1: Other Party:

Auto Insurance Bodily Injury (BI) Liability and Property Damage (PD) coverage is Legally required in most states today. (BI & PD) Most people understand that they need BI & PD, but they have no idea how to determine how much coverage they need.

Try this simple question: What if your car was involved in an auto accident tonight where heaven forbid, someone else was injured or killed? Remember, everything you own is in the back seat of the car with you and is at risk in a lawsuit! So, what do you think their family would sue you for? $15,000? $25,000? $100,000 or even maybe a Million dollars! Where would you get the money to pay them?

Perhaps the Equity in your Home would help? How about your Savings and/or Investments? You could even have up to 25% of your wages attached to pay the award in most states! Are you prepared to sacrifice everything you own to pay an award due to this accident? If not, read on for how to choose the auto insurance coverage you need.

2: You and Your Family:

Now let’s turn the above accident around. For some unfortunate reason, you or a loved one is the one who is injured or killed in an auto accident. Where would you get the money if the person who hit you did not have auto insurance or not enough auto insurance? Medical bills can be covered if you have Health Insurance. But Health Insurance doesn’t cover loss of life, pain & suffering or permanent disability.

Maybe you have a life insurance policy through your employer or your own individual life policy. Is the benefit amount sufficient to cover your family if your loved one is killed? But even if you have life insurance, what pays for the misery, the pain & suffering, maybe the fact you or a loved one can’t walk or use their arms again?

You might have a disability insurance policy through your work if you’re lucky or had good financial advice. But disability insurance doesn’t pay for loss of life, pain & suffering, permanent loss of your legs, arm or hand.

The only coverage that pays for these things is a part of an auto insurance policy known as Un/Under-insured motorist coverage. You can only buy as much coverage here as you have in Liability coverage. Your auto insurance agent should be able to help you determine the exact amount you need.

3: Your Car

Comprehensive and Collision Coverage are the third part of an auto insurance policy and are sometimes referred to as “Full coverage.” Basically the difference is this: If you run into the tree you are covered by Collision coverage. If the tree runs into you (hypothetically of course), then you are covered by comprehensive coverage. Comprehensive also covers broken windshields, fire, theft and vandalism. The higher deductible (risk) you take here, the lower the premium. Use the savings here to purchase higher limits in the coverages that protect your assets and your family.

The bottom line to determining proper auto insurance coverage is, of course, the money available in your household budget. An excellent place to start in determining the proper auto insurance coverage for your family is to meet with your local auto insurance agent.

Most cut-rate companies concern themselves with one thing only: Price. Tell them what coverage you have and they’ll see if they can give you the same coverage for less. You become the insurance professional. If this is the only need you have then that is ok. If not, you need to seek the advice of a professional to help you determine the proper amount of coverage you need and how best to accomplish it.

General insurance tips:

1. Have your current insurance policy with you when requesting your insurance quotes.

2. Consider a higher insurance deductible.

3. Place all of your insurance policies with the same company to qualify for a multiple policy discount.

For Car Insurance Quotes:

1. Be sure all vehicle discounts are applied (Anti-lock brakes, Alarm system, daytime running lights, vin-etching, etc.).

2. Take a defensive driving course.

3. Be very accurate about your mileage to and from work.

4. Ask about affinity discounts.

For a Homeowners Insurance Quotes:

1. Be sure that your home is insured to its value.

2. Be sure all home discounts are applied (Alarm, smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, dead bolt locks, etc.).

3. If your older home has been renovated, tell your agent.

For a Life Insurance Quotes:

1. Consider level premium term insurance.

2. If you are a smoker, quit for at least 13 months and request that your insurance company consider you for a nonsmoker insurance rate.

For a Health Insurance quotes:

1. Consider a higher co-payment or deductible.

2. Join a group Health Insurance plan.

For a long-term insurance quotes:

1. Consider a longer elimination (waiting) period.

2. Purchase coverage when you are young (premiums are lower).

3. Pick a daily benefit based on where you live.
   
   

We recommend HometownQuotes.Com for their quality and service. Click on the logo to apply or read more about them below.

