The Insurance Answer Guy

Workers Compensation Insurance Rates Under Stress From 2011 Results

2012-01-30T09:16:00.000-05:00

2011 was a tough year for most insurance companies out there. This is mostly due to the more than $50billion in property related claims from storms and bad weather events allacross the country. Of course workerscompensation claims are not much affected by weather events, yet the 2011numbers 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 nearfuture. This article will highlight someof the bad numbers that point to higher workers compensation insurance rates forthe coming year. Then I will show youhow 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 thefrequency of lost time claims. These areclaims where the insurance company is paying the injured worker a salary whilethe worker recovers from an injury. 3%may not sound like much, but this is the first time since 1997 that thismeasure increased from the previous year. Is this a one-time blip or a signal for changes ahead in workerscompensation lost time claims? I think itmay be the latter.

Compounding this problem is the unsettling result that netwritten premium for the insurance companies declined by 1.3% in 2011. Now it doesn’t take a genius to understandthat when claims are going up and premiums are going down something has to givesomewhere. I believe the breaking pointwill be the rates that you pay for your workcomp insurance policy. Insurancecompanies measure the money that they take in against the money that they payout for claims. This calculation isreferred to as a loss ratio. If the lossratio rises above 100%, then the insurance company has lost money. In 2011 the industry wide loss ratio forworkers compensation insurance in the U.S. increased to an astonishing118.1%. This is the highest level sincethe year 2000 when it was 121%. Thismeans that in order to break even, the insurance companies need to average18.1% return on the money that they hold while waiting to pay claims. There are not many places where you can finda safe 18% return out there.

So what is the cause of these deteriorating results? There are several of course, and none of themseem to show any signs of letting up in the near future, which is why I ampredicting higher workers compensation rates across the board. The biggest elephant in the room is therising costs of medicine which now accounts for 60% of the workers compensationtotal claim payout. With medicalinflation running at 6% this part of the problem is going to be with us for thelong haul. Poor economic conditions arealso a factor as there is a greater tendency for fraud in bad economicenvironments. Also, the work force isgetting older and more obese each year and this puts a strain on the claimscosts 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 aspossible in 2012 and beyond? I suggestthat you begin by taking a good look at your work comp policy and your workcomp insurance company. There is agrowing market segment of work comp only companies out there today. These arecompanies that specialize in workers compensation only. They don’t write autoinsurance or homeinsurance or lifeinsurance, they write only workers compensation insurance. Thesecompanies understand that to make money in this business and to keep rates lowfor their customers, they need to be much more proactive in the prevention ofclaims as well as the recovery process. Theytypically have loss control programs that can help you prevent claims fromhappening. They often have nurses andclaims case workers on staff to double check all medical bills for errors andfraud and to help your injured worker heal and get back to work as quickly aspossible.

At ClinardInsurance Group we want all insurance buyers to be informed insuranceconsumers. We can help connect you witha specialized workers compensation insurance company so that your rates canremain lower even while your competitors face huge workers compensationinsurance rate increases. If you havequestions about your work comp insurance, or if you would like a quote to seejust how much you can saveon your workers compensation insurance, please give us a call, toll free,at 877-687-7557. We look forward tohearing from you soon.

Frozen Pipes And Your Insurance – Prevention Is The Key

2012-01-20T12:33:00.003-05:00

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

The first step in this loss prevention process is to protectthe pipes themselves. If your pipes arein a vulnerable spot like the attic or the crawlspace, then they need properinsulation. Be sure to insulate boththe hot and the cold lines. Next studythe environment for these pipes. Youshould seal any leaks to the attic or space that might allow enough cold airinto that space to freeze the pipes. Anddon’t forget to disconnect your gardenhoses and drain your sprinkler system toreduce the chance of freezing at those points in the system.

Now when you know that a hard freeze is coming, there aresome additional things you can do for the short term to protect yourpipes. You can let warm water tricklefrom the faucets overnight, particularly on an exterior wall, or on a longstretch of unprotected pipe. Also, youcan open cabinet doors to allow heat to reach non-insulated pipes under sinks. If you do this and have small children don’tforget to put all poisons and dangerous chemicals out of their reach. And on those hard freeze nights, don’t turnyour thermostat down. You will need asmuch 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 fromburst pipes.

If your pipes dofreeze, don’t panic, it doesn’t mean that they have burst. There is still a good chance that you can avoida large water loss claim. First of all,turn on the faucets and leave them on. Thewater pushing against the melting ice in the pipe will speed up the meltingprocess. Next try to locate where yourpipe is actually frozen. If you can dothis, then you can try to safely apply heat to the frozen area. You can wrap the pipes in towels soaked inhot water, or you can use an electric hair dryer or an electric heatingpad. Do not use a blow torch, keroseneor 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 areuncomfortable with this step, then call a licensed, professional plumber tohelp you.

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

At ClinardInsurance Group, located in Winston Salem, NC, we want all insurance buyersto be informed consumers. If we can helpyou with your homeinsurance, your autoinsurance or even your business insurance, please call us, toll free, at877-687-7557.

Texting Teens and Car Insurance – A Very Expensive Habit

2012-01-06T08:44:00.002-05:00

Carinsurance rates for teen drivers are much more expensive than car insurancefor experienced drivers. This is becauseyoung drivers need time to develop their skills behind the wheel and to learngood judgment when operating a vehicle. Textingadds an additional layer of risk for these young drivers.

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

A Miami Dade jury recently awarded $8.8 million to thefamily of a woman killed in a crash caused by a teenager who was speeding andtexting. The boy’s phone records showan 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 isdriving and texting and causes an accident, the court is going to know thatyour child was texting while driving. Doyou think this information might influence the judgment amount against yourchild and by inference you, the owner of the vehicle? Yes it will. This information is going to mean a lot more money out of yourpocket. So if the safety angle isn’tenough to get you to establish some hard rules with your teen driver, maybe thefinancial argument will hold some sway. This is serious stuff, people are dying outthere!

Any parent with assets to lose whose teenager is drivingshould seriously consider buying higher liability limits on his or her autoinsurance policy. You may even want toadd a personalumbrella policy to your portfolio of insurance policies for limits abovethose allowed on the auto policy. Iwould advise every parent with a teen driver to adopt a two pronged approach tothis problem. First of all, talk to yourchild and help them understand that the phone may not be used at all while theyare driving. Model this behavioryourself; your children learn from your behavior. If you have young children be aware that theyare learning from you now so put down that phone while you drive. Secondly, have a conversation with yourinsurance agent and buy as high of a liability insurance limit as you canafford to protect your assets from the risk of your young drivers on yourpolicy.

At ClinardInsurance Group, we are committed to helping our clients become informedinsurance buyers. If you would like helpwith your teen driver car insurance, or if you would like a quote on your autoinsurance, please visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com, or callus, toll free at 877-687-7557. We have anumber of free tools for parent of teen drivers. To learn more about them, please visitour teen driver insurance page.

How To Determine Who Is At Fault In An Auto Accident

2011-12-16T09:41:00.002-05:00

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

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

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

Take as many pictures as you can. Almost everyone has a camera on theirphone. Include photos of skid marks,debris fields as well as photos of the cars both before and after they are movedfrom the scene of the accident. It is hardto 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 theinsurance adjuster. Tell the officerwhat happened in logical step by step order. You will need to record astatement later with the insurance adjuster. When you do this, be sure to include everything you can think of, nomatter how trivial it may seem to you. The adjuster will study your statement with the summary provided by thepolice report and along with that and the other party’s statements and photoswill then decide who is at fault.

At ClinardInsurance Group we want all of our clients to be informed consumers. If you have a claim on any of your policies,from autoinsurance to homeinsurance or even businessinsurance, we will be there with you through each step of the claimsprocess. If you need help with any ofyour 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

2011-12-09T10:23:00.001-05:00

For the last several years, insurance companies doingbusiness in NC have lost money on homeowners insurance as a group. The rates are just too low to pay for all of thelosses that occur under those policies. After a year like 2011, when weather relatedlosses were so frequent and so costly, insurance companies are now beginning totake more drastic action to protect their bottom lines. Also,although the NC General Assembly slyly pushed a lot of the risks of theunderfunded beach plan on to the backs of the homeowners in the state, there isstill a substantial risk assessment for hurricane losses to insurance companieswho write home insurance in NC. Thisis just another incentive for the insurance companies to trim their book ofhome insurance policies. All of thisadds up to the fact that insuring homes in NC is a good way to lose moneyquickly. And we are now beginning to seethe various strategies that the insurance companies are employing to protectthemselves from home insurance losses.

Recently, two of the 5 largest home insurers in NC announcedthat they are changing their rules to require that their policyholders also buyautoinsurance from them or the homeowners policy will be cancelled at the nextrenewal. Between these two insurancecompanies is it estimated that about 72,000 households will have their homeinsurance policies cancelled in 2012.

Your first question may be if it is legal to require autoinsurance to go with a homeownersinsurance policy? The answer is thatthis is perfectly legal if morally questionable. The NCDepartment of Insurance does not regulate the underwriting rules that eachinsurance company uses. There is littledoubt that in most cases you will be better off if you combine your home andyour auto insurance with the same insurance company since you will generallyreceive discounts for doing so. Butthere are many cases where the insurance company may not be willing to writeyour auto insurance either because they don’t like your driving record, yourclaims record or even the type of car you drive. If this happens to you, then you are goingto find it much more difficult to find insurance for your home at the low ratesyou have been used to in the past.

So where do I think the NC homeowners insurance market isheaded? Well, already we see muchtougher underwriting guidelines for home insurance. Many companies will not write a new homepolicy without the auto insurance. Ofcourse most are currently willing to leave their stand-alone home insurancepolicies on the books for now, but that could change and this would mean evenmore cancellations and nonrenewals for NC home owners. If you have a large insurance account withseveral late model cars and a high value home, then you shouldn’t have muchtrouble finding home insurance, unless you have a poor claims or driving history. But homeowners rates are going up andwill continue to do so for the near future. The rates that most people are paying today will seem like a realbargain 2 years from now. Many insurancecompanies raised their homeowners insurance rates in December and we are likelyto see even more rate increases next year. In contrast, South Carolina home insurance rates are nearly twice whatthey are in North Carolina. Our weathersystems and home values are similar so I think you can expect steady increasesin your NC home insurance rates until they are nearly twice what they arenow. Of course some of this is dependenton the NC Department of Insurance which sets the maximum rates that can becharged for home insurance. If overtime, those maximum rates are not high enough to allow insurance companies tomake a profit on homeowners insurance, then you will begin to see a lack ofavailability in the marketplace which could leave some home owners with noinsurance options at all.

If you have a bad insurance claims history or a bad drivingrecord, there are still some good options available to you for your homeinsurance There are several insurance companies in NC who will write stand-alonehomeowners insurance policies without the auto insurance being included. Over time there will be less and less ofthese options as the home insurance marketplace begins to tighten up andconsumers flock to and then overrun the last companies to take action to reduce theirhomeowners policy count. But for theshort 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 tounderscore how important it is for you to find and establish a relationshipwith a professional, independent insurance agent that can protect you from themarket place gyrations that can create havoc with your insurance budget. At ClinardInsurance Group, we insure thousands of households all across North Carolinaand our homeowners insurance market is healthy and open for business. If you received a homeowners nonrenewal letterfrom your insurance company, or if you need any help with your home or auto insurancethen please, give us a call, toll free at 877-687-7557. We will be glad to help you and with us youwill have your own, personal insurance agent who is professional, kind and willget to know you and your situation. Wewill take as much time as you need to make sure that you fully understand whatyou are buying and that you are happy with your choices. And you get all of this and still savemoney. You save twice, once on price,once on advice. Call us now at877-687-7557.

Does Your Auto Insurance Policy Include OEM Parts Coverage For Your Car?

2011-11-22T09:53:00.001-05:00

Most people buyinga new auto insurance policy don’t stop to think about the parts will beused to repair their cars if they are involved in an accident. Most of us assume that our vehicles will be fixedand put back on the road, as good as new. But in North Carolina, the law and the auto insurance policy languagecould leave you with some bad feelings after the dust has settled on your claim.

OEM stands for original manufacturer’s equipment. This terminology is used for parts that were manufacturedby the original car company for your car. In NC, car insurance companies are not obligated to pay for OEM partswhen paying for damages to your wrecked vehicle. Since OEM parts usually cost more than nonOEM replacement parts, most repairs are not done with replacement parts thatwere manufactured by the original car manufacturer.

Now these non-OEM replacement parts may or may not be asgood or even better quality than OEM parts. But that’s not the point. Thepoint is that most people have expectations that include OEM parts being usedto repair their cars. Let’s face it,many of us have personal relationships with our cars and don’t want to feelcheated after an accident and repair work. There is a simple solution tothis problem but it requires that you take action before your car isdamaged. Most insurance companies doingbusiness in NC have an OEM parts endorsement that you can add to your autopolicy to make sure that the costs of these parts is covered if you have a loss. Some restrictions apply to the OEMendorsement on the North Carolina auto insurance policy. For instance, most insurance companies willrequire that you add this endorsement within 60 days of the purchase of a newvehicle. Usually you can only add theendorsement to a vehicle that you purchased brand new. Also, most companies will drop this coverageonce your car is over 7 years old. One companythat we represent will let you add OEM coverage at any time and will allow youkeep it on the policy until your vehicle is 10 years old, so there are someexceptions to these rules.

The cost of this protection is usually about 5% additional onyour comprehensive and collision insurance premiums. Now, keep in mind this other issue: Even if you buy OEM coverage for your car, ifyou are hit by another person and that person is at fault, then your claim willbe handled by the other person’s insurance company. Letting them settle the claim with you willmean your OEM protection will not apply. You can get around this by filinga collision claim with your insurance company so that you can benefit from theOEM endorsement on your policy. If you doit this way, then you will have to pay the collision deductible on this claimout of your pocket and wait to be reimbursed by the other party’s insurancecompany if and when your insurance company files a subrogating claim againstthem and collects. This may take sometime or might even never happen, depending on the size and complexity or the claim.

This is just one illustration of how complex North Carolinaauto insurance really is. There are manythings for you to consider when buying your auto insurance policy. From just this one example you can see thatdo it yourself car insurance is a bad idea. Here at Clinard InsuranceGroup, we write thousands of autoinsurance policies for our customers located all across the state of NorthCarolina. We will take as much time asyou need to make sure that you understand all of your options and that you arecompletely comfortable with your choices. Please give us a call for help with your auto insurance or yourhome insurance. You can reach ustoll free, at 877-687-7557.

What Are The Insurance Companies Leaving Out Of Their TV Ad Offers?

2011-11-04T10:07:00.003-04:00

I am amazed at the number of TV ads that are devoted to convincingyou to switch auto insurance companies to save money. They are almost so common place that we don’teven notice them anymore. While I thinkthat anyone who shops long enough can always find a lower rate on their carinsurance, a 2009 survey discovered that only 14 percent of people who shoppedaround for a better rate on their car insurance found that they could save moneyby switching companies. Still, the adscontinue to bombard us with new and interesting gimmicks and twists that willentice you to start shopping. So whatabout these gimmicks, do they save you money or are they just marketing tricks? I want to pull back the curtain on a few ofthem to give you an idea of what you are up against.

One of the newer gimmicks is the Nationwide Insurancevanishing deductible trick. It seemslike a great idea; Nationwide will reduce your deductible by $100 for each yearthat you don’t cause an accident or turn in a comprehensive claim like windshield,vandalism or theft of your vehicle. Ofcourse if you have a claim like that then your deductible will then go back up tothe original level, minus a $100 sign up reduction. No more than $500 of your deductible can everdisappear. What the blurry fine print onthe screen says is that this program will cost you $60 per year per car. So this means that you would be paying $60per year for $100 of protection that you will probably never need. Thisis a great deal for Nationwide and not such a good deal for you. If you are truly a safe driver and have fewclaims, then I would advise that you take the highest deductible that you canafford and apply some of the savings to making sure that you have very highliability limits.

Another interesting ad is the Progressive Insurance snapshotprogram. Right now, this is onlyavailable in 39 states and North Carolina is not one of them. This program installs a big brother likedevice into your car’s diagnostic system and sends your driving information tothe insurance company. Now in theory, Ilike the idea of rewarding good drivers for their good driving habits. But the problem with this program is thatyour driving habits will have to be the crème de la crème of all drivers inthis program for you to see the huge discounts that they project in the ad. Under a system like this which is voluntary,only the safest drivers will sign up and those drivers are now your competitionfor the discounts. Let’s not forget thecreepiness of having your insurance company checking out all of your drivinghabits. It would be like me ridingaround in your back seat everywhere you go, making quiet notes on my clipboardand giving you disapproving looks in the rear view mirror.

Another highly advertised program is the accidentforgiveness program. Allstate insurancepushes this program but the details reveal that it may not be such a great dealfor you. First of all, you will have topay extra to enroll in this program. Andin North Carolina, there is already a first accident forgiveness program builtinto the regulations. To learn moreabout that, clickhere. If you are generally a safedriver, then this program usually means that you end up paying for somethingthat you will never need. And the offeredrebates for safe driving have to come from somewhere. As you may have guessed, the insurancecompany will need to collect this money from you in advance in order to give itback to you later. As evidence, Allstaterecently reached an agreement with California regulators to stop selling theirYour Choice program there after a lawsuit alleged that the program overchargespolicyholders and that the costs for this program were deceptive.

A critical view of these programs might lead you to believethat these special programs are not designed to save you money on your carinsurance, but rather to get you to call them for a quote in the firstplace. I would advise that you take thetime to find an independent insurance agent that you trust. Choose one that will take the time to listento you and discover your needs and then go out and shop the marketplace ofinsurance companies to find the program that is best for your unique situationright now, and in the future. Carinsurance is complicated and critical to your financial wellbeing. You are trying to protect all of yourpossessions and your income stream and this should not be a do it yourselfproject.

Clinard Insurance Group is an independent insuranceagency. We insure more than 5000families all across North Carolina and we want for all of our clients to beinformed insurance consumers. We willtake as much time as you need to be sure that you are comfortable and have afull understanding of the insurance policies that you purchase from us. If we can help you with your homeownersinsurance, your autoinsurance, yourlife insurance or even your businessinsurance, please call our office, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us onthe web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

How Well Will Your Insurance Policies Protect You From Your Vicarious Liability Exposures?

2011-10-28T09:41:00.002-04:00

What is vicarious liability? Well, it is a legal term that for situations when you or your businessbecomes liable for the actions of another person or business simply because ofa special relationship that you have with this other party. Here’s an example; suppose your grading company is behind on adeadline and one of your backhoe operators is out sick. You hire a temporary worker to work on yourjob site and you don’t know take the care to discover that he has a drinkingproblem. The temp gets drunk on the job and injuresanother worker with the back hoe. Now you can be held responsible for theinjuries.

There a lot of different ways that vicarious liability can harmyour business and it’s important that you brainstorm these exposures andscenarios to learn how you can avoid these losses and how you can tailor yourbusiness insurance policies to protect your company.

