But I paid for 6 months...

If you are shopping around for insurance or have been approached with a better policy and with a lower premium, many people find themselves thinking they are in a contract with their current carrier.  What many people I run into do not know, is that you can cancel your current policy whenever you want with no repercussion, you can even get all of your unused premium back.

I wanted to quickly share some information about policies and what happens when you pay for your annual or 6 month policy all at once. Signing your agreement with your insurance company isn't a binding contract that holds you in until the expiration date. It can be cancelled at anytime per your request. A lot of people don't realize that when you decide to cancel a policy, even if you pay monthly, your prorated unused premium will be refunded to you. A ton of customers feel like they are trapped in a policy and can't start saving money on a new policy because they already paid for their policy upfront. Everyone should be aware that if you are not happy with your policy and are searching and find a better policy, you can switch at any time! If you call into your agent and tell him or her you are canceling, chances are it will get done fairly quickly and jump start the process of returning your premium to you. Most companies can get this done relatively quick and before you know it you could be with your new carrier and better policy and have nothing to worry about.

Just a short piece of information for all customers to be aware that they do have options and can always make a change, should the right opportunity present itself! Post some comments and questions below so I can know what you guys need answered!

KNOW WHAT FULL COVERAGE MEANS

I've talked briefly in some previous posts about the different coverages that are available to you and how they can have an extreme impact on your incidents in the future, should you have one. But lately I have been getting a lot of confused people that still to this day, after having insurance for well over 15 years, have never been educated on coverages and insurance in general. I want everyone to be aware of the dangerous language your agent could be using to confuse you.

The issue of, "Full Coverage". There have been a lot of people telling me. "well I have full coverage", when I ask them how high they would like their coverage limits to be. I receive the same answer when I ask how much coverage they have. This is great that you know you have coverage to cover your own car and coverage to protect yourself when you cause bodily injury to another, but this is just scratching the surface. Its like if I told you that your house was covered under any circumstances, only to hide that its only covered for half of its actual value. Full coverage is simply a term that states you have two parts to your policy. Coverage for your own vehicle, this is comprehensive and collision coverages, with their respective deductibles. The second part is where the confusion arises. 

Bodily Injury to others, Property Damage, and Uninsured/Underinsured coverage is that second piece of the full coverage pie. Just like your deductibles with comp. and collision, these coverages also have varying limits and coverages. The problem is that agents aren't explaining to their clients that the term "full" doesn't mean anything. You could have the state minimums for coverage and still be considered, "fully covered". Full just simply states you carry Bodily Injury and Property Damage coverage. Heck Uninsured and Underinsured aren't even required in states, and these coverages are in my opinion more important than the first two coverages. So simply stating that you have "full coverage", only tells a portion of the actual story. I will outline which each coverages meanings below;

• Bodily Injury: Covers injury caused to any person(s) as a result of your negligence, will pay for medical bills, lost wages etc.
• Property Damage: Covers any damage you cause to property, including damage to nearby buildings, light posts etc.(Also pays for legal defense costs)
• Uninsured and Underinsured: This coverage is not covering your negligence but rather another drivers. If you are hit by another driver who does not have coverage, who pays for you recovery and lost wages? This coverage will protect you in the event that another persons insurance is insufficient or nonexistent. That is why it can be more valuable to have this coverage in addition to the other coverages. It covers YOU and your health and wages. 

Coverage Limits are as follows:

• 25/65: $25,000 per person/$65,000 per incident (Utah State Minimum)
• 50/100: $50,000 per person/$100,000 per incident
• 100/300: $100,000 per person/$300,000 per incident
• 250/500: $250,000 per person/$500,000 per incident
• 500/500: $500,000 per person/$500,000 per incident

Property Damage coverage increases with one limit per incident:

• Coverage increases from: 15, 20, 25, 40, 50, 100, 250 and finally 500 and is represented in the thousands.

 As you can see there may be a lot to the story of limits and coverages that you aren't being told. You may indeed have full coverage but that doesn't always mean you have the right coverage for you. Look into your policy and stay educated on what limits and coverages you have to keep your self safe!

UPDATE ON RIDESHARING INSURANCE

In my previous post on rideshare coverage I briefly mentioned how I've had quite a few clients that have been told that they are indeed covered by their current policy, even though there is no actual endorsement or any clause that specifically states they are covered. After reaching out to The Rideshare Guy I received some valuable information for any ridesharers out there that might have also been told this same thing. 

