5 Mistakes That Most Of Us Make When Driving

After you have a bit of experience, driving a car becomes a sort of second nature activity, like walking or chewing gum.  We can do it pretty well even without realizing that we are doing it.  Over time, especially without an accident or mishap to get our attention, we can all develop an overconfidence about driving and our skill set whether we do it well or not.   Here then, is an opportunity for you to honestly and fairly evaluate your own driving skills with the one person that you can’t lie to: yourself.  Take a quick look at these top 5 driving mistakes that we all make from time to time, and perhaps  it can serve as a reminder to avoid these driving behaviors.

One thing most of us forget is that the process of driving a vehicle is usually the most dangerous activity that we will do in any given day.  Since we go years and years without a mishap or accident it is easy to forget this.  But, whether you take notice of it or not,  every time you get behind the wheel you are at risk for making a mistake that could be catastrophic or even fatal for you.  So taking time every now and then to honestly evaluate your own driving habits with yourself is a practice that might save your life or the life of someone else.

One of the most common driving errors that many of us make is following too closely.    Some drivers use tailgaiting as a way of emphasizing their hurry to the driver in front of them.  Some people drive too closely to the car in front of them simply as a matter of habit.  I’ve seen drivers who move right up to the next car in front of them, regardless of their speed,  not because they are in a hurry, but because this is their default setting for how fast to drive in any situation.  When faced with an open road ahead, these drivers are probably not sure just how fast they should go.  If you who commute to work on a highway, and are forced to spend an extra half hour in traffic on the way home, most of the time it is because someone ahead of you was following too close.

Stopping instead of yielding.   This is a case of overly cautious behavior generating risk.  Drivers make assumptions about what other drivers will do based on assumed behavior.  Deviation from assumed behavior then puts other drivers at risk.   The most common place we see this is on the acceleration ramp for entering a highway.  Inexperienced drivers often have trouble with this and simply come to a stop instead of blending into the flow of the traffic on the highway.  This is dangerous, not only for the stopped car, but for the cars behind that are not expecting a car in front of them to stop.  This is also sometimes a problem at traffic circles where a driver’s attention should be on the cars to the left in the circle as opposed to the car in front of them which they assume will not stop if the way is clear.

Trusting Your Mirrors.  I am guilty of this mistake from time to time.  It takes more effort to look over your shoulder when changing lanes, especially when you have checked all of your mirrors and you don’t see anyone coming.  But if you have had the scary experience of starting to make a lane change, only to hear the honking of the car beside you, then you will understand just how dangerous it is not to take that backwards glance before you change lanes.   This is a habit that takes effort but could save your life.

Failing to Yield on Green.  The green light means go of course, but some intersections seem to be worse than others in terms of cars running the red light.  Experience will help here but you should always be cautious when moving through an intersection.  Intersection accidents often result in terrible injuries and you can avoid this by being more aware of everything going on outside of the green light itself.

Multi-Tasking and driving.  This is one of my pet peeves. These days we think of cell phones but I remember being frightened at all the things my wife would do while commandeering a car with three small, demanding and often hungry children in it.  Now  I personally stopped using my phone in my car about 2 years ago. That’s a personal choice of course but usually when I see someone driving poorly, when I get closer I almost always notice that they have their phone in their hand.   Keeping your focus on the driving that you are engaged in could save your life or someone else’s, so really it is worth the effort.

At Clinard Insurance Group, we want all drivers on the road to finish their errands and come home safely to their loved ones.  I hope these tips will help keep you aware of the importance of staying engaged in your task of driving while you are operating a motor vehicle.  If you would like help with your car insurance, your home insurance, your life insurance or even your business insurance, I hope you will give us a call, toll free, at 877-687-7557.

Volunteer Wrongful Acts Insurance Coverage – Should You Add This To Your Homeowners Insurance Policy?

America is a land of volunteers.   Almost everyone you know has volunteered somewhere at some point in his or her life and many people have regular work as volunteers each week.  But have you ever considered that your volunteer work could  get you into financial  trouble?  There are several areas of liability that can arise from volunteering from acts as a director or officer of a non-profit all the way down to minor clerical errors that could lead to personal liability risks for the volunteer.  Here I discusses a relatively new insurance coverage form that can be added to some homeowners insurance policies called volunteer wrongful acts insurance coverage.

