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Tips to pay less for car insurance

26 December 2017 By admin Leave a Comment

If you’ve got a car, chances are your car insurance eats up a chunk of your budget. Especially for families with multiple drivers, people with poor credit and drivers with imperfect track records. But Consumer Reports says if you do a little homework, there are ways to lower car insurance costs.

Start by picking a top-rated insurer. Don’t be short-sighted. It’s not just about getting the lowest premium. You want to make sure you get a company that’s going to pay your claim, in a reasonable amount of time and gives you good service.

Then, be sure to set the right deductible. A higher deductible reduces your monthly premium, but you’ll pay more out of pocket if you have a claim. It’s generally a good bet, just make sure you have enough to pay that deductible if your luck runs out.

If you’re a driver with low-risk behaviors, you can lower rates by asking about discounts for things like drivers who don’t use their car for long commutes, students with good grades, teen drivers who take driver-training or mature drivers who take a defensive driving course. Having a good credit score can also save you a few bucks.

BY JENNA SACHS

See full story at fox6now.com

Tips for finding, buying and keeping the best insurance policies for your lawn care business

19 December 2017 By admin Leave a Comment

There are many parts to owning and operating a lawn care or landscaping business that have nothing to do with the work itself.

You must be able to find dependable employees at the right salary. Once you have hired an adequate staff, you must find the right customers. Once you have found the right customers you have to know how much to charge those customers in order to be profitable. Once you have those customers you have to implement quality assurance measures in order to keep those customers happy with your work.

One aspect that frequently gets lost in the mix of all the responsibilities an owner has is purchasing proper insurance coverage to protect the business. There are many aspects of an insurance policy that the business owner should familiarize themselves with that may seem foreign to most first-time business owners.

Here are several tips to help you find the best insurance coverage, find the best price on that coverage and what you should be aware of when you have to use your insurance policy.

How do I find the best coverage?

The way to find the best insurance policies for your business depends on many things that are unique to you and your business. You may be willing to take on more risk than another business owner in the same industry.

For that reason, it is important to find an experienced independent agent with whom you trust. Once you have found a good agent, it is equally important to take a little extra time to speak long and honestly about everything your business does and does not do.

This industry is one that has numerous landscaping general liability classification codes. If you do not give enough information to your agent, they are forced to guess exactly how much risk your business takes on. It is in their best interest to always assume more risk. Doing this protects their business, but may cost your business more in unnecessary premium.

These mistakes usually get fixed in the end of term audit, but even if they find you have paid too much you still have tied up cash in unnecessary premium throughout the year.

Once you have taken care of finding a good agency to partner with and you have spoken with them about all the activities your business partakes in, it is important to ask them what all coverages do you need and what may you be able to do without.

At this point it is important to remember the agent works for you. If you are honest with him about how much risk you are willing to take then they should be able to give you the proper information to cover your business as you prefer. It is important to remember that insurance agents interact with business owners not only when they are selling them a policy, but also when a disaster has occurred.

They may be offering you an extra product not only because they can make more commission on it, but also because they have interacted with a business owner in the past who had a claim occur at their business where they were not covered. Depending upon the size and severity of the disaster, having the right coverage can mean the difference between being closed for two weeks and never opening your business again.

How do I find the best price?

Once you have found a good agent and you have spoken with them about all the ins and outs of your business, it is important to ask for all credits and debits that your business qualifies for.

The best way to do this is to let your agent know what is most important to you as a business owner. If you are a business owner who values price, tell them that. Insurance agents talk with many different people from many different walks of life.

The agent may interact with one customer who wants absolutely every coverage that is offered and at the highest limits possible while another business owner may be willing to take on a higher amount of risk. Some business owners just want the policy in place as fast as possible so they can get back to work.

Other cash-strapped business owners simply want the bare minimum coverage required to be in business because it is all they can afford. Never assume they know what is most important to you. Honesty is always the best policy in life and in business. Tell your agent what is important to you and if they are a good agent, they can work to satisfy your needs.

By Mitchell Sharp

See full story at www.totallandscapecare.com

5 tips for buying your first insurance policy in Singapore

14 December 2017 By admin Leave a Comment

So you’re all grown up now and one of the things you need to do to get this adulting thing right is to buy your first insurance policy.

Okay, so poring over insurance policies and actually speaking to insurance agents rather than running away from them isn’t exactly the most enjoyable way to spend a Tuesday night.

But making sure your first insurance policy is right for you isn’t rocket science-yes, even if you have no clue what insurance you need or even why you need it.