In a recent memo sent out to State Farm agents the issue of ridesharing was addressed. In the memo the company stated, "that as long as livery wasn't the main use of the vehicle", there would be no grounds for cancellation or termination of your policy. Awesome news right? Not so fast. Yes this means if you drive less than 50% of your miles for ridesharing purposes you won't be dropped/ But this does nothing for you in terms of coverage. Just because the company has said no you will not be dropped, that doesn't translate into yes you are covered in an accident. While not being dropped is a great thing, not being covered in period 1 is still not any good news at all. The whole point of the ridesharing coverage is to insure you for period 1, the time when you are most vulnerable as a driver because there isn't a responsibility for any company to cover your loss.

Then there is the second issue. Driving less than 50% of your miles for ridesharing could be quite difficult. If you are doing ridesharing part time or even just doing it on the side you could easily surpass 50% of your miles driven for rideshare purposes. Lets say you drive 3 days out of the week for a good amount of time. Those drives could contain a fair amount of miles driven. If you compare it to your everyday commute to work the other 3 days a week, you might find you don't put on too many miles for work, or "pleasure" commutes. Maybe your work is only a couple miles away from your home, meaning you only average about 30 miles to and from work a week. Those miles could be matched quickly while ridesharing. And forget about staying under 50% if you drive rideshare as a primary job. This could leave you in a situation where you could be dropped and even worse, find yourself uninsured in period 1. Taking all of the responsibility and risk yourself. 

Everyone who is ridesharing needs to be aware of what is explicitly stated in each of their policies and know the exact coverage in every situation. I don't want any driver out there to think they are covered because their agent said they were, when in reality the agent didn't disclose the while story to the customer. Please make sure to review your policy and feel free to reach out to me with any questions you might have regarding ridesharing policies. Drive safe everyone!

Marriage and Insurance

Recently I had the wonderful experience of marrying my High School sweetheart. It was a great experience that I was happy we could finally share together and move our relationship that much further. But now that we are back to work and real life we have the hassle of making sure our license gets submitted and then we will have to go through the pain of changing her last name with the social security division, drivers license division, credit unions and the list goes on and on. There is another thing that will also need changing now, and that is our insurance. We have not been on each others insurance thus far and we are now married so what should we do?

Well first thing is first to be on each others auto insurance or not to be? Technically since you are married and I assume you are living in the same household, both drivers should be listed in a policy. But that doesn't mean both drivers have to be rated in the policy. For us as young couples sometimes being on separate insurance policies and companies is the best choice. With me being a young male and having a couple of speeding tickets, my insurance is going to be very pricey. She on the other hand has no violations or incidents and is usually rated better, simply because she is not a male. I know it sucks, we pay the price for being dudes who like to drive fast on occasion. I could have a policy with my wife on it but excluded from it so that she can be on her own policy and possibly have a better overall rate for the both of us combined since my negative age, gender and driving history won't have any affect on her policy. This is not absolute though, as sometimes having multiple drivers and cars on policies saves quite a bit of money. It boils down to seeing where you can get the best rate for the right coverage, whether that is together or not.

Getting insurance on that bling is also important. Now that you have made it official and have that gorgeous ring you might want to make sure it is going to be covered in your policy in the event of a loss or theft. Most renters or homeowners policies have an automatic coverage for jewelry, but these usually have a sublimit amount of around $1,000 of coverage. Meaning if your ring is worth more than $1,000 dollars you might want to get a floater on the ring or simply increase the sublimit. If you add a floater the specific piece of jewelry will need to be appraised and this appraisal will provide the insurance company with the value of the replacement making sure you are covering the piece for its actual value and not a sublimit amount.

Your interest in your significant others life is now recognized, even by law. Now that you are married you have an interest in that persons life. Meaning getting a life insurance policy on each other is now and option because you have something to lose if that person is deceased. I would highly recommend getting an insurance policy on each other not only to make sure you are financially secure with your assets even without that person, but also having that money in the event that you lose your significant other will allow time to grieve and go through a normal letting go process by not being stressed with work and money issues. Losing someone you love is hard enough without all of the possible financial burdens. Make sure to sit down with an agent and have a needs analysis on both you and your spouse to determine the right amount of coverage for you.

Marriage changes a whole bunch of things, just make sure you're prepared for everything and plan ahead to secure this life you have with your partner. Planning now will save you lots of heartache down the road.