Late in 2002, two friends (both insurance agents) had an idea. The two agents were fed up with the status quo in insurance leads, so they decided to make quotes life easier for agents across the country.

With nothing but an idea on how to make things better and a few bucks, the two agents formed a company to deliver high quality internet leads at an affordable price to insurance agents just like themselves.

In 2003 HometownQuotes.Com was born out of their vision, investment and hard work.

Today HometownQuotes.Com is leading the industry with educational tools, personal service and quality leads. The staff at HometownQuotes.com loves helping agents succeed with their business and often go above and beyond the call of duty to help their agents.

They are never more than a simple phone call away from the agents they serve. Whether it's offering advice on closing internet leads or discussing ways to
better suit the leads to the agent's needs, the HometownQuotes family is always there for its agents. And, sometimes, they have been known to take a little advice from their clients.

If this sounds good to you click here to apply today!

Thank you,

Ken
EnsureQuotes.com

Insurance carriers have discovered that the Internet can be a powerful tool for reaching potential and existing customers. Most carriers use the Internet simply to post company information, such as sales brochures and product information, financial statements, and a list of local agents. However, an increasing number of carriers are starting to expand their websites to enable customers to access online account and billing information, and a few carriers even allow claims to be submitted online. Some carriers also provide insurance quotes online based on the information submitted by customers on their Internet sites. In the future, carriers will allow customers to purchase policies through the Internet without ever speaking to a live agent.

In addition to individual carrier-sponsored Internet sites, several “lead-generating” sites have emerged. These sites allow potential customers to input information about their insurance policy needs. For a fee, the sites forward customer information to a number of insurance companies, which review the information and, if they decide to take on the policy, contact the customer with an offer. This practice gives consumers the freedom to accept the best rate.

The insurance industry also includes a number of independent organizations that provide a wide array of insurance-related services to carriers and their clients. One such service is the processing of claims forms for medical practitioners. Other services include loss prevention and risk management. Also, insurance companies sometimes hire independent claims adjusters to investigate accidents and claims for property damage and to assign a dollar estimate to the claim.

Other organizations in the industry are formed by groups of insurance companies, to perform functions that would result in a duplication of effort if each company carried them out individually. For example, service organizations are supported by insurance companies to provide loss statistics, which the companies use to set their rates.

Direct insurance carriers offer a variety of insurance policies. Life insurance provides financial protection to beneficiaries—usually spouses and dependent children—upon the death of the insured. Disability insurance supplies a preset income to an insured person who is unable to work due to injury or illness, and Health Insurance pays the expenses resulting from accidents and illness. An annuity (a contract or a group of contracts that furnishes a periodic income at regular intervals for a specified period) provides a steady income during retirement for the remainder of one’s life. Property-casualty insurance protects against loss or damage to property resulting from hazards such as fire, theft, and natural disasters.

Liability insurance shields policyholders from financial responsibility for injuries to others or for damage to other people’s property. Most policies, such as automobile and homeowner’s insurance, combine both property-casualty and liability coverage. Companies that underwrite this kind of insurance are called property-casualty carriers.

Some insurance policies cover groups of people, ranging from a few to thousands of individuals. These policies usually are issued to employers for the benefit of their employees or to unions, professional associations, or other membership organizations for the benefit of their members. Among the most common policies of this nature are group life and health plans. Insurance carriers also underwrite a variety of specialized types of insurance, such as real-estate title insurance, employee surety and fidelity bonding, and medical malpractice insurance.

A relatively recent act of Congress allows insurance carriers and other financial institutions, such as banks and securities firms, to sell one another’s products. As a result, more insurance carriers now sell financial products such as securities, mutual funds, and various retirement plans. This approach is most common in life insurance companies that already sell annuities; however, property and casualty companies also are increasingly selling a wider range of financial products. In order to expand into one another’s markets, insurance carriers, banks, and securities firms have engaged in numerous mergers, allowing the merging companies access to each other's client base and geographical markets.