One place to start is to understand that the interactions yourown employees and managers with each other carries risk for your company. If you have a manager, or an employee who isharassing another employee with sexual remarks, then you and your company couldface lawsuits for sexual harassment. Theinsurance policy that can protect you from this type of loss is called EmploymentPractices Liability Insurance or EPLI for short. Not many NC businesses understand this coverageand even fewer have bought an EPLI Insurance policy.

Vehicles that you don’t actually own also present anothercommon form of vicarious liability risk. Let’s say you send yourreceptionist out to pick up the company mail at the post office each day. This presents a vicarious liability risk for you since she is nowrunning a company errand, even though she is using her own car. Now if she runs a red light and injuresseveral people, her auto insurance policy may not have high enough limits topay this claim. If that happens, thenyour company is probably next in line to pay for the injuries and damages. You can protect yourself from this type ofvicarious liability by adding non ownedauto liability coverage to your businessauto policy or to your businessownersinsurance policy.

Companies who handle personal identity information forclients have special risks. If thisdescribes your business, then you must carefully vet those employees who handlepersonal identity information as well as those who might be able steal thisinformation. If you hire a temporaryworker during a busy time or a holiday season, then your vicarious liabilityrisks will increase during that time. You should take steps to protect your company like performing backgroundchecks on the temporary worker before they begin work for you.

Vicarious liability is a legal reality that handcuffs you toothers with whom you have special business relationships. And your relationship won’t feel so special whenyou are being dragged into court because of that person or that firm’sactions. You need to do your homework onthe front end to protect yourself from this exposure. Learn all that you can about a person orcompany who may bring vicarious liability into your orbit. Also take some time and run through the riskscenarios with your insurance agent to make sure that you have the protectionthat you need and want from your insurance policies.

Clinard Insurance Group is an independent agency servingfamilies and businesses all across North Carolina. It is our mission to help all insuranceconsumers to be informed buyers. If wecan help you with your insurance and protection needs for your family or yourbusiness, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

Facebook And Your Personal Insurance Policies – Is There A Connection?

2011-10-24T08:50:00.002-04:00

Most of us would agree that what you say and do on Facebookshould have no effect on your insurance policies or your rates. But the truth is more complicated. Your Facebook actions can have an effect onyour insurance rates and coverages in some circumstances. And my guess is that the impact will onlygrow over time.

I want to begin by assuring you that as of this moment, I amnot aware of an insurance company that using Facebook as an underwriting toolfor personal insurance policies such as home insurance and auto insurance. There may come a time when they automate thatprocess and if so, will begin to use it if they can. Insurance for businesses though is a verydifferent scenario. Businesses want toattract people to their FB pages and so their Facebook information is easy foranyone to see. Commercial insurance underwriters willroutinely study a business Facebook page to be sure that they are comfortableinsuring that enterprise. Here is a listof some of the things you want to consider vis-à-vis your personal insuranceand your safety on Facebook.

Start by understanding that Facebook data is a rich sourceof opportunity for crooks and thieves. Onceagain, one bad apple spoils everyone else’s fun. But you can still have a great time but notgive up the information so easily. Thethieves are out there looking for the easy targets. So here are some ideas to help keep you from beingthe low hanging fruit for the bad people out there who are looking for ways tosteal from you.

You should start with a very strong password. Obviously you don’t want to share thatpassword with anyone. The strong password will help prevent a thieffrom guessing your password based on the information that can be publiclyobtained. Also, while it is ok to showyour birthday, don’t show the year you were born. That is just an invitation for identitythieves to go to work on you.

Take the time to understand just how the privacy controlswork and try and limit as much accessabout yourself to just your friends. Restrict access to photos, birth date, family information and religiousviews. Remember, the more pieces of thepuzzle you give out, the easier it is for a crook to steal from you. It is also a bad idea to post your children’snames in photos as tags. If someone elsedoes this, you should ask them to delete the tag. Yourchildren are the weakest link in the information protection game and letting athief link your information to theirs just makes their job all the easier.

This next reminder should be obvious but people break thisrule all of the time. Don’t post thedates you will be out of town. If youmust share the pics from your recent trip, just wait until you get home toshare them. If you are talking about afuture trip online, be as vague as possible about the actual dates you will begone.

Right now, my experience tells me that the things you sayand share on your personal Facebook page are not a threat to your homeinsurance rates or your autoinsurance rates. I hear rumors outthere, which I cannot confirm, that some life insurance companies may be tryingto track applicants on Facebook to help decide, based on lifestyle choices,which applicants should get the preferred rates and which should be chargedmore. However, at this point in time, Ithink the biggest threat to you at this comes from theives. Please use good common sense with yourFacebook account.

Clinard InsuranceGroup is an independent insurance agency located in Winston Salem, NC. We try very hard to pull back the curtain onthe insurance industry so that you can be an informed insurance buyer. If we can help you with your home insurance,your lifeinsurance, your auto insurance of even your businessinsurance needs, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557.

NC Auto Insurance Advice – 5 Things To Do If You Have An Accident

2011-10-07T09:43:00.000-04:00

Since most of us just aren’t frequently involved in autoaccidents, if this happens to you then you might find yourself prettyflustered. If you know what to do aheadof time, perhaps it may help you navigate those first few minutes after thecollision. So, here are the broadcategories of things you should do if you find yourself in an auto accident.

At the top of the list of course is that you should call thepolice. But read on, as there are a fewcaveats. If the accident was your fault, and there are only minor propertydamages; no one has been injured, andyou think you will want to pay for the damages yourself, then not calling thepolice might work out in your favor. NCinsurance rules dictate that you will be charged insurance points for accidentsthat are your fault. Now if the accidentonly created property damage and the total damage is under $1800 and you haveno other tickets or insurance points on your record, then you will not becharged for this accident. In thosecases, by all means, call the police right away. But, if all of those conditions are not trueand you want to avoid the insurance points, then avoiding a police reportincreases your odds of avoiding the insurance points. The insurance company will only know aboutthe accident if you file the claim or if the accident shows up on your motorvehicle record. Calling the police meansthat your record will indicate you were involved in an accident.

The next step to cover is avoiding additional damages andrisks to you. Move your car away fromthe roadway to avoid additional accidents. Stay safely away from the street or highway while you are out of yourvehicle.

Step 3 is to get thecorrect information about the other driver. Of course this becomes even more important if you don’t think theaccident is your fault. Be sure toobtain the other driver’s name, his or her driver’s license number, phonenumber and insurance information and license tag number. In addition, be sure to verify the name ofthe owner of the other vehicle. So oftenwe find that the driver is not the registered owner of a vehicle after anaccident. Knowing the owner’s name isgoing to speed up the process of filing a claim against his or her insurancepolicy.

Now you need to fully document the event. Take as many photos as possible document thedamages to each car as well as the accident site. If you use the video cameraon your phone, then you can make comments as you go that may be helpful to theinvestigation. Find and interview any witnesses and be sureto get their full names and contact numbers so that you can reach them later ifneeded. The more information you canobtain, the better. Clinard InsuranceGroup customers can request a vehicle claim kit, complete with a camera andother tools to help you in an accident. Clickhere to learn more about this kit.

Last of all, file anaccident report. If you are not atfault, then call the other party’s insurance agent and file a claim with themfor your damages. You should expect theinsurance company to contact you and perhaps ask you to provide a recordedstatement of what happened.

Clinard Insurance Group is an independent insurance agencylocated in beautiful Winston Salem, NC. We service thousands of NCauto insurance policies for clients all across NC. We can also help you with your homeinsurance and your lifeinsurance needs. Give us a call,toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

How Electronic Funds Transfers Can Save You Money On Your Insurance Policies

2011-10-03T11:03:00.002-04:00

Insurance bills are no one’s favorite mail. And paying those bills is a chore no one relishes. Most people these days opt for a monthly bill option on their insurance policies; from homeowners insurance and auto insurance to the policies covering their business insurance needs. And while it helps the cash flow to pay monthly there are risks and costs associated with this choice. For instance, in NC, every insurance company can charge up to $3 per installment on each monthly bill. And believe me, almost every insurance company takes advantage of this and charges the full $3 on each installment. If you have several policies that are billed separately on 12 monthly bills, this can add up pretty quickly. If you measure what that comes out to on an interest rate basis, you will quickly decide that this fee is highway robbery.

But the more insidious problem with monthly bills that few consider is the risk of missing one. What if you are out of town and miss a due date, or your mail gets lost? If you don’t pay an insurance bill on time your policy could be cancelled and leave you without protection. Imagine experiencing the worst loss of your life right after your policy cancelled? Think how you would feel if you had carefully bought insurance for years and years and then the one time you missed a payment your house burned? That would be tough to handle, both financially and emotionally.

The EFT payment option, which is available for most insurance policies is a great solution to all of these costs and risks. EFT stands for electronic funds transfer. This is an agreement you have with your insurance company, allowing them automatically draft your checking or savings account each month for the monthly amount due. Insurance companies love EFT because it saves them money on printing, mailing and collecting the monthly bills. As a result, almost all of them will waive the $3.00 per installment service charge if you sign up for EFT with them. And this option has other benefits for you. With EFT you can rest easy knowing that you don’t have to worry about your insurance being cancelled because a bill was lost or mislaid. Just keep an adequate balance in your account to cover the monthly bill, it will be paid whether you are at home or off on a Bahamas vacation. Not only that, but you will have saved yourself the trouble of keeping up with another monthly bill, writing the check and having to get it in the mail on time.

EFT programs also usually offer you the option of picking the day of the month on which the money will be drafted from your account. So, for instance if your paycheck is always deposited on the 1^st of the month, then you could choose the 4^th or the 5^th of each month as your draft date. You pick what works best for you. Set it and forget it. Occasionally people tell me that they don’t want an insurance company get their hands on their bank information because they just don’t trust them to play fair. In the 15+ years that we have been working with insurance companies and our clients with EFT programs I have never experienced a situation where someone was ripped off by the insurance company because of this bank account access. This fear has just not proven to be a realistic one.

Another way to handle the month to month payment risks is to have your insurance company charge your credit card monthly. This is the way I handle my insurance payments because I like to pick up the credit card rewards on that money that I will be paying anyway. When you choose this option, the insurance company will simply charge your credit card each month for your monthly bill amount due.

At Clinard Insurance Group, located here in beautiful Winston Salem, NC, we want all insurance consumers to be informed purchasers. We work hard to help educate the general public about their insurance options and choices. If we can help you with your auto insurance, homeowners insurance, life insurance or even your business insurance, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

Does Your Homeowners Insurance Cover Your Kids In College?

2011-08-29T08:37:00.001-04:00

Getting a child ready for college is stressful and exciting and insurance is probably the last thing on your mind. That’s expected; after all beyond all of the emotions you feel, you still have to help them buy bedding, a laptop, and all the dorm room decorations and necessities. But after you have spent a small fortune on their personal items, do you wonder if your insurance policy will cover these things while they are off at school? Unfortunately the answer is that it depends. And this vague answer means you really need to be sure that you are clear on the rules of the NC homeowners policy as it applies to children away at school.

A few years back, the North Carolina homeowners insurance policy form was changed and one of these amendments was a change in the wording regarding your child’s possessions while off at school. The new policy form changed the definition of an insured, (a person covered by the policy), to state that a student who lives away from your home is covered as an insured only if her or she attends school on a full time basis and is either your relative and 23 years of age or younger; or not your relative and 20 years of age or younger if still in the care of an insured. An older student or a part time student who lives away from home may be added to the policy as an additional insured for an additional charge on your policy.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that the last sentence in that paragraph above was a long stringy one that really ought to be read a second time. Go ahead and reread it, then I’ll show you just how people get caught by legalese in insurance policies. So, go ahead, reread the paragraph above, then come back here, I can wait.

Ok, the easy part to understand, and the part that most people notice first is the age parameter. You probably thought, ok, my child is 19 years old and is also my relative so my policy protect them. But did you also notice that the student must be a full time student? So what, surely your kid is full time. But what does full time really mean? I’m sure when you pay that tuition bill you had no doubt that you were paying for a full time student. But it doesn’t matter what you think is full time, what really drives the coverage is how the insurance companies define full time student. I have talked with several insurance company claims departments to better understand the answer to this question. And what they tell me is that insurance companies will go by the child’s school’s definition of a full time student. And that definition can vary a great deal from one school to the next. Some schools might define a full time student as one taking at least 12 credit hours that semester while others might require your child be registered for 16 or more hours to reach that designation. Summer school can have its own unique designation as well. This means it is up to you, the parent, to find out for yourself where you stand in your own particular situation and plan ahead for it with your homeowners insurance policy.

So what do you do to protect your child’s posessions if you determine that he or she is not covered by your homeowners policy? There are two options for you. One option is to add the endorsement number HO 0458 to your homeowners insurance policy. This endorsement will name your child as an insured. This endorsement usually costs around $75 per year. The other option, and I like this one better, particularly for older students, is to buy an HO-4 insurance policy for your child in his or her name. The HO-4 form, sometimes referred to as a tenant homeowners policy, is a homeowners policy designed for renters. This will allow them to choose a contents property limit and a liability limit as well as a deductible that best suits them. This may cost more or less, depending on the amount of coverage you need for your child but it can stay with them for as long as they keep renewing and updating it. I like this option also because it teaches your child early on, just how important it is to have both property and liability insurance for their particular household at all times. This also removes the doubt about coverage as the child moves back and forth and out to other places in the Summer and so on. As long as they keep renewing and updating the address on that policy, they will have protection.

It’s exciting and sometimes emotionally exhausting to get one of your children ready to go to college, believe me, I’ve done it 3 times now. And for those of you with children in college, I don’t want you to forget to carefully consider the insurance issue. Losses happen in colleges just as anywhere else and you may not be able to easily afford to buy all of their possessions all over again. Here at Clinard Insurance Group, located in lovely Winston Salem, NC, we try our best to educate our customers and the general public about insurance issues that affect their lives. We want every insurance consumer to be an informed buyer. If we can help you with your auto insurance, your home insurance, your business insurance or even your life insurance, please call, us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

Consent To Rate Letter – Don’t Just Sign Over A Blank Check To Your Insurance Company

2011-08-05T09:29:00.001-04:00

The consent to rate letter in North Carolina is the legal way for your insurance company to get you to agree to let your insurance company charge you more than the highest rate allowed by the NC Insurance Department. If you receive this form from you insurance company, don’t sign it without first checking in with an independent agent that you trust. There are usually many much better options than to sign this letter and watch your rates skyrocket. I’ve written about the consent to rate letter and what you should do in the past and you can, click here to read past blogs. Now, however some insurance companies are employing the consent to rate letter in a more insidious fashion. Their new technique uses this form as a way to get around ratemaking rules in North Carolina. Be careful; don’t sign this without a second opinion.

To understand the consent to rate form, it helps to understand how insurance rates are generated at in North Carolina. This state is unique in that the NC rate bureau holds most of the power in the rate making process. Here, the rate bureau decides the maximum rate that insurance companies can charge for each type of policy. After that, each insurance company then files their deviations from this rate. Usually, the rate bureau maximum rate is far above what any insurance company would be able charge for a policy and still be competitive. What happens is that insurance company rates are discounted down from the maximum rate, often as much as 55%. There is a loophole to the maximum rates that can be charged though. If an insurance company can get you to agree in writing to pay rates above the rate bureau maximum rate, then they are allowed to do so. The consent to rate form is the vehicle for getting your written consent. So, whatever you do, don’t sign a consent to rate form without first exploring all of your alternatives.

There are legitimate uses for the a consent to rate form. Imagine if you have had a few insurance claims and you are not able to buy insurance anywhere from any other company because they all think you are just too risky for the rates that they have filed with the rate bureau. Using the consent to rate letter allows them to charge a high enough rate to accommodate the riskiness of your particular situation. In that situation, the consent to rate form can allow you to buy insurance when otherwise you might not be able to.

Right now, the marketplace for homeowners insurance in NC is currently in a state of turmoil. The biggest reason for this is because the high risk beach houses that are covered by the market of last resort provided by the government do not have a high enough rate to cover their risks for wind and hail and hurricanes. This wind pool is extremely underfunded and will result in billions of dollars of losses in the event of a large hurricane hitting our coast. The underfunded risk of loss used to be pushed on to the backs of the insurance companies on an unlimited basis. Insurance companies of course do not like unlimited liabilities so a few years ago the law was changed to allow wind pool shortfalls to be assessed to all homeowners policies across the state. This means if there is a large hurricane, then your homeowners policy, no matter where in NC you live, will be assessed with an annual assessment of up to 10% of the policy premium each year until the wind pool is made whole again. If we have more than one hurricane then you could see multiple assessment charges on your policy each year. This sneaky and horribly unfair approach will still not cover the shortfall that the wind pool might face and so insurance companies remain on the hook for a large share of this risk as well. This drives the insurance companies to want higher rates for all North Carolina homeowners policies but they have trouble getting around the rate bureau. They need a loophole for an end run around the rating process. Now I am hearing that some insurance companies are using the consent to rate form to do just this. They plan to have their customers sign a consent to rate form on every policy, then they can hold these consents in your file until they need to use it to dramatically increase your rates.. If you sign one of these forms on an open ended basis like this, then your insurance company has essentially hung the sword of Damocles over your head. You will be agreeing to a rate increase above the maximum rate, sometime in the future, to be used when the insurance company wants it or needs it. I have to believe that eventually the rate bureau will not tolerate this kind of rate meddling but until they do, you should do whatever you can to be sure that you don’t let them take advantage of you. DO NOT SIGN A CONSENT TO RATE FORM UNTIL YOU HAVE EXPLORED YOUR OPTIONS WITH AN INDEPENDENT AGENT!!

At Clinard Insurance Group, we are an independent insurance agency located in Winston Salem, NC. We represent dozens of different insurance companies and we can help you with your home and auto insurance, no matter where you live in NC. If you have received a consent to rate form and are not sure what to do, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

Did Your Homeowners Deductible Go Up To $1000 While You Weren’t Looking?

2011-06-06T11:18:00.001-04:00

Pity the poor insurance companies trying to make a buck selling homeowners insurance in North Carolina. These policies tend to lose money as a group, year in and year out due to tornadoes and hurricanes and they also subject the insurance companies to the risk of large assessments to help pay for the underfunded beach plan which picks up the wind and hail exposure to the beach houses on our coast. But, if they can’t sell you a homeowners policy, then they are not likely to be able to sell you an auto insurance policy. And that’s where they make their real money. For the past decade or so, personal auto insurance has been the most profitable line of business for insurance companies doing business in North Carolina.

Now a new cost reducing solution is sneaking up on those who purchase NC homeowners insurance. The latest insurance company strategy is to apply a minimum deductible requirement to all homeowners policies. This stragegy first appeared several years ago with a few insurance companies that wanted to reduce their homeowners presence in certain higher risk areas of the state. Instead of just cancelling all of the policies in that area in a wholesale fashion, they began adding wind and hail deductibles that were based on a percentage of the total loss. So, if you have a 5% deductible and a $100,000 loss, then your total deductible will be $5000. With the more aggressive companies, these percentages went as high as 15%.

Now we are hearing that one of the largest homeowner writing insurance companies in NC is considering implementing a minimum $1000 deductible on all of its policies, both new policies and renewal policies. Now a change of this type will certainly be accompanied with some notice in the renewal and an insurance company spin that tells you how this is best for you, but the sad reality is that very few homeowners will take the time to read this notice and so they will be blissfully unaware of this new, higher deductible until after they experience a loss. Then the surprise will sting.