Personal Story About Being Under-covered

I recently wrote a blog about how important it is to know what your apartment complex will and will not cover. In addition to that you should be very aware of what your coverage limits really are, if your apartment complex is providing the insurance to you. In my post about renters policies found here I was writing about the differences in my coverage from when I had the apartments insurance vs my current renters policy. I was drastically off on my guesstimate of coverage that I was receiving from the apartment.

I found our old declaration page today while sifting through a bunch of junk papers and I was absolutely stunned by what I had seen. I will post the comparison photo below to show just how off I was on my guessing, but I'm going to break it down here as well.

Current coverage from my renters policy:

• Personal Property: $25,000
• Personal Liability: $300,000
• Loss of Use: $5,000
• Deductible: $250
• Monthly Payment: $14

Previous coverage from the apartment:

• Personal Property: $5,000
• Personal Liability: $25,000
• Loss of Use(Additional Living Expenses): $1,250
• Deductible: $100
• Monthly Payment: $11

As you can see from my blurry photo, I was severely under-covered. And I had absolutely no idea. this happens everyday to people. They pay a fee and expect that they are being taken care of and are covered the way they should be, but sadly that's usually not the case. Sometimes as a consumer you need to be proactive and make sure that you have the right coverages and limits, don't be afraid to ask questions. You should ask lots of them! I essentially now have; 6x more personal property coverage, 12x more liability coverage, and double the loss of use coverage. I took my limits up this much and only pay three extra dollars a month and have a slightly higher deductible. Sure I might not need the $25,000 dollars in personal property coverage but that liability coverage can dwindle down fast. Just like I talked about in my umbrella post, your liability coverage can be wiped out extremely quick. If I burnt down my whole complex imagine the amount of liability on my shoulders... 

Just wanted to share my personal story about how this kind of thing happens to everyone and we all need to make sure our agent is taking care of use as well as you taking care of yourself. 

ALL TOWNHOUSE/CONDO OWNERS MUST READ

There is quite a bit of uncertainty here in Utah when it comes to how you insure your condo or townhouse. I've ran into potential clients that have reached out for a comparable quote for insurance only for me to discover that they were being wrongfully insured. 

When someone goes to buy a townhouse or condo the HOA is most likely involved. This community you are buying into can have some weird stipulations and requirements, which can change and cause some confusion surrounding multiple issues. The insurance of your unit always seems to pop out at me when getting quotes for my potential clients. My clients either don't know how their unit is insured, or they don't know how they want it insured. 

In 2011 Utah State Legislation passed a law titled, “Condominium and Community Association Revisions”. This is something all agents should currently be aware of, because this law directly affects your insurance on your unit. The HOA calls the policy required by law a "master" policy which the HOA is required to provide to you. The policy essentially covers the building, including the "betterment's" and "improvements" installed by you the unit owner. What is NOT covered is your personal property and your exposure to liability claims. 

Simple enough, where is the confusion? The problem lies with agents who are unaware or choose to ignore these new requirements. The way the insurance used to work is the HOA would cover the outside walls and you had to cover all of the inside walls in addition to the personal property and liability. I know, it sounds ridiculous. "We will cover the outside walls" how dumb does that sound? Anyways, now that the law requires the full building to be covered you need to make sure you are paying for the right insurance! 

Now a days if you have an HOA policy you would want a unit owner policy on your townhouse or condo. This policy is very similar to a renters policy in the way that you don't actually cover the building but rather the contents inside and your liability as the owner or occupant. The only difference is you can add additional endorsements to this policy which are not found in a renters policy, and most importantly, you own the building. 

The importance of being aware of this, is subjective. If you don't mind paying more money for an old policy that is double covering you for what is already covered then there is really no problem. But most people I know want to pay for only what is necessary and don't like to overpay. The situation I have found is an agent gives a policy to the unit owner and they give them the requirements of the old policy. So now the owner is covered by the HOA for the whole building in addition they themselves are paying to cover the inside walls, which is already covered... Please be aware of this requirement and make sure you are paying for what is needed and that you aren't paying more money for something that is already covered, it could save you a couple of hundred of dollars every year!

To read more on the Utah Legislation head over to this Utah.Gov PDF. 

My apartment covers my stuff right?