Here are five tips to get yourself on the right track.

1. LISTEN TO WHAT THE INSURANCE AGENT HAS TO SAY, BUT DON’T FEEL OBLIGED TO BUY FROM HIM

You should totally avoid insurance agents like the plague-unless you actually do want to buy insurance but aren’t sure what plans you need.

If you have no clue where to start, it would probably benefit you to make an appointment with an insurance agent in your social circle, or even one of the random ones who’s accosted you on the street. Sit down with them and have them explain the various types of insurance policies.

You’re not going to need all of the plans the agent talks about-for instance, be aware that the agent is likely to try to get you to sign up for an investment-linked savings plan, which may not be a good idea. But some plans are more appropriate as your first insurance policy, such as health insurance and personal accident insurance.

The agent will be able to give you a pretty comprehensive overview of what the various insurance plans are for. Of course, there is no substitute for reading the actual policy. But if you’re totally clueless, an agent can give you a good introduction.

2. UNDERSTAND WHAT INSURANCE YOU ACTUALY NEED

Once you’ve parted ways with the agent, you should have a decent idea of what the various types of insurance entail. Now you need to figure out what you really need-obviously, if the agent had his way, you’d be buying everything.

As a general rule of thumb, a health insurance plan is highly recommended for every young Singaporean who’s started working. Yes, we have MediShield Life, but it is very limited in scope and you’ll be stuck in overcrowded government hospitals if you have only that to rely on.

If you have dependents-such as children, aged parents, a non-working spouse-who rely on you financially, you should also consider life insurance. Note that there is a big difference between a straight-up life insurance plan and investment-linked life insurance.

By JOANNE POH

See full story at www.asiaone.com

10 Ways to Lower Car Insurance Costs

7 December 2017 By admin Leave a Comment

Car insurance is a significant operating cost, especially for large families, those with low credit scores, and drivers with imperfect track records. But with some work, there are ways to lower car insurance costs.

Here, we present 10 strategies to consider.

1. Do an Annual Rate Check

If you’ve been with the same insurer a long time, it might be tough to beat its rates, especially if you haven’t filed any claims lately. In fact, a 2014 survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center found that only 10 percent of 19,000 CR.org subscribers who compared premiums found they would save money by switching.

2. Pick a Top-Rated Insurer

Saving money isn’t simply a matter of finding the lowest premium. Some insurers have lower premiums but end up costing you more in the end by lowballing loss estimates, hassling repair shops to cut corners, and forcing you to pay extra for original-equipment replacement parts. They might even unfairly jack up your premiums after an accident.

We surveyed 64,872 CR.org subscribers in 2014. Eighty-eight percent of them were highly satisfied with the handling of their claims. Among the highest-rated groups were USAA, Amica, and NJM, with overall satisfaction scores of 90 or higher.

3. Set the Right Deductible

A higher deductible reduces your premium because you pay more out of pocket if you have a claim. Hiking your deductible from $200 to $500 can cut your premium on collision by 15 to 30 percent. Go to $1,000 and you could save 40 percent.

If you have a good driving record and haven’t had an at-fault accident in years—if ever—opting for a higher deductible on collision might be a good bet. Just make sure you can afford to pay that cost if your luck runs out.

4. Review All of Your Coverage

Your liability coverage pays for bodily injury and property damage that you cause. Don’t get caught short by reducing your liability limits to the state minimums. Buying more coverage might seem like an odd way to save, but the benefit comes if you have a costly claim, which can put your life’s savings at risk.

If you have another car you can use while your vehicle is being repaired, you don’t need to pay for rental-reimbursement coverage. Dump roadside assistance if you have an auto-club membership that’s a better deal or if it’s part of your new car’s warranty.

Think carefully about personal-injury protection and medical-payments coverage. Forget it if you have good health coverage; keep it if you don’t or if your usual passengers aren’t well-insured.

See full story at www.consumerreports.org

5 Tips for Getting the Best Value on Car Insurance

5 December 2017 By admin Leave a Comment

If you’re already insured, check your policy to see what you’re now paying, then follow these steps

1. Shop often. Check out several different insurance companies every two to three years. Maybe your situation has changed—say you’re driving fewer miles, which can lower your premium a little. Or maybe the carrier has adjusted its underwriting or rating in ways that help, or hurt, your bottom line. You get little benefit from sticking with the same insurer year in and year out; our research in the past has found that the “long-term customer discount” is mostly a myth.

