How high should your liability limits be???

People always ask "how much liability do I really need?” Well, just read the news and then you tell me what you think. What happens if you are driving along and the kids in your back seat get a little out of control, you look back for just a second to yell "stop that!" (so they aren't distracting you) ... but when you look back at the road you realize you are running a red light and hitting a car. Did the passenger in the other car get hurt? Did they get air lifted to an ER in a distant town? Did they die? Lawsuits today are seeking higher and higher amounts ... Here's a case filed late last month where a semi ran a light and killed a girl, and the parents are seeking 5 million!

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/6733258-417/parents-sue-trucker-over-daughters-death.html

In the next one a hunter (drinking beer and hunting on the property without permission) is suing the homeowner because he fell out of the tree.

http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/269283/hunter-falls-from-tree-sues-property-owner?SESS0cea5da24a95806adb56788ec0433e9c=ysearch

So, in answering the question, you need enough liability insurance to protect your assets in the event you found to be responsible for injuring someone or destroying their property. Your assets are you home, land, autos, boats and other property and you cash, retirement, and income for the next two years. Add it all up and ask yourself this question. "if I hit someone in my car and hurt or killed them, what would the family likely try to get from me?" The answer is that number you just came up with ... in other words 'the most money possible given your personal financial picture.'

Don't think that state minimum coverage for auto liability is enough because it won't help you keep your house if you get in a bind. Keep your homeowners at least as high as your per accident BI limits and always do what is reasonable to protect the general public from injury associated with you and your property. You can't stop someone from suing you, not to mention you can't stop a jury from awarding a settlement from your pocket to theirs.

Some things should not be skimped on.

J

How to Save Money on your Auto Insurance!

This is a topic that we hear discussed on TV ads all the time.  Isn't it weird how every company claims that customers who switched saved hundreds? 

How could every company be the cheapest?  Can you still have the coverage you need and get it cheaper?  Well the answer isn't too far off what your mom and dad told you when you were younger ... You never get something for nothing! 

First off, the TV ads you see are based on the people that switched and reported their savings ... so if 5 people saved and average of $500 when they switched and they told the company about it, then the company could use in their advertising that people who switched saved an average of $500.  That doesn't mean that everyone will save that much or even if the ones that did kept their same coverage.

If you want to save money on your auto rates you can simply cut your coverages to the state minimums and remove the physical damage coverage from your auto.  That will save you monthly ... of course if you hit someone and put them in the hospital, your insurance will run out quick and you'll be paying out of pocket for their broken bones, head wounds and nursing care, not to mention you'll need a new car so you can get to work and pay those new bills.

Insurance is about managing risk, and you have to decide if your risk of financial ruin is more important than a few dollars a month.  If you think your current insurance is too high, ask your agent if he would suggest cutting anything ... I tell my clients this one hint, if you have a car that is 10 years old or older, look up the blue book value to see if full coverage is worth it.  Many times the value of these older cars is so low that full coverage won't get you a whole lot if you totaled the car, so you can switch to liability only and save quite a bit. 

Personally I would never recommend that you lower your liability limits, because one mistake on your part would put you at risk financially with consequences that would last for many years.

J

After the Storm!

After a thunderstorm blows through, I always feel lucky.  First off, if I'm there to see the end of the storm then I survived it ... plus there is a feeling of calm once nature is done beating you down.  Of course there are times that I will have damage to deal with and sometimes my community will be suffering in the wake of what ever has blown through Southern Indiana this time.

In recent years because I'm in the insurance field, I find myself looking at the damage done by a storm and accessing the possible cost and such.  Even if I don't know the people who's home, or yard I viewing ... I will still try to imagine the cost and coverage that they would need (or perhaps not need) and what the out come would be for them in different scenarios.

