Insurance Experts

If we were to believe the hype given to us by all the national newspapers recently we would all be panicking and submitting motor quote details to every online broker as well as visiting every high street broker so that we can hopefully try to save this massive price increase. My advice is DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME, well not for the moment anyway.

We have been Motor Insurance Brokers for over 30 years and any price rises that are around at present are no more or less than at any other time I can remember. What seems to happen is that maybe one insurance company has a bad claims experience throughout the previous year and to make this up they need to increase their prices substantially. The newspapers latch onto this and being their normal sensationalistic (is that a word) selves they announce at the top of their voices that motor insurance prices are about to increase drastically. We are actually fining to the contrary and in a lot of cases PREMIUMS ARE GOING DOWN. I have just checked 5 motor renewals I have done this morning and 3 have gone down and 2 have gone up (one by £8 and one by £4.30).

If you still have worries here is what I advise you to do about a month before your renewal is due:

• Get all your paperwork together regarding your insurance and approach a few of the internet sites.
• Visit a few of your local brokers and get quotes (its personal and you are speaking to a real person but you are limited in numbers).

Our advice is whether it is via the internet or face to face. Always use a broker because an actual insurance company can only quote with themselves whereas a broker like ourselves can check 200+ schemes. Nine times out of ten a broker will get the cheaper quote.

FINAL WORDS

The one thing I don’t want to do is to sound complacent and suggest that premiums will never rise drastically. Bear in mind that insurance companies like making money, they are not a charity. Whilst they have reserves of money from other sources it is not a never ending pot of gold. I can see at some stage that injury claims (which are constantly increasing) will reach a stage where insurers will be bound to have to raise premiums quite drastically to meet the ever rising awards that judges are making. Sadly we live in a “No WIn No Fee” generation and guess what, there is without question many claims which would never have occurred had it not been for constant pressure from the injury lawyer firms constantly ramming their services down our neck. Believe me we all pay in the long run for unnecessary injury claims. We all know people who one minute cannot walk and after the settlement it suddenly improves so that they can play squash. It will get so bad that insurers will definitely raise prices greatly but that day is well in the future as far as we are concerned.

Graham Hodgson

www.hodgsoninsurance.co.uk

There is little doubt that SUVs or Sports Utility Vehicles have taken the market by storm in recent years, but few realize that there are a number of considerations that need to be taken into account when dealing with car insurance related to these sort of vehicles.

Some of those who own SUVs may have already realized that not all SUVs cost the same to insure. You should know that insurance companies carefully consider the likelihood that a particular brand of vehicle will be stolen, vandalized or involved in an accident. They do this by looking at industry statistics of what insurance companies in general have paid out on average for various claims. This means that the SUV most likely to be stolen will have to attract a bigger insurance premium to cover the higher risk involved. The SUV that is least likely to be stolen will justifiably cost a lot less to insure.

Just because all the insurance companies are looking at the same industry-wide figures does not mean all their car insurance quotes for SUVs or any other type of vehicle will be the same. In fact they will tend to vary widely. The reason is simple. Apart from the general stats that they look at, insurance companies will also consider their own records as far as claim payouts go. This means that if a particular car insurer has paid out lots of claims on a particular SUV, it will usually charge much higher rates for that type of SUV vehicle than what other insurers may be asking for.

This is one of the reasons why it is imperative for you to obtain quotes from several different insurance companies before you arrive at the company you would like to settle on for your SUV auto insurance.

Shopping for insurance for your SUV will be a lot more easier when you understand these few key points that we have mentioned in this article.

Health insurance is a form of insurance where the insurance company pays the medical costs of the insured person in cases the insured becomes sick due to covered causes of the insurance policy, or due to accidents.

To get the best health insurance policy, it is necessary to evaluate the health insurance company and its affiliate health care network. The first thing that has to be done is to get free quotes from different health insurance companies. This is easily available on the Internet, wherein you fill in some details to get your health insurance quote. Another thing that has to be taken into consideration is the health insurance company’s financial ratings. This gives us the financial strength of the health insurance company, and whether it is capable of clearing claims made to the company. The ratings can be found out though free resources like Moody’s, A.M. Best and Weiss and eHealthInsurance, which are all found on the Internet.

Next, check the employment and educational histories of the doctors associated with the health insurance company. Trusting the physicians and feeling content with the care you receive from the health insurance company is invaluable. Customer satisfaction is another criterion for choosing the right health insurance company. The health insurance company should respond quickly to your requests and questions. Information on patient satisfaction with a health insurance company is difficult to come by and may have to be paid for.