So, as a buyer of NC homeowners insurance, what can you do to protect yourself? Well, first of all, you should always check your renewal policies very carefully and read and understand any notices of changes to that renewal. If your insurance company has forced a higher deductible on your policy, and if that’s not what you want, then call your agent and see if they can provide you with another option. We represent dozens of companies and so far, none of ours are implementing these new, higher minimum deductibles except for a few exceptions in coastal counties.

Clinard Insurance Group is located in Winston Salem, NC and we help homeowners every day, all across North Carolina with their home and auto insurance needs. If your insurance company is ramming a new $1000 deductible down your throat and you don’t like the way that tastes, please give us a call. We will take as much time as you need to go over your home insurance in detail and help you make sure that you get the policy you want at rates that will truly surprise you (And I mean surprise in a good way, not in a higher minimum deductible way). Give us a call, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

Rent House Insurance – Did You Forget About Liability Insurance

2011-05-27T09:09:00.001-04:00

Landlords come in so many types, from the accidental landlord, stuck with a property he can’t sell and must rent, all the way to the professional landlord who owns many houses. Most landlords tend to focus first of all on the insurance for the structure itself, often called Dwelling Fire Insurance. This is a known loss exposure, meaning that if the house burns to the ground, you know exactly what you have to lose. But there is another danger out there for the landlord, and overlooking this open ended exposure can present a large and unknown loss, one that cause you to lose values far beyond what you have in the rent house itself.

What we are discussing here is the liability exposure that comes from owning and renting a dwelling to others. Your tenant could be injured, they could have a friend over who is injured, as well as all kinds of other potential types of losses. In North Carolina, most dwelling fire insurance policies, which cover the house itself and sometimes the landlords personal possessions inside, often do not have a mechanism for protecting you from liability exposures that are related to owning and renting the house. So how do you protect yourself against this exposure?

If you are a landlord with just a few policies, the easiest approach is to use your homeowners insurance policy to extend the liability from your homeowners insurance to your rental property. Most homeowners policies will allow this up to some total limit of locations, usually no more than 4. This strategy is a good one if you have an umbrella policy as well since this will extend the liability protection for your rental house directly to the umbrella policy, thus giving you much higher limits of coverage.

Another approach is to find an insurance company that will allow you to add liability to the dwelling fire policy form. Not every company can or will do this, but if you look hard enough, you should be able to find a company that can do this for you. Typically this will cost more than adding the protection through your home insurance but prices do vary so perhaps you should check both. If you add the liability protection to your dwelling fire insurance policy, then you should be sure to remember to add the dwelling policy to your list of underlying policies on your umbrella policy if you have one. This approach may also be more expensive on the umbrella policy, or it may make no difference at all to the costs.

For landlords with many locations to insure, usually the best approach is to purchase a general liability insurance policy to list all the locations on one policy.

Take the time to evaluate carefully how much liability insurance to buy for your rental property. It is relatively cheap to move to higher and higher limits so purchase the most insurance that you can afford. Remember, you are insuring a large, unknown loss here. There is no way of knowing how high the loss could go and ultimately this means you are trying to protect everything that you own, so don’t scrimp on limits here.

At Clinard Insurance Group, located in beautiful Winston Salem, NC, we want all of our clients to be informed insurance buyers. We want you to have the information that you need to make wise, and informed decisions about protecting your assets from loss. If we can help you with insuring your rental property in North Carolina, please feel free to call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557, or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

You can read more detailed blogs about personal and business insurance products by visiting our onsite blog at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Borrowing A Friend’s Trailer? Will Your Auto Insurance Cover It?

2011-05-20T08:54:00.000-04:00

Has this ever happened to you? You have something too large or too messy to move with your car and you can’t find a truck to borrow, but you do have a buddy with a trailer. Most people don’t remember to even question if they have insurance on the trailer, they just hitch it up and go. So, if you took the time to seek an answer to this question, congratulations, you are one of the few worries about the details.

This talk is based solely on the North Carolina personal auto insurance policy. I can’t provide an all inclusive coverage analysis in this blog as there are always lots of variables from one situation to the next, and there may be specific exclusions or limitations that apply to your policy or your situation. But, generally, the following will tell you what to expect about how your insurance will come in to play when when you hitch up a friend’s trailer to your car.

The NC personal auto policy will extend the liability protection afforded to your car, to the trailer that you are pulling so long as you are not pulling the trailer for commercial purposes. But here’s the catch: your personal auto policy does not provide any physical damages protection for the trailer. This means that if you damage someone’s person or property with that trailer, then your personal auto policy will respond and protect you. If damage to the trailer itself you will not have coverage for that loss.

So the best plan is to ask your friend if there is collision and comprehensive coverage on the trailer you will borrow. If not, then you are going without coverage as far as the trailer’s damage is concerned and you should make a plan with your friend about how you will repay those damages.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we are an independent insurance agency. We help our family clients with home insurance, auto insurance and life insurance all across North Carolina. We also write business insurance and have niche specialties in used car dealers, restaurants, repair shops and small contractors. We want to help all insurance consumers be informed buyers. If we can help you with any of your insurance needs, please feel free to call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

Insurance For Your NC Rent House – Did You Remember Personal Injury Coverage?

2011-05-16T09:08:00.000-04:00

If you own a rentl house in North Carolina, then surely you bought a dwelling fire insurance policy in case it burns. I hope you also extended liability protection from your homeowners insurance policy to that rental house location. But there is one other step that most landlords forget to take when setting up insurance on their rental properties. I’m talking about the personal injury endorsement that can be added to your homeowners insurance policy.

The NC personal injury endorsement on your homeowners policy is good option and a super deal for incidental landlords who own just a few properties and who have already extended the liability protection from their homeowners insurance to their rental locations. Start with the fact that it is usually very inexpensive, rarely more than $25 a year. Second of all, the coverage that this endorsement adds seem tailor made for landlords. Let’s take a quick look at some of what this endorsement adds in terms of protection for the incidental landlord.

NC endorsement number HO3282, edition date 05/03, defines personal injury among other things as false arrest detention or imprisonment, malicious prosecution, wrongful eviction or wrongful entry into or invasion of the right to private occupancy by a landlord or lessor. These are all perils for which the landlord has high risk. In NC, the law is complex regarding tenant eviction procedures so the wrongful eviction protection of this endorsement alone makes it worth the money in my opinion. There are other actions included in the definition of personal injury but those I mentioned above are the ones most important to landlords. The way the endorsement works is simply to add these definitions to what is included in the liability coverage of your homeowners policy.

But a word of caution is needed here. Just adding this endorsement to your policy doesn’t give you carte blanche to proceed against your tenants without concern for their rights. The exclusions section of this endorsement makes it clear that prior knowledger that your actions will violate the rights of another and will inflict personal injury voids your from coverage. This can be found in the exclusions section of the endorsement and you should read and understand all exclusions on this endorsement before you add it to your policy.

Landlords have plenty to worry about day to day. If you own a rental property, then please make sure that your agent takes the time with you that you need to fully understand and explore all of your options for protection. At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we work hard to help all insurance consumers to be informed insurance buyers. We insure many incidental landlords and have helped people in this position for many years. If we can help you answer your questions regarding homes you rent to others in North Carolina, please feel free to call us toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit our web page for dwelling fire insurance.

Your Life Insurance Premiums – Are You Paying The Salaries of Workers Who Have Already Been Fired?

2011-05-06T09:11:00.000-04:00

Most people who are still paying premiums on older life insurance policies are paying for long gone data entry workers. When I first entered the insurance business, back in the early 80’s, one of the truths that was preached by the older guys was that everyone should purchase as much life insurance as they can afford and do it as soon as possible and then plan to hang on to that policy for the life. The reasons were that you never know when you might die or get sick and become uninsurable of course, but the other reason was because life insurance rates were always going to be more expensive the older you got. This makes good sense, even now, I mean the older you get the more likely you are to die.

But a strange thing occurred in the life insurance industry over the past 30 years that no one ever considered back then. It turns out, that for most people who are in good health; life insurance rates may actually be going down as they get older. Now this seems counterintuitive but there are a couple of reasons for this. I’ll explain them for you

Life insurance rates are driven by lots of things but mostly there are two important factors. The two things that have a huge impact on life insurance rates and which have changed dramatically in the recent past are mortality tables and the expected expenses in the policy. Let’s take a quick look at each of these and how changes in them might now represent a huge opportunity for you save some money on your current life insurance policies.

Life expectancy has been increasing steadily with improving safety, medical technology and patient care and preventative medicine. As this changes, we see corresponding changes in the mortality tables that used to calculate the rates on life insurance policies. But remember, since a life insurance contract by nature is a long term contract, all the calculations have to be done at the beginning of the policy and these remain unchanged over the life of that policy. So, if 15 years ago your life expectancy was 2 years less than it is today, this means that your 15 year old life insurance policy rates are based on old data. A similar new life insurance policy, with rates based on an updated mortality table, would likely cost you less money each year for the same or better protection.

Now let’s look at how technology changes life insurance rates. Thirty years ago, when I first got into the insurance business, life insurance companies employed vast numbers of data entry clerical staff to make calculations and updates on life policies regarding their cash values, surrender values and other features that change over time. Today, those same calculations are done in seconds by computers. Close your eyes for a moment and just envision floor after floor of empty desks and cubicles in the buildings of these large life insurance companies. Yeah, those workers are gone and have been gone for nearly a decade but you are still paying for them. Remember who earlier I explained that life insurance contracts, because of their long term nature, have to include all of the expected expenses from the beginning for the life of the policy. The longer you hang on to these older policies, the more money the life insurance company makes and the more you spend over and above what you might need to spend on a newer, more modern life insurance contract. Makes no sense for you to continue to do this does it?

So what do I see from day to day from my vantage point in this business? Well, usually, people in good health who come to us and want us to update their older life insurance policies end up with several options, all of which are good. In most cases they can reduce or eliminate their life insurance premiums, or keep on paying the same premium but let their new policy build up a much larger cash value. Also, in most cases they can add a long term care rider to a new life insurance policy for free.

The take away message here for you is that if you have a life insurance policy that is 10 or more years old, you really should take 5 minutes of your time and give us a call and let us take a look at your situation. It is unusual when we are unable to provide better coverage at a lower cost. I know that messing with life insurance is boring and paperwork seems like a hassle, but the next time you worry about how much of your money is burning away with these increasing gas prices, I want you to remember this easy way to perhaps put some money back in your pocket. For more help with your life insurance needs, please call Clinard Insurance Group, toll free, at 877-687-7557. Or you can visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com. We will be more than happy to help you figure out if you are still paying the salaries of workers who were fired years ago.

Rental House Insurance – Which Form Is Which

2011-04-21T15:46:00.000-04:00

If you own a rental house, then you probably have an insurance policy covering the house itself. You may have set this up in a hurry when you realized that you were keeping the home instead of selling it as happens to so many accidental landlords, or you may be a landlord with multiple properties with a more measured and considered approach. Either way, one part of the insurance process that you need to take a moment to understand, is which dwelling fire insurance form is covering your rental house property. Too many landlords just assume that the coverage on their rental property is the same as the protection on their homeowners insurance with which they tend to have more familiarity, but this is not true. Dwelling fire insurance for rental property is almost always more restrictive than homeowners insurance so it is important to understand the differences before a claim occurs.

The three different dwelling fire forms most commonly used in North Carolina are called the DP1, DP2 and DP 3 forms. Each successively higher numbered form provides broader coverage in terms of which types of perils are included with DP-1 being the most basic coverage form and DP-3 being the most advanced. You should read your policy carefully to be sure that you have the insurance that you need and want and this blog should help to give you an overview of the different types of forms available in North Carolina. This way, you can begin your discussion with your insurance agent from a semi-informed point of view. Please note that this discussion centers on the perils for each form as regards the dwelling itself and we are not focused here on the perils that may apply to personal property within the house.

Let’s start with the DP-1. After that, each successive form will build on the others so you can get a quick overview of the increasing protection provided by each form. The DP-1 is often referred to as the basic form. This form will provide coverage to your rental property for the following types of perils: Fire or lightning, Internal Explosion, Windstorm or Hail, Explosion, Riot or Civil Commotion, Aircraft Damage, Vehicle Damage, Smoke Damage, and Volcanic Eruption. You may also, for an additional premium, add protection for Vandalism and Malicious Mischief.

Now let’s take a look at the DP-2 form in NC. We can start with all of the perils insured against in the DP-1 form and then add the following additional perils: Damage Caused by Burglars, Falling Objects, Weight of Ice Sleet or Snow, Accidental Discharge or Overflow of Water or Steam, Sudden and Accidental Tearing Apart Cracking, Burning or Bulging, Freezing, and Sudden and Accidental
Damage from Artificially Generated Electrical Current. As you can see, this form has broadened the list of possible perils that may occur to your rental property.

Now, for our discussion of the DP-3 form, we have to take a different approach. The DP-3 form is much closer to the homeowners 3 from that so many people are familiar with in North Carolina. This is because, unlike forms DP-1 and DP-2 which spell out which perils are insured, the DP-3 form says all perils are covered unless they are specifically excluded. This requires you to read the form with a bit more creativity. Now, instead of focusing on the perils covered section of the policy form, you really need to read the exclusions section of the policy language to see what is not covered. You will need to read the form in detail to discover all of the excluded perils, but here is a short list of some of the exclusions: Water Damage, Collapse, Wear and Tear, Smog, War, Nuclear Explosion and many others.

Now that you have a brief overview of the differences in the insured perils in the 3 different NC dwelling fire insurance forms, you can have a better idea of what type of insurance policy you want to purchase for your rental house. The higher the form number, then the broader the coverage will be and of course, the higher the cost of the insurance. Take the time to review the insurance policy on your rental property to be sure that it provides the protection that you want and expect.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we want all insurance buyers to be educated consumers. If we can help you with your rental property insurance policy, please feel free to call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

This article was written from other information and articles which can be found in their entirety at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com. Please check there for more detailed information on this topic.

Need Insurance For Your NC Rent House? – Here Are The Basics

2011-04-07T10:23:00.000-04:00

We see it so often, what I call the accidental landlord. By various means people end up owning a house that they rent to others. I’m fairly sure that most of these accidental landlords would do better to sell out and move on but for various reasons, many prefer to try their hand at this new business that they find themselves thrust into due to divorce, inheritance, declining neighborhood and many other reasons. So if you find yourself with a house you own and can’t or don’t want to sell, then you need to understand the insurance angle of this new house rental business that you have created.

The starting point for this discussion will be an assumption that your rental dwelling is located in North Carolina. The rules and programs will differ from state to state but this discussion will focus on rental houses located in NC.

Most accidental landlords get started by searching out the most obvious insurance need - insurance for the structure itself. The policy that they seek is often referred to as a dwelling fire policy. Start by evaluating your worst case scenario, a total fire loss to the house. Will you build it back? Will you just settle with the bank if there is mortgage? Answering these questions will help you to decide if you want to purchase full replacement protection or just cover the amount that you think the home would be worth. Most dwelling fire policies will also allow for a limit of coverage for the contents in the home. If you are leaving behind your refrigerator, washer, dryer and other items that are not permanently attached to the house itself, you should consider adding a contents limit on your dwelling fire policy to cover losses to these items.

Next you should give consideration to the policy form that you will want to purchase. In NC, most dwelling fire policies are written on the DP-1, DP-2 or DP-3 form. Each higher number form provides coverage for more different types of perils that the form before it. Also, the higher the form number, the higher the cost of the insurance. I will take up a detailed explanation of these different form types in a future blog, so please stay tuned for that information.

Now, take a moment and consider the deductible that you will choose for this policy. The deductible is simply the amount of each loss that you will pay out of your pocket before the insurance kicks in. It is wise here to work carefully with your agent to understand exactly how much money you will save by moving to each higher level of deductible. Then you can pit those savings against the additional amount of money that each higher deductible will require from you in a claim, to determine which best fits your budget.

After the property coverage has been taken care of, you now need to think about the liability coverage for your rental house. You need protection in case someone is injured on your property and you are found to be legally liable for the injuries. You will need to select a limit of liability from those offered by your insurance company. Many companies don’t allow you to add the liability coverage to your dwelling fire policy so you may have to add this protection to your homeowners policy that covers the home where you live. Be very careful here to purchase the highest liability limit that you feel you can afford as this is an area where the amount of maximum loss to you is an unknown number.

Last of all, if you carry an umbrella policy to add higher limits to your home and auto insurance protection, don’t forget to call your agent who handles your umbrella insurance and have them add this rental location to your umbrella policy so that the umbrella protection will cover liability losses at your rental property.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we want all insurance buyers to be informed consumers. We advocate the use of a licensed, independent agent to help you with your insurance questions and decisions. Insurance is too important to be a do it yourself process as so many TV ads would have you think. If we can help you with your auto insurance, your home insurance, or the insurance on your rental properties, please feel free to call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557.

The basic source information for this article can be found in other articles posted at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Workers Compensation Insurance – When It Comes To Claims, Time is Money

2011-03-28T10:01:00.000-04:00

The old adage that time is money is certainly true when it comes to handling workers compensation claims. While the Form 19 claims form no longer states that the claim must be filed within 5 days of the accident or injury occurrence, moving fast on a workers compensation claim has a big impact on the size of the claim and the subsequent loss costs that will affect the employer. If you are an employer with employees and have a workers compensation policy, you should take a little bit of time before a claim happens to discuss with your agent what you will need to do to move the claim forward quickly.

Take a quick look at some insurance industry statistics related to the speed of claims reporting.

Claims reported two weeks after the occurrence had an 18% higher payout than claims reported in the first week.

Claims reported three weeks after the injury had a 47% increase in total loss costs over those reported in the first week.

And to drill down further, claims reported in days 5 through 7 after the occurrence had a larger claim cost than those reported in days 1 through 4.

Claims reported with only a 3 day delay had an increased medical cost of 16% over those reported on the day of the occurrence.

And we can also see this trend in terms of litigation costs associated with late reporting of workers compensation claims. Claims with a only a 3 day delay in reporting have a 50% greater chance of ending up in litigation. And litigation will increase the total costs of the claims and drive up your workers compensation premiums over time. To see how claims costs affect your premiums, click here.

So how does quicker reporting help to reduce the costs of a workers compensation claim? First of all, it allows the insurance company to contact all parties involved more quickly and this reduces the costs and chances of litigation. Once the injured worker has hired an attorney to represent him, then the claims process slows down considerably as the communication process now has another step involved. Quick claim reporting also allows the insurance company to get involved with the injured worker sooner and begin to develop plans to get the injured worker back to work in a shorter time. This not only reduces the costs of your future workers compensation claims, but it also cuts your downtime costs right away.

Last of all, consider that the longer the employee is out of work, the greater the burden on other co- workers in your company. This negative impact can hurt morale and can also lead to a higher risk of injury to the remaining workers on the job. In addition, hiring and training a temporary replacement worker can be very expensive.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC we want all insurance buyers to be informed consumers. Looking only at the policy costs can be a deceiving way to purchase insurance and might leave your company out in the cold. If we can help you with your business insurance, your workers compensation insurance, your general liability insurance, commercial auto insurance or life insurance, please call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

The source information for this article was pulled from other articles that can be found in their entirety at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Does Your Credit Score Match Your Insurance Company’s Appetite?