One of the big mysteries is often renters insurance. I know that when I signed my first apartment lease they asked if I had renters insurance or if I wanted to buy it through them. I'll admit I was pretty clueless about the whole thing. They basically said here you can have insurance through us for 11 dollars a month. Well obviously I knew we should probably buy insurance naturally we did. But I had absolutely no idea what exactly I was spending 11 dollars a month on. I had no idea what my coverages were, what they covered or why I even needed them.

Soon after we signed our lease my sister wanted to write a renters policy for me and have it be through her agency. Of course I was up for it and let her but in the process she showed me exactly what the renters policy did and did not do and why the freak I even needed the dumb thing.

Making the switch was easy and simple, canceled the apartments insurance and sent them proof of my new insurance. It was costing me only a few dollars more per month but I was getting significantly higher coverages and also on top of that being educated on what in the heck the policy did.

The main things to note in a renters policy are the personal property coverage and the liability coverage. In my opinion this are the two most important things to look at. The personal property is exactly what it sounds like, it covers all of your personal property. If your apartment is burnt to the ground and destroys all of your belongings then your personal property coverage will jump in and replace it all. On my original policy with the apartment I had about $15,000 in coverage. High but not typical. Typically when I write a policy I give $25,000 or more in coverage. This was one jump in coverage I made.

The second change I made was to my liability coverage. With the apartment I believe I was at around $100,000 in coverage, again high but not enough. I now have $300,000 in coverage which still could be too low but is closer to what everyone should have. This liability coverage is put in place to cover any damage you cause to other surrounding apartments by your negligence. Lets say I leave the stove on and cause a fire, that fire is quickly put out by my sprinkler system inside of my apartment but now I have flooded the apartment and its seeping down into the apartments below. The worst part, I live on the third floor. Now not only have I flooded my own apartment but the other apartments below me. I am responsible for the damages to their apartments and most importantly the building! Think of how pricey the repairs could get. Thankfully though I am educated and have a high liability coverage limit that will cover me in this situation.

If you rent you should own a renters policy. For protection from being held responsible for damages you cause and to cover all of your valuable property that you have worked to get. The apartment is covering their buildings, they don't care about your stuff or about your future earning that could be lost in the event that you cause damage that isn't covered. They do not have your best interest at mind. Make sure that you do and that you agent does as well.

Anyone reading; I would love your feedback and to get some questions on what you want answered, feel free to share the post if you found it useful and be prepared for the worst!

What the heck is an Umbrella?

The average everyday person is not always as educated as they should be when it comes to their current insurance. Whether that be in the form of their auto insurance or life insurance. But more often than not I find people who have never even been informed about an umbrella policy. I mention the policy and ask if they have one or have had one, and many times the customer is confused by the question. "Whats an umbrella?", is what most people respond with. As an agent it is my responsibility to cover all possible situations that you could encounter throughout your life. These situations are often analyzing what loses you could sustain in the event of an incident caused by your negligence. An umbrella is one piece of the puzzle to keep your future secure and safe for your and your family.

An umbrella policy is a policy that is put in place as a backup coverage policy that will cover all policies currently held by a household. The name umbrella literally describes what the policy does. Imagine your car, home and any other policy you own, such as an ATV. Now picture each of these policies as separate but still part of the same household. My car has $200,000 of liability coverage, but my house has $500,000 of liability coverage. I own both of these policies, so they are in one household but I cannot use part of my $500,000 of liability coverage from my homeowners policy to pay for an incident caused by my negligence in my car. But with an umbrella policy you can. Typically umbrella policies start at $1,000,000 of coverage and increase by 1 million as you go higher.  What that million does is cover all of your current policies held in your household, such as auto, home, boat, motor home, and it covers it like an umbrella. This coverage would kick in if you were to use up all of the available amount of coverage in any one of your other policies. 

Lets say I have a home that has $300,000 of liability coverage. If I burn down my own house and that fire spreads to my neighbors house I am liable for the damage caused to the neighboring homes that sustained damage. This $300,000 could get wiped out fairly quickly, leaving you with hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage to pay for because of your liability in the situation. The homeowners would have a right to seek compensation for the loss as well as compensation to rebuild the home. If I happen to burn down two homes around me that once large sum of $300,000 is quickly diminished. But if I have planned ahead and have a 2 million dollar umbrella policy this will kick in and help pay towards the damages and reconstruction of the homes. This is the same for any other policy you own. The umbrella would kick in the same way in a auto claim where you owe more money for medical payments, lost wages or property damage that cannot be paid for because it exceeds the limit of coverage for that specific policy.

