Archive for April, 2010
Is Your Bad Credit Keeping You From Getting Cheap Car Insurance?
April 30th, 2010
Your driving record is pretty good. You’ve never filed an accident claim. You’re over 25 and gainfully employed. So how come your car insurance quotes look like the national debt? It could be your credit score. While it’s just one of many factors, increasingly your credit worthiness is used by insurance companies to determine your car insurance premiums.
Before you holler “no fair,” think about it from the insurance company’s point of view. Your credit score indicates your history of paying your bills on time – essentially, of meeting your contractual agreements. If you’ve recently filed bankruptcy, had your wages garnisheed or routinely missed payments, the insurance companies see you as statistically likely to make late payments on your car insurance policy, have checks bounce because of insufficient funds or cancel your policy early. They also have evidence that people with bad credit are more likely to get into accidents and file claims. In other words, they see you as a poor risk, and insurance companies are in the business of assessing risk and charging accordingly.
The bad news is that your insurance company may or may not tell you that your credit rating is the reason you don’t qualify for cheap car insurance.
Related Posts:
Divorce and Your Car Insurance Policy
April 30th, 2010
If you’ve always left financial matters up to your spouse, the paperwork and responsibilities that come your way at the end of your marriage can be overwhelming. But overlooking certain things can have devastating consequences. Your car insurance policy is one of the things you don’t want to neglect.
Contrary to what you may think, your insurance company doesn’t actually insure your car. It insures the person driving the car…generally the primary driver. Unless you state otherwise, the insurance company will typically assume that the husband is the primary driver in a one-car family. If there are two cars, the insurance company will issue two policies. One car insurance policy will list the husband as the driver of one vehicle and the other policy will list the wife as the driver of the other. Each policy will provide allowances for the other spouse and any covered minors. This will also apply if there are three or more cars in a family: one primary driver per policy per car, with allowances for other designated drivers, contingent on how and where the car is commonly used.
Why is this important to know? Because if your marriage breaks up and one partner moves to a new address, the insurance company’s main concern will be which car went with whom. Depending on the terms of your policy, this will apply to legal separations, too. You want to make certain that the car you’re driving lists you as the owner of the policy. This is critically important if you are awarded the only car in the family as part of the divorce. In the single-car family, one of your first actions upon filing for divorce or legal separation should be to contact your car insurance provider and have the policy changed to your name and your address. Be aware that your ex-spouse’s written permission may be required if he or she was listed as the policy owner. In that case, consult with your attorney.
Once you become the sole owner of your car insurance policy, you may be in for a couple more eye-openers. For example, your auto insurance premium may go up because you’ve lost the discount for insuring multiple vehicles. If you’re no longer coupling your car insurance policy with your homeowners’ insurance, that discount will disappear, too. If you’re the spouse who moved to a rental, even if it’s only a temporary solution, you should consider taking out renters insurance and seeing if you can qualify for a multiple policy discount on your car insurance in this way.
There could be some good news in store, however, if you move closer to your place of work. Check with your auto insurance policy provider to see if you qualify for a discount because of fewer commuting miles.
Location: Feed
See the original post here:
Divorce and Your Car Insurance Policy
Related Posts:
Tags: Auto Insurance, become-the-sole, car insurance, cars, consequences, Driver, person, policy, provider, wife | 
No Comments »
Homeowners Coverage – If You Operate A Business Out of Your Home, You’d Better Look At Your Policy to Make Sure You’re Covered
April 30th, 2010
When shopping for cheap homeowners insurance quotes online, make sure to take into consideration whether the policy suits your needs. Homeowners policies provide coverage for the structure of your home and its contents. In addition, homeowners insurance policies also provide liability coverage – if someone gets injured in your home and asserts a claim or files a lawsuit against you, you’ll want coverage for that.
If you operate a business out of your home, you’ll want to make sure you have liability coverage under your homeowners policy. If not, you will need to look into purchasing separate insurance for your “at home” business.
