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

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?

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?

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

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

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

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?

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.