There are two types of health insurance companies: group health insurance companies and individual health insurance companies. The group health insurance companies handle health insurance for large groups of people, like the employees of a company. The individual health insurance companies handle health insurance for self-employed people and professionals.

Liability insurance is no longer a might need insurance. We should have it with our vehicle insurance, it is called third party insurance and mostly is included with your vehicle registration. If your State transport registration doesn’t have it included then you will need to have it included with your normal vehicle insurance.

You may find with your home insurance that public liability is included and you will need to take note of up to what amount you are covered for. These days you can find yourself in a situation where someone comes onto your property and injures himself or herself in some way and you are up for a hefty compensation amount. So check all you insurance policies.

Anyone who is in business, runs a tradesman service of some kind, makes or manufactures a product, is a professional person, is an employer or offers employment of any kind will need liability insurance. If you are involved with any of these types of activities, then you will need to cover yourself in case your activities cause loss or damage to anyone. If you have liability insurance cover, money will be available to pay compensation to those injured or for property damaged.

There has been a rise in contingency fee litigation offered by lawyers and it is not uncommon for people to join together to sue on a class action basis.

There are three main areas of liability insurance, public, product and employers.

Public Liability

Most organizations, regardless of compulsion, now have public liability insurance, this can carry a hefty premium but is necessary. It will cover things like members of the public, visitors to their premises, trespassers, contractors, sub-contractors etc who may be physically injured or their property may be damaged while they are on that organization’s property.

Public liability insurance also covers private individuals for injury caused while someone is on their property.

Things can happen so simply, someone could be on your property, invited or not, and trip on a step, not your fault but before you know it you are up for compensation for their injuries. Someone could be walking along the sidewalk outside your home and a dead branch fall on them from a tree on your property, you again are liable for their injuries.

The public liability insurance is normally covered with your home insurance policy, make sure you have it with yours.

The second type of liability insurance is for products. If you make, manufacture or are agent for any products then you will need this product liability insurance. Consumers are claiming more and more for injury or damage caused by defective or faulty products.

You will find product liability insurance is not compulsory in all countries but consumer protection legislation in the UK in 1987 now requires anyone manufacturing or supplying goods to carry some form of product liability and it is usually included with a combined liability insurance policy. If you are carrying on a business of this type then it is best ot check and make sure you are covered. You don’t have to be a big business to find you need this insurance cover.

Employer Liability Insurance

You will need employer liability insurance even if you only employ a few people or people on a casual basis and not every day. If an employee is injured during the course of their employment then you will be liable for compensation. Some countries have a scheme set up that is compulsory for the employees to take out this type of insurance and the premiums are normally set to whatever the combined wages and salary are for the business. Some employer liability insurance policies cover the employee for their journey to and from their place of employment, as long as there are no deviations along the way.

Insurance is a big part of our lives, for peace of mind we need to be covered for all areas that pertain to our lifestyles. Liability insurance makes up a big part of this.

Life insurance is the best substitute for the loss of income which occurs when someone dies. Usually, people look for the best life insurance rates when it comes to taking an insurance policy. You can get the best life insurance rates from online searches as well as choosing discretely from among the many companies providing insurance plans.

Insurance rates are classified into preferred, preferred plus and standard categories. To qualify for the more advantageous preferred and preferred plus categories you have to maintain certain health standards. Blood pressure and cholesterol checks are some of the main health checkups normally done for qualifying for preferred rates. Most of the life insurance companies provide you with the facility of comparing insurance rates. This in turn enables you to find the best life insurance rates available at that moment. You can also learn about the financial strength of hundreds of life insurance companies in the market.

Your hobbies and driving record also play an important role in qualifying for best life insurance rates. Insurance rates given in a plan may not be suitable when it comes to the real life situation.

When looking around to buy a life insurance policy, you wonder what kind of insurance is the best and whether to buy from an agent or through the Internet. It is better to consult experts who deal with various life insurance policies and their rates. There are different ways to get the best life insurance rates. The best way is to be honest to the insurance company by telling them the truth about your health. You can also look out for falling insurance rates. Yet another way is to shop around for life insurance agents. These agents can help you in clarifying all your doubts regarding the policy rates.

Like the ostrich, are you sticking your head in the sand when it comes to insuring yourself? According to recent statistics from the insurance industry, sales of the most basic personal protection insurance products, i.e. life insurance and income protection, have been falling, despite reductions in premiums.

Maybe people think if they ignore the need for such insurance, it may go away. It’s never going to happen to them - it can’t. But it can and it does. Lack of income protection may be a disaster for you and your family. Lack of life insurance would mean devastation for them and there would be nothing whatsoever that you could do about it.