2011-03-18T08:48:00.001-04:00

There is an awful lot of talk these days about credit scores. You see the ads with the people walking around with a number over their head, indicating their particular credit score. While these ads really have more to do with borrowing money or protecting your credit, a little known fact is that these scores also have a huge impact on your auto insurance policy rates and your home insurance rates.

Now, to clarify, most insurance companies don’t work straight off of your credit score, but rather a more complicated formula that is called your insurance score. They pool data that includes but is not limited to your credit score from database companies like Experian and Equifax. And your insurance score can actually vary from company to company. Add to this the fact that your rates are directly affected by your credit score. Insurance companies now have so many different rating tiers that it is almost as if they have a specific rate for you that is different from the rate that any other customer might receive.

So why is this important? I was recently at an annual meeting for a very large insurance company that specializes in auto insurance and home insurance. One of the graphs that came up on the overhead showed the percentage of policies that they wrote in many different insurance score bands. I guess that is no real surprise, but then they showed which bands of insurance score they wanted to grow in next year. And guess what, it wasn’t the highest score band. Now what that should tell you is that most insurance companies are not just trying to write all the policies they can, far from it. In fact, they are trying to write policies for people who fit their niche in the insurance score universe.

So this got me thinking. If every insurance company has a sweet spot in terms of insurance score, and almost every insurance buyer has his or her own unique insurance score, how in the world can the two match up so that the insurance company gets just the consumer that it is targeting and of course the consumer, by being in that company’s sweet spot, gets the best possible rate? There is no place where people can go and have their insurance score run and then plug those numbers into a data base that sorts them to the best insurance company. So, at best, this is an inexact science. But it does underscore the need for you to have an experienced advocate working for you in the process of buying your auto or your home insurance. And if you use an independent agent, then their access to and experience with the multiple insurance companies that they represent will give you a huge edge over the direct writers who only have access to one insurance company. So, who are the direct writers who are not independent? Well, they will be names that you recognize, State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide, Progressive and Geico. These companies spend a lot of money on TV talking about saving money and low prices, all designed to steer the conversation away from their weak point, the fact that they have only their one product to offer you and thus they minimize your chances of making a good match between your insurance score and your insurance company.

At Clinard Insurance Group, Inc, in Winston Salem, NC, we want insurance consumers to be informed consumers, whether or not they choose to buy from us. We believe the independent agent gives you the best possible chance to purchase the most coverage at the lowest price consistently over the long term. If we can help you with your NC auto insurance or your home insurance, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557, or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

You can read source information for this article among other articles at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Clinard Insurance Group Named Rough Notes E-agency Of The Month February 2011

2011-03-08T11:59:00.000-05:00

In this blog, I usually try to focus on insurance policy and coverage help that will allow insurance consumers out there to become more informed buyers of the insurance product they need. In this article, I want to deviate from that tack just a bit and take a moment to sing the praises of Clinard Insurance Group in particular.

The occasion for this change in approach on this blog is that Clinard Insurance Group, an independent insurance agency in Winston Salem, NC has been named the e-Agency of the month by Rough Notes magazine. Rough Notes is a national insurance industry magazine with over 40,000 subscribers. So this is a big honor and we want to let all of our readers know about it.

The Rough Notes article focuses on our digital marketing efforts in particular but does give a lot of other information about our agency and our more traditional marketing methods as well. This is an important marker for those of you out there considering an agent for your business insurance. The reason this is so, is that we take our digital and traditional marketing expertise and we use it help our business insurance clients grow their businesses as well. We understand that if your business grows, then so does ours. One of the ways you can see us working hard for our clients is through our partners page that is a place where our business clients can offer coupons to the online world to help increase their client base.

If you would like to read the rough notes article and see photos of some of the people behind the scenes at Clinard Insurance Group, just click here. I hope you enjoy this inside look at our agency.

At Clinard Insurance Group we want all insurance consumers to be informed buyers. We work hard to try and disseminate information to the public about insurance issues that affect their lives and their businesses. If we can help you with your home insurance, your auto insurance, your life insurance or business insurance, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com. Also, keep in mind that we also specialize in used car dealer insurance, auto repair and body shop insurance, restaurant insurance, and insurance for small contractors and landscaping companies.

The source information for this article was originally posted to a blog at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com and you can find the full version at that site.

Used Car Dealer Insurance – An Overview

2011-02-22T08:48:00.000-05:00

If you are in the car business, or thinking of getting into the car business, one area in which you will want to develop some expertise is used car dealers insurance. Insurance for a used car dealer is a bit of an unusual animal in the insurance world and there are many agents who don’t fully understand how it works. So how can a non-insurance person get it right? This article will give you the tips you need to get started in this important facet of your business. Note, the information in this article is aimed at NC used car dealer insurance, but most of the basics remain the same in other states as well.

Insurance for a used car dealer is different from a lot of business insurance policies because your inventory moves around. Not only that, your inventory is being driven by customers before they buy and is capable of inflicting huge damages on others. These factors alone make your insurance solution very unique from most other mom and pop businesses out there. So, to keep this simple, we will take these items one at a time and break it down for you.

Garage Liability – This is the place to start. You will need a garage liability policy in order to get your dealer tags. In NC, these policies are rated based on the number of tags you have and the number of salespeople you have. Also, if you furnish a tag to yourself or some other member of your family or an employee, then that will increase your premiums as well. The basic garage liability section of the NC garage insurance policy is designed to protect your business from damages done by your vehicles to other people or their property. Be very careful here to check the limits of liability that you are purchasing on your garage liability coverage. You don’t want to just chase the lowest price without considering your liability limits. The rule of thumb should be to purchase the highest liability limits that you can afford as you are trying to protect against large, unknown loss values that threaten to wipe out your business completely. Also be careful to choose adequate limits for your uninsured motorists and your underinsured motorists coverages.

Dealers Open Lot Coverage – This is protection for your cars themselves, your inventory. Here you need to select a limit that at least covers your highest level of inventory. Also, you should choose the highest deductible that you can afford in the event of a loss. Higher deductibles will reduce the costs of this insurance protection. And, if you work on cars that are owned by others, you need to consider garagekeepers insurance as well. To read more about that situation, see my blog on garagekeepers for car dealers.

Workers Compensation – If you hire employees I highly recommend that you purchase workers compensation insurance. I find that in North Carolina, many dealers skip this coverage when they only have one or two employees. This is a dangerous approach and has the potential to bring your very business down. Please take a moment to read my blog on work comp for car dealers.

Dealer Bond – In NC each car dealer has to post a $50,000 bond with the state of NC in order to obtain and maintain a dealer’s license. You can purchase this bond through your insurance agent. You can read more about this regulatory requirement here.

Property Coverage – If you own your building, or if you have business personal property that you need to protect, be sure to purchase the commercial property insurance to cover these items. Often doing this reduces your garage insurance costs as some companies will give you a multi policy or package discount for combining these policies into one package.

Now that you have a better understanding of which types of policies you should consider, I want to spend a moment on how you should choose your agent. Insurance is a funny business because it is the one business that I can think of where hiring a specialist will generally cost you less money. This is not true of doctors and lawyers of course, the more specialized they are, the more it costs you to hire them. But to add to this oddity, there is also a danger. While most doctors and lawyers will refer you on to a specialist when you are dealing in an area that requires one, few if any insurance agents will refer you to a specialist if they don’t know much about insuring your business. The scary thing here is that they will actually try to help you, and learn on your nickel. This, as you can imagine, can be downright dangerous for the unsuspecting used car dealer. Just because you have a friend or relative in the insurance business, doesn’t mean that they are qualified to help you correctly insure your business. And best of all, insurance agents who specialize in used car dealerships generally have the lowest rates available to you.

When selecting your agent, do a little homework. Google their name with the words car dealer insurance. Do they appear active in this niche business? Do they seem to understand exactly how to insure used car lots? When you talk to them, ask them how many dealers like you they insure now. If they don’t insure at least 25 or more, you can bet they aren’t specialists. If you find one that insures hundreds, then you have probably found the guys with the knowledge and the rates to really help you get the best deal at the best price.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we insure over 300 car dealers across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia. We want our dealer clients to be informed insurance consumers and to protect their businesses in a careful and considered way. If we can help you with any of your questions, please feel free to call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.theautodealershelper.com.

You can read the source article and others from which this article was created by visiting the Clinard Insurance Group Blog at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Electrician Insurance – A Quick How To

2011-02-15T09:24:00.000-05:00

If you are thinking of starting your own electrical contractor business, or if you are planning to grow your existing one, you must become fluent in insurance speak and understand just how to piece together the insurance puzzle for your own specific company. Electricians face some unique insurance issues, so here is a basic primer on the types of insurance policies that you should consider for your electrician insurance program.

This guide should serve as an introductory overview of insurance options for an electrical contractor. For more detailed information on any of these policies or coverage types, please contact our office and we will be happy to give you more one on one personal help.

Liability Insurance – If you have been an electrician for any amount of time, you have probably encountered the need for a certificate of insurance. If you don’t know it already, you will soon find that you will have customers who will require that you prove to them that you have liability insurance on your electrical contractor business. This is the most obvious coverage type and it is usually the first one that electricians think to purchase. This is designed to provide you with protection for losses that you cause in the operation of your business for which you are legally obligated to pay.

Workers Compensation Insurance – Too many electricians, particularly smaller operations want to skip over this policy and not buy it at all. What drives this thinking is the NC law that says you don’t have to purchase a workers compensation policy if you have 3 or less employees. But what people fail to realize is that if you don’t purchase a policy, then your company is on the hook for paying all claims as though you were the workers compensation insurance company. Don’t skip this coverage, one bad accident could put you out of business and ruin all that you have worked so hard for. For more information on workers compensation in general, you can visit the website for the NC Industrial Commission.

Equipment Coverage – This protection comes in two types. Coverage for your equipment and coverage for hand tools. We rarely see a strong need for equipment coverage among electricians, but don’t let this fact lead you to forget to insure your hand tools and small equipment if losing those items would jeopardize your ability to stay in business. Often this coverage can be added for a small limit of coverage to your general liability policy for very little money per year.

Business Auto Insurance – Quite often, one of the first things an electrician does after starting up his or her business, is to title one or more personal vehicles in the company name. There are often nice tax advantages to this but if you do so, don’t forget that you will need the insurance policy to be titled the same way. This means you will need a business auto insurance policy. One quick tip, if all of the vehicles that you own are listed on your commercial auto policy and you don’t have a personal auto policy in your name, then you are vulnerable to a gap in coverage I call the DOC gap. To learn an inexpensive and easy way to protect yourself from this gap, read my blog on DOC for electricians.

Disability Insurance – What happens if you become injured and can’t work? Who will do the work and who will run your business? Disability insurance is a good solution for you to solve this problem. Most electricians don’t remember to cover this exposure and the failure to do so have run a few out of business.

It’s clear that buying insurance for your electrical company is a complicated and specialized process. You need an agent who specializes in electrician’s insurance, and one who can help you navigate the maze of policies and underwriting rules. At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping all kinds of electricians with their electrician insurance policies all over North Carolina. We can help you develop a plan that protects your business and saves you money on your electrical contractor insurance policies. If you own an electrician business in NC, then you owe it to yourself to call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at www.LowRatesForElectricians.com and we will be happy to help you.

The source information for this article can be found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Painters Workers Compensation Insurance – How To File A Workers Compensation Claim

2011-02-07T11:31:00.000-05:00

If you are a NC painting contractor with any employees at all, there is no question that you should purchase a workers compensation policy. If you don’t and you are paying someone to work for you, whether you consider them a subcontractor or not, then you shouldn’t go a day more without a policy. To learn more about the NC rules on who must buy a policy and who can go bare, click here. But assuming you already have a workers compensation policy, how exactly do you file a claim?

Filing a workers compensation claim is really pretty simple. You should be sure to move quickly and file the claim as soon as possible after the employee is injured. In NC the claim form states that you must file the claim within 5 days of the injury. So, to file the claim you must complete a Form 19 claim form and mail, fax, or email it to your insurance company claims department. The Form 19 is a standardized claim form to be used for all workers compensation claims in North Carolina. The reason for this is that the policy and claims payments are all overseen by the NC Industrial Commission.

If you don’t have a form 19 on hand, check your policy as most insurance companies will insert a few blank ones in the policy that they send to you. It’s ok to make copies of this form when you run out. You can also get one in pdf form from the NC Industrial Commission website.

The Form 19 will ask for contact information for you and for your injured employee. They will also need to know the details of the injury, how and when and where it occurred. This information usually comes from the injured employee’s supervisor. Also, you will need to fill in the occupation of injured person and information about how many hours they work each week and what their wagers are per hour and per day. This information will help settle the disability portion of the claim.

The rules require that you provide a copy of the completed Form 19 to the injured employee or the employee’s representative (read lawyer) at the same time that the Form 19 is submitted to the insurance company. Last of all, you must give your injured employee a blank Form 18 which is a form they can use should they wish to contest the claim settlement. You can obtain blank Form 18 copies the same way you got the form 19, by clicking here, or you may call the NC Industrial Commission at 800-688-8349.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we work hard to help our clients be informed insurance consumers. As a painting contractor it is important for you to know in advance just how to properly file a workers compensation claim. Trying to figure all of this out after an employee is injured will just slow things down for you and downtime can only cost your company money.

Should you need help with your painters insurance policies, from workers compensation to your general liability, commercial auto and equipment insurance, please consider us as we specialize in insuring painting companies of all types and sizes all across North Carolina and South Carolina. We can put our extensive knowledge to work for you with one quick phone call. Call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at www.LowRatesForPainters.com.

The source information for this article was pulled from articles which can be found in their entirety at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Clinard Insurance Donates $690 to Local Charities

2011-01-28T10:27:00.002-05:00

Thanks to the help of the Clinard Insurance Group family of customers, we were able to donate $690 to local nonprofit groups in January of 2011. This is possible through our referral rewards program which designates a $5 charitable donation for each and every referral that we receive throughout the year each year.

Here’s a quick overview of how our Referral Rewards program works. Any time that we receive a quote request that was referred to our agency we do 4 things. First of all, we send a $5 treat gift card to the referring client, just as a way of saying thanks. These cards are from Wendy’s, Starbucks, Krispy Kreme and various other places. Next we put the referring client’s name in our monthly drawing for a $50 gift card to the restaurant of their choice. We also put their name in the hat for a chance to win $1000. The winner of that drawing is announced in early December each year. Last of all, we donate $5 to a local charity. Our customers can vote on their favorite charity by calling us, or by completing the form online here.

So this year we had $690 to give away and we delivered that to the following three local nonprofits:

Sunnyside Ministries – This organization is engaged in providing emergency help to families in South Central Forsyth County and Northern Davidson County who are in need of help due to financial crises.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC – This organization collects perfectly edible food that might otherwise end up in a garbage dump and they then distribute this food to those in need across an 18 county area.

Crisis Control Ministry – This organization is engaged in helping people in crisis to meet essential life needs and to become self sufficient.

Each of these groups received a check for $230 thanks to the generous referrals of our clients in 2010. To watch a video of Gina Carlson delivering these checks, please click here.

For 2011, we are going to do it all over again. Your referrals not only help Clinard Insurance Group, but they work directly to help promote and support some of the many fine nonprofit organizations that are right here in NC. We thank all of you who referred your friends and family to us last year and we hope that many more of you will refer your friends and family to us in 2011. Thanks for your support.

The source information for this blog was taken from other articles which can be found in their entirety at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Workers Compensation Insurance – What About Your Safety Program

2011-01-11T11:43:00.000-05:00

Workers compensation insurance for many industries, especially those in construction such as painting contractors, HVAC companies, electricians, landscapers and plumbers just to name a few, can be a huge piece of the insurance budget. In addition, with workers compensation insurance in NC, your policy is experience rated, which means your losses follow you around for years and add to the cost of your particular policy. So why don’t more contractors embrace safety training?

The answer of course is complicated but one of the biggest reason you see so little safety training in the small contractor’s world is that either the contractor doesn’t understand how much it can impact his bottom line, or if he does, he just doesn’t know where to start. This is where company selection can be crucial to the small contractor. There are some companies out there that specialize in workers compensation insurance and don’t deal in any other types of policies. One of the advantages of using these types of companies is that often they will provide you with lots of safety training tools for free.

These tools can range from helping you meet posting requirements in your shop to advice and help with safety services and even helping you develop and create a true, on the job safety training program for all of your employees. One example of a company that does this very well is Summit Insurance. Take a quick look at the offerings that they have on their web site by clicking here. You can see that they are fully engaged with their clients to help them find ways to reduce accidents and downtime associated with injuries.

Let’s face it, when you have a workers comp claim it will cost you money on your policy eventually. But more importantly, think of the immediate costs of stopping work to get your injured employee to the doctor and the downtime associated with waiting on an employee to get back to work. A large percent of accidents that occur on construction sites are preventable with better education and better rules enforcement. If you are already spending money on a work comp policy, you should ask yourself what your insurance company is doing to help you reduce and prevent accidents. Remember, there is much more to the workers compensation policy than just the rate, or the bottom line price. As you can see, there are huge hidden costs in the process and you need to hire a workers comp company that will help you manage those huge hidden costs.

Clinard Insurance Group is a NC insurance agent who specializes in helping small contractors and construction trades all across North Carolina. We understand your difficulties and we speak your language. We have developed specialty programs for all different types of small contractor groups including a landscapers insurance program, and electricians’ insurance program, a special insurance program for painters, an HVAC insurance program, a plumbers insurance program and many others. If you need help with your business insurance, please call us toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.thecontractorshelper.com.

This article was pulled and written from source information, all of which may be found in its entirety at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

North Carolina Auto Insurance – Here’s a Nice Add-On

2011-01-03T08:27:00.000-05:00

Your North Carolina auto insurance policy is pretty much regulated by the NC Department of Insurance. They regulate the rates and the policy language as well. As such, the policy language is the same from one insurance company to the next. But, within that framework, you can find groupings of coverages or special endorsements that add protection or extend protection to your policy that are created or packaged together by a specific insurance company.

A good example of this type of coverage diversification is the add-on coverage that State Auto Insurance Company has available for its auto insurance customers. Let’s take a quick look at this special endorsement.

This endorsement adds some protections that are not automatically included in your NC auto insurance policy.

Rented Vehicle Coverage – provides physical damages protection (comprehensive and collision coverages) and related expense for rented vehicles.

Emergency Travel Expense – If you are over 50 miles from home then they provide up to $600 for travel expenses such as lodging, meals and transportation back to your residence if your vehicle sustains a covered loss.

Pet Coverage – Here’s an unusual item. State Auto will provide up to $500 coverage if you pet is injured or killed while riding with you in your covered auto.

Additional Transportation Expense – Provides an additional $10 per day for replacement vehicle over the limit already provided by your transportation expense endorsement if you have that on your policy.

Cellular Phone Coverage – Covers loss to your cell phone with no deductible regardless of location.