The umbrella is essentially a backup plan in case of a dire situation where your current coverages cannot cover the amount of payments for which you are liable for. It is your ultimate backup coverage in any situation. This policy can be the deciding factor between you losing all of your retirement money or being completely covered by your insurance policies and not having to pay out one penny of your own. It can save your wages from being taken because you weren't prepared for injuring a driver so bad that he totaled his brand new Ferrari and is now missing work for the next 6 months from being hospitalized. This is the ultimate backup plan that can save your assets and secure your future income from being taken from you for usually around 100-300 dollars a year. 

The information your agent doesn't tell you!

I come across quite a few customers who think they have a really great rate. They know exactly how much they pay and they know it hasn't been steadily increasing too much, but mainly they know its pretty cheap. What some people don't realize is that their coverage is pretty cheap too. There are way too many people left in the dark about what the different coverages actually are. All they really know is that they are, "covered". But are they really? Is it just enough to have the absolute state minimums for where you reside? These are mostly put in place to make sure you're at least doing something and not driving around with no coverage at all. I would say 9/10 times the state minimums are not enough coverage, not even close.

For Utah the minimum coverage is 25/65. Now most people don't know what this actually means. 25 represents $25,000 of coverage per person in an accident and 65 represents $65,000 of coverage per accident. This may seem pretty substantial but I assure you it is not as high as you think. Say you are driving down the road in a huge beefed up truck and you unfortunately look down for a couple of seconds only to look up and see you are heading straight for that little sedan. There is no time to brake before you hit and boom, accident. Now lets assume you were going a fairly decent speed and caused some serious damage. The person(s) injured in the other car are rushed to the hospital and stay for a couple of days. Then they have lasting injuries that require rehab and because they have been in so much pain they have been taking time off work and losing wages. Not only have they been losing wages but also racking up debt from all of the bills piling up. We all know how expensive things can be and you can see your $25,000 can be gone before you even realize. Now imagine that the most tragic thing happened, in this accident someone died as a direct cause of the incident. Lets say this person was the primary source of income for their family and they want future earnings and lost wages as a result of what you caused by being in that accident. $25,000 dollars certainly isn't going to pay for the next 10 years of someones income even if they were making the average salary in the US. There are so many things that can happen as a result of an accident that will dwindle that $25,000 down to nothing and now they can come after your wages, your assets and your bank account. This is something that is unlikely in most peoples life but certainly something that could happen and you would want to be prepared.

The coverages increase as follows:

• 50/100: $50,000 per person/$100,000 per accident
• 100/300: $100,000 per person/$300,000 per accident
• 250/500: $250,000 per person/$500,000 per accident
• 500/500: $500,000 per person/$500,000 per accident

I usually try and recommend at least 100/300 as it is quite a bit more coverage than minimums and can save you in serious accidents where you are responsible. Remember that these coverages are for the Liability portion of your policy, meaning they cover any Bodily Injury you may cause as a result of an accident for which you were responsible. It is covering others bodily injury caused by you, it is not  covering yourself. Coverage for your own bodily injuries should be covered by the other person if they are at fault, but if they are not properly covered you want good coverage for yourself that would step in. I will cover Uninsured and Underinsured coverage in my next post to show what exactly those break down into. 

So maybe your premium is low, but maybe your coverage is low and putting you at serious risk in the event of an accident. Make sure you are covered properly and that you know how much coverage you have. 

Do I need Life Insurance?

Is life insurance really necessary? Does my family even need life insurance? How much life insurance do I need? What kind of life insurance do I need? These are some of the most commonly asked questions either to an agent or simply questions you would ask your spouse or even yourself. Life insurance like many insurance policies are often times not as well known as they should be. Everyone who has a house, a car, a family, assets and much more, should be aware of what exactly life insurance is and if you need it.

Most people I come across often times inform me that they already have life insurance through their
company they work for or that their spouse already has life insurance. The thing that they don't often know is how much life insurance they have, what kind of life insurance they have and for how long that life insurance will last them. Just knowing you have life insurance isn't quite enough. We are talking about the security of your assets in the future and more importantly your families security. With so much at stake why is it that we don't put more importance on something that can have a radical impact on your future? I think the reason lies within the fact that people don't want to buy things that don't give them something tangible or instant gratification or possession of the item. But people who have life insurance and are well educated know how important it is and know what they have, what they don't have and know why they need life insurance and always will. 