The insurance industry are quite right to be concerned about the reasons for the decline and are clearly making a great effort to communicate the value of both health and income protection and life cover. As one critical illness provider stated, they have received a lot of negative media coverage regarding rejections of claims and payment delays. However, they also make the comment that “Providers are now publishing their claim statistics, and this transparency is helping to improve consumer trust.”

The industry feels that some of the problem may lie in their application forms. These are not particularly user-friendly and people can be discouraged from filling in long and complicated-looking forms. Some of the definitions in the policies are very difficult to comprehend and frankly uninspiring. Maybe what is needed is a new look at the marketing of these products with a view to producing more simple and easy to understand literature.

Critical illness cover is designed to pay out an agreed sum should you be diagnosed with any of a list of serious illnesses, such as heart disease, cancer, strokes, diseases of the nervous system etc.,

It’s a worrying fact that one in three people will suffer from some type of cancer in their lifetime. Improvements in diagnosis and treatment are encouraging, but taking some types of leukaemia as one example, the treatment can last as long as 18 months or more and return to full time work could be delayed for some time after that. The medical conditions covered will be clearly shown on the policy and this should be studied carefully. The cover is designed to give you and your dependants a cash sum at a critically important time, leaving you to get on with your treatment and recovery. It is extremely important that you disclose all previous illnesses, no matter how trivial. As soon as a claim is made, the first thing the insurer will do is to go through your medical history with a fine tooth comb. Tell them everything and you’ll not have a problem.

The effect of critical illness can be far-reaching. You may need to change your career, your car or even your home. It’s not a time to be worrying about where your next pay cheque will be coming from. Do consider this really important form of insurance.

A shocking fact is that almost 50% of the population of the UK have absolutely no form of life cover. If you are single, have no debts and absolutely no dependants in need of support in the event of your death, then you probably have no need of life insurance. How many people are in this position?

It’s possible that you have some form of insurance through your employment. Check this with your employer. There may be an element of income protection or life assurance but almost certainly this will need topping up.

There are several types of life cover. Term insurance means that your life is covered for an agreed term. Commonly this fits in with the life of your mortgage, or maybe a loan. A whole of life policy is payable on your death.

As far as your family is concerned, would they be able to continue with their current lifestyle if the worst was to happen? Provision should be made for them. At the very minimum you need to cover the period until the youngest child can reasonably be expected to become fully independent.

Don’t delay. Take advice on the amount of cover you need. Critical illness and life insurance are imperative if your family is to have financial security. Unless by any chance you happen to be a millionaire!

You’ll find all the advice and help that you need if you go online. It’s no use going to an individual insurer, it’s better to find an experienced broker who’ll compare the various companies and come up with some options for you. There’ll only be one session of form filling and then you can relax and know that you’ve taken the first important steps to protect your family.

Good health and long life.

An important insurance for tenants is renter’s insurance. If you are not in a position in your income and credit rating to buy a house, renter’s insurance provides a safety net that is very important for all renters to have.

Renter’s insurance is the renter’s answer to home owner’s insurance. When you are renting, you often find yourself in the lower income neighborhoods and the sad truth is that such neighborhoods have higher crime rates than their middle class counterparts. Without renter’s insurance, you will find yourself in a world of financial hurt should that crime touch your household in some way.

My cousin rents his home. He learned that home security in low-income neighborhoods leaves much to be desired. At one point in that environment he had his car stolen by a maintenance man who was addicted to heroine. His landlord had given the man–the landlord’s uncle–access to my cousin’s home as the maintenance man without warning him of the criminal past that loomed over his uncle.

It may seem that auto insurance was the security in question, but that only covered the car. Everything inside of the car was not covered by the auto policy. Because he had insurance for renters he was able to get the ipod and stereo that were in the car at the time of its theft replaced.

Don’t consider Renter’s insurance just another unnecessary bill for you to pay. Without it, misfortune like theft or robbery or even accidents will be truly distressing. With it, you can feel secure in the knowledge that the things you now own will always be your property (or at least things of comparable value).

Most of us need to hire a car at some time or other. Going on holiday, making a business trip or your own vehicle is in for repairs.

We will often book a rental car, more and more people do this on the Internet and arrive at the airport or rental dealer and discover there are extras there that you had not taken into account when you made the booking.

You realise that you need an additional driver so there is often a daily charge for the extra driver/s. You are told that the car comes with a tank full of fuel. You are charged an amount to cover this and when you get into the car discover that there is a sticker saying, “return empty”. If you do this you could most likely find that had you filled the car up it would have cost less than the amount the rental company charged for the fuel.

What about the insurance?