GPS Coverage – Pays up to $500 for loss to your GPS system in your car.

Locksmith Services – Provides Electronic Key Replacement up to $250 per incident.

Death Indemnity – Subject to a maximum of $10,000 per person and $20,000 per incident, but if the person is wearing a properly fastened, factory installed seat belt, the limit is increase to $25,000 per person and $50,000 per incident.

Of course, the above description is for informational purposes only. You should actually take the time to read and understand this endorsement carefully should you choose to purchase it. But it is important to understand that there are many types of extra coverage endorsements out there that can add or extend the coverage of your NC personal auto insurance policy. You should take a moment to check them out carefully to see if any of them fit your needs and your budget.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we want all insurance buyers to be informed consumers. If we can help you with your auto insurance, your home insurance, your business insurance or even your life insurance or retirement accounts, please call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

You can find the basic source information for this article at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

I’ve Been Robbed – Now What Do I Do?

2010-12-20T13:57:00.000-05:00

For most people, their home is their sanctuary. According to the Department of Justice, about 9.5% of homes in the US are broken into by thieves each year. Discovering that a thief has broken in and stolen from you can be very upsetting. Most people make the first call to the police. The second call should be to your insurance agent. This blog will discuss what you the claims process on your homeowners insurance should be like after a theft claim.

When you call your agent to file the claim, they may transfer you to the company claims department or they may take the claim information directly for you. Either way should be fine, we give our customers the choice. Generally speaking, if a company has a claim number that you can call, then your claim should proceed a bit faster as the agent will simply have to turn around and file the claim by fax, email or some other electronic system to the company claims department.

Here is a list of the information that your agent or claims processor will need from you.

· When did the loss occur?

· How did the thieves get into your home?

· Is your home currently secured?

· If not, what are you doing to secure the home now?

· What items were stolen?

· What authority or police department did you contact and have they made a report?

· What is the police report number?

· Did the police come out to the scene?

· What phone numbers are best for the company to contact you?

Ok, so what should you expect next? Well, you should expect that a claims adjuster will come out to your home and inspect the premises to better understand the claim. This is normal and your cooperation here will speed up the process. Also, the adjuster will want to take a recorded statement from you. This too is normal and to be expected as the claims adjuster needs to have a complete understanding, from your point of view, about exactly what happened at your home.

The insurance adjuster, and very often the police department, will require that you complete an inventory of the personal property that was stolen. This may seem difficult to do and you may need to amend this list as time goes on and you discover more items that are missing. One thing you can do in now, before you have a loss, is walk around your home with a video camera, opening cabinet doors and drawers and talking to the camera describing the property and when you got it and what you may have paid for it. This video can be very helpful later for remembering what you had so that you can better determine what might be missing.

Most homeowner policies have an endorsement providing replacement cost protection for the personal property that is covered. People are often surprised to learn that in most states this endorsement to the policy will not pay the replacement value unless and until you have actually replaced the item. Until you replace the item, the company will only pay the actual cash value which is determined by subtracting the depreciation for the age of the item from the replacement cost of the item. Knowing in advance how the replacement cost provision works for your personal property on your homeowners insurance can help you plan ahead.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we want all insurance consumers to be informed buyers. If we can help you with your auto insurance, your home insurance or your life insurance or retirement planning, please feel free to call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

Data Compromise Coverage – Does Your Business Have This Protection?

2010-12-13T09:06:00.000-05:00

All businesses, from restaurants to landscapers to car dealers, collect some data about other people. This data collection is personally indentifying information from employees, customers or even suppliers and vendors. Right now, there are laws in place in 47 states that govern when and how a business must respond to a potential data compromise. There are also federal laws such as the recently enacted FACTA and Red Flag laws. In addition, it is estimated that the average cost of repairing a data compromise is currently $203 per compromised client. With the number of clients, employees and vendors that a business has, it becomes imperative that each business owner understand and give some consideration to data compromise insurance.

Despite your best efforts to protect the data that you collect, data compromises can happen in 4 different ways. There are electronic compromises where your electronic files are hacked, phished or pharmed. Your data is also vulnerable to physical compromise which includes theft of physical files or a device which contains personally indentifying information such as a laptop or backup drive or a computerized cash register. Also, your data is vulnerable to procedural compromise where someone in your organization makes a procedural mistake. Examples of this could be mistakenly posting personally indentifying information on the internet or perhaps accidentally including the social security number on a mailing label. Last of all your data is vulnerable to fraud related compromise where a sham third party company may purchase your data under fraudulent pretenses.

So what is this data compromise insurance? Well, this protection is a relatively new form of coverage and is usually simply added to an existing businessowners insurance policy. The coverage forms will vary greatly from company to company so you should read the form carefully to be sure that you know what you are purchasing. One important point: Most of these coverage forms will only pay for damages if the personally indentifying information is information that is not already public knowledge. If the only information compromised is the name and address or phone numbers, then the protection will typically not apply.

Also, while coverage forms do vary, generally this protection will pay for one of more of the following three things:

Legal and Forensic Technology Review – Provides professional legal advice as to what is required to respond to a suspected data breach. This can include the cost of the attorney as well as the cost of the computer experts to find out what was lost and how to protect data in the future.

Notification to affected individuals – Reimburses you for your expenses of notifying the people whose data has been compromised.

Service to affected individuals – This coverage is to help the affected individuals repair their credit of take necessary steps to fix any problems that were created for them when your business experienced a data compromising event.

There are several things to consider when purchasing this protection. Always check to see if this extra protection has its own limit of liability that is different from the businessowners general liability policy limit. This is usually the case. Next, check to see if this coverage form has a different deductible than your businessowners policy. Last of all, check to see if this is a claims made type policy form or an occurrence based policy form.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we work hard to help all insurance buyers become better informed consumers. If we can help you with your business insurance, please call us, toll free, 877-687-7557 or visit us online at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

The source information for this article was pulled from other articles which can be found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Painting Contractor’s Insurance – Don’t Forget The Workers Compensation Policy

2010-11-30T09:34:00.000-05:00

NC Painter’s insurance plans can be found in many different forms. One coverage that every painting company with employees should have is workers compensation. In North Carolina, the law states that if you have fewer than 3 employees you don’t have to purchase workers compensation insurance. But what this rule doesn’t tell you is that not buying a policy could wipe you out.

In NC, the workers compensation rules and regulations are controlled by the NC Rate Bureau. And the rules do give you an out when it comes to buying a workers compensation insurance policy if you have less than 3 employees. In fact, there are no real teeth in the law that will catch and find employers who have 3 or more employees who also don’t purchase a workers compensation insurance policy. So, yeah, you could go years without purchasing a workers compensation policy for your painting business. But that would be a very dangerous choice. Here’s why:

Although the law may not require that you actually purchase a workers compensation insurance policy, it will require that you pay all of the claims yourself just as if you were the insurance company. Workers compensation benefits in North Carolina are statutory and claims are governed by the NC Industrial Commission. That means that exactly how much gets paid for each type of illness or injury has already been determined by state law. Therefore, if you are paying out of your own pocket for a claim, you will not have the opportunity to determine how much you are going to pay. And in the case of a long term disability the amount you might have to pay out is staggering.

So, using the loophole in the law to avoid buying a workers compensation policy only gets you out of paying the policy premium. In fact, it puts you in the unenviable position of being the insurance company and on the hook for all claims. And these claim costs can be enormous. Imagine coming up with $100,000 to pay for injuries that resulted in permanent disability, then paying disability payments for years after that for one of your employees. Pretty scary huh? So even if work comp insurance seems expensive, you should realize that purchasing it is a no brainer because going bare means you are pretending to have the assets of an insurance company. For most painters, that just isn’t the case.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping painters with their insurance needs. If you have any questions about your general liability insurance, your workers compensation insurance, your business auto insurance or any other insurance policies, please call us toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.LowRatesForPainters.com.

The source information for this blog can be found in articles located at the blog found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Safety Tip - How To Extinguish a Grease Fire In Your Kitchen

2010-11-16T13:12:00.000-05:00

As an insurance agent working directly with customers to help them with their home insurance and auto insurance, I see lots of accidents that turn into insurance claims. The most common type of kitchen fire that I see in this business is the fire that is started by grease catching on fire in a pan on the stove. The danger of this kind of fire is often exacerbated by the way people attempt to put it out. This blog will show you a safety tip that you should share with all of your friends and relatives. This knowledge could save a life or at the very least, might save a kitchen or a home from total destruction.

Grease fires are a special type of problem. And the ways in which you approach this fire can make the difference between a small isolated event in your kitchen and the loss of your home and your personal possessions. If you throw water onto a grease fire, the water, which is heavier than the oil, will sink to the bottom, then become superheated and the steam will push its way up and out of the pan. The force of this kind of explosion can be quite stunning and worst of all, this explosion will smear burning oil all over the kitchen from the ceiling to the walls. After this has happened, the best course of action would be to get out of the house and call the fire department.

Often people unknowingly spread misinformation about how to put out a grease fire. These include throwing flour or sugar on a grease fire in a pan. Both of these are very dangerous strategies, in fact it is estimated that throwing one cup of flour or sugar on a burning grease fire in a pan can create an explosion with the force of up to two sticks of dynamite.

Fortunately, there is a simple and low tech solution for putting out this type of fire.

Step 1 – Turn off the heat on the burner.

Step 2 – Rinse a dish towel fully in water and then wring it out.

Step 3 – Carefully place the wet dishtowel over the burning pan of grease and wait for it to cool down.

I have found a short video on youtube that you can watch to see a demonstration of this technique. Please take 30 seconds to watch this short video and then teach this to your children and those you love. This knowledge could save the life of someone you love. To see this 30 second video, please click here.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we want all insurance consumers to be informed buyers. But beyond that, we want people to have the safety knowledge that can save lives in an emergency situation. If we can help you with your auto insurance, your home insurance, or your business insurance or life insurance, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

Source data for this article was pulled from other articles which can be found online by visiting www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Warning – Before You Shop Your NC Auto Insurance Around…..

2010-11-05T09:20:00.000-04:00

We see so many ads on TV today exhorting us to call the 800 number and get an auto insurance quote. Save money they all say. But it’s what they aren’t saying that should be screaming the loudest in your ears. Because what they aren’t saying should warn you not to call them.

Ok, so what is it they are leaving out of the call me now messages? In short, you don’t hear them asking you to call them to save money on your homeowners insurance. And if you live in NC, that is an important distinction. Because in NC, you see, insurance companies are pretty reluctant to write homeowners insurance due to the way the legislature has preloaded the system to protect those with beach properties at the expense of everyone else. If want to read about how this problem developed, please read my blogs on the homeowners insurance crisis Part I and Part II. To better understand how it all turned out, read my blog on house bill 1305. The bill passed by the way.

So what does this mean for you? Well, I can tell you that when someone calls our office and wants us to quote or write only their home insurance, we are left with a diminished marketplace for their protection. Most insurance companies in NC will now not write a homeowners policy without the auto insurance policy to support it. Of course, those that have just their home insurance in place with an insurance company are pretty safe for now. I have not heard of many cases of mass cancellations of standalone homeowners policies in NC at this time. But there has been some activity that comes in the form of consent to rate letters. To learn more about that, read my blog on consent to rate letters in NC.

So this diminished marketplace means higher rates on homeowners policies that are being moved around without the auto policy for support. So, if you take the advice of the ads on TV, and move your auto insurance to a new company to save money, the homeowners policy that you now leave behind, unsupported by your auto policy, might be non renewed at the end of the policy term or you may see dramatically higher rates on that policy at the next renewal.

The hard market for homeowners insurance in our state means that you as an insurance consumer must play your cards carefully when making changes. If your home and auto insurance are with the same company now, then you should be careful to keep these policies together until the homeowners insurance market in NC softens. Separating them can end up costing you a lot more money and grief over time. And it’s not likely that the auto insurance company that is screaming for you to save money on your auto insurance by calling them is going to let you in on that secret. For the most part they would love to take your very profitable (for them) auto insurance and leave behind your more problematic homeowners insurance.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we take pride in working hard to help every insurance buyer become a better informed consumer. We still have open markets for standalone homeowners insurance but they are closing up over time as the market continues to harden in this area. If you need help with your home insurance, your auto insurance, your business insurance or even your life insurance, I hope you will feel free to call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

Source data for this article was pulled from other articles which can be found in their entirety at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

NC Work Comp Insurance – Not All Rates Are Created Equal

2010-10-28T15:25:00.001-04:00

If you have a business with employees in NC, then chances are you are have at least a passing familiarity with work comp insurance and how it is set up. In my conversations with lots of different types of business owners all across North Carolina, I have found that many wrongly assume that workers compensation rates are the same from one company to the next. Nothing could be further from the truth. This article will go over the rating process and how the rates are established and what this means for you, the business owner and insurance consumer.

Let’s start with the easy part, the policy coverage itself. In NC, all workers compensation policies have the same coverage form. The coverage is statutory, which means that it follows the current NC workers compensation statutes. Therefore, with the exception of a few items, all policies are basically the same. The rates however, are not the same.

Each insurance company has to file their rates with the NC Rate Bureau for each different classification of labor that they write. And while company A may love to insure landscapers and their rate would reflect that, company B may not want to write this class of business, so their rates might be higher for that classification.

So what does this mean for you? Well, if you own a business in NC and are buying workers compensation insurance, then you should take some time to understand the marketplace and make sure that you have purchased your coverage from a company that is eager to write your business and has the rates to reflect that eagerness. Also, in the past it may have been wise to always place your workers compensation insurance with the same company that handles your general liability insurance, your business auto insurance or your commercial property insurance. The workers compensation marketplace in North Carolina has changed quite a bit over the past 15 years and now there are many insurance companies out there that write only workers compensation insurance. We call these monoline work comp companies and they are a good choice for lots of NC business owners because the are not only able to offer very competitive rates on the classes of business that they want to write, but also, they often have loss control and back to work programs that are more effective and more helpful to small businesses.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping small businesses all across NC with their workers compensation insurance policies. We have created special insurance programs for plumbers insurance, HVAC insurance, carpenters insurance, painters insurance, restaurant insurance, floor and tile installers’ insurance, landscapers insurance and electricians insurance. If you need help with your workers compensation insurance or any other insurance policies, please feel free to call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

The source information for this article was pulled from other articles which can be found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Same Sex Couples and Unmarried Couples Auto Insurance in NC

2010-10-13T10:00:00.000-04:00

North Carolina law and the NC auto insurance policy language regulated by the NC Department of Insurance, requires that the named insured on the policy be the same as the name on the title of the vehicles insured on that auto insurance policy. This particular law creates an unfair advantage for those in a legal marriage over those in a committed relationship that is not recognized as a marriage by the laws of their state. This article will tell you how to overcome this disadvantage and allow those who are in committed relationships to obtain the same discounts as married couples.

First of all, let’s discuss what that unfair advantage is that married couples have over all other couples in committed relationships. In NC, if you have more than one vehicle on your policy, then you are entitled to a discount which is called the multi car discount. This discount is substantial, ranging from 15 TO 20 percent.

If you are in a committed, long term relationship with another person, and you both have cars in your own names, then in most cases in North Carolina, you will have to purchase 2 different auto insurance policies and because of this, you will miss out on the multi car discount. In addition, if you purchase a home together and want to apply the multi policy discount to your homeowners and your auto insurance policies, which will be another 10 to 20%, you will probably only be allowed to apply that to one of your two auto policies.

This position is inherently unfair but times are changing. At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we have found several insurance companies that will allow us to apply the multi car and the multi policy discounts to both auto policies, thereby obviating this inequity. If you are in a committed, long term relationship with another person, be it same sex, or opposite sex, you owe it to yourself to investigate your situation and do what it takes to beat this price discrimination. The easiest way to do this is to give us a call, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit our web site at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

The source information for this article can be found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Replacement Cost Protection - Is It Missing In Your Insurance Policies?

2010-10-06T09:47:00.000-04:00

Almost any type of insurance policy that you purchase that has a property insurance element will either include or exclude replacement cost coverage. This article helps you understand what it is and isn’t and where you may want to double check to be sure it is there for you when you need it.

Let’s start with a definition of replacement cost coverage. This is essentially a valuation clause that determines how your lost or damaged property will be covered under your insurance policy. The common choices are either replacement cost or actual cash value. There is also a functional replacement cost coverage but it is rarely used. For more information about functional replacement cost, please click here. Replacement cost is usually defined as the cost to replace the lost or destroyed item with a new one of like value and construction. For example, if lightning ran in on your 45 inch flat screen television, and you had replacement cost coverage on the contents on your homeowners insurance policy, then the replacement value would be what it would cost to purchase a brand new 45 inch flat screen TV. When policies don’t carry replacement cost protection, then the claim is usually settled using the actual cash value of the damaged or lost item. Actual cash value is usually defined as the replacement cost of the item minus any depreciation based on the age and past use of that item.

It is important that you take the time to review your insurance policies that include coverage for property to determine if you have bought replacement cost coverage or actual cash value (ACV) coverage. The difference in the size of the claim check that you will receive after a loss can vary a great deal, depending on which of these you chose. Most homeowners policies provide replacement cost coverage on your home automatically and allow you to choose RC or ACV coverage on your contents. There may be an additional charge for the RC coverage. Business property insurance policies rarely charge extra for replacement coverage, you just need to be sure that you are carrying high enough insurance limits to avoid any coinsurance penalties that might result from your policy form.

One oddball policy when it comes to RC versus ACV coverage is the auto insurance policy. If you carry collision coverage on your auto insurance, then you might have an opportunity to purchase replacement cost coverage on your newer vehicles. This form often allows you to replace your old, totaled vehicle with a brand new one even if the wrecked car is up to 5 years old. For more information about replacement cost coverage on the personal auto insurance policy, read my blog on that topic by clicking here.

If you are unsure about where you do and don’t have replacement cost coverage on your insurance policies, please take a moment and pick up the phone and call your agent. This could make a huge difference in the amount you might receive after a large loss and it is always easier if your expectations more nearly match what will really happen if and when you have a large property claim.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we strive to help all insurance buyers become more informed consumers. If we can help you with your auto insurance, your home insurance, your business insurance or even your life insurance, please feel free to call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

You can find the source article for this document at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Social Media Becomes a Tool In The Fight To Reduce Insurance Fraud

2010-09-20T10:21:00.000-04:00

A young man brags on facebook about sinking his car in a lake before he reported it stolen. A carpentry company creates a promotional video for youtube which shows their workers installing roofing material. Another youtube video shows people ramming a van into a tree over and over again. You can even view some stage accident videos by NICB here. For some reason, people just don’t think that social media is a tool that insurance claims adjusters can use.

Studies indicate that at least 10% and perhaps more of all property and casualty insurance claims are fraudulent. The National Insurance Crime Bureau estimates that workers compensation fraud alone costs as much as $5 billion per year. This cost is added into so many of the products that you and I purchase every day. But fraud has a new enemy now and it is called Social Media. The social media sites like youtube, twitter, facebook and others are a great place for claims adjusters to spend time checking up on their claimants. And underwriters use them as well. In the case of the carpenter showing his employees working on a roof, he now has some explaining to do to his underwriter since he signed an application indicating that he does not engage in any roofing activities.