Let’s start with a definition.  What is a wrongful act as defined by the volunteer wrongful acts coverage endorsement?  The endorsement defines this term as an actual or alleged error, misleading statement, act or omission, neglect or breach of duty committed by any insured during the policy period in the insured’s capacity as a volunteer.  If we break that definition down we see that the act must have occurred as the result of your volunteer work and that it can be either an alleged or an actual error.  It could even  be an omission or simply a breach of your duty as a volunteer.

I think an example is a good way to understand this risk and the insurance protection we are discussing.  Assume that you are a treasurer for a local nonprofit and you make an honest error in calculations that indicates that the nonprofit has more money to spend on a project than they actually have in the bank.  The project is approved based on your numbers and contracts are signed and the project gets underway.  Soon it is discovered that your error is going to generate huge expenses for your nonprofit due to the contracts that were signed for the project.  Suddenly you find yourself on the wrong side of a lawsuit with your nonprofit for the cost of these damages.  If you had added volunteer wrongful acts coverage to your homeowners insurance policy, then you would have protection for this loss. 

If this sounds like a coverage that you need, then you should contact your insurance agent and have them add it to your homeowners insurance policy.  Be sure that you understand the limits of coverage that can be provided.  Not every insurance company will allow this endorsement to be added to the policy and most will have limitations on how much protection you can buy.   So even though you may have a $300,000 personal liability limit on your homeowners insurance, this endorsement may limit you protection to $50,000 or perhaps $100,000.   You should also ask if your umbrella insurance policy will pick up coverage where this endorsement leaves off.  In most cases I have found that it will not do so.

Volunteering is a wonderful act of generosity and we should all encourage this kind of behavior as much as possible.  Unfortunately the law can still put you in a vulnerable position when you volunteer so you need to make sure that you have the protection you need to make sure that you are just giving your time and not your personal assets. At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC we can help you add this protection to your homeowners insurance policy.  Please call us toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at www.ClinardInsurance.com.   

Workers Compensation Insurance Rates Under Stress From 2011 Results

2011 was a tough year for most insurance companies out there.  This is mostly due to the more than $50 billion in property related claims from storms and bad weather events all across the country.  Of course workers compensation claims are not much affected by weather events, yet the 2011 numbers for the workers compensation insurance industry are not good.  And when the insurance industry loses money, that almost always portends higher rates for business owners in the near future.  This article will highlight some of the bad numbers that point to higher workers compensation insurance rates for the coming year.  Then I will show you how you can avoid facing higher rates this year for your business.

First look at some of the numbers.  In 2011, there was a 3% increase in the frequency of lost time claims.  These are claims where the insurance company is paying the injured worker a salary while the worker recovers from an injury.  3% may not sound like much, but this is the first time since 1997 that this measure increased from the previous year.  Is this a one-time blip or a signal for changes ahead in workers compensation lost time claims?  I think it may be the latter.

Compounding this problem is the unsettling result that net written premium for the insurance companies declined by 1.3% in 2011.  Now it doesn’t take a genius to understand that when claims are going up and premiums are going down something has to give somewhere.  I believe the breaking point will be the rates that you pay for your work comp insurance policy.  Insurance companies measure the money that they take in against the money that they pay out for claims.  This calculation is referred to as a loss ratio.  If the loss ratio rises above 100%, then the insurance company has lost money.  In 2011 the industry wide loss ratio for workers compensation insurance in the U.S. increased to an astonishing 118.1%.  This is the highest level since the year 2000 when it was 121%.  This means that in order to break even, the insurance companies need to average 18.1% return on the money that they hold while waiting to pay claims.  There are not many places where you can find a safe 18% return out there.

So what is the cause of these deteriorating results?  There are several of course, and none of them seem to show any signs of letting up in the near future, which is why I am predicting higher workers compensation rates across the board.  The biggest elephant in the room is the rising costs of medicine which now accounts for 60% of the workers compensation total claim payout.  With medical inflation running at 6% this part of the problem is going to be with us for the long haul.  Poor economic conditions are also a factor as there is a greater tendency for fraud in bad economic environments.  Also, the work force is getting older and more obese each year and this puts a strain on the claims costs both from a frequency of loss and a severity of loss perspective.

