a personal choice each couple must make for themselves. In the United States, the average cost of a wedding is more than $25,000. Some couples get by on less, but there are many couples who spend much more than this amount on the reception alone. The key to deciding whether insurance is necessary is to weigh the total wedding bill against the cost of coverage. For a couple who plans to have a drive-through wedding wearing their everyday clothing, insurance may not be necessary. However, couples planning a large outdoor wedding with a catered reception would certainly benefit from coverage. For weddings somewhere between lavish and simple, there are insurance policies designed to provide just enough coverage for what is necessary.

It is important for couples to understand what is covered in a wedding insurance policy. The following are components of a typical policy:

– Inclement weather is covered. If an event must be put off due to bad weather, the policy covers expenses for rescheduling.

– Missing officiants are partially covered. When a celebrant or religious officiant does not show up, some costs can be recovered.

– Injuries and illnesses are covered. Members of the wedding party or key persons who become ill may cause the wedding to be delayed. If this happens, the costs involved with postponing are covered.

– The ceremony location is covered. Many reception venues have their own insurance. If they do not have coverage, a wedding insurance policy will cover damage to the site. This includes mechanical problems, electrical damage and fires. Compensation is also provided for making alternate arrangements if the venue goes out of business before the scheduled event.

– Missing vendors are covered. If a photographer, florist, caterer or any other vendor does not show up, some of the initial costs and the expenses involved with rescheduling will be covered.

In addition to these main features, there are riders that can be purchased. When the bride, groom or a key person is on active duty, a military service rider can be added. This ensures the cost of postponing the event until a later date is covered if a service member is deployed. There are riders for wedding clothes, which cover the cost of damage or stores going out of business. Additional damage liability riders are available for couples planning home weddings. For couples whose renters or homeowners insurance does not cover theft or damage of gifts, a gift rider can be purchased. Couples may also purchase a rider for honeymoon cancellation. Wedding insurance policies do not cover cancellation due to something that was known at the time the policy was taken out. In addition to this, it does not cover cancellation due to cold feet. To learn more about this type of coverage, discuss concerns with an agent. 

In some areas of the country, the risk of an earthquake is never far from people’s minds. In areas along the San Andreas Fault line in California, the earth has a way of nudging people awake if Californians ever feel complacent.

But Americans have been relatively lucky in the last hundred years, as truly devastating earthquakes on the level that we have seen in recent years in China, Mexico, Japan and Haiti, involving thousands and even hundreds of thousands of deaths -have been rare.

That’s due to a combination of strenuously enforced building codes – and pure dumb luck. Yes, we have had several quakes of 9+ magnitude strike sparsely-populated areas of Alaska over the years. But as of this writing, the United States has not had a major metropolitan area host the epicenter of a 7.8 magnitude-plus earthquake in living memory.

But that could change any minute.

The Federal Department of Emergency Management has developed a threat matrix to help gauge your exposure to earthquake threats.

In addition, FEMA has also published maps to help you determine your proximity to fault lines, which are areas with an elevated likelihood of a seismic event.

You can download the maps from FEMA at https://www.fema.gov/earthquake/earthquake-hazard-maps.

The closer you are to a red area on the map, the greater your exposure to seismic forces. But the damage you will incur has a lot to do with the strength of your building as well.

FEMA divides the map into five basic zones, and designates them as threat levels A through E, or “white” through “red.”

If you live in a white area, FEMA assesses your risk as very low. Even if you get a tremor, it would be quite unlikely for you to experience substantial structural damage or loss to property as a result, in these areas. You may want to plus up your coverage for floods, fires, hurricanes or other hazards, but earthquakes are not a huge concern in the white areas on the map.

Your exposure to risk becomes significant in “yellow” areas. These areas can extend a considerable distance from the fault line. If you are in a yellow zone, a strongly fortified modern building will likely withstand the shaking with minimal damage. But poorly-built structures are at substantial risk of significant damage and could be totally written off.

As you move further through the color scale, your risk becomes critical in “red” areas. Poorly-built buildings have a high likelihood of collapse or irreversible structural damage – resulting in a total loss of the building. Even moderately well-built buildings are at risk of collapse or substantial damage. Only the most robust buildings should be considered safe, and even these may well incur substantial structural damage. Buildings can be shaken off of their foundation, and some buildings will be completely destroyed by the quake.

Protecting Yourself and Your Property

The first step should be obvious: Do not skimp on construction quality or building to code. Earthquakes of magnitudes that killed tens of thousands in other countries have not had that effect so far in the United States in living memory, in large part, because of our strong building enforcement in the United States.

Second, if you are in an earthquake danger zone, locate valuable resources – especially people – in solid and well-constructed buildings designed with earthquakes in mind. You can start over if you have a warehouse full of lumber collapse from an earthquake. Having a building full of people collapse is another scenario altogether. No insurance check ever written can compensate a business for that kind of loss.

Third, get earthquake insurance – and keep your policy updated.

Some states, like California, have a state sponsored risk pool to indemnify residents against earthquake risk. In other areas, you’ll need to get specialized coverage.