It is surprising how people are willing to incriminate themselves on these social media sites. Underwriters are now better able to identify the types of customers who are prone to fraud by studying their social media and internet footprints before they agree to write a policy for them. And of course today’s claims adjuster is finding the social media universe to be easy pickings for proving fraudulent behavior on some claims.

Over time, the fraudsters out there will be a bit smarter and in truth, social media is not the place to catch the real professional crook. But it is having an impact on helping to keep your insurance rates just a bit lower over the near term.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we work hard to help insurance consumers out there become better informed buyers. If we can help you with your home insurance, your auto insurance, your business insurance or even your life insurance, I hope you will call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

The source information for this article was pulled from other articles which can be found in their entirety at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Crash Taxes – They Could Make You A Double Victim

2010-09-10T09:55:00.000-04:00

Imagine you are cruising on the interstate in a driving rain and you lose control of your car and slide into the guardrail. Thankfully you are ok and you don’t feel any pains as you get out of your car to see the new shape you created out of your front bumper. A passing motorist sees your accident and dials 911 as he drives on through the rain. 5 minutes later a police car, a fire truck and an ambulance arrive to check on you. 3 weeks later you receive bills from each of these organizations for their time and trouble checking on you. You turn in the $2763 in emergency response bills to your auto insurance company and they decline to pay them. Welcome to the brave new world of crash taxes.

Crash taxes have been on the books of many local governments for years but until this recent economic downturn, they have not been used. Now we are seeing a trend sweeping our country to apply these charges for emergency responders to those involved in the accident. While there are some creditable arguments in favor of crash taxes, I see more running against.

First of all, let’s start with who pays. In most cases your auto insurance is not going to pay for these crash taxes. That could leave you holding the bag and if you don’t pay you can damage your credit or possibly even face misdemeanor charges. If we do choose to have our insurance companies cover these costs, then the costs of insurance will go up and we will have just one more expense being paid by an entity with little control over the costs that go into this expense.

Another possible problem with this approach is that some people may become reluctant to call for emergency services if they know they will have to pay for them. This failure to call or even a delay in calling may cost us dearly in lives lost as well as property damaged, the latter especially in the case of chemical spills on our highways.

I also have a fundamental problem with this approach in that some cities are amending their program to only charge the out of state, at fault parties. While this is politically expedient for the local politicians, it has a ring of unfairness to it and leads to a lot of uncertainty for travelers as they leave their home territories.

Last of all, is the idea that local taxes already go to pay for these services and those are controlled, if distantly by the voters in that area. Why should they be charged again?

Currently, 10 states have banned crash taxes, so you can travel safely in them. They are: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Tennesee.

So, what should you do if you get billed for an accident response of some sort after an accident? First of all, contact your insurance agent and forward on the bill to determine if there will be coverage for the charges. Then get a copy of the police report detailing what medical assistance was actually provided. Last of all, if your insurance company declines to pay for these charges (and in most cases they will), check with an attorney to understand what criminal liability you may incur should you decide not to pay the bill yourself.

My sense is that crash taxes are generally going to be disliked by most of the public. This will probably mean that they don’t last long and of course if the economy gets better they should go away. A rising tide floats all boats after all. In the meantime, as you travel, be aware that this trend could catch you in its trap.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we work hard to help our clients become informed insurance consumers. Knowing about crash taxes before you get a bill in the mail is just one small example of our knowledge outreach program. If you need help with your NC auto insurance policy, your NC home insurance policy or even your personal umbrella or life insurance, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

The source information for this article was pulled from articles which can be found in their entirety at www.insuranceanswerguy.com.

Workers Comp Back To Work Issues – Avoid These Common Mistakes

2010-09-02T10:12:00.000-04:00

Workers compensation insurance is a necessary evil for most employers. How you handle on the job injuries and more importantly how you handle the out of work situations that you will face with your employees will go a long way toward impacting your future workers compensation costs. Read below to see some common mistakes that some employers make in this regard and what you can do as an employer to avoid these mistakes and minimize your future workers compensations costs.

The first step towards understanding back to work issues is to understand why it is important for you to be involved. Some employers take the attitude that the claim has been filed and it is the insurance company’s money now so why worry about it. This belief couldn’t be farther from the truth. This is in fact your money as your future rates are determined by today’s claims experience. And to make matters worse, you will pay over a 3 year period for any one year’s mistakes to the impact is essentially tripled. Click here to read my blog about the workers compensation experience modification factor and how it affects your bottom line now and in the future. Now bear in mind that workers compensation rules are different for every state but this is a guideline that can help you avoid some common errors that employers often make.

Mistake #1 – The Economy is bad and I can’t afford to keep employees on the job who are not able to do the job. Actually, you can’t afford not to. Remember, if you are not able to make an offer of light work to an injured employee then your employee will likely continue to receive a good part of their salary as work comp benefits from your insurance company while contributing nothing to your company. Other employees will have to pick up the slack or you may have to hire and train new workers. Research shows that healing happens faster for employees who are productive and that a transitional duty program can get them back to work quicker and save you more money in the long run.

Mistake #2 – My injured employee wasn’t all that productive before the injury so I’d rather not keep him on with light duty now that he is injured. Don’t fall into this trap. Dealing with non-productive employees is a human resource issue, not a workers compensation issue. You should always deal with this type of problem through your HR department. Also, a less productive employee is more likely to take a case through the long and costly workers compensation legal system. Get them healthy and back to work first, and then deal with their lack of productivity.

Mistake #3 – I don’t think my employee is hurt as bad as he says, in fact I saw him out fishing last week. This is an example where the insurance company you choose can help or hurt you. You are often best served by a dedicated workers compensation company with a structured back to work program. One of the insurance companies that we use, Summit Insurance Group, has a back to work tool kit and structured back to work program to help you as an employer get your injured employees back to work and off the work comp rocking chair paycheck as quickly as possible. This is not something you should tackle on your own and you need an insurance company that is dedicated to this process so that your premiums stay low in the future.

Mistake (Concern type) #4 - My employees doctor says she should stay at home but she just has a desk job. You should work with your claim adjuster and your employee to make sure that the doctor has a clear understanding of the job requirements to see if the person really must be written out of work. Constant and clear communications between you, the employee, the doctor and the claims department can help you resolve these issues and some job modifications may make it possible to get your employee back to work sooner. Remember to get your employees job description to their physician as quickly as possible and ask for any medical restrictions that need to apply to any transitional duty.

Mistake #5 Losing touch with workers once they are injured increases the fear of a lawsuit. This is true and many employers find themselves in a nether world where they are afraid to contact their injured employee and wanting to know what is going on with the injury. This is why having a back to work program in place before the injury occurs is so important. A good back to work program will encourage you to reach out to your injured employee and help you know what you can and can’t say and how to say it. They even include greeting cards that you may want to send to let your injured employee know that you are thinking of them.

It is clear that having a plan for injured workers before they are hurt will help you make the transitions more smooth and over time will reduce your workers compensation costs tremendously. You should choose an agent who understands workers compensation insurance well and can help you gain access to specialized workers compensation insurance companies with back to work plans, dedicated claims staff and even nurses on call, all of which will help you reduce downtime and out of work time for your employees. Don’t just chase the lowest priced workers compensation rates, rather consider carefully what support you will have after a claim when choosing your workers compensation agent and company.

At Clinard Insuranc e Group in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping all kinds of businesses with their workers compensation insurance needs. Our specialization can help you not only find extremely low rates on your workers compensation insurance, but also will help you minimize claims and out of work time, thus saving you money over the long haul as well. If you need help or have questions about your North Carolina Workers Compensation Insurance Policy, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

The source information for this article was pulled from various sources, one of which is www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Garage Insurance – Making The Audit Easier

2010-08-24T09:29:00.000-04:00

If you have a garage liability insurance policy for your repair shop insurance, or for your used car dealer insurance program, then you know that your policy must be audited each year. Garage liability insurance audits can be a huge hassle or they can be a quick and easy process. Some of what determines that is up to you. Here are a few tips to make your garage policy audits go as smoothly as possible. Some of this information is based on audit requirements for Auto Owners Insurance Company garage policies and may not necessarily be part of every insurance company’s garage audit process.

Start with an accurate estimate. You will have to estimate your payroll and number of employees when you first take out the policy. Start out by making this an accurate estimate. Estimating too high takes money out of your pocket and crimps cash flow now. Estimate low makes you vulnerable to the audit trap and can hurt cash flow later. Don’t forget that clerical employees are often required to be included in the total employee count. Also, remember that active owners, partners or members are included in the total as one full time equivalent employee.

With the Auto Owners Premier Garage Policy, there are caps on the payroll basis for owners, officers, partners or members as well as for employees. Your insurance company may or may not have caps on payroll so be sure to find out well in advance about this as it can limit your preparation time and may reduce your garage liability insurance costs in the long run.

Most garage policies will not charge for strictly clerical employees. But they are also usually quite strict about the definition of clerical workers. When they say clerical, they mean that employee only engages in clerical work. Few garage operations have a strictly clerical person, but if you do, you don’t want to include them as an employee in the employee audit count and in the payroll count.

Know your categories of employees as defined by the garage policy and have those numbers ready for the auditor. Category 1 employees are usually defined as owners, officers and members as well as salespersons, sales and service managers and anyone who operates vehicles on and off premises. The payroll amount for this type of employee is usually capped and most of your payroll will fall into this category. Category 2 employees are usually defined as all other employees. Typically the payroll for this category will be very small or even zero.

By knowing what your insurance company needs from you at audit time, you should be able to reduce the time and costs of having your garage liability insurance audited each year. At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping used car dealers and garage and repair and body shops with their insurance policies. We write garage insurance for dealers as well as repair and body shops in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia. If we can help you with your garage insurance, please call us toll free at 877-687-7557 and we will be glad to answer your questions.

The source information for this article comes from other articles which can be found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Car Dealer Insurance – The Blanket Reporting Form

2010-08-12T09:08:00.000-04:00

Used Car Dealers with large inventory should always carry dealers open lot insurance as a part of their used car dealer insurance program. This section of the garage policy is designed to protect your inventory from losses such as wind and hail as well as collision. If you have a large inventory, especially one that fluctuates in value from time to time, then you should consider a twist to the dealers open lot coverage. The twist is a form called the dealers blanket reporting form.

With the standard dealers open lot coverage, you must choose a coverage amount that reflects your highest inventory value at any given time during the policy period. And of course, your premium is based on the amount of coverage that you choose. If you purchase too little coverage, then you run the risk of having a loss that isn’t fully covered. If you choose too high, then you might be buying more insurance than you need. This is where the dealer’s blanket reporting form can help.

When you use the reporting form on your policy, you must complete an inventory report once each month. Now the procedures and the rules for this form may vary a bit from company to company. For this example I will use the rules used by Auto Owners Insurance Company, one of our largest markets for used car dealer insurance. To start this program the insurance company will want for you to base your original limit on the average inventory value for the previous 12 months. If you are unsure of that number, then you can start with 75% of your current inventory.

There are several strong advantages of this form over the dealers open lot fixed amount form. First of all, as long as you complete and return your monthly reports on time, and as long as they are accurate, then you will have unlimited coverage. This helps smooth out the peaks and valleys in your inventory. Second of all, this form provides true blanket coverage. So if you have more than one location it won’t matter as long as your inventory report each month has the total inventory for all locations combined.

While the dealer’s blanket reporting form is not for everyone since it requires a monthly inventory report to the insurance company, it can save you money and provide more seamless protection on your inventory if you have fluctuating inventory amounts or if you have multiple locations.

Your average insurance agent will know very little about garage insurance in general and insuring used car dealers in particular. It is very important that you find an independent insurance agent who specializes in used car dealers to help you. At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we insure over 250 used car dealers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia. If we can help you with your garage insurance or any other policies for your used car business, please call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.TheAutoDealersHelper.com.

The source information for this article was pulled from information which can be found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Painters Work Comp Insurance – Pay As You Go, Saves The Cash Flow

2010-08-04T10:54:00.001-04:00

Painting Company Insurance plans should all include a workers compensation policy for your employees and subs, unless of course you work alone and have no employees. And if handled incorrectly, work comp policies can tear a huge hole in your cash flow. For more information on how this can happen, please read my blog on the audit trap. So it is important to understand your cash flow process vis-à-vis your payroll. What if you could time your workers compensation policy to match the slower cash flow and lower payroll times?

In fact you can. With a little understood tool called pay as you go. Now you need to know that not every insurance company that insures painters can or will offer this feature, but if you can find one that does and their price is right, this can be a nice benefit for painters and painting companies.

So how does it work? Well, these plans vary some from company to company, but the very best of them will send you an email or a mail reminder each month. You then log on to their web site and enter your payroll totals for the past month. The web site will then calculate your premium for that month and you can pay your bill on line right then and there with a credit card. What this means for you is that now your workers compensation expense tracks your payroll with only a 30 day delay. And since your revenue from jobs is always running just a bit behind your payroll costs, now your workers compensation expenses will more nearly track your revenue and this means you will have less wild swings in your monthly cash flow.

There are a few things to watch out for here. First of all, there are some payroll service companies out there offering pay as you go workers compensation to go with their payroll service. On the surface this sounds great but there is a problem with this approach. One huge factor in your workers compensation insurance costs is your experience modification factor. And you need to work proactively to protect that mod to keep future costs lower. Companies that specialize in payroll services and sell work comp as a sideline are rarely as good at keeping claims costs low as companies whose prime mission is workers compensation insurance. These dedicated work comp insurance companies by contrast, will often have nurses and case managers on staff to help reduce your overall claims costs. And keeping your claims costs low will keep your rates low over time. To learn more about this read my blog on protecting your experience mod. In addition, if you purchase your workers compensation insurance through a payroll processing company, you will usually have only one choice in terms of the insurance company that handles it. This is stripping you of your free market shopping tool as a way to reduce the overall costs of workers compensation insurance. Instead, consider finding an independent insurance agent who represents many insurance companies, and more importantly, find one who specializes in insuring painting contractors so that you get the expertise that you need for your business.

One last thing to mention here is that the pay as you go feature offered by some companies is often only available to painters whose premium exceeds a certain level, often as high as $5000. There are a few companies out there who can offer this feature at a much lower premium level, but you will need to find an agent who specializes in painters insurance to find them.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we are the Painting Contractor Insurance Specialists. We have companies that can write pay as you go workers compensation policies for painters with annual premiums as low as $1000. If we can help you with any of your painters insurance policy questions, please call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us on line at our Painting contractors’ insurance program policy page.

Some of the source material for this article was drawn from other blog articles which can be found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Landscapers Insurance Help – How To File A Workers Compensation Claim

2010-07-27T11:51:00.000-04:00

Savvy landscaping contractors buy workers compensation insurance as part of their landscapers insurance program. If you don’t and you are paying someone to work for you, whether you consider them a subcontractor or not, then you shouldn’t go a day more without a policy. But assuming you already have a workers compensation policy, how exactly do you file a claim?

Filing a workers compensation claim is easy and simple. You want to do this as soon after the employee injury as possible. In NC the claim form states that you must file the claim within 5 days of the injury. To do so, you must complete a Form 19 claim form and mail, fax, or email it to your insurance company claims department. The Form 19 is a standardized claim form to be used for all workers compensation claims in North Carolina. The reason for this is that the policy and claims payments are all overseen by the NC Industrial Commission.

The Form 19 will ask for contact information for you and for your injured employee. They will also need to know the details of the injury, how and when and where it occurred. This information usually comes from the injured employee’s supervisor. Next you will need to fill in the occupation of injured person and information about how many hours they work each week and what their wagers are per hour and per day. This information will help settle the disability portion of the claim.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we work hard to help all of our clients become informed insurance consumers. Understanding how to file a workers compensation claim for your landscaping company is important as you will want to move fast in the event of an accident or injury and spending time trying to figure out how to file a claim will only slow you down.

Should you need help with your landscapers insurance policies, from workers compensation to your general liability, commercial auto and equipment insurance, please consider us as we specialize in insuring landscapers of all types and sizes all across North Carolina and South Carolina. We can put our extensive knowledge to work for you with one quick phone call. Call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at www.LowRatesForLandscapers.com.

The source information for this article was pulled from articles which can be found in their entirety at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Teen Driver Insurance – Watch Out For The Bias Against Your 19 year old.

2010-07-15T11:34:00.000-04:00

Most parents out there who have a teen driver are well aware of the additional costs on their auto insurance while their child slowly gains experience behind the wheel. In NC these extra charges go on for the first 3 years of driving and then suddenly are dropped completely from your policy. To understand exactly how North Carolina allows the insurance companies to add these inexperienced operator surcharges, click here. Most parents of course think that they are free and clear of these charges once their child reaches the 3 years of driving experience. And for the vast majority of them, this is true. But some companies have a hidden bias against the 19 year old driver and they find other ways to collect extra premium for them. Knowing the tell tale signs of these techniques can help you avoid these extra charges.

First of all, you have to have a clear understanding of the NC auto insurance marketplace and how it works vis-à-vis teen drivers. There are some companies out there that have recognized that they can make money on the teen driver family segment during the 3 year experience period. Why is this true when the risk seems so high? Well, of course they know that this is a time when otherwise stable insurance accounts go shopping due to the additional cost of the teen driver. And the surcharges that the state allows give them the extra cash they need to turn a profit. But these companies are also very shy of a 19 year old driver. They don’t believe, and rightly so I suppose, that on the day the teen has 3 years driving experience that that teen is suddenly as good of a driver as their parents. Yet the rate is the same as they can charge for the parents who may have been driving 20 years or more. For more general information about how auto insurance in NC works, visit the NC Dept of Insurance web site.

So more and more companies are suddenly seeing the newly experienced driver as a huge risk compared to the money that they can charge for that driver. So what do they do? Well the most common technique is to increase your rates, often to those above what is allowed by the NC Rate Bureau. But to do this, they must have your permission. So they will send you a consent to rate letter. If you get one of these, please do not sign it and return it. Call your agent first to understand what you are signing and agreeing to. For more information about consent to rate letters and what they mean for you, please read my blog about consent to rate letters by clicking here.

If you fail to sign and return a consent to rate letter, then the remaining option open to the insurance company would be to cancel your physical damages coverage, ie your comprehensive and collision insurance, and then to cede your policy to the NC Reinsurance Facility. If they do this, then you will see a large increase on your liability insurance rates and you may even see a reduction in coverage to go with it. At the same time you will lose your physical damages protection.

The take away from all of this is that you will do well to keep a close eye on your auto insurance policy rates as your child reaches the 3 year driving experience period to make sure that you are not treated as a sudden high risk from the standpoint of your insurance company.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we help thousands of families with their auto insurance policy and we work hard to help our clients become informed insurance consumers. If we can help you at all with your auto insurance or even your home insurance, your life insurance or your business insurance, please feel free to call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

The source information for this article can be found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Teen Driver Safety – Summer Months Are High Risk

2010-07-08T09:45:00.000-04:00

The Summer months are a high risk time for teen drivers. Parents must be more vigilant during this time to insure the safety of their teen aged drivers. There are several reasons why the Summer months present special challenges for parents of teen drivers.

