Why Have an Agent?

There are lots of companies flooding the insurance industry that don't have an agent.  You have Progressive, Geico and Esurance.  All of these companies have a hands off approach to how they handle their business.  This post will talk about all of the benefits of having a Farmers agent like myself.

It is hard to talk about the best part about having an agent because there are so many great things.  The first is having a consultant.  As a consultant we break down the policy bit by bit and customize it to the clients needs.  How much liability do you need, what deductibles do you need, what loss of use coverage do you need and many more aspects.  An agent is also able to search for discounts and savings that you might not have know about.  Finally they are trained to help you make decisions that may better your situation.  For instance should you file that small claim, what to do in a claim or even what kind of car should I purchase to promote a better premium.

The next thing that is great about having an agent is the ability to sit and talk with a real person.  This is someone who actually knows you by name, makes time for you and doesn't want to kick you out to move to the next person.  When you call into a call center for insurance they have an ideal time that they should spend with you on the phone.  They also don't care what you outcome is.  They are paid by the hour and expected to service as many people as fast as they can.  This may also lead to large wait times because of the volume of calls.  I know I am not a fan of waiting on hold to talk to someone who clearly does not want to talk to me.

Agents play a major part in our communities.   Would you rather do business with someone who just takes your money that never does anything for you or would you have someone that is helping out in your community.  How often have you seen Flo from Progressive out running a clothing drive or teaching a lifetime sport to boy scouts so they can get their merit badge.  I have done both in the last month.  Agents want to be apart of the community because they are real people who live in the community too.  They want to make sure the people in that community are successful.  Don't you want to see a return on your investment?

My favorite part about Farmers is that you receive all of these great things for no extra cost.  You have the same competitive rates and get the benefits of an agent like myself.  So in closing who do you want to do business with, the fictional Geico gecko that you will never meet or Dan Crawford the Farmers agent who is willing to come sit with you at your kitchen table and do all he can to better your situation, your community and your environment? I know which one my clients prefer.

Umbrellas Are Not Just For Rain

It raining... It pouring... The old man is snoring...  With the next month bringing April I though it would be a great time to talk about umbrellas.  Just not that kind of umbrella that keeps the rain of you.

What is an umbrella in the insurance world?  An umbrella is a policy that covers you in excess of your current liability limits.  In stating that it can provide the ultimate protection.  We live in a world where law suits have become everyday life.  I read a story where Tiger Woods' company lost a law suit because they didn't pass out enough autographs.  This should bring to mind what you can be held liable for.

How does an umbrella work?  An umbrella gets it name from the idea that it over shadows or covers all that you own.  So if you have a house, boat, 2 cars, a motorcycle and a golf cart it would apply additional liability coverage to each of the policies.  This is a convenient coverage because it applies to all of them with just one policy.

Here is an example so that it will make a better picture of how the policy works.  For this example you are carrying bodily injury liability limits of $500,000 and $500,000 per occurrence.  You are driving on the highway and you are running late when you run into some bad weather.  You should slow down but you don't because you are late.  You then slide into a intersection and hit a mini van filled with a mother, father and their two kids.  Each one has severe injuries of about $300,000 per person.  For those not wanting to do math that is $1,200,000 of damages you need to pay for.Which is no stretch by any means in today's world.  Well your coverage would completely cover the father of $300,000, most of the mother of $200,000 and you would be out of coverage for the two kids.  You would then have to pay the rest out of pocket which would be 700,000.  I don't know about you but I wouldn't be able to pay for that.  In which case they would take your personal property, savings, retirement, anything they could turn into liquid assets and if that is not enough in the state of Missouri they can garnish wages up to 25% for 30 years.  That is quite a punch.

How do you prevent this?  A $1,000,000 umbrella would prevent this.  You would be carrying coverage $1,500,000 in the two areas that you were only carrying $500,000.  Meaning in this example you would still have you would have covered everything you were liable for.  Not only would you have protected everything you have worked your whole life for but you would have been a responsible human being because you would have paid for what you did.

Umbrellas come in increments of $1,000,000.  How much protection do you need?  That is a perfect question to present to a qualified insurance consultant such as myself.  In our day in age you must know what can happen at any given time and protect yourself from it.  Law suits over a $1,000,000 have over quadrupled in the last 4 years.  The biggest question is would you rather pay for the coverage or put everything at risk with just one accident.

Why Life?

In my agency there is one policy that is truly important for every person to have.  That policy is life insurance.  Why, you may ask.  I will let a life policy tell you all the benefits you may receive from owning such a policy.

How do you pick your homeowners coverage?

   

We live in a very competitive world where things are constantly changing.  I am sure that you receive things by mail, email or phone of how this company will save you money or that company will save you money.  When comparing policies "price is king" right, WRONG!!!  The coverage looks to be the same so there is no difference right, WRONG!!!  This blog will tell you about the things to look for to evaluate what something is worth so that you will have more tools to draw upon when making a decision.

    In life we have choices that we are faced with everyday.  The most common are quantity over quality and price over value.  Take a minute and think about some everyday choices that you make.  First lets start with food.  Are you a person that prefers name brand products or generic?  Does it make a difference, sometimes it actually does.  I'll admit I am a person who buys all generic food but when it comes to other products like
golf products I buy the best.  For instance, to me, ketchup is ketchup but there is a huge difference between Golden Bear clubs from K-Mart and custom fit Titleist AP2 714.  These are the things that must come to mind when you chose your homeowners coverage.