Because term life insurance is generally the most popular I will briefly cover it and the reason I believe you need it and should want it. Term life insurance is insurance that you choose for a specific amount of time to be covered, typically 10, 20 or 30 years. You also choose how much coverage you want. This is where people should recognize that your needs are different than Joe next door. If Joe has a mortgage twice the amount of yours and has thousands of dollars of debt, he will most likely need more "face amount" coverage than you. The face amount is the amount of money that you are insured for and the amount that would be paid out in the event of your death. Uh the "d" word. This is one of the reasons most people avoid life insurance and don't give it too much thought or time, because it reminds us that we all will inevitably die at some point. People put themselves in a, "that won't happen to me" category. One where they know that they won't get cancer, or have a severe and life threatening accident, because they just won't. But we never know what is around the corner and we should be prepared no matter what surprise we are faced with. It is better to be prepared for the worst than to be surprised by the worst. That's essentially what life insurance is for, preparation. Preparation for uncertainty and the unknown.

Sift through the obituaries one day and you will undoubtedly see the phrase, "in lieu of flowers". As an agent this breaks my heart. This shows me that the family of the deceased was not prepared for this unfortunate and tragic event. It tells me that they need financial help because they did not plan ahead. Instead of receiving beautiful flowers and not worrying too much about anything except saying goodbye to their loved ones, they have to look ahead and reach out for financial help because they are in a dire situation. One where their home and family security could be at stake. Even though none of us want to think about tragedy it is a completely logical thing that could happen to anyone at any time.

I believe life insurance is more necessary than even auto or homeowners insurance. Instead of covering just your house, or damages to your vehicle, life insurance covers yours assets, mortgage, debt, future income and most importantly your family. Remember that each person needs the right amount of coverage for them, so if your agent suggests a face amount without asking questions about income, mortgage, debt, future plans for college or anything related to those, you might want to sit down with someone who is looking at your situations and putting your interests before their commission.

Don't forget to post some comments suggesting future topics and hope on over to my Facebook page to connect and contact me with any insurance related questions. 

Ridesharing, am I covered?

The Ridesharing issue has been out and about for quite a while now depending on where you are. For those who don't know drivers for Uber, Lyft and other companies like sidecar, were out of luck when it came time for a claim while operating as a contracted rideshare driver. The issue arouse simply because rideshare is growing tremendously and everyone is trying to play catch up, even the insurance companies. Simply put it outgrew the market as far as support is concerned.

Mainly the issue has been that some carriers were dropping their customers or even worse not paying claims because the operator was driving as a rideshare driver. Now I am nowhere near the expert that  The Rideshare Guy is, but I have slowly been learning about this huge community. Essentially when a driver picks up his or her passenger the respective rideshare company they are contracting with will take over as their insurance carrier and give 1 million dollars in coverage to the driver. This has been great so far, as drivers are covered substantially. The issue lies in the grey in-between stages of
picking up your passenger. What has been happening is a driver logs into the app to see if there are any potential passengers in the area looking for a ride. At this point the driver may be sitting in their car or just patrolling the roads waiting for a passenger to request a pick up, this is where things became unknown. Lets say that you as a driver are logged into the app and you are cruising the streets, maybe even driving to the store. Now lets assume the worst, you get into an accident, and its your fault. When, not if, your insurance company discovers that you were logged into the app they will assume you were operating as a business and not as personal auto policy holder. Leaving you without any coverage at all and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, in medical payments to others or in property damages. This is where some companies are doing the right thing and covering you when you need it.

Some companies have stepped up to the plate and implemented an explicitly stated policy that clearly states YOU ARE COVERED. This is huge considering its a guessing game with some other insurance providers. I have heard stories of certain companies issuing nationwide memos to agents stating that clients will be covered in the event of an accident, but if it were me, I wouldn't risk my assets and my future by believing a memo. What if the company decided they actually have been receiving too many claims and withdraw their statement in that memo? There is no proof or explicitly stated material that you have in your own possession that guarantees coverage.