For example, one area of coverage that is frequently disputed involves coverage for day care. Do you operate a day care business out of your home? If so, you’ll need to be especially careful to make sure that you have liability coverage for that business. When it comes to taking care of other people’s children, you can’t be too careful. In the event of any issue, you run the risk of being sued. Homeowners policies frequently exclude coverage for bodily injury arising out of or in connection with providing home day care services. Therefore, if you provide day care in your home for a child other than your own, in the event of an accident, you might not be covered, particularly if you receive state funding or hire someone to aid you in caring for the children.
Regardless of what type of business you operate out of your home, whether it is a day care business or other type of business, when searching for cheap homeowners insurance quotes online, make sure to determine whether the conduct of your home business will be covered under your homeowners policy. If not, you’ll want to obtain separate coverage for your home business.
Location: Feed
See the original post here:
Homeowners Coverage – If You Operate A Business Out of Your Home, You’d Better Look At Your Policy to Make Sure You’re Covered
Related Posts:
Tags: Business, car, Coverage, day, Homeowners, homeowners insurance, Insurance, obtain-separate, policies, policy, result, Risk, services, suits, your-homeowners |
No Comments »
Finding Affordable Florida Homeowners Insurance
April 30th, 2010
Hurricanes aren’t exclusive to Florida. The Gulf Coast and Eastern Seaboard states get their fair share. But, since we started keeping records in 1851, Florida has led the nation with 114 landfalls, or 40% of all 286 recorded U.S. hurricanes, including the majority of nasty Category 4 and 5 storms. So, Floridians also lay claim to the highest homeowner insurance rates in the nation. And they’re finding it increasingly difficult to get anybody to write a policy at any cost. Last January, over a million Florida homeowners learned that State Farm would be dropping their Florida homeowners insurance coverage altogether beginning this fall. It’s not all doom and gloom, however.
In the wake of a disastrous 2005 hurricane season and attendant dramatic increases in Florida homeowners insurance quotes, Florida’s legislature has enacted several laws to give consumers some relief. These include prohibiting insurance companies from denying renewal until 90 days after a policy-holder’s hurricane-damage home is fully repaired. Florida homeowners insurance providers now have to cover the costs of repairs up front, too. They also have to give you a detailed list of exactly what your Florida homeowners insurance policy covers and what it doesn’t.
The first thing you need to do is read your existing policy. Most Florida homeowner insurance policies have some kind of hurricane coverage included. Does yours cover wind and water damage? If not, you may want supplemental flood insurance, too.
Does your Florida homeowner insurance policy have extended replacement cost coverage to pay for increases in the cost of labor and materials? Hurricanes tend to wipe out many homes at a time, making materials scarce and raising the price of labor as the laws of supply and demand kick in. Extended replacement cost coverage will help cover these increases.
One of the ways you can keep your Florida homeowners insurance premium within reason is to opt for a higher deductible. Here again, Florida lawmakers have stepped in on behalf of consumers. Florida homeowner insurance policies must clearly define exactly how much a hurricane deductible could cost you in the event of a claim. They also have to inform you of all available discounts.
As a Florida homeowner, your insurance choices are a bit more limited but it’s never been easier than now to comparison shop for homeowners insurance quotes. Just be sure you’re comparing apples to apples and getting the coverage you need, not merely cheap Florida homeowners insurance. You get what you pay for, and if disaster strikes, you’ll be glad you got the most comprehensive coverage you could afford.
Location: Feed
See the original post here:
Finding Affordable Florida Homeowners Insurance
Related Posts:
What is Auto Insurance?
April 30th, 2010
*Liability: coverage is the primary – and usually mandatory – part of the auto insurance equation. Liability means what the word implies: it saves your bank balance when you’re liable for destroying someone else’s car or body parts. … If you approach for auto insurance the same insurance company that has you covered for life, health, hone and so on then you would automatically be eligible for great discounts on premiums payable for an auto insurance policy. …
Go here to read the rest:
What is Auto Insurance?