First of all, many parents tend to raise the curfew times during Summer months. I know I have done this. This is a good thing to do as your child earns your trust and has begun to gain some experience behind the wheel, but as you do this, keep in mind that there are some tipping points where extended curfews may put your child at a greater risk. Try to decide exactly what your teen will be doing with this extra time and determine if the rewards are worth the risks.

Another reason that Summer is so dangerous is that teens now have more and more nights to do things without school in the morning forcing them to come home earlier. Over time this opportunity can lead to some dangerous behavior from teen drivers.

Even during the day the danger for teen drivers is increase during Summer. This is because teens have more time to drive around without specific purpose. While it is great for them to log more hours behind the wheel and gain experience, it is best done if they are driving for a purpose besides time wasting.

I highly recommend that each parent consider getting a GPS device installed in their teen driver’s car to help them with the temptations that driving brings on. You can find out more about these devices by visiting www.teensurance.com.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we help thousands of families with their auto insurance all across North Carolina. We work hard to help our customers become informed insurance consumers and we want all of you with teen drivers to have the tools that you need to help keep your teen drivers safe. Please visit our teen driver web site or call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 for more help with your auto insurance, home insurance, business insurance, or life insurance.

This article was pulled from source information which can be found in its entirety at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

You Might Be Due A Refund On Your NC Auto Insurance Policy – And That’s Not Necessarily A Good Thing

2010-06-29T11:22:00.000-04:00

The NC Insurance Department has finally come to an agreement with the Insurance Companies selling auto insurance in NC to settle their differences on the 2008 rate changes that applied to auto insurance and motorcycle insurance policies. There are a few things you should know about who will get a refund and when those checks will be mailed.

First of all, this refund affects all auto and motorcycle insurance in NC with policy terms from January 1, 2009 to October 31,2009. In most cases, checks will be issued only if your refund due plus interest is greater than $5.00. You should receive an explanatory memo with your refund check. If you are due a check for more than one policy term, then most companies will combine all of those into one check. Companies will be mailing out checks between either the May1 – July 31 time window or the November 2010 and January 2011 time window. The timing here will depend on whether that company was writing 6 month auto policies, or 1 year auto policies or both. Interest will be added to the checks through October 31, 2010. The total amount of the refunds will be more than $50 million.

These refunds are the result of a dispute between the N.C. Department of Insurance and the N.C. Rate Bureau (NCRB) over rates ordered in 2008. During the appeals process, the NCRB implemented an interim 9.4 percent rate increase that went into effect on Jan.1, 2009. In cases where insurance companies charged policyholders more than the rates determined by the 2009 settlement, insurance companies are required by statute to refund the difference between the rates charged and the settled rates, with interest.

The 2009 auto settlement did away with the NCRB's implemented 9.4 percent 2008 rate increase and denied their 2009 request for an additional 1.4 percent rate increase and included an additional 0.5 percent decrease. Under the settlement, the NCRB may not file changes to auto rates until 2011, which means that the maximum allowable auto rates are locked in until Oct. 1, 2011 at the earliest.

While you may get a refund, my take on it is that most of our companies were charging much below the maximum NC rate allowed at the time and so a refund indicates that at that time you were viewed as a high risk to the insurance company and charged a higher rate. If you get a refund check, then the next thing you should do is contact your agent to see if you are still considered a high risk due to either your driving record, your credit or some other factor. This check, while fun to get really indicates that your insurance company is charging you their highest rate and perhaps you should take some time to shop for less expensive car insurance.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we work hard to help all of our clients become informed insurance consumers. If we can help you with your auto insurance, home insurance, life insurance or even your business insurance, please call us toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

The source information for this article can be found in other articles at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

NC Negligence Laws May Change And The Result Will Be Higher Car Insurance Rates

2010-06-21T11:24:00.000-04:00

The NC House is now considering a tort reform bill that could dramatically increase the amount you spend on your auto insurance policy as well as on your home insurance policy and business insurance policies. The reason this bill is so bad for your insurance rates is that it aims to change our current law of contributory negligence to one of comparative fault.

So what does this mean? Well, with our current laws, if you contribute in any way to the accident that causes damages, then you cannot recover these damages from the other party. Comparative fault permits a plaintiff to recover from a defendant if his negligence does not exceed that of the defendant. Now, if we adopt comparative negligence as our state law, then as you can imagine, more claims are going to have to be handled by the court systems because now we have to determine who had the most fault in any accident or event as opposed to saying both parties were somewhat at fault so everyone settles their own claim with their own insurance company. And as you can imagine, having all of these claims settled by our court system will slow down the claims and increase the costs of the claims. And you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that those costs are going to be passed down to the consumer.

Here are some of the findings by the IFNC (Insurance Federation of NC) regarding this bill.

It is estimated that this change in the law will increase auto insurance premiums by 3% to 16% right away. The long term increases in costs could dwarf these numbers.

81% of voters surveyed said that they are opposed to any legislation that increases their taxes or their household expenses.

69% of those polled said the trial attorneys would benefit if the law were changed.

$150 million annually will come out of consumers’ pockets if rates rise just 5% on auto insurance alone. But this change will increase the costs of all policies that have a liability insurance element. This includes homeowners insurance and business insurance policies.

A substantial majority of voters believe that under our current system our courts are open and fair for those who have been hurt in an accident or injured on the job.

Actuarial studies show that states with comparative fault systems have higher auto insurance rates than state that use contributory negligence.

Let’s face it, there are two industries that will make more money of this change goes through. One is trial attorneys and the other is insurance agents. That’s right, I would personally stand to gain from this decision but I still think it is the wrong decision and I urge you to take action to stop it. The appropriate step for you to take to oppose this legislation is to write to your State Senator and ask him or her to vote NO on House Bill 813. For more information or sample letters to send or email to your State Senator, visit Home | Insurance Federation of North Carolina.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we want all of our clients to be informed insurance consumers. We want you to have the information you need to make wise decisions about how to protect your assets. If we can help you with your auto insurance, your home insurance, or even your business insurance or your life insurance, please call us toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us on line at ClinardInsurance.com.

The source information for this article was drawn from information which can be found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Garage Insurance – Body Shops and Spray Booths

2010-06-14T09:52:00.000-04:00

The automobile body repair business is changing quickly. This industry has seen rather slow and evolved changes over the past 30 years or so but recently the pace of change has accelerated. These changes are shrinking your marketplace of clients as well as constricting how you perform your work. Staying ahead of these changes should give you a strong edge over your competition and help to insure that you remain in business for years to come.

One of the biggest systemic changes to affect body repair shop owners is the shrinking customer base. For instance, the high expense of replacing air bags in wrecked cars, combined with the greater availability of less expensive vehicles means that many wrecked cars are now considered a total loss by the insurance companies and as such are not repaired.

In addition, there are changes taking place in the auto body repair industry that drive the way that you operate. There are both environmental and safety issues that will force body shop owners to invest in new equipment and spray booths. Each step forward requires that you carefully evaluate the costs of improvements against future income.

Recent changes to the International Fire Code and the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) codes that the vast majority of states and local jurisdictions use now mandate that spray paint booths and mixing rooms have automatic fire suppression systems. This has been a substantial change, resulting in greater protection of spray painting operations, but it increases the cost of the spray booth system. Existing manufactured booths can often be retrofitted with automatic suppression systems, but even that expense can be high. These systems fall squarely in the realm of life safety of those who must work in and around the spray painting operations, where explosive fires are rare but very severe.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has made a new rule, National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) (Subpart HHHHHH), that mandates by January 10, 2011, those that engage in spray applications to motor vehicles must comply. These standards also mandate a spray booth that contains and filters the emissions from spray operations, as well as spray guns that comply and training to the operators of the equipment. The point of this regulation is to protect the environment, but it does mandate the use of an approved spray paint booth. A summary of these regulations may be found on the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/area/paint_stripb.pdf and http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/area/autobodybs.doc.

All of these choices will also drive your insurance costs. If you take the time to keep your spray booth up to date and protect both your environment and your employees, then you will be able to qualify for body shop insurance programs that will offer you the best rates and wider protection. Over time, these changes will begin to pay for themselves in reduced insurance costs.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we want all of our clients to be informed insurance consumers. We specialize in helping automotive repair and body shops all across North Carolina and South Carolina with their insurance needs. If you need help with your garage insurance, your workers compensation insurance or any other insurance needs for your auto repair or body shop, please call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at NC Garage Insurance Helper.

The source information for this article was pulled from information which can be found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Plumbers Insurance – Don’t forget the Hired and Nonowned Auto Coverage

2010-06-04T11:33:00.000-04:00

If you own a plumbing company then more than likely you travel to and from jobs in a company owned vehicle. Putting your truck in the company name is most often done for tax reasons. But have you evaluated the insurance reasons for doing so? If so, did you remember to insure the vehicles that you don’t own? Failing to do so could cost you your business. But the good news is that the solution is cheap and easy.

Ok, so you have your trucks insured on a commercial auto insurance policy. Hopefully you spent some time with your agent and you set up limits that are high enough to protect your company from a catastrophic loss. But there is one detail to consider when setting up the business auto part of your plumbing insurance program. It’s pretty simple really. You can be held liable for accidents caused by vehicles that you don’t own. The easy example is a vehicle that you rent in the name of your company, or with a company credit card. But while that may be a rare event, consider that when you send an employee out on a company errand and they take their own vehicle, then your company can be held liable for damages to a third party caused by your employee on that errand. So how do you take care of this exposure to make sure that your plumbing company is protected?

Simply add hired and non-owned liability coverage to your business auto insurance business auto policy. The coverage is very inexpensive, rarely costing more than $150 a year. You may already have this coverage on your policy. To check, simply pull out your commercial auto policy declarations sheet and look at the symbol showing beside the liability limit. If the symbol is a 1, then you have liability coverage for any auto.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, plumbers are our specialty. We want all of our clients to be informed insurance consumers. If you need any help with your policy, your general liability insurance policy, or your workers compensation insurance policy, please visit us on the web at www.LowRatesForPlumbers.com or call us toll free, at 877-687-7557.

The source information for this article was pulled from other articles which can be found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Lawn Care Business Insurance Basics

2010-05-21T11:12:00.001-04:00

If you are thinking of starting your own lawn care business, or if you are planning to grow your existing one into a more viable and legitimate business, one of the hurdles you will need to cross is the insurance puzzle and how to solve it for your particular company. Lawn care companies have some special insurance needs so here is a basic primer on the types of insurance policies that you should consider for your lawn service insurance program.

This guide should serve as an introductory overview of lawn care insurance. For more detailed information on any of these policies or coverage types, please contact our office and we will be happy to give you more one on one personal help.

Liability Insurance – It won’t take long in your business before one of your commercial clients asks you to prove that you have liability insurance. This is the most obvious coverage type and the one that lawn maintenance companies usually first purchase. This is designed to provide you with protection for losses that you cause in the operation of your business for which you are legally obligated to pay.

Workers Compensation Insurance – This policy is often skipped because in NC the law says that you don’t have to purchase a workers compensation policy if you have less than 3 employees. What people fail to realize however is that if you don’t purchase a policy, then your company is on the hook for paying all claims as though you were the workers compensation insurance company. Don’t skip this coverage, one bad accident could put you out of business and ruin all that you have worked so hard for. One last trick, if you have only workers who mow and who don’t do anything else, you may be able to classify them under a code known as parks noc and get a much lower rate. For more information on this tip read my earlier blog here.

Equipment Coverage – This protection comes in two types. Coverage for equipment and coverage for hand tools. Most lawn care business purchase the equipment coverage for mowers, decks, snow blades etc but don’t often purchase any coverage for hand tools.

Business Auto Insurance – If you are titling your vehicles in the company name, then you need a commercial auto policy for those vehicles. Don’t forget to include your trailers on this policy as well.

Bonds – In NC you will need a bond to work on irrigation systems and it is very possible that by January 2011, a landscaping bond may be required. If you are strictly a lawn mowing service, then you may be able to avoid purchasing license bonds.

Disability Insurance – What happens if you become injured and can’t work? Who will do the work and who will run your business? Disability insurance is a good solution for you to solve this problem. Most lawn care companies don’t remember to cover this exposure and the failure to do so has fun a few out of business.

It’s clear that buying insurance for a lawn care company is a complicated and specialized process. You need an agent who specializes in landscapers insurance, and one who can help you navigate the maze of policies and underwriting rules. At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping all kinds of landscapers with their landscaping insurance all over North Carolina. We can help you develop a plan that protects your business and saves you money on your lawn care insurance policies. If you own a mowing service in NC, then you owe it to yourself to call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at www.LowRatesForLandscapers.com and we will be happy to help you.

The source information for this article can be found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Your Homeowners Insurance Policy and Hail Damage To Your Roof – A Warning

2010-05-14T11:48:00.000-04:00

It’s Spring here in beautiful North Carolina and with the flowers comes the sudden and violent thunderstorms that produce hail. This hail has the potential to damage your roof. The hail also creates an opportunity for unscrupulous companies to try and take advantage of you. This blog will put you on notice to their tricks and tell you how to avoid their scam.

If you have a standard homeowners policy in NC, then you will have protection for your losses if your roof is damaged by hail. These claims rarely run into any difficulties and we process them quite frequently this time of year. But lately, we have been warned by our company claims departments that there are some scammers out there creating a bit of misery for homeowners in our area.

Here’s how they operate. After a hail storm, these roofing contractors will visit your home and offer to inspect your roof for hail damage from the recent storm. They always find that your roof has been damaged and needs to be replaced. If there was no damage to begin with, they manufacture some evidence to convince you. Next they assure you that your loss is covered by your home insurance policy and they tell you that they work with your insurance company already and can go ahead and get started right away. This is important they say because water could enter your home during the next storm and then your damages are really going to sky rocket. In order to get you started right away, they have you sign a contract which obligates you to pay for their work. You can bet that their rates are much higher than the market will usually bear but they convince you to ignore pricing because the insurance company will pay for it anyway.

The problems that this causes for homeowners are twofold. First of all, in many cases, there is no real damage to the roof and when the insurance company gets out there to inspect the claim, they find that there is no hail damage and thus no protection from the homeowners insurance policy. This leaves the homeowner stuck with the bill to replace a roof that didn’t need replacement. The other problem is that even if there is damage and the roof did need replacing, the insurance company may not agree to pay for roofing rates that are above the market rates and this leaves the homeowner holding the bag on the balance of the contract costs.

So how do your protect yourself? It’s easy really. Just don’t sign any contracts for roofing repairs until you have filed the claim with your insurance company and an adjuster has been on your roof and inspected the damages and discussed them with you. Don’t rush into a contract with the roofing company that knocked on your door. Have a patient, careful discussion with the claims adjuster before you commit to anything.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we work hard to help all of our clients become informed and knowledgeable insurance consumers. If we can help you with your home insurance, your auto insurance, your business insurance or your life insurance needs, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

The source information for this article can be found at www.insuranceanswerguy.com.

Electrician Work Comp Insurance – Pay As You Go, Saves The Cash Flow

2010-05-06T10:53:00.000-04:00

Electrician insurance plans should all include a workers compensation policy unless of course you work alone and have no employees. And work comp policies can really punch a hole in your cash flow if not handled correctly. For more information on this, read my blog on the audit trap. In addition, there come times when work is hard to find and you may experience a drop in your cash flow. What if there were a program that would adjust your premiums to match your current work load and cash flow?

In fact this program exists and is available today. With a little understood tool called pay as you go, you can have your income cash flow better match your workers compensation premiums. Now understand that not every company that writes workers compensation policies for electricians can or will offer this feature, but if you can find one that does and if their price is right, this can be a nice benefit for electricians.

Let’s look at the mechanics of this type of work comp plan. Of course the details will vary from plan to plan, but the very best of them will send you an email or a mail reminder each month. You then log on to their web site and enter your payroll totals for the past month. The web site will then calculate your premium for that month and you can pay your bill on line right then and there with a credit card, or the system will generate a paper bill which is mailed to your office. What this means for you is that now your workers compensation expense tracks your payroll with only a 30 day delay. And this short delay means that your workers compensation expenses will more nearly track your revenue and mean less wild swings in your monthly cash flow.

Ok, there are a few things to watch out for here. First of all, there are some payroll service companies out there offering pay as you go workers compensation to go with their payroll service. On the surface this sounds great but there is a problem with this approach. One huge factor in your workers compensation insurance costs is your experience modification factor. And you need to work proactively to protect that mod to keep future costs lower. Companies that specialize in payroll services and sell work comp as a sideline are rarely as good at keeping claims costs low as companies whose prime mission is workers compensation insurance. These dedicated work comp companies will often have nurses and case managers on staff to help reduce your overall claims costs. And keeping your claims costs low will keep your rates low over time. To learn more about this read my blog on protecting your experience mod.

One last thing to mention here is that the pay as you go feature offered by some companies is often only available to electricians whose premium exceeds a certain level, often as high as $5000. There are a few companies out there who can offer this feature at a much lower premium level, but you will need to find an agent who specializes in electrician’s insurance to find them.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we are the electrician insurance specialists. We have companies that can write pay as you go workers compensation policies for electricians with annual premiums as low as $1000. If we can help you with any of your electrician insurance policy questions, please call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us on line at our electricians’ insurance program policy page.

Some of the source material for this article was drawn from other blog articles which can be found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Garage Insurance – Division I or Division II?

2010-04-26T11:02:00.000-04:00

It is often said that the garage insurance policy is one of the most misunderstood forms of insurance. The problem is that this form of insurance essentially is a hybrid of a general liability insurance policy and a business auto insurance policy. More than that though, this form is a specialized form, used only for auto body and repair shops and auto dealers. Given that, many agents, who don’t specialize in helping these specific industries with their insurance needs, don’t really understand the ins and outs of the garage insurance policy and as a result they may issue a policy to you under the wrong form. So how do you know if you have the right protection?

First of all, understand that although the garage liability policy is appropriate for both an automotive repair shop and an auto dealer, within that group, you need to have the correct classification on your garage insurance policy. There are 2 different divisions of coverage on the garage policy, Division I and Division II. These divisions not only affect the policy form itself, but they also impact on the rating structure and how your final premium is determined. For these reasons, it is important that you have your policy set up correctly in the first place whether you are buying auto dealers insurance or automotive repair insurance.

Division I is the division that should be used if your business is an auto dealership. If however, your business is automotive repair or body work, then your garage liability policy should be written as a division II garage insurance policy. If you are unsure whether or not your policy is set up correctly, you can check to see which division your policy is written on by checking the declarations page of your garage insurance policy.

What happens if you are involved in auto sales and auto repair? If that is the case, then your policy should be written on the Division I form.

As you can see, there are a lot of tripwires out there for business who repair or sale cars who are looking for a garage insurance policy. You need an insurance agent who specializes in the garage insurance policy and helping both car dealers and automotive repair shops with their insurance needs. At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we are that specialist. Our used car dealer clients and our auto and body repair shop clients are located all over NC, SC, GA, TN and Va. If we can help you with your garage insurance questions, or if you would like a quote on your current insurance program, please give us a call, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us our auto repair and body shop web page or our used car dealers insurance help site.

