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

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.

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

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.

Same Sex Couples and Unmarried Couples Auto Insurance in NC

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.

Crash Taxes – They Could Make You A Double Victim

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.

Teen Driver Safety – Summer Months Are High Risk

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

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.

New NC Auto Insurance Changes Could Trip Up Insurance Buyers

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.

NC Auto Insurance – Your License Tag Is Your Reminder

It’s so easy to take a car off of your car insurance policy, just call your agent and tell them. And when you have signed your title over to the buyer, it seems like you are really finished with the process. But, a cautionary tale her can remind you that under no circumstances should you ever let the new buyer drive off with your tags still on that vehicle. It could ruin you financially.

In NC when you buy a car from someone, even though they have signed the title over to you, the state doesn’t recognize that transaction until the buyer registers the car. And the one thing that will force the new buyer to do this is if he or she doesn’t have any tags to put on the car. Here’s a story that drives this point home.

Someone I know, who was not one of our clients, sold one of his vehicle, a pickup truck, to a friend. He then called his agent and asked them to take the vehicle off of his policy. The buyer of the car drove off with his license plate on the vehicle and then they failed to go to the DMV to register the car in their name and get their own tags. They also failed to add this truck to their personal auto insurance policy. A few weeks later, they loaned the truck back to my friend as he had to pick up a large item from the store. On the way to the store, my friend had a terrible accident which resulted in nearly $100,000 of damages. In this case, he is driving a car, registered in his name, without insurance. But in his mind, he had sold it and he shouldn’t need insurance. As you can imagine, he was held accountable for all of the damages from this accident.

This is an odd story but the same result could have happened if the new buyer’s were driving and had an accident. The real key take away knowledge from this story is that you should never, ever let someone drive away with your tags on your vehicle. It leaves you exposed to losses you cannot control and could ruin you financially.

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

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

Teen Driver Insurance – Unraveling The Mysteries of The NC Teen Driver Insurance Rates

Most everyone with children is vaguely aware of it, when their teenagers get licensed, they are going to have to pay a lot more for their NC auto insurance policy. But just how much more and for how long remains a bit of a mystery for a lot of parents. While the ins and outs of getting the best teen driver insurance rates are too much to explore in this blog, I do want to help the reader understand exactly how the inexperienced operator surcharges apply to NC auto insurance policies. Read on to lift the veil of mystery on this issue.

We all know that young drivers have more accidents because they are just not experienced drivers. And as they gain experience, they become better drivers and less likely to be involved in an accident. Also, those teen drivers who have their own cars are also several times more likely to be involved in an accident with that vehicle. These two realities can go a long way toward explaining the rating system in NC for teen drivers.

The extra money that you will pay on your auto insurance policy for your teen driver is called the inexperienced operator surcharge. This surcharge has 6 categories and how much extra you will pay is determined by the category that your child falls into.

The first category asks the question of whether or not your child is a primary operator or an occasional operator of a vehicle. Primary operator simply means that your child is furnished a car of their own to drive. You don’t really have a choice about this as the insurance company will simply take the number of cars on your policy and the number of drivers on your policy and apply a driver to each car. If you have 3 cars and 3 drivers, well then you teen is going to listed as a primary operator. The surcharge for primary operators is about twice that of an occasional operator.

The second category that affects the amount of surcharge on your policy for your teen driver asks the question of how long your child has been licensed. The inexperienced operator surcharges last for 3 years and there are 3 categories, one for each year of driving experience. The NC auto insurance policy rules allow the insurance company to leave your child in their current experience level tier until the policy comes up for renewal. This generally has the effect of forcing you to pay for the surcharges longer than you need to for each tier. There is a way around this and it can save you quite a bit of money. To learn that trick read my blog about The IEO rate loophole.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we want all of our clients to be informed insurance buyers. We specialize in helping families with teen drivers and as such, we have created several tools to help families deal with the safety and insurance issues associated with teen drivers. Visit our teen driver help page or call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 for more help with your young drivers.

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