Car Dealer Insurance – The Blanket Reporting Form

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.

Used Car Dealers – There May Be Hidden Funds In Your Garage Insurance Policy

This economy has required all types of businesses to tighten their belts and make more with less. Used car dealers in NC, SC, TN and GA are no exception to this problem. But very few of them have thought to look at their garage insurance policy as a source of funds. Here’s how you might take money out of your garage insurance policy.

Basically there are two areas of possible overpayment on your garage insurance policy that might be sources of funds for you. One I call the payroll update test and the other I refer to as the inventory study.

The payroll update test simply means that if you have cut back on your number of sales persons, then you might be sitting on a return premium audit at the end of your garage liability policy term. If this is the case, you can request a change in the number of salespeople charged on your policy and have those funds returned to you now, rather than waiting for your current garage insurance policy term to run out.

The inventory study technique refers to the possibility that as sales have slowed, you may have reduced your inventory on your lot. If you insure the comprehensive and collision coverage for your inventory under dealers open lot coverage, then you may find that you are carrying more coverage than you really need. Take a moment to try and figure out what your current inventory levels are and check that against your garage insurance policy to see if you are over-insured. If so, call your agent and ask him to reduce your dealers open lot coverage to a more appropriate level. This will generate a return premium due you.

It is important to remember that both of these techniques are useful in a downward moving economy. But, when business picks up, and you hire more salespeople and begin to increase your inventory, it is important that you call your agent and have him update your policy to reflect the increased exposure. If you fail to do this, you may find yourself without enough dealers open lot coverage, or you may be facing an additional premium audit which could lead to a cash flow problem I call, the audit trap.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping used car dealers all of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee with their insurance needs for their used car dealerships. If we can help you answer questions about your dealers insurance, please feel free to call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at http://www.theautodealershelper.com/.

The source material for this article can be found at http://www.insuranceanswerguy.com/