There is also the issue of how will my company even know if I was logged in? My opinion on that is simple. No insurance company wants to pay claims that they don't need to pay. If you have ever had a claim you know that both companies will thoroughly investigate every minute detail of the accident. This is for the reason I stated above, no company will pay a claim that they legally do not have to pay. Its money out of their pocket and if they can keep it in their pocket they will. Another opinion I have is that it is information that can be tracked. I don't know the specifics or logistics of how the apps work or how they can track where you are or things of that nature. What I do know is that even a Facebook post that has been deleted can be tracked. Once its online, most people agree it can be found. I would assume that you as a driver being logged into the app and then not picking up your passenger because of an accident would be tracked. Like I said, I don't know the whole logistics of everything but I would rather err on the side of caution and just assume they can track what happened and the insurance company could find out that I was indeed a driver and I also was logged into the app. Now I have had some people act like their insurance company won't find out that they were logged in because, "why would I tell them?". Well if you withhold that information when your insurance company asks you a specific ridesharing question, and you lie, you have now committed insurance fraud. Which can be a felony, not something you would really want.

My honest advice is that if you are actively driving as an rideshare driver, and you do not have a commercial policy, you should get a document that explicitly states your coverage in the event of an accident while you are logged into your app and not yet covered by the Rideshare company. The drivers out there need to have a secure policy to insure they are covering their future for themselves and their loved ones. Post your questions below and drive safely!

Why your Agent raises your rates!

Have you ever gotten your 6 month or annual renewal papers and seen that horrific rate increase? It is that thing that evokes anger, distrust and leaves you as a customer asking, why me? I think most people can agree that no one likes to pay more money for the same thing. How would you like it if every year your loan on your car changed and increased?

Many customers see themselves as a very responsible and safe driver or home owner. This is why when you have no tickets, accidents or claims filled you feel betrayed when you see you will now be paying 5 or even 20 dollars more every single month for your same coverages and service. What most people don't know or understand is that your agent isn't to blame.

There is a huge misconception that your agent can raise your rates, when actually we have no control over the rates. We the agents want you to get the best price, coverages and as many discounts as possible. But we can only do so much. The company as a whole will have logistics and teams making calculations to determine if group A needs a rate increase, or if group B is getting older and gets a decrease. Its just an example of how your agent isn't really to blame. Although your agent isn't to blame for the increase he or she could be to blame for poor attention to your policies and not covering every discount under the sun and more importantly making sure you are covered the way you need to be covered. An agent should be someone who has your best interests at mind. They make sure you understand a coverage and make sure you know what is available to you at any time if you choose to pursue additional coverages or products.

To make the subject short and simple, whenever you get that letter saying your premium is going to be increased, either there have been claims or tickets as a result of you the customer, or the company has simply issued a rate increase, which is fairly common. The company wants to stay competitive and charge the right prices, even though we might not agree with them. All in all I think next time you get those pesky papers showing your increase you shouldn't ask yourself why the agent raised your rates, instead ask yourself is your agent is truly taking care of you, your family and your assets. If your answer is yes, you might be okay with those extra dollars each month.

Introduction into Insurance And All

Welcome to my blog Insurance And All! I am starting this blog in the hopes of spreading knowledge regarding "Insurance And All" the ins and outs that every person should know about. I come across hundreds of customers who have never really had their coverages explained, limits explained or even what certain things in your policy mean when it comes time for a claim. I want to help the community become aware of all of the misconceptions and misunderstood myths about insurance. I want this to be a place of knowledge, discussion, and build a strong community for everyone to be apart of.

I am currently a Farmers Agent in the state of Utah. As a child and teen I always had a small idea with my sister that one day we would have our own Insurance Business and run it all ourselves. When it came time for college I was enrolled in the Pre-Business Undergraduate study but quickly found I really had no interest to go into Marketing, which is what I had decided I would bring to the table for our business. After going into Exercise and Sports Science I realized I was in school for all the wrong reasons. I wasn't striving towards a bigger picture and often was faced with the, "what will you do with your degree?", question and often times I had no idea what to even say. An opportunity presented itself and I jumped on it. My sister had recently become a Farmers Agent and thought that I should also become and Agent. Long story short, we don't own our own business per-say but she owns her own agency as do I. I guess all along it was just meant to be. Although I am not enrolled as and ESS student any longer I still love Fitness and the human body and continue to strive to be better physically and mentally. 

Now that everyone knows just a little bit about me I want to connect with people and know who they are and what they have questions about. I don't claim to know everything, who can, but I do know that I will do my best to help everyone out there get their questions and concerns answered with careful guidance and information. I look forward to helping out my community and helping families keep their hard earned assets secure! 

If you would like to connect with me on Facebook head over to my Page.