2. Cast a wide net. Try shopping on TheZebra.com, which uses data from Quadrant, a private company that collects and analyzes rate filings supplied directly by insurers. (Quadrant is also the company we engaged for our price analyses.) The Zebra offers estimates from 18 to 35 insurers, depending on the state. That compares with just 3 to 10 quotes provided by other sites, including Insurance.com, NetQuote, and NerdWallet.

3. Consider raising collision and comprehensive deductibles. Collision insurance covers damage to your vehicle caused by impact with another car or object, regardless of who’s at fault. Comprehensive covers theft of your vehicle and damage from fire, flood, a falling branch, and the like. The average driver files a comprehensive or collision claim only once every 5 to 10 years, according to the Insurance Information Institute. The higher your deductible—the amount you pay before insurance kicks in—the lower your premium, especially for collision, as shown at right.

By Tobie Stanger

See full story at www.consumerreports.org

Essential Tips for Saving More on Auto Insurance Costs

30 November 2017 By admin Leave a Comment

Auto insurance can weigh heavily on the budget of your family. It is a very important investment and any drivers have to purchase auto insurance in order to legally drive in United States. If you do not have so much money to spend on auto insurance, you should fin way to reduce the premiums. Follow our guide and you will certainly save some bucks. Read our list with top 4 tips to save money on auto insurance.

Make your car safer to drive. Each car comes with a safety rating, obtained after a series of tests. If the car is considered very safe, it will be very cheap to insure. But if this is not the case, you should make some efforts to ensure a higher safety degree. Check specialized shops and websites and buy efficient devices. Installing anti-theft and tracking devices is also a good idea that will lower the premiums.
Combine car insurance policies with one carrier. If you plan buying multiple policies, why not buying them from the same car insurance companies? It is highly probable that the cost of bundling them will be lower than purchasing them individually.
Drive less and save more. Car insurance companies will ask you to approximate an annual mileage for the vehicle you want to insure. If you do not drive that much and you use it only to go to work, you can surely ask for a low-mileage discount.
Increase the deductibles. A deductible is the amount of money you pay for an accident until the policy kicks in. if you select a high deductible, the premiums will be lower.

See full story at www.lowestcarinsuranceratesonline.com

Mistakes to avoid when buying car insurance

28 November 2017 By admin Leave a Comment

Car insurance is purchased with the main intention of covering expenses in case of an accident to ensure you can repair or replace your vehicle. However, there are pitfalls in the process of buying insurance which could result in you buying insurance that is not suitable for your needs and sometimes lead to complications when you need to claim in the future. iWYZE shares their tips on what consumers should be aware of when buying insurance.

Not comparing your insurance quotes

There are many insurance providers, but consumers often settle for the first offer they receive without comparing quotes. Shopping around will allow you to weigh up options of offers, deals and benefits that are suitable to your requirements that are available in the industry.

Going for the cheapest offer

Consumers are constantly looking for better premiums to fit their budgets; however, cheap insurance is not always the answer to cover your most valuable assets. The trick is to not be blinded by the cheapest offer and to ensure you are sufficiently covered which is the purpose of insurance. The financial consequences can be devastating if you have insufficient insurance cover and need to pay for the repairs or replacement out of your pocket.

Omitting information/Dishonesty to your insurer

An insurance policy is a legal agreement between two parties: the insurance provider and the policyholder. It is a contract between them that if the policy holder pays their premiums, the provider will cover them accordingly in the event of loss or damage. Both parties need to be honest in order for the agreement to be valid. Your quotation is offered based on the information you provide to the insurer to help them assess the risks involved in covering you. If you omit information – this could impact you at claim stage. As a legal contract, lying to your insurer will result in your claim being rejected.

Insisting on lower premiums

Most people want lower premiums and do not realise in order to get cover of the same value at lower premiums, it may result in increases their excess fee. It is advisable to select a lower excess as accidents are unplanned and if the excess is too high, it will be hard to raise the required funds immediately.

Unfortunately, most mistakes made when buying car insurance are done in an effort to reduce costs but this ends up costing you more than you realise. These mistakes are seldom picked up in time to be corrected before you need to claim. This is the reason it is so important for you to consistently assess and review your insurance contract to ensure the information provided is correct, relevant and you are covered for the correct value.

See full story at motoring.iafrica.com

Pet Insurance Tips on How to Get the Best Deal

23 November 2017 By admin Leave a Comment

Deciding that you’re going to get pet insurance for your non-speaking friends, it’s great because it means you want to take care of them as best as possible. However, you also need to take care of yourself and you can do that by making sure you are choosing the best deal available in terms of pet insurance. There are enough pet insurance options out there for someone to easily get confused or make the wrong choice which they will regret later on.

