A Smooth Claims Process is No AccidentAn auto accident is a very jarring experience and most people are often unsure about what information to collect from the other party or parties involved. The lack of pertinent information can lead to delays in settling your claim and can be very frustrating. The more detailed facts you can provide, the fewer complications and delays you will have.
Insurance scores are confidential rankings based on credit history information. They are a measure of how a person manages his or her financial affairs. People who manage their finances well tend to also manage other important aspects of their lives responsibly, such as driving a car. Combined with factors such as geographical area, previous crashes, age and gender, insurance scores enable auto insurers to price more accurately, so that people less likely to file a claim pay less for their insurance than people who are more likely to file a claim. For homeowners insurance, insurers use other factors combined with credit such as the home's construction, location and proximity to water supplies for fighting fires.
The information used in insurance scoring models does not include personal data such as a person's ethnic group, religion, gender, family or marital status, handicaps, nationality, age, address or income. The scoring process relies on information in a person's credit record. Particular emphasis is placed on those items associated with credit management patterns proven to correlate most closely with insurance risk, such as outstanding debt, length of credit history, late payments, collections and bankruptcies, and new applications for credit. Credit-related activities within the last 12 months are given most weight.
Many people have no idea they are beneficiaries of insurance scoring. Depending on the company and state, more than 50 percent of policyholders can have a lower premium because of good credit.
It is becoming increasingly important to have an acceptable credit record. Whether we like it or not, society equates the ability to manage credit responsibly with responsible behavior, even if individuals have a bad credit record through no fault of their own.
In a word, "Yes". Read our Private Client Services page to learn more about our global insurance and second home coverages.
Ask yourself the following questions. Do you...
If you answer "yes" to any of these questions, there is a good possibility that your assets may not be adequately protected. Assume that every time you leave your home, you are hauling a trailer that contains all of your assets - your home, your personal property, your bank accounts, your investments, your future earnings, etc. If you should cause harm to another, you are deemed to be negligent and you are sued, all of your assets are in jeopardy, and that's what you need to protect.
A Personal Umbrella or Personal Excess Liability Policy provides an additional layer of liability coverage over and above your home, auto, motorcycle, recreational vehicles, watercraft, rental properties, anything on which you carry liability coverage. The policy is sold in increments of $1,000,000. The annual premiums are very affordable, starting at around $125. It's a small price to pay to protect everything for which you have worked so hard.
It’s always a good idea to talk to us about insuring certain valuable classes of personal property:
There are several reasons to consider specifically insuring (“scheduling”) your valuable personal articles:
There are very specific coverage limitations in all Homeowner policies on certain classes of personal property for loss by theft. The limitations differ by company, so you should refer to your Homeowner policy for the specific limit
Scheduling affords additional coverage that the standard Homeowner policy does not provide, for example:a. Jewelry – the stone chips or falls out, of you simply lose the itemb. Fine Art – the item is damaged if it falls off of a shelf or the wall
Scheduling eliminates the Homeowner deductible on those items.
A real estate appraisal and an insurance appraisal are two entirely different calculations.
Unlike a real estate appraisal, an insurance appraisal does not consider the current real estate market, the neighborhood, the school system, the proximity to shopping and freeway access, any of the intangibles that go into determining the real estate value of your home. It also does not consider "comparables" - it is a professional evaluation that is unique to your home.
An insurance appraisal is a strictly black-and-white, bricks-and-mortar number that determines what it would cost to rebuild your home exactly as it now stands using materials of like kind and quality at today's cost of labor and materials. It also includes a value for razing and hauling away the damaged portions of the home.
Insurance companies require that you insure your home for its replacement value so that there is enough money in your policy to not only pay for a total loss, but to also pay for a large partial loss.
The Ohio Department of Insurance wants Ohioans to be aware of the insurance gaps that may exist for Transportation Network Company (TNC) drivers and passengers. Most personal auto insurance policies contain exclusions when a person uses their personal vehicle for commercial purposes; such as carrying a person for a fee. Personal automobile insurance is not intended to cover people who are using their vehicles for commercial purposes.
While TNCs may provide liability insurance, they may not provide medical payments coverage, comprehensive, collision, uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage, or other types of coverage to fully protect TNC drivers and passengers.
If you are a driver considering employment with a TNC, we offers these tips:
Check with your insurer now, before there's trouble. You'll probably be advised to purchase a commercial auto insurance policy, which can be significantly more expensive than personal coverage. That necessary cost of doing business should be figured into your calculation to determine whether being a TNC driver really is the no-cost easy money proposition that the app developers lead drivers to believe it is.
If you have additional questions regarding your coverage as a TNC driver, call the Ohio Department of Insurance consumer hotline at 1-800-686-1526 for assistance. Insurance information is available at www.insurance.ohio.gov. For the latest insurance information, you can follow the Department on twitter @OHInsurance and on Facebook
