Tips on Buying Homeowner’s & Auto Insurance

By Robert Intelisano, The Insurance Doctor

Following these valuable tips can save you upwards of 20-25% on premiums paid as well as properly protecting the assets you have worked so hard to build.

 

• Choose a higher deductible. The odds of a 35 year old having a homeowners claim by age 65 are over 1400 to 1. If your mailbox was broken by a delivery truck and the cost to fix it was $600 most people wouldn’t even submit a claim out of fear of either being dropped or a rate increase. So why not have a $1000 deductible in this situation?
• Check your uninsured/under-insured limits. This coverage is very inexpensive and is one of the only ways to collect money on your own policy. If somebody crashes into your car and has either no insurance or very low limits you can collect the difference from your own policy. I suggest 100/300 coverage, meaning if somebody hits you and you have $50,000 of damages and they have $10,000 of coverage you can collect the $40,000 difference from your own policy. Ask any personal injury attorney about this.
• Shop around. Examine rates from several companies and make sure to compare plans providing identical coverage. I suggest consulting with an independent broker who can “shop the market” for you and provide spreadsheet comparisons. This is especially important after hurricane sandy as many of the larger well-known companies have either dropped existing clients or stopped writing new business in Zone 1 and 2 areas. This has created opportunities for smaller niche companies to enter the market. Just because you might not have heard of the company doesn’t mean they are not financially strong with a good claims paying history. We are seeing this in abundance now in NY and NJ.
• Review annually. People tend to be creatures of habit and it’s easier to just pay your renewal when it surfaces each year. Ask your broker to “shop the market” every policy anniversary as rates change every year. In many cases rate increases are based on claims paid the previous year. If company A had a lot of claims that year their rates would noticeably increase and perhaps now company B would have lower rates. This is why it’s critical for brokers to shop around for better rates each renewal year.
• Assess the need. Determining if you need property and casualty insurance is simple. If you have assets like a retirement account, financial investments and/or a home with equity, then having property and casualty insurance may be a good idea. It helps protect you from being held financially liable for an accident that causes damage to another person or another person’s belongings. It may also help you pay for a person’s injuries or any legal costs you incur as a result of the person being injured on your property due to your negligence. This insurance usually comes into play with auto, homeowners and even renters insurance.
• Consider umbrella insurance. Also called “excess liability insurance” this can be a wise purchase for high net worth individuals and/or business owners with a value above the primary limits of policies selected. An umbrella policy can cost relatively little compared to the protection it provides.

For more information and/or competitive quotes feel free to contact me at robcintel@aol.com or 917-359-3985.

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