Don’t assume a regular homeowners or business policy will necessarily cover you for damage or loss from earthquakes. Generally, you must obtain separate coverage specifically to cover earthquake damage – just as those who live in a flood plain must carry separate flood insurance. 

Following the worst CAT in the history of the United States, the homeowners insurance industry is heavily focusing on property lines. In the past few years, premiums have spiked almost 20 percent. Many professionals are predicting a time of policy churning ahead. However, customers can benefit from bundling their policies by saving money, and insurers can benefit from offering this option by enjoying better customer retention rates. Insurance companies must understand customers’ attitudes toward bundling coverage compared with their attitudes toward competitors’ options.

Research shows that several factors influence the retention rate of customers. The customer’s tenure and bundle choice often reflect how likely that individual is to stay with the company or look elsewhere. Research shows that the overall retention rate for homeowners insurance was almost 90 percent between 2011 and 2012. Of that percentage, the amount of retained customers who had bundled policies was 95 percent. Retention rates for customers who used multiple insurers was slightly more than 80 percent.

The discovery that customers who pay for multiple policies with one insurer are more likely to stay with that company is something that remains consistent across various generations. This study surveyed people who bought a combination of homeowners and auto policies. However, the retention averages were higher for people who had more than two policies with one insurer.

Customers who were insured with companies that did not offer multiple coverage options did not say that they were certain about renewing their coverage. However, more of the customers who used insurers with added benefits answered that they would definitely renew their policies. Offering the option to bundle auto and home insurance is usually the first and most important step toward building a long-lasting relationship between insurers and customers. In customer satisfaction surveys, customers who bundled two policies were more satisfied. The customers who were most satisfied had three or more policies bundled.

The study also looked at what specific products were the most influential for bundling options. In addition to the combination of homeowners and auto policies, personal liability umbrella coverage followed close behind. This type of coverage has a high bundling rate overall. Secondary residence coverage also had favorable feedback. However, life insurance policies did not have a major impact on retention in relation to bundling. This is likely true because of the uniqueness of life coverage and the issue that customers do not always have the ability to transfer such a policy to another company. However, the option of offering life coverage certainly does not create a disadvantage.

Understanding bundling trends and preferences of customers will help insurers market their products better and provide more efficient options for consumers. It is also important to remember that a customer’s income affects what type of coverage he or she is more likely to buy. For example, people with higher incomes are more likely to purchase umbrella coverage to protect their assets. However, younger people are more likely to bundle life insurance if the option is presented to them. This is due to people in this age group getting married, buying homes and having children. Overall, bundling products with homeowners and auto coverage is something that both customers and insurers can benefit from. Customers who are interested in this option should discuss their concerns and needs with an agent.

Summer is in full-swing, which means families across the nation are hitting the road for fun-filled vacations. Of course, road trips don’t always go as smoothly as planned-especially when you have your food-munching, giggling, bickering brood in tow.

Before you load up the family truckster and head out on the highway, take some time to prepare for all the possible bumps in the road ahead. If you want to ensure a low-stress excursion, consider these ten smart road trip tips:

Road Trip Tip #1: Book well in advance.

If you’re loading up the car and still haven’t made hotel reservations, you may have a problem. When you wait until the last minute to book a room, you run the risk of seeing “No Vacancy” signs everywhere you turn.

The sooner you make your vacation reservations, the better. Not only are you more likely to score a great bargain earlier in the game, but you’ll also have plenty of time to do some research. Hunt around for fun hotels that will best suit your family’s wants and needs, whether it’s a pool, a fitness center or a complimentary breakfast.

Road Trip Tip #2: Get the kids involved.

As you plan ahead for your family road trip, try to get the kids in on the action. Sit down together and take a look at the map so you can discuss where you may want to stop along your journey. Not only will the kids feel like they have a hand in the vacation planning, but they’ll also be much more excited about the trip.

Road Trip Tip #3: Load up with snacks.

“Are we there yet?” and “I’m hungry!” are probably the two most common exclamations parents hear from their kids on any road trip. While there’s not much you can do to get to your destination faster, you can keep your kids’ bellies full.

Pack a variety of car-friendly snacks like fruit, crackers, juice and water. To keep the peace, you may consider offering your kids a special sweet treat they don’t usually get to eat at home. This makes road trips seem much more exciting for the kids.

Road Trip Tip #4: Pack plenty of games.

Another common road trip phrase? “I’m bored!” Fight road trip tedium with a big bag full of games, toys, coloring books, electronics and even a portable DVD player. These fun activities will help the time pass by more quickly and keep the kids happy.

Road Trip Tip #5: Make some pit stops.

Don’t expect your kids to sit contentedly in the backseat for a full 10 hours. Be sure to plan some stops along the way, whether it’s a state park, a fast-food playground or a museum. This will make the trip more exciting and give everyone a chance to stretch their legs and burn off some energy-which will make the rest of riding time much more bearable for everyone.

Road Trip Tip #6: Give kids some space.

Try not to pack your car so tightly that the kids have no wiggle room in the backseat. Make sure they have some personal space so they can stretch out their legs and arms. Bring a pillow for each child so they can take a nap along the way.