The information used for this article can be found in its entirety at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Grading and Paving Contractors Insurance – Watch Out For X,C and U

2010-04-19T09:00:00.000-04:00

Grading, paving and excavation contractors insurance programs require a specialized approach to be sure that they are properly covered for the unique exposures that are present in their work. One often misunderstood area of their insurance that can lead them into trouble has to do with the XCU exclusion on the general liability policy. This is an area that needs to be reviewed and discussed at each renewal to make sure that you don’t lose or miss coverage that you need.

Let’s start by stating that the basic general liability policy that comes to you off the shelf so to speak will always start out with the XCU exclusion in place. So what is this exclusion? The X stands for explosion, the C for collapse and the U for underground. The general liability policy does not cover losses from digging, trenching etc that cause explosions, are caused by collapse, or do damage to underground property. With that in mind, grading, paving and excavating contractors need to pay careful attention to this exclusion.

So, if you are in the business of digging around underground, how do you protect yourself from this exclusion? The first line of defense should be your operations practices. You must know what is underground before you dig of course. And if you are doing any excavating, you obviously must take steps to protect yourself and others from a collapse hazard. But if this is your business, then accidents will happen so how do you obtain the insurance protection that you need? Well the answer is that you can buy back this coverage on an item by item basis. Or, if the exposure is very low, you may even pick it up for free. Landscapers insurance and irrigation system installers insurance programs are a good example of situations where the insurance company might throw this in at no charge. Of course this is also possible with graders, pavers and excavators insurance, depending on where and how they work and their past loss histories. But the point here is that you don’t have to change the entire exclusion form to increase your coverage. The way the exclusion form works is that the letters x, c, and u are shown at the top to designate which if any coverages are excluded. You can petition your insurance company to remove one or more of these exclusions from the policy and that gives you back coverage. But you need to stay on top of this and watch each renewal to make sure that the exclusion doesn’t rear its ugly head later on.

This points out the need for grading and paving contractors to only do business with agents and companies who specialize in insuring grading and paving firms. At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we do specialize in helping grading contractors and paving contractors with their insurance needs, be it workers compensation insurance, general liability insurance, or insurance for their trucks and commercial vehicles. If we can help you with and insurance second opinion, or if you would like to put our vast experience and expertise to work for you, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at our grader, paver and excavators insurance help page.

The source information for this article can be found at the original blog post at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Auto Dealers Insurance – Are You Prepared For Hail Storms?

2010-04-13T16:08:00.001-04:00

Used car dealers have a seasonal demon to watch out for and this is the time of year it rears its head. I’m talking about hailstorms. If one sweeps across your lot you are likely to suffer a huge amount of property damage. In fact, some of the biggest claims we see are from these Spring and Summer hailstorms. Do you know if you have the right protection?

Hailstorms are often local in their impact but if it happens over your lot, you can expect huge losses to your inventory. Most used car dealers have their inventory stored outside and are vulnerable to hail losses but this is the type of protection that many car dealers don’t think about until it is too late. So how do you know if you have coverage?

Well fortunately the garage insurance policy is a standardized form so it is easy to know if you have the coverage. Hail coverage is a part of your comprehensive coverage which is part of the dealers open lot coverage for your cars. The dealers open lot insurance coverage will have a section with a limit and deductible for both collision and comprehensive coverages.

Pull out your policy right now and check to see that you have a limit of coverage for comprehensive coverage on your dealers open lot section. Now, also check out how the deductible reads. The standard form has a per vehicle deductible and a maximum per loss deductible. The per loss limit is typically 5 times the per vehicle deductible. So, if you have a $500 deductible on your comprehensive per vehicle, then you probably also have a $2500 maximum deductible per event. There are a few companies out there that set their policies up so that the only deductible is per loss, not per vehicle. This is an important distinction. In my previous example this would increase your claim payment from the insurance company by $2000. For more information about per vehicle deductibles and what is available out there, read my earlier blog here.

If you need any help at all interpreting your deductibles or how they might pay in a claim, please feel free to give us a call, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at www.TheAutoDealersHelper.com. We specialize in helping used car dealers with their insurance needs all across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia

The source information for this article can be found on articles at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

NC Homeowners Insurance Policy – Sewer Backup Insurance Is Changing

2010-04-01T10:43:00.000-04:00

Many North Carolina homeowners will be losing coverage on their homeowners insurance policy over the next few months. Most won’t bother to read the fine print in their renewals so they won’t even know what they lost. Hopefully, for those of you astute enough to follow this blog, this won’t be the case.

What has changed in NC regarding the homeowners insurance policy is that the coverage for backup of water or sewer, which is an add on endorsement that you can purchase, is going to have new limits on how much will be paid out in the event of a claim. Let me start by saying that this coverage is not included in your home insurance policy unless you add it by endorsement. Some people don’t need this endorsement at all, and others absolutely should not be without it. To learn more about the sewer backup endorsement and who needs to buy it, please read my blog about back of sewers and drains coverage.

If you have this endorsement on your policy, then in the past this protection had the same limit of coverage as your home itself. So, for instance if you have $200,000 coverage on your dwelling, then with this sewer back up endorsement, then you would have $200,000 coverage for this type of loss. For all renewals with an effective date of June 1 2010 or later, this changes. Now instead you must choose a limit of coverage. The available limits are $5000, $10,000, $15,000, and $25,000. Probably in most cases one of these limits will be high enough to pay off the loss but there is really no way to know before the claim happens. It’s also fair to note that the cost of this protection is going up on a per dollar basis. That’s because where you used to have the same limit of coverage as your dwelling for around $25 per year cost, now that same $25 will probably buy you between $5,000 and $10,000 of protection, depending on which company you are insured with.

I urge everyone to read the letter that will come with your next renewal if you have this endorsement. Every company will handle this change differently but by and large, most of them will move your protection down to the $5000 coverage level. This is fine if you are confident that this is enough coverage to handle any claims you may have. But if not, then you will need to be proactive and contact your agent and ask for a higher limit.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we work hard to help all of our clients become informed insurance consumers. Whether you are looking for auto insurance, home insurance, life insurance or business insurance, please feel free to contact us for help and advice. You can call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

Much of the source information for this article can be found at our blog website which is www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Landscaper Work Comp Insurance – Pay As You Go, Saves The Cash Flow

2010-03-24T11:06:00.000-04:00

Landscaping insurance plans should all include a workers compensation policy for landscapers unless of course you work alone and have no employees. And work comp policies can tear a whole in your cash flow if not handled correctly. For more information on this, read my blog on the audit trap. In addition, many landscapers suffer a slow season in the winter as there is less work to be done. This slower season creates a cash flow bottom. What if you could time your workers compensation policy to match the slower cash flow in this down season?

In fact you can. With a little understood tool called pay as you go. Now understand that not every company the writes workers compensation policies for landscapers can or will offer this feature, but if you can find one that does and their price is right, this can be a nice benefit for landscape contracting companies.

So how does it work? Well, plans vary but the very best of them will send you an email or a mail reminder each month. You then log on to their web site and enter the payroll totals for the past month. The web site will then calculate your premium for that month and you can pay your bill on line right then and there with a credit card. What this means for you is that now your workers compensation expense tracks your payroll with only a 30 day delay. And this short delay means that your workers compensation expenses will more nearly track your revenue and mean less wild swings in your monthly cash flow.

Now, there are a few things to watch out for here. First of all, there are some payroll service companies out there offering pay as you go workers compensation to go with their payroll service. On the surface this sounds great but there is a problem with this approach. One huge factor in your workers compensation insurance costs is your experience modification factor. And you need to work proactively to protect that mod to keep future costs lower. Companies that specialize in payroll services and sell work comp as a sideline are rarely as good at keeping claims costs low as companies whose prime mission is workers compensation insurance. These companies will often have nurses and case managers on staff to help reduce your overall claims costs. And keeping your claims costs low will keep your rates low over time. To learn more about this read my blog on protecting your experience mod.

One last thing to mention here is that the pay as you go feature offered by some companies is often only available to landscapers whose premium exceeds a certain level, often as high as $5000. There are a few companies out there who can offer this feature at a much lower premium level, but you will need to find an agent who specializes in landscapers insurance to find them.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we are the landscaper insurance specialists. We have companies that can write pay as you go workers compensation policies for landscapers with annual premiums as low as $1000. If we can help you with any of your landscaper insurance policy questions, please call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us on line at our landscapers’ insurance program policy page.

Some of the source material for this article was drawn from other blog articles which can be found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Auto Repair Shops Workers Compensation Insurance – Protect Your Mod

2010-03-15T15:55:00.000-04:00

Most automotive repair and body shop owners have at least a general knowledge of workers compensation insurance. They know that they need it and they know it can cost a lot of money. But only a few really understand the experience modification factor and what it could mean for their future work comp insurance policy costs. This little primer will help you understand just how important it is to protect your mod and how to do it.

The experience modification factor of workers compensation policies, referred to as the experience mod or just mod for short, is the insurance industry’s way of assigning higher rates to businesses with poor loss experience and lower rates to those who have had more favorable loss experience. Each business has its own unique experience modification factor and this factor is applied to the rates on their policy. For example, if you have had a lot of losses, or perhaps a few large losses, you might find yourself with a mod of say, 1.35. If this is the case, then your workers compensation insurance policy premium will be adjusted upward by 35% to reflect your bad experience. Likewise, if your company hasn’t has a work comp loss for several years, your mod might drop as low as .80 and this would mean a 20% reduction in your overall workers compensation policy premium.

So how is this mod calculated? Well, the first thing you need to know is that the mod is calculated based on past experience. That means what happens today will take several years to come back and bite you. Also, the experience period for the mod in North Carolina is 3 years, so once you get some losses in your mod calculation, they will stay there for a while. I want to leave a more detailed explanation of how the mod is calculated to a later blog, but for now, understand that it is not only the number of losses (called frequency) that plays a part, but also the amount paid out (called severity) that impacts the mod calculation. And a little of both, frequency and severity can really run up your mod.

So what can you, as a business owner, do to protect your mod? A lot of how your mod will affect you, both good or bad will be determined by which insurance company you choose for your workers compensation policy. I say this, because, although you may be as careful as you can to avoid injuries among your workers, there is no substitute for an insurance company that is actively working for you to help you prevent claims and reduce the severity of existing claims. So when evaluating which workers compensation policy to purchase, you should consider more than just the cost on the first policy. Find out what that insurance company and that agent are going to do to keep your costs low over the long term.

Choose a workers compensation insurance company that will work with you to help you with both prevention and severity reduction. Prevention can come in the form of safety inspections, and loss control techniques that the insurance company can share with you. Reduction can come in the form of programs that help your injured workers get back to work more quickly. Some of the best workers compensation insurance companies even have their own nurses and doctors. Also, you want to purchase your workers comp coverage from a company that assigns case managers to each claim to stay on top of all the medical bills and the disability payments to keep the payout as small as possible.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping the owners of automotive repair and body shops navigate the complex waters of insurance policy and insurance company selection. We can help you find a pro-active insurance company that will help you reduce the number of work comp claims and keep the claims that happen from spiraling out of control. We can also help you with your other insurance needs from garage insurance to commercial auto insurance for your wreckers or company trucks. If you would like help with any of your business insurance needs, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit our garage owners insurance help page.

The source information for this article was taken from other articles which can be found in their entirety at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Landscaper’s Insurance – Don’t Forget The Workers Compensation Policy

2010-03-05T12:08:00.000-05:00

Landscaping insurance can be found in many different forms. One coverage that every landscaper with employees should have is workers compensation. In North Carolina, the law states that if you have fewer than 3 employees you don’t have to purchase workers compensation insurance. But what this rule doesn’t tell you is that not buying a policy could put your business assets at risk.

In NC, the workers compensation law does give you an out if you have less than 3 employees. In fact, there are no real teeth in the law that will catch and find employers who have 3 or more employees who also don’t purchase a workers compensation insurance policy. So, yeah, you could go years without purchasing a workers compensation policy for your landscaping business. But that would be a very dangerous choice. Here’s why:

Although the law may not require that you actually purchase a workers compensation insurance policy, it will require that you pay all of the claims yourself just as if you were the insurance company. Workers compensation benefits in North Carolina are statutory. That means that exactly how much gets paid for each type of illness or injury has already been determined by state law. This means if you are paying out of your own pocket for a claim, you will not have the opportunity to determine how much you are going to pay.

So, using the loophole in the law to avoid buying a workers compensation policy only gets you out of paying the policy premium. It does not get you out of paying the costs of any and all claims. And these claim costs can be enormous. Imagine coming up with $100,000 to pay for injuries that resulted in permanent disability, then paying disability payments for years after that for one of your employees. Pretty scary huh? So even if work comp insurance seems expensive, you should realize that purchasing it is a no brainer because going bare means you are pretending to have the assets of an insurance company. For most landscapers, that just isn’t the case.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping landscapers with their insurance needs. If you have any questions about your general liability insurance, your workers compensation insurance, your business auto insurance or any other insurance policies, please call us toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit our landscaper insurance web page.

The source data for this blog can be found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

New NC Auto Insurance Changes Could Trip Up Insurance Buyers

2010-02-26T11:42:00.000-05:00

Effective 2/1/10, there are some little known statutory changes to the NC auto insurance policy that could trip up insurance buyers or even allow unscrupulous agents a way to sell you less coverage and pass it off as a better deal for you. Understanding the way the new law works and what it means for you is important to everyone who buys car insurance in the state of North Carolina.

The rule change has to do with uninsured and underinsured motorists coverage. You see, for many years now, the law has required you to purchase coverage limits for these coverages that are at least equal to your liability limits on your policy. So, for example, if you have liability limits for bodily injury of $100,000 per person, then if you purchase uninsured and underinsured motorists coverage, you would have to purchase at least $100,000 of bodily injury per person there as well.

What is important to recognize here is that over the past 2 decades, the cost of uninsured and underinsured motorists coverage has gone up several thousand percent. You can easily spend hundreds of dollars on these coverages alone. So now the law has changed and if you wish, you may carry lower limits on your uninsured and underinsured motorists than you do on your liability insurance. But really, it would rarely make any sense to do so. Consider that at any given time over 15% of all drivers on NC roads are uninsured and another large percentage is driving with the minimum allowable liability limits. And also consider that uninsured and underinsured motorists coverage is there to protect you from these people. Knowing all of this, I can’t see how it would ever make any sense to carry lower limits on your uninsured motorists coverage than you have on your liability coverage.

So I see two possible places that this change in the law could cause problems for people. The first case is the do it yourself insurance consumer. If you’ve read many of my blogs you will know that I never recommend a do it yourself approach to insurance, but there are places where you can purchase a car insurance policy without the help or advice of a professional. So these consumers are at risk for purchasing lower limits on their uninsured motorists coverage simply out of ignorance or because they think it saves them money.

The other possible problem would be if you had an unscrupulous agent quote your policy and that agent decides that he will just lower all of the uninsured and underinsured motorists limits on all quotes in order to have the lowest quote out there each time. This strategy would work for the agent since few people pay attention to the fine print. You would probably only discover what happened if you have an uninsured or an underinsured motorists loss. By then of course it would be too late.

There’s no question in my mind that almost everyone should have uninsured and underinsured motorists limits that are as high as their liability limits. The take away message for consumers is that they need to compare any auto insurance quotes carefully to make sure that they know exactly what they are buying.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we work hard to help all of our clients become informed insurance buyers. If we can help you with your home insurance, your auto insurance, your business insurance or even your life insurance, please give us a call, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

The source information for this article can be found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

If You A Board Member For A Nonprofit Please Read This Blog

2010-02-19T12:20:00.000-05:00

Almost everyone has a cause or a charity that they love and support. And quite a few of us sit on the board of directors of our favorite non-profits. The most common case is found with those who sit on the board at their church. And in the case of us giving our time and energy to our favorite cause, few of us understand the risks we are taking financially. But there is a quick, easy and inexpensive step your can take to protect yourself from this risk.

You see, non-profit organizations are for the most part, very similar to for profit corporations. In that regard, most have a board of directors who are charged with the fiduciary duties of keeping their organization solvent and making decisions that guide the actions of that particular charity. This means that each director or officer of the non-profit can be held responsible for the actions he or she takes as a director or officer. To protect the personal assets of those on the board, most large non-profit organizations go out and purchase a directors and officers liability insurance policy. In the industry we call this a D & O policy. Without this protection, corporations and large non-profits would be unable to lure the talent they want for their boards.

The problem comes when smaller non-profits and churches fail to purchase this protection for their board members. Usually this is because no one on the board is aware of the exposure – at least not until they face a loss. Also, this coverage can be overwhelmingly expensive to some non-profits which may operate on a shoe string budget.

So what can you do to protect yourself? Well, fortunately, there is a little known clause in most personal umbrella policies that provides D&O coverage for the policyholder as long as the company where they hold a board membership or officers title is a non-profit. And since I would recommend that almost everyone consider purchasing a personal umbrella policy anyway, this extra coverage is just gravy. Don’t forget that the personal umbrella policy provides an additional layer of coverage limit over and above your homeowners insurance policy and your auto insurance policy.

If you are unsure whether or not your umbrella policy will protect you as a director of officer of a non-profit, please call your agent and have them check on this for you. At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we work hard to make sure that all of our clients are informed insurance buyers. If we can help you with your home insurance, your auto insurance, your business insurance or even your life insurance, please call our office, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at ClinardInsurance.com.

The source information for this article can be found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Garage Keepers Insurance for Used Car Dealers

2010-02-10T10:01:00.000-05:00

Most used car dealers understand that they need a garage insurance policy for their business. And some even understand that they need dealers open lot coverage for their inventory. But there are some dealers out there who perform a hybrid function for their clients and we often find that these dealers have overlooked a garage coverage that leaves them wide open for an uncovered loss. If you are a used car dealer who does some repair work, you really owe it to yourself to read this article, and then check your policy to make sure you are covered properly.

The hybrid dealer that I am referring to is one who not only works on his own cars, but who works on cars owned by others. In this situation, the dealer is performing a double function from the insurance company’s perspective: a seller of cars and a repairer of cars. And this creates the need for a coverage endorsement to the garage policy that is often unfamiliar to a used car dealer.

The coverage that you need to add to your dealers policy is called garage keepers insurance. This coverage is designed to protect you for losses to your clients cars that are left in your care, custody or control. Garage keepers insurance can be broken up into two main coverage areas. One is called garage keepers collision coverage and the other is called garage keepers comprehensive coverage.

The comprehensive coverage is for fire, theft, windstorm, flood and other loss types that could occur to your customers vehicles while you have them in your possession for repairs. The collision coverage is for damages caused by collision to your clients cars while they are in your possession.

Within the broader category of garagekeepers insurance there is additional information you need to make a good decision about how much and which type to purchase. I have written other blogs on those issues and you can read them by clicking on the links below. There are also some video links if you prefer watching videos.

How much garage keepers insurance to buy – blog version

How much garage keepers insurance to buy - video version

Garage keepers Insurance explained Part I blog

Garage Keepers Insurance explained Part II blog

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping used car dealers with their insurance needs. We insure hundreds of used car dealers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia. If you would like help with your dealers insurance, please visit us online at www.TheAutoDealersHelper.com or call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557.

Much of the information for this article was sourced from www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com