Losing your job is a traumatic experience (even if you didn’t really care for your job in the first place!), and it will trigger an enormous list of of things you need to do to adjust to your new reality, from coordinating your COBRA benefits, buying replacement health insurance, and maybe getting that resume out on Monster.

One thing you should add to that list, although maybe not with the priority of the above examples, is reviewing your Car and Home Insurance.  First, you want to make sure your paid-up on all your policies.  The last thing you want to do is experience some kind of loss with your insurance in a lapsed state while you’re least able to absorb it yourself.  Then, you want to see how your new situation might impact your coverage and the rates you pay.  For example, if you’re not commuting anymore, ask your agent to re-rate your auto policy to reflect “pleasure use” instead of “commuting use”, which could lower your rates significantly.  And, maybe you’re going to do work out of your home for a while until you find that perfect corporate job again.  You’ll want to know that most business activities are excluded from your home insurance policy and ask your agent to make recommendations accordingly.  Finally, if you shop your insurance around, make sure you do it before you get behind on any bills as most insurance companies factor your creditworthiness into the rates they charge you.

Good luck with your hunt for a new job, and give us a call if we can help you with your insurance.

Millions of RBAMs (Red-Blooded American Males) have “toy” cars stashed away in their garages.  Many of them are insured on an ordinary personal auto insurance policy.  Why?  Probably, it’s because it’s easier for an insurance agent to treat these “special” vehicles just like any other car.  If this sounds like your situation, you’re probably paying about 4x what you should be paying and getting inadequate coverage to boot.  Our collector and antique insurance program can insure your special interest vehicle typically for 1/4 to 1/2 what it would cost on a normal insurance policy.  And, in our Classic Car program, you get what’s called “agreed value” coverage that recognizes the special value these vehicles hold.

So, if you meet these general qualifications, give us a call to improve your coverage and save a lot of money:

1) drive <2,500 miles annually
2) primarliy used for pleasure/show and only driven occasionally
3) stored in a locked, enclosed garage
4) have another insured vehicle for regular use
5) vehicle is at least 10 years old and of special interest

If that sounds like you, give one of our agents a call at 1-888-348-6337 today!

A question I’m often asked is “do I need to buy the coverage they are pushing at the rental car counter?”.  The answer, as it unfortunately often is with insurance, is “it depends”.

However, I’ll try to boil it down and make it pretty easy for you by sharing a couple of principles.  First is that coverage generally extends from your personal auto policy to “non-owned autos” that you use for less than 30 days consecutively.  Second is that there are two main parts to your auto policy – liability coverage (see our insurance definitions) and coverage for damage to your car.  For liability coverage, if you’re happy with what you’re carrying on your own car, why buy extra coverage from the rental car agent? 

So, that leaves coverage for damage to the rental car itself.  If you’re not carrying coverage for damage to your own car, you need to find alternative coverage.  One way is to buy it from the rental car agent, but this can be costly $10-$15 per day, usually (you don’t pay $3,600 to $5,500 per year for your car insurance, do you?).  Another way is use the FREE coverage that’s probably provided by your credit card.  See Visa’s rental car coverage benefit as an example.  If your card provides this benefit, make sure you pay for the rental using that card.  The main drawback with going this route is this coverage is usually on a reimbursement basis, meaning that you have to float the cost of repairs and/or loss of use for a short period of time until the card issuer reimburses you.  But, hey, it’s free.

If you’re renting a truck or moving van, be sure to check your policy or ask your agent because there are typically size limitations above which your personal policy coverage will not extend to the rental (typically 10,000 or 12,000 lbs. gross vehicle weight).

You’ve heard the commercials – go to freecreditreport.com (can you hear the annoying, yet memorable jingle?) and get your free credit report.  Oh yeah, the “small print” says you have to enroll in something called triple advantage; I’m sure that has to cost something, right?

Anyway, most insurance companies are using your credit report as part of their rating process.  We can argue whether or not that’s a good thing for society, but the fact is that there is a strong correlation between credit responsibility and future insurance losses.  I know because I did a lot of research in this area over my career.  But I digress, my point is most of you probably don’t read all the stuff that you get from insurance companies (don’t worry, few of us do).  In the package, there’s probably something called an “FCRA notice”.  FCRA stands for the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, and it basically says that if your credit isn’t in the absolute top tier of credit scores, it may have had a negative impact on the price you were quoted; so, bingo, you get a free credit report without having to sign up for a costly credit-monitoring service.  There’s no time limitation like one per year, and no purchase necessary!

There will usually be a toll-free number you can call along with a case ID or something similar, and it’s easy to call and get a copy of your reports just to make sure everything looks OK.    Here’s an example of our FCRA notice.  I recommend you quote your insurance about once a year and take advantage of this truly free credit report.