So what can you do to keep your work comp rates as low as possible in 2012 and beyond?  I suggest that you begin by taking a good look at your work comp policy and your work comp insurance company.  There is a growing market segment of work comp only companies out there today. These are companies that specialize in workers compensation only.   They don’t write auto insurance or home insurance or life insurance, they write only workers compensation insurance.   These companies understand that to make money in this business and to keep rates low for their customers, they need to be much more proactive in the prevention of claims as well as the recovery process.  They typically have loss control programs that can help you prevent claims from happening.  They often have nurses and claims case workers on staff to double check all medical bills for errors and fraud and to help your injured worker heal and get back to work as quickly as possible.

At Clinard Insurance Group we want all insurance buyers to be informed insurance consumers.  We can help connect you with a specialized workers compensation insurance company so that your rates can remain lower even while your competitors face huge workers compensation insurance rate increases.  If you have questions about your work comp insurance, or if you would like a quote to see just how much you can save on your workers compensation insurance, please give us a call, toll free, at 877-687-7557.  We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Frozen Pipes And Your Insurance – Prevention Is The Key

It is estimated that almost a half million businesses and residences experience water damage losses  as a result of frozen pipes each year.  While most homeowners insurance policies and businessowners insurance policies will pay for these losses, this kind of preventable loss is a terrible black mark on your insurance record.  But more importantly, protecting your pipes in advance could save you from the huge problems associated with experiencing this kind of catastrophe.  This article will give you some tips on what to do now, before the cold weather sets in to keep your home or your business safe from this type of loss.

The first step in this loss prevention process is to protect the pipes themselves.  If your pipes are in a vulnerable spot like the attic or the crawlspace, then they need proper insulation.   Be sure to insulate both the hot and the cold lines.  Next study the environment for these pipes.  You should seal any leaks to the attic or space that might allow enough cold air into that space to freeze the pipes.  And don’t forget to  disconnect your garden hoses and drain your  sprinkler system to reduce the chance of freezing at those points in the system.

Now when you know that a hard freeze is coming, there are some additional things you can do for the short term to protect your pipes.  You can let warm water trickle from the faucets overnight, particularly on an exterior wall, or on a long stretch of unprotected pipe.  Also, you can open cabinet doors to allow heat to reach non-insulated pipes under sinks.  If you do this and have small children don’t forget to put all poisons and dangerous chemicals out of their reach.  And on those hard freeze nights, don’t turn your thermostat down.  You will need as much heat as possible to protect your pipes.  I know this might run up your heating bill a bit but  that cost is nothing compared to damage from burst pipes.

 If your pipes do freeze, don’t panic, it doesn’t mean that they have burst.  There is still a good chance that you can avoid a large water loss claim.  First of all, turn on the faucets and leave them on.  The water pushing against the melting ice in the pipe will speed up the melting process.   Next try to locate where your pipe is actually frozen.  If you can do this, then you can try to safely apply heat to the frozen area.  You can wrap the pipes in towels soaked in hot water, or you can use an electric hair dryer or an electric heating pad.  Do not use a blow torch, kerosene or any other open flame to heat the pipe.  These techniques could leave you with a home destroyed by fire!  If all of this fails, or if you are uncomfortable with this step, then call a licensed, professional plumber to help you.

In NC, the standard homeowners form will almost always cover loss to your home and your contents from water damage as a result of a burst pipe.  But insurance protection should be your last resort.  Preventing the loss in the first case will save you time, money and heartache.    In this case, an ounce of prevention is definitely worth a pound or more of cure.

At Clinard Insurance Group, located in Winston Salem, NC, we want all insurance buyers to be informed consumers.  If we can help you with your home insurance, your auto insurance or even your business insurance, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557.

Texting Teens and Car Insurance – A Very Expensive Habit

Car insurance rates for teen drivers are much more expensive than car insurance for experienced drivers.  This is because young drivers need time to develop their skills behind the wheel and to learn good judgment when operating a vehicle.  Texting adds an additional layer of risk for these young drivers.