Research the market thoroughly

You should never choose the first service that pops up in your Google search results. It’s important to make sure that you are actually choosing the best option for you and research is the only way to accomplish this. When you’re looking for a pet insurer, be certain that you’ve investigated all the potential solutions on the market currently so that you can have your pick of the litter when it’s time to pick one.

Go with the winning record

The best way to tell if a pet insurer is any good is by checking out their track record. Depending on how they’ve conducted business in the past, leading up to the present, you can determine whether or not they’re a trustworthy pick and if they’re an insurer you should deal with. Asking other pet owning friends or just comparing feedback from customers of various insurance providers is a good way to get a feel of what it offered.

Make sure it’s what you need

You wouldn’t be the first person to sign an insurance deal only to find out later that the medical reasons for which they’ve gotten insurance in the first place aren’t actually covered by said insurance. It’s very important to make sure that you know precisely what’s covered and what factors can influence covered items.

See full story at www.finsmes.com

5 tips to make sure your insurance claim goes through

9 November 2017 By admin Leave a Comment

“There are common pitfalls we see time and time again that result in insurance claims being repudiated, or only partially paid out because the ‘contract’ has been broken,”says Bertus Visser, chief executive of distribution at PSG Insure..

Below are five key examples to avoid…

1. The regular driver and owner of a vehicle differ on a policy

An example of where this happens is if a parent is the policyholder and a student child purchases a car that is insured under the parent’s policy. Because the vehicle was purchased by your child, there is no insurable interest, as there will be no financial loss for you if anything happens to the vehicle. If your child claims, the claim will likely be rejected.

Top tip: Clearly let your adviser know the full details of any vehicle added to a policy, so that appropriate cover can be put in place. Do not assume that simply adding a vehicle to a policy will mean that it is covered.

2.Vehicle extras weren’t specified

A case in point was when a client put in a claim for a bulbar that was stolen from his bakkie. No extras were noted in his policy and the sum insured was only sufficient to cover the bakkie itself. The claim was therefore rejected.

Top tip: Ensure that any fittings, such as bull bars and all accessories like a sound system or canopy are specified as extras, in addition to the sum insured value of your vehicle. Also keep in mind that you might need cover for mag rims on your tyres, so keep their replacement value in mind – anything you have changed or upgraded compared to the standard vehicle must be noted.

3. Security specifications weren’t discussed

All too common, this is an issue when claiming for a burglary. If your security features weren’t enabled at the time of the burglary, the claim will likely get rejected.

Top tip: Make sure you ask about any elements of your cover that are your responsibility. If you are covered for having a locked security gate, an active electric fence or burglar bars on your windows, these features need to be in place and in good working order at all times. This will keep both your property and you safe.

4. You moved but didn’t say anything to your insurer

If you move house and don’t notify your insurer of your new address, any claims at the new premises will be rejected. This might seem like an obvious change to make to your policy but we do experience clients forgetting.

Top tip: Insurers usually require that you give written notice of your new permanent, physical address before you move. This is because your new address means your risk has changed and your premium may also change.

See full story at businesstech.co.za

Finding Cheaper Auto Insurance – Important Tips

7 November 2017 By admin Leave a Comment

Finding affordable car insurance rates is no longer difficult. Drivers who need coverage can do all their insurance shopping on a single website. http://autocarsinsurancetips.com/ provides some of the best auto insurance quotes available on the market. The insurance brokerage services are completely free and accessible to anyone.

Here, by providing their ZIP codes, drivers will be able to actively compare multiple offers in their areas, without having to pay any fees. This allows drivers to actively compare available coverage options with the purpose of finding cheaper insurance. Studies also show that drivers who spend more time shopping around for coverage generally pay less.

By shopping for car insurance, drivers can cut auto insurance prices by 15-20%, sometimes even more. There are multiple offers available on the market and by comparing prices, drivers will be able to find them fast and with little effort.

Auto insurance quotes can help drivers compare multiple plans in a fast and convenient way. Shopping around for the best policy is strongly recommended because there are multiple plans available. Without actively comparing prices, drivers may miss out on some advantageous opportunities.

“Online car insurance quotes are a great tool for finding the right policy for your vehicle,” said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company.

See full story at markets.businessinsider.com

Insurance Agency Singapore | Commercial Insurance and Personal Insurance