Related Posts:
Tags: Auto Insurance, bank-balance, Coverage, great-discounts, hone, Insurance, liability, Life, premiums |
No Comments »
Fraudulent Car Insurance Claims Cost You Money
April 30th, 2010
Having a hard time finding cheap car insurance quotes? Blame the cheaters who file fraudulent claims.
Related Posts:
Want Cheap Car Insurance? Get the Right Vehicle.
April 30th, 2010
Car insurance probably isn’t top of mind when you’re out shopping for a vehicle. While you’re kicking the tires, deliberating over color, weighing the options and considering the mileage, and haggling over the price, give a little thought to how much your car insurance coverage will add to the cost of your vehicle. The model you choose can add or save thousands of dollars over the lifespan of your car. If you want cheap car insurance, choose your next new or used car with care.
The first thing the insurance company will assess is the MSRP of your chosen vehicle. The lower the repair or replacement costs, the cheaper your car insurance premium.
Your vehicle’s safety record is another factor in determining car insurance premiums. Every year, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety conducts a series of tests to determine the crashworthiness of that year’s vehicles. Vehicles are ranked as good, acceptable, marginal or poor depending on the results of high-speed front and side crash tests, and how well seat and head restraints protect passengers from neck injuries in a rear impact. To get a top ranking, a vehicle must be “good” in all three tests.
When determining the cost of car insurance premiums, insurance companies also consider the number of accident claims for a particular model. Cars get to the top of the Most Expensive to Insure list when they are frequently involved in accidents or when they rack up a high number of claims for expensive repairs.
Size matters, too. Contrary to popular opinion, smaller cars are not necessarily cheaper to insure. Since statistically smaller, sportier cars are driven by younger drivers, they’re involved in more accidents, and therefore drive up the cost of insurance for everyone driving those particular models.
Related Posts:
Life Insurance Part 1 – Who Needs Life Insurance
April 30th, 2010
Before you go looking for life insurance quotes, ask yourself a fundamental question: do you really need life insurance? Not everyone does. If you have nobody who is financially dependent on you or who would be financially worse off when you die, you probably don’t need a life insurance policy. If you do have dependents, but you’re rolling in liquid assets that your dependents could easily access to cover their living expenses along with the bills and obligations you leave behind, you probably don’t need a life insurance policy, either. But if you fall somewhere between those two extremes, having adequate life insurance coverage is a prudent and loving thing to do. Here’s why.
Are you the sole wage earner in your family? Suppose you died tomorrow. Would your surviving spouse be able to maintain the same lifestyle? Would your children still be able to go to college? If the answer is no, you need to start looking for affordable life insurance options with enough coverage to provide for your family.
Are you the passionate supporter of a charitable cause? Name the charity as your life insurance policy beneficiary and you can continue to support its good works after death.
Do you have a beloved pet? Money from your life insurance policy can make certain your companion animal is cared for.
Do others depend on you for free services that they would need to pay for if you die? If you have adequate life insurance coverage, your surviving spouse won’t have to hire a housekeeper to care for the kids. Or perhaps you have elderly or ill parents who look to you to take care of household chores or for financial help with their monthly expenses. Take out a life insurance policy with enough coverage to ensure those needs would be paid for if you’re not around.
Take a thoughtful look at who depends on you, what they depend on you for and the precise amount of financial hardship your death would cause. Those are the first steps to determining how much life insurance you need and what kind of life insurance you should get. Then you can start looking for the most affordable life insurance quotes for your specific circumstances.
Location: Feed
Continued here:
Life Insurance Part 1 – Who Needs Life Insurance
Related Posts:
Life Insurance Part 2 – What Kind of Life Insurance Should You Get?