Many teenagers use texting as their main form of interaction with their friends.  They use texts to chat, make plans and even just waste time when they are bored.  Over time this behavior can lead to what I call chronic texting.    These chronic texting teens are always on the alert for an incoming text.  These incoming texts always trump any other form of communication or activity that the teenager is engaged in at the time.  Who among us has not experienced the frustration of losing your child’s attention in the middle of a conversation as their phone buzzes to announce an incoming text.  Their reactions are almost so automatic that they don’t even know they are doing it.  They look down at their phones and for a moment they have simply forgotten everything else in their immediate environment.  The text takes top priority for all of their attention.  Now this behavior is annoying enough when it happens in the middle of a conversation with you or at a restaurant.  But if it happens while they are driving, then we are dealing with extreme danger for them and all drivers around them.  Combine chronic texting with a teenager’s lack of driving experience and you have a recipe for personal disaster on the highway.

A Miami Dade jury recently awarded $8.8 million to the family of a woman killed in a crash caused by a teenager who was speeding and texting.    The boy’s phone records show an outgoing text from his phone at 8:19 pm.  The paramedics were called to the accident at 8:21 pm.  Think what this means; if your child is driving and texting and causes an accident, the court is going to know that your child was texting while driving.  Do you think this information might influence the judgment amount against your child and by inference you, the owner of the vehicle?  Yes it will.  This information is going to mean a lot more money out of your pocket.  So if the safety angle isn’t enough to get you to establish some hard rules with your teen driver, maybe the financial argument will hold some sway.    This is serious stuff, people are dying out there!

Any parent with assets to lose whose teenager is driving should seriously consider buying higher liability limits on his or her auto insurance policy.  You may even want to add a personal umbrella policy to your portfolio of insurance policies for limits above those allowed on the auto policy.  I would advise every parent with a teen driver to adopt a two pronged approach to this problem.  First of all, talk to your child and help them understand that the phone may not be used at all while they are driving.  Model this behavior yourself; your children learn from your behavior.  If you have young children be aware that they are learning from you now so put down that phone while you drive.  Secondly, have a conversation with your insurance agent and buy as high of a liability insurance limit as you can afford to protect your assets from the risk of your young drivers on your policy.

At Clinard Insurance Group, we are committed to helping our clients become informed insurance buyers.  If you would like help with your teen driver car insurance, or if you would like a quote on your auto insurance, please visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com, or call us, toll free at 877-687-7557.  We have a number of free tools for parent of teen drivers.  To learn more about them, please visit our teen driver insurance page.

How To Determine Who Is At Fault In An Auto Accident

Auto accidents happen every day.  Hopefully you will never be involved in one but if you are, what you do and say after an accident could have a big impact on who is ultimately found to be at fault. Here are a few tips and ideas to help you better understand the process and what you should do after an auto accident.

Call the police.  I have seen situations where people were so sure that they were at fault that they agreed to pay for all damages, only to be shocked later that the other party’s insurance paid for the damages instead.  I have seen accidents where one person denied even being in a wreck in the first place.  The police report is designed to protect you and to provide the insurance adjuster with enough information to figure out which driver caused the accident.  Make it a rule to always call the police, no matter how small the accident.  The police report will provide the insurance adjuster with the drivers names and contact information, witness information as well as a brief summary from the officer.  If you don’t think the accident was your fault, then tell the police officer why.

Gather the other driver’s information.   Even if the other driver is in a hurry and doesn’t want to wait for the police, make sure that before they leave you get as much contact information about them as you can.  Write down the make and model of the car and the license plate number as well as the driver’s name and contact information.   If it is you that is in a hurry, try to find the patience to wait for the police officer.  Recently one of our clients was hit by a driver who ran a red light.  She was in a hurry and didn’t wait around for the police officer to arrive.  She was shocked to read the police report later as it indicated that she was the one who ran the red light.  

Take as many pictures as you can.  Almost everyone has a camera on their phone.  Include photos of skid marks, debris fields as well as photos of the cars both before and after they are moved from the scene of the accident.  It is hard to know just what might become important later so the more photos you can take, the better.

Make your statement to both the police officer and the insurance adjuster.  Tell the officer what happened in logical step by step order.   You will need to record a statement later with the insurance adjuster.  When you do this, be sure to include everything you can think of, no matter how trivial it may seem to you.  The adjuster will study your statement with the summary provided by the police report and along with that and the other party’s statements and photos will then decide who is at fault.