    When choosing the proper homeowners coverage here are a few of the things you should think about:  Is the company I am going with reliable enough to pay their claims or find escape clauses;  Is the company I am going with going to have the money to pay for my claim if there is a major catastrophe; and if there is a major catastrophe in another state will effect my rate and coverage.  I can tell you that a company such as Farmers will take care of all of those questions and more.

    Since I am a Farmers consultant I will use the Farmers Next Generation Homeowners Coverage to make some comparisons.  In all policies they have the dollar amounts for each coverage listed.  That is an easy comparison to make because we all know how to count and which number is bigger but that isn't the only important thing to know.  There are two more things that you need to know about that number.  The first is, how many months does the numbers give coverage for.  A good example is that the Farmers policy gives you 18 months to rebuild while most companies only allow you 12 months.  I once watched a neighbor try to put a pool in and the weather dragged it out 8 months.  The estimated time was only 6 weeks.  Is that a risk you 'd like to take then it doesn't matter but that is a large one if you ask me.

    The next thing you need to know about that number is what exactly does it cover.  Every policy ever written has special limit clauses in them.  Those are things such as jewelry, guns, furs, rare metals and coins, silverware and securities.  Obviously we all know these are the hot ticket items that don't depreciate.  Farmers has the largest coverage of these items in the industry with additional ways to cover them if they exceed the limits.  It is important to have an insurance consultant that knows how to apply the appropriate coverage.

    The largest part of a policy, in my opinion, is the personal liability.  This is the coverage that will cover you financially if something was to happen to you.  The world we live in today requires you to have protection.  First thing that comes to mind is dog bites.  No one ever expects a dog to bit but they are animals just like us.  We all have our snapping point and do things that we regret.  Do you have enough coverage?  Another example is you are going out of town for the weekend and while your gone your neighbor is collecting your mail and checking on the home.  While you are away the weather gets bad and covers your drive way in ice.  The neighbor slips falls and breaks her arm.  Do you have enough coverage for that?  The possibilities are endless as well as the extent of the financial responsibility.  Finally, does that liability only apply to your property?  With Farmers you liability follows you.  If you are liable for an accident away from home do you have coverage?

    I could go on for hours about this subject buy you all would stop reading.  The biggest thing to realize is what coverage do you have protecting your largest investment.  Not just a financial investment but personal investment.  This is the place where you raise and shelter your family.  I would like you all to think about your homeowners by thinking of this analogy.  Is your homeowners like a Mercedes with luxury, comfort and value or a the Ford Festiva covered in rust, not sure if it will start and very small.  If you ever have any questions your are more than welcome to contact a Farmers Insurance Consultant like myself.

Golf Carts and Unlicensed Vehicles

Why you should cover it and how.

     Golf carts are something that may be a huge part or not a part at all in your community.  In my experience they are found in smaller towns that have little golf courses, retirement communities or both.  There are a few occurrences of when they are classified as farm equipment and are driven around town but again smaller towns.  When you have an unlicensed vehicle that you use the some questions arise. A couple of those are do I need to insure it and if so how.

     Let's start with the first question.  Do you need insurance if you don't have to license it?  The answer is yes and no.  It all depends on how you use the vehicle.  If you own it and leave it at a golf course that is fully staffed and the golf course carries adequate coverage for their grounds then no.  If you ever drive it off the property then that is another story.  Keep in mind though that if you wreck the golf cart or damage it that will not be covered by the golf course since it is your personal property and you did it.

    To continue on the subject on if you need to cover it we will talk about another situation.  If you drive the cart on your land only which it never comes off do you need coverage for the golf cart the answer is no.  The golf cart will be covered on your homeowners with your liability covering any damage to others.  Some homeowners policies have endorsements on their policies to allow you to place the risk.  That leads to the next issue.  What if you damage the cart? Will the homeowners pay for it?  It depends on how much damage you have.  Your homeowners isn't designed to cover such a risk in most cases, unless you have an endorsement, so the deductible is very high.  If you have an average golf cart then the deductible will be 25%-80% approximately to pay for the damages.  Not a great return considering the claim will show up on renewals the next year and you will be faced with that claim showing for the next 3-5 years.  Some companies would be faced with the issue of dropping you for number of claims.  That wouldn't be much fun would it.

    There is one more option, which I believe is the best.  Place a small policy on it.  The risk is very low but you will be happy that you had it if you need it.  Why, you may ask, because of all the ways you would benefit if something was to happen.  The first coverage would be bodily injury.  This would be beneficial in that it would cover you if you broke a traffic law or created a wreck.  Instead of paying out thousands of dollars in liability for damages done to all parties, your policy would take care of it for you.  Next would be in a situation you damaged  something in a wreck, again your policy would take care of it.  If someone was riding with you and fell out of the cart again your policy would take care of it for you.  Finally if the cart was stolen, vandalized, started on fire, damaged by weather, you hit a deer or run into something you would be covered for a much lower deductible than you home.  This part is the best part,  it doesn't effect your home owners because it only effect the policy the golf cart is on.  Yes it will go up a little I'm sure but to compare if your home policy is $1000 per year and your cart policy is $100 per year, which would you prefer take a 5 % rate increase.  I think we all know that answer.

    In closing I believe it is important to have coverage on your golf cart and the best way is to cover it with a specialty coverage.  The first step in doing such it to speak with an insurance consultant such as myself to draw up the best plan.  It is important to have the right coverage because you must protect yourself in all possibilities.  The question we face now days is not if something will happen but when it will happen.