You are told that the insurance cover will not cover you if the car is broken into, a wing mirror broken. You will be responsible for the Excess. At most European, South African, New Zealand and Australian car rental locations, the customer is responsible for the excess this can be the first £500 and up to £1,600 on the rental vehicle in case of an accident or if the vehicle is stolen. As you are not willing to take on this responsibility you immediately agree to pay additional insurance – It can mount up particularly if you regularly hire a car.

You can of course purchase car rental excess insurance. There are policies available on a daily rate, annual and for families covering a fair proportion of the world’s countries. These policies work in a similar way to an annual travel insurance policy. It doesn’t matter how many times a year you rent a car, you are still covered.

When you go to collect your rental car remember the following:

· Most car rental locations require a credit card

· Most car rental locations will not accept debit or switch cards

· You must have held a valid driving licence for one year

· There is often a minimum and maximum age to hire a car

· Always ask what is included in the rates quoted

· Never initial or sign an agreement without asking about each item

· Do not over insure. If you have travel insurance you do not need personal effects or personal accident insurance

· Pre-purchase or Pre-reserve your car rental

· Purchase from agents within your own country in case you need refunds or assistance

· When you pick-up your vehicle determine where the drop off point is for your return

· Ask if the return area has an attendant. If not, who do you return the car to and who will check it over for damage?

When you actually get to the vehicle – even if you are tired after your trip remember the following:

· If you leave the vehicle without check-in, examine it for damage and photograph it from every angle.

· Check the vehicle for damage

· Check the spare tyre

· If the fuel tank is meant to be full, make sure that it is

Do take great care, as the reasonable car rental rate you originally found could be a lot more than you expected.

As an insurance customer you may have to consider which is more cost effective, an independent health insurance plan or a plan that includes your family. Individual health insurance will generally be cheaper than health insurance that must be extended to cover several individuals unless the individual in question is suffering from numerous complications. There’s still a lot of decisions to make if you go with an individual insurance plan like do you want a basic or major insurance plan, do you want to be able to pick which doctor you go to and have a more expensive plan or do you want to choose from a list of doctors available from your insurance company and see them thus having a smaller premium to pay.

However, this all changes if you have to pay for not only yourself but your dependents’ health needs. In this case it’s cheaper most times to have plans that include your dependents as four individual plans will of course, be more expensive than one plan that covers all four individuals. The more people covered under a particular insurance plan, the more expensive it will be in much the same way as the more people covered under an umbrella, the bigger the umbrella needs to be.

Of course, the more people covered under an insurance plan, the more problems you may run into in paying for the plan as smokers’ plans are more expensive than non-smokers, people with asthma or diabetes may not fall under the insurance’s payment plans as this may qualify as a preexisting condition. Gender, age and general health previously is also a large factor in determining the cost of premiums.

Family Insurance plans cover all the same things that individual plans do including x-ray and laboratory service, prescription medications, surgery, hospital stays, emergency treatment, ambulance services, dental and mental health care. However, like most insurance policies eye care services are usually not included and can be added on for a fee.

Basically the choice is entirely dependent on the make up of your family, and the decision should lie upon which would be better economically for your budget. A health care plan that caters to individual needs that may not need to be addressed by the entire family for example an asthmatic child may need special care his or her siblings may not need. Or you can purchase a health care plan that covers your entire family, smokers and alcohol consumers alike.

You can’t practice medicine unless you have insurance, which is why it becomes important to get a medical practice insurance quote before you go into business. The same is true of all allopathic practitioners, naturopaths and alternative healers as well.

If you are the usual kind of medical health practitioner the insurance companies may have been breaking down your door and filling your email box with spam to offer you a medical practice insurance quote before you even graduated. In fact most medical professionals have already acquired some kind of medical insurance before they graduate or at the very least have an idea of whom they are going to sign up with.

If for some reason you have miraculously escaped being on the mailing lists that medical universities sell to insurance companies so you can be marketed a medical practice insurance quote there are plenty of places online to get one. Some of these organizations online are brokers that will allow you to contrast and compare different quotes from different companies or you can go directly to an insurance provider, type in the perimeters that identify your needs and ask for a quote by email. However if dealing with an insurance provider directly it is probably a good idea to get on the telephone and speak to a representative from the insurance company directly. After all it is your medical practice that we are talking about here and something as important as that deserves the personal touch from an insurance company.

If you are looking for opinions about what is the best insurance it is probably a good idea to skip all the articles you find on the internet which often are biased to selling one form of insurance or another and go straight to blogs written by doctors. There are thousands of these blogs on the Internet and the opinions of other doctors will probably point you in the right direction towards the type of insurance you are looking for.