At Clinard Insurance Group we want all of our clients to be informed consumers.  If you have a claim on any of your policies, from auto insurance to home insurance or even business insurance, we will be there with you through each step of the claims process.  If you need help with any of your insurance needs, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557.  We look forward to serving you.

Two Large Insurance Companies In NC Will Now Require You To Tie Your Auto Insurance To Your Home Insurance Policy

For the last several years, insurance companies doing business in NC have lost money on homeowners insurance as a group.  The rates are just too low to pay for all of the losses that occur under those policies.  After a year like 2011, when weather related losses were so frequent and so costly, insurance companies are now beginning to take more drastic action to protect their bottom lines.   Also, although the NC General Assembly slyly pushed a lot of the risks of the underfunded beach plan on to the backs of the homeowners in the state, there is still a substantial risk assessment for hurricane losses to insurance companies who write home insurance in NC.  This is just another incentive for the insurance companies to trim their book of home insurance policies.  All of this adds up to the fact that insuring homes in NC is a good way to lose money quickly.  And we are now beginning to see the various strategies that the insurance companies are employing to protect themselves from home insurance losses.

Recently, two of the 5 largest home insurers in NC announced that they are changing their rules to require that their policyholders also buy auto insurance from them or the homeowners policy will be cancelled at the next renewal.  Between these two insurance companies is it estimated that about 72,000 households will have their home insurance policies cancelled in 2012.

Your first question may be if it is legal to require auto insurance to go with a homeowners insurance policy?  The answer is that this is perfectly legal if morally questionable.  The NC Department of Insurance does not regulate the underwriting rules that each insurance company uses.   There is little doubt that in most cases you will be better off if you combine your home and your auto insurance with the same insurance company since you will generally receive discounts for doing so.  But there are many cases where the insurance company may not be willing to write your auto insurance either because they don’t like your driving record, your claims record or even the type of car you drive.   If this happens to you, then you are going to find it much more difficult to find insurance for your home at the low rates you have been used to in the past.

So where do I think the NC homeowners insurance market is headed?  Well, already we see much tougher underwriting guidelines for home insurance.  Many companies will not write a new home policy without the auto insurance.  Of course most are currently willing to leave their stand-alone home insurance policies on the books for now, but that could change and this would mean even more cancellations and nonrenewals for NC home owners.   If you have a large insurance account with several late model cars and a high value home, then you shouldn’t have much trouble finding home insurance, unless you have a poor claims or driving history.  But homeowners rates are going up and will continue to do so for the near future.  The rates that most people are paying today will seem like a real bargain 2 years from now.  Many insurance companies raised their homeowners insurance rates in December and we are likely to see even more rate increases next year.   In contrast, South Carolina home insurance rates are nearly twice what they are in North Carolina.  Our weather systems and home values are similar so I think you can expect steady increases in your NC home insurance rates until they are nearly twice what they are now.  Of course some of this is dependent on the NC Department of Insurance which sets the maximum rates that can be charged for home insurance.  If over time, those maximum rates are not high enough to allow insurance companies to make a profit on homeowners insurance, then you will begin to see a lack of availability in the marketplace which could leave some home owners with no insurance options at all.

If you have a bad insurance claims history or a bad driving record, there are still some good options available to you for your home insurance There are several insurance companies in NC who will write stand-alone homeowners insurance policies without the auto insurance being included.  Over time there will be less and less of these options as the home insurance marketplace begins to tighten up and consumers flock to and then overrun the last  companies to take action to reduce their homeowners policy count.  But for the short run, there is still plenty of availability if you have a good, independent insurance agent who can shop the marketplace for you.

The uncertainty in the home insurance market just serves to underscore how important it is for you to find and establish a relationship with a professional, independent insurance agent that can protect you from the market place gyrations that can create havoc with your insurance budget.    At Clinard Insurance Group, we insure thousands of households all across North Carolina and our homeowners insurance market is healthy and open for business.  If you received a homeowners nonrenewal letter from your insurance company, or if you need any help with your home or auto insurance then please, give us a call, toll free at 877-687-7557.  We will be glad to help you and with us you will have your own, personal insurance agent who is professional, kind and will get to know you and your situation.  We will take as much time as you need to make sure that you fully understand what you are buying and that you are happy with your choices.  And you get all of this and still save money.  You save twice, once on price, once on advice.  Call us now at 877-687-7557.