Road Trip Tip #7: Bring a camera.

Be sure to pack a digital or disposable camera for the kids so they can take lots of photos to document their journey. After the trip, you can help them make travel scrapbooks.

Road Trip Tip #8: Plan carefully to avoid major disappointments.

If you’ve ever seen the classic Chevy Chase movie, “Vacation,” you probably remember the parking lot scene. After a long, difficult road trip, the Griswold family happily races across an empty parking lot only to discover their final destination, the Walley World theme park, is closed. The Griswold kids’ miserable faces are enough to drive their dad Clark into temporary insanity.

Steer clear of these terrible family disappointments by doing you research and planning ahead. Carefully check the operating hours of all the places you plan to visit. The smiles on your kids’ faces will be well worth the extra effort.

Road Trip Tip #9: Play it safe.

No matter what kind of challenges you may face on your journey, always put safety first. Make sure that all of the passengers in your car buckle up and double-check all your child safety seats before you hit the road. While it’s easy to get distracted by the commotion in the backseat, make sure the driver always keeps their eyes and full attention on the road. If you’re driving, let the other adult handle backseat requests, spills or squabbles.

Road Trip Tip #10: Be prepared for emergencies.

Always keep an emergency kit in your car. Stock the kit with first-aid supplies, blankets, flares, flashlights, extra water, non-perishable snacks and any prescription medication your family would need if you were to become stranded.

When hiring a contractor to add value to your home investment, it makes dollars and sense to verify the contractor’s workers’ compensation coverage. Otherwise, you may be responsible for injuries incurred by the workers while they are remodeling or repairing your home.

With this in mind, take a look at some important insurance issues before you select a contractor. To start, verify that the contractor you want to hire carries workers’ compensation coverage. If a contractor does not have this coverage, workers who are injured while working on your home could sue you. You may also want to see a copy of the contractor’s workers’ compensation policy and ask the same of subcontractors such as electricians and plumbers. It is important to make sure all of the contractor’s employees are covered – full and part time. It is advisable to get insurance policy numbers and to take that extra minute to call and verify that the insurance is still in effect.

You can also check the contractor or remodeler’s credentials, including whether the contractor or remodeler is licensed and/or a member of an applicable trade group. Of course, you will want to compare costs and solicit bids from more than one contractor or remodeler. When doing so, get all bids in writing and make sure each bid includes building specifications (what is being worked on and to what extent), labor costs, material costs, and time needed to complete the project. This will protect you from unforeseen costs while further protecting you from future misunderstandings and project mishaps.

You can call Better Business Bureau (BBB) to quickly and easily verify local references. The local BBB office will also be a good source for letting you know if there have been complaints made against the contractor or remodeler.

Lastly, most contractors and remodelers will gladly show you work done at other nearby homes. Take them up on this offer and see for yourself their workmanship and check customer satisfaction. Talk to former clients and see what they think of the contractor’s ability to meet their needs while staying on schedule and within the projected budget.

When you pack your family into the car this summer to head to the beach, the park, or the grocery store, the most important thing you can do for your children is to make sure they are properly secured in their seat belts. Safe adult drivers begin as safe child passengers. Teach your kids safe habits before they learn unsafe ones from someone else. 

The National Highway Safety Administration has created some important guidelines every parent should follow when securing their children in the car. As a general rule, children 12 and under should always sit in the back seat where they are away from active air bags. Air bags are made for adults and the force of the deployment may seriously injure a young child. 

Infants from birth to 20-22 pounds and at least one year old have special guidelines for safety. Adults should make sure to use a rear-facing infant seat or a rear-facing convertible seat when securing a child in the back seat. If you have a car that seats only two, the air bag should be deactivated before placing the child in the passenger seat. The harness straps should be snug and taught and should be placed in the lower slots at or below shoulder level. The top of the harness clip should be at armpit level. And the child passenger restraint should be installed at no greater than a 45-degree angle. 

The switch to a forward-facing car seat can be made for toddlers 20-40 pounds and over one year of age. Again, secure harness straps snugly in the appropriate reinforced slots at or above shoulder level and fasten the harness clip at armpit level.     

Once your child has exceeded 40 pounds, is between ages 4 to 8 and is up to 4′ 9″ tall, they may use a booster seat. Secure the booster seat much the same way as with the child seat. Using a lap and shoulder belt, make sure to place the shoulder strap over the shoulder of your child and across their chest. The shoulder strap should never go across the neck, face or arm of your child. Place the lap belt low and snug on the hips – never over the stomach. If the shoulder or lap belt is in the wrong place during an accident, it could cause serious abdominal injury. 

At 8 years of age and 4′ 9″ or taller, your child has graduated to an adult restraint system. As with the booster seat, use a lap and shoulder belt to secure your child, taking care not to have the belts cross the stomach, neck, or arms. Children should learn that they cannot place the shoulder belt behind their back or under their arms, as this defeats the purpose of being restrained.  

For general information on the proper use of child restraint devices, always consult the instructions that come with your child safety seat, as well as the information provided by your vehicle’s owner’s manual.