April 30th, 2010
Unless you’re independently wealthy, people who depend on you would suffer financially if you were to die. That’s why they invented life insurance. You’re going to have to make a few basic decisions before you start shopping for life insurance quotes. First is what type of life insurance policy is best for your circumstances and needs.
Life insurance companies package life insurance policies with lots of different names, but there are essentially two choices. You can choose permanent life insurance, also called whole life insurance, or the typically more affordable term life insurance. Permanent, or whole life, insurance coverage lasts as long as you do, as long as you continue to pay the premiums. When you go, your beneficiaries receive the death benefits spelled out in your life insurance policy.
Permanent life insurance policies typically accrue cash value over time, which you can actually draw on or be reimbursed for if you decide to cancel the policy. The specifics will vary depending on your whole life insurance coverage provider. Whole life insurance policies serve as source of savings, but historically they haven’t proven to be the highest yielding investment vehicle. They are, however, secure savings. So if that’s important to you, you might want to consider a whole life insurance policy as part of your investment portfolio.
Term life insurance policies are issued to cover a set period, or term, of time. If you die during that period, your beneficiaries collect the face value of the policy. But when time’s up, so is the policy. You may be able to renew it, but term life insurance has no cash value. Which is why term life insurance is usually the most affordable insurance option for most people.
You’ve probably seen plenty of TV commercials for cheap life insurance requiring no health exam. Those are term life insurance policies. Don’t let the cheesiness put you off from considering this type of policy. Term life insurance is an affordable life insurance choice if you need to make sure your spouse can pay off the mortgage or send the kids to college for four years. The older you get, the more you’ll pay for term life insurance.
Location: Feed
Read more here:
Life Insurance Part 2 – What Kind of Life Insurance Should You Get?
Related Posts:
Homeowners Liability Insurance Exclusions – What’s NOT in Your Policy?
April 30th, 2010
After it’s been stolen is bad time to find that your homeowners liability insurance doesn’t begin to cover replacing the expensive new laptop you just bought. The exclusions in your homeowners insurance can result in huge gaps in your coverage and leave you holding the bag for replacing stolen or damaged personal property.
The first thing you need to do is get out your policy and read it. You’re looking specifically for the section that covers homeowners liability insurance exclusions and limitations. It often comes as a real shock to many homeowners to learn that their homeowners insurance policy doesn’t cover flood damage or damage caused by a clogged sewer. Or that you’re only going to get a few hundred dollars to replace your expense home computer system.
By definition, a standard homeowners insurance policy limitation is “an exception to the general scope of coverage.” Limitations typical apply only in certain circumstances or for specified time periods. Homeowner liability insurance exclusions are much broader exceptions. For example, while your general policy may cover damage because of an act of negligence, the exclusion may exclude claims if the same damage was the result of an intentional act. Hey, lawyers don’t make the big bucks for making things crystal clear.
Once you understand what your homeowners insurance exclusions are, you can make an informed assessment of the types of supplemental, or optional, coverage you feel you need most. If you live in earthquake-prone California, for example, you may want to get additional earthquake coverage or make sure you’re insured against damage resulting from mudslides. If you live in the Midwest, additional coverage for flood damage. If you have a home office, your gear may not be adequately covered under the personal possessions terms of your homeowner policy. Typically, business equipment is capped at around $2,500 under the terms of most homeowner liability insurance policies.
Here’s another homeowner liability insurance exclusion to be aware of. Let’s say an expensive piece of artwork is damaged in a fire. If it wasn’t stolen and you can’t produce a police report, it may not be covered. If you have a lot of valuable art, antiques or jewelry, definitely consider a rider to cover any type of loss. The cost of the insurance will be tied to the appraised value of the item.
Typically, your homeowner policy will exclude any business-related claims. For example, if your dog bites a delivery guy who’s bringing you a business package and the guy sues, you’re probably going to be liable unless you have additional home business liability insurance.
Location: Feed
See more here:
Homeowners Liability Insurance Exclusions – What’s NOT in Your Policy?