The insurance industry allows individuals and businesses to pool and shift risk that they are not willing or able to bear for themselves. Policyholders can insure against a variety of risks. Popular lines of insurance include motor vehicle and household insurance, Health Insurance and indemnity insurance.

The insurance industry provides protection against financial losses resulting from a variety of perils. By purchasing insurance policies, individuals and businesses can receive reimbursement for losses due to car accidents, theft of property, and fire and storm damage; medical expenses; and loss of income due to disability or death.

The insurance industry consists mainly of insurance carriers (or insurers) and insurance agencies and brokerages. In general, insurance carriers are large companies that provide insurance and assume the risks covered by the policy. Insurance agencies and brokerages sell insurance policies for the carriers. While some of these establishments are directly affiliated with a particular insurer and sell only that carrier’s policies, many are independent and are thus free to market the policies of a variety of insurance carriers. In addition to supporting these two primary components, the insurance industry includes establishments that provide other insurance-related services, such as claims adjustment or third-party administration of insurance and pension funds.

Insurance carriers assume the risk associated with annuities and insurance policies and assign premiums to be paid for the policies. In the policy, the carrier states the length and conditions of the agreement, exactly which losses it will provide compensation for, and how much will be awarded. The premium charged for the policy is based primarily on the amount to be awarded in case of loss, as well as the likelihood that the insurance carrier will actually have to pay.

In order to be able to compensate policyholders for their losses, insurance companies invest the money they receive in premiums, building up a portfolio of financial assets and income-producing real estate which can then be used to pay off any future claims that may be brought. There are two basic types of insurance carriers: direct and reinsurance. Direct carriers are responsible for the initial underwriting of insurance policies and annuities, while reinsurance carriers assume all or part of the risk associated with the existing insurance policies originally underwritten by other insurance carriers.

Financial stability and strength of the insurance company should be a major consideration when purchasing an insurance contract. An insurance premium paid currently provides coverage for losses that might arise many years in the future. For that reason, the viability of the insurance carrier is very important. In recent years, a number of insurance companies have become insolvent, leaving their policyholders with no coverage (or coverage only from a government-backed insurance pool with less attractive payouts for losses). A number of independent rating agencies, such as Best's, provide information and rate the financial viability of insurance companies.

Insurance insulates too much
By creating a "security blanket" for its insureds, an insurance company may inadvertently find that its insureds may not be as risk-averse as they should be (since the insured assumes the risk belongs to the insurer). This problem is known to the insurance industry as moral hazard. To reduce their own financial exposure, insurance companies have contractual clauses that mitigate their obligation to provide coverage if the insured engages in some kind of behavior that grossly magnifies their risk of loss or liability.

For example, life insurance providers may require higher premiums or deny coverage to people who work hazardous occupations or engage in dangerous sports. Liability insurance providers do not provide coverage for liability arising from intentional torts committed by the insured. Even if a provider was irrational enough to try to provide such coverage, it is against the public policy of most countries to allow such insurance to exist, and thus it is usually illegal.

Certain life insurance contracts accumulate cash values, which may be taken by the insured if the policy is surrendered or which may be borrowed against. Some policies, such as annuities and endowment policies, are financial instruments to accumulate or liquidate wealth when it is needed. See life insurance.

In many countries, such as the U.S. and the UK, tax law provides that the interest on this cash value is not taxable under certain circumstances. This leads to widespread use of life insurance as a tax-efficient method of saving as well as protection in the event of early death.

In U.S., interest income of life insurance policy (or annuity) is income tax deferred in general. However, its tax deferred benefit may be offset by a low return in some cases. This depends upon the insuring company, type of policy and other variables (mortality, market return, etc.). Also, other income tax saving vehicles (i.e. IRA, 401K or Roth IRA) appear to be better alternatives for value accumulation. Combination of low-cost term life insurance and higher return tax-efficient retirement account can achieve better performance.

 
Search our Archives