It's a fun exercise for me, but the same thoughts are unnerving for the person with a storm loss.  Are you covered?  How much will this cost you?  How long will you need to wait for the repair?  As an agent I would recommend that you review your coverage each year and ask those questions.  Most of you won't remember the answers at first but it's important that you get your agent thinking about it because it's their advice that you rely on to protect your family from loss.

No one really wants to take time out of life to spend it talking about storms, wrecks, and death, but just an hour a year to review your coverage and ask (or answer) tough questions about the risks you and your family face can make all the difference when something happens to your home, or auto or even the loss of a life.

J

What to do after a wreck?

"The weather outside is frightful ...", just a little snow and everyone is sliding all over the place.  I remember when we were stationed in Texas and it snowed about 1/2 an inch.  Everything shut down and we went driving around looking at all the wrecks.  That was big fun until I got in the insurance business. 

One question I get a lot is, "what do I do if I have an accident?"  That's an easy one, but it's easy to forget right after a wreck.  Everyone gets shook up whether it's their fault or not.  So let's review the basics.

1.  Stay calm.  It's never helpful to lose control.
2.  Check to see if anyone needs medical attention, life and welfare are far more important than anything else.
3.  If no one has any evident injuries the next step is to make sure you and your family are not in danger because of where you are, for example if you had a fender bender on 465 in the left lane you would want to make sure your vehicle is as far off the road as possible and that your family isn't walking out into traffic.
4.  Exchange information with the other driver, name, address, and insurance info at the very least. 
5.  Contact the police, an official record of the incident can be necessary down the road.
6.  Don't try to figure out who is to blame, that's for the police and the insurance companies to figure out. 
7.  Call your agent, unless your insurance company makes you call an 800 number.  Let the agent or his office staff know the details of when, where, who, and how. 

Once you've made the claim and started the process you can relax.  Don't spend time and energy worrying about what the accident will do to your premiums or how you are going to come up with the deductible, because you've just handled the worst of it.  If your premiums go up for a while to pay for the vehicle or someone Else's injuries, then you've still come out ahead because you don't have a huge payment at the time of the accident.  If you need to barrow $500 from you brother or your father to cover the deductible, then so be it, it's still better than paying the whole amount.

One caution though, you need to check and see that your liability limits are enough to protect you assets if the accident is your fault and the other party has big medical bills from the wreck, state minimums are not enough.  Just think how much it cost the last time you went to the doctor and imagine what trauma care for a head wound would cost.  Ask you agent if you limits are enough to save you from getting sued for all you savings and retirement.

I hope you don't have an auto claim in this icy weather but if you do, it's an opportunity to see how well you've done picking the company that will help you keep going after the wreck.  After all that's why you have insurance.

Can you really name your own price on auto insurance?

So the lady in the strange white room says "tell us what you want to pay, and we'll design a policy to fit."  Wow, does that sound crazy to anyone else?  Can I really just tell the insurance company want I want to pay and they'll give me the coverage I need to fit that price?  Well then sign me up and I'll pay $1 a year!

Of course this idea is just a sales gimmick that is kind of dangerous.  Young people with little experience will hear that message and think that it is true.  They'll call in and name their own price and end up with the state minimum (which is no where near enough) coverage.

Liability covers the other driver if you cause an accident or it is deemed to be your responsibility.  So if you slide through a red light on icy roads this winter and hit another driver causing them bodily injury, it is your liability insurance that will cover their injuries.  If you don't have enough to cover their injuries they can sue you for the rest.  The average cost for just for a broken leg is over $8,000 if it were serious enough to have to be air-evaced to a bigger hospital the bill for the chopper ride could be $15,000 to $20,000 with out the original ER visit or the bill from the hospital that you are being flown to. 

So the point is ... you need liability limits of at least 100,000 per person for bodily injury, and that is what I would consider the bare minimum.  You need to let your insurance agent know what your assets are and you income so they can provide you with the best advice about how much liability to have on your vehicles. 

Oh and NO ... you can't name your own price, that's just silly!