Shopping Your Auto & Home Insurance with an Independent Agent is a smart thing to do

Insurance companies like Geico & Progressive spend millions of dollars in advertising.

You gotta admit - those Caveman commercials are pretty good!

Question: Do cute commericals and lots of television adspace make those companies better?

Absolutely not. Now don't get me wrong. They are all good companies.

But does spending millions on television advertising make them the best place to go for better car insurance?

The answer is no, unless you do not like to compare rates to make sure you are getting a good price.

Let's take a look at Captive Companies, like Geico, Progressive, State, Farm, Farmer's, Allstate, and American Family.

What is a Captive Insurance Company?

The above companies are often referred to as "Captive" companies - meaning they only give you ONE auto quote or rate, their own.

How can that be in your best interest?

It's like buying a car. If you purchase a car after visiting only ONE car dealership, how do you know you were given the best price? Maybe if you visited several dealerships you could have found a lower price.

As an independent insurance agency, we actually shop your Auto & Home Insurance rate around with many different "A" rated companies to find YOU the best price we can.

Those captive companies listed above are good companies. But they do not always help you find the best rate for YOU. How can they? They only offer ONE rate - their own.

As an independent insurance agency - we can compare your rate against many leading companies to find the best price.

Hope that helps.



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Your Auto Insurance Deductibles

When it comes to choosing Auto Insurance deductibles, it can seem like you are danged if you do and danged if you don't.

So the question becomes - do you carry high deductibles or low deductibles?

Ok, so you decide to "raise" your deductibles, which "lowers" your premium. Makes perfectly good sense, right?

Unless a claim occurs and you have to pay money out of your own pocket and your suddenly shrinking pocketbook cramps your lifestyle.

So then you "lower" those deductibles, which "raises" your premiums. You're not happy about that but you feel better because if/when that claim occurs you won't be paying as much out of pocket.

But you go accident-free for the next ten years and wonder why you have "overpaid" your insurance by carrying lower deductibles.

See what I mean? It's a tough call.

Now, everyone's budget is different. Some can easily afford to carry higher deductibles while others would feel a sincere budget pinch if they had to come out of pocket for a higher deductible.

What I have found is it often makes sense to carry a more reasonable Comprehensive deductible, but a "higher" Collision deductible.

The reason? You often see a greater decrease in premiums when you raise your Collision deductible. That Comprehensive deductible doesn't often change the premium much either way, so you might as well leave it reasonable.

Comprehensive covers non-moving claims like theft, vandalism, glass, etc.
Collision covers moving claims when you hit something.

Hope that helps.

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Teaching a Teenager to Drive

Yes, I had the priviledge recently of teaching two teenagers to drive. Not only did I teach my own daughter two years ago, a client recently asked if I would teach her son. Knowing there is no father in his life I easily agreed to help.

NOW, selling insurance does not make me the best driver (my wife will heartily agree) or a driving expert. But I have been driving for over thirty years with a pretty clean driving record throughout. 'Nuff said.

The first time around the block with 16 year old Chris (as I will call him) my hands were white from gripping the dashboard. We nearly knocked over several large trash barrels, did hit a couple curbs and thanks to my quickly grabbing the steering wheel, we would have hit a couple of parked cars too.

CHRIS got better each week and he tried hard.

To watch his transformation from a completely in-experienced driver to a certain comfort level showed me alot. He did improve, certainly.

BUT CHRIS made the mistake that most teens make.

THIS mistake is probably why teenagers are involved in more accidents than all the other age groups combined and why they pay so much more in insurance.

It was not long before he began accelerating quickly at every green light ripping fast to the next light, stopping in the same rushed fashion. It was like sitting next to Dale Earnhardt. Even though Chris drove like a man on a mission, it was beyond his comfort level and experience.

I TRIED patiently coaxing him into slowing down and stopping sooner. It didn't help. Only when we were very nearly involved in an accident on the I60 did I loudly insist Chris take to heart my advice.

So I pass on this simple advice to everyone with teen drivers

If you follow the suggestions below your odds of staying accident free improve greatly.

1) Do not drive faster than your comfort level.
2) Do not tail gate.

While there are probably a hundred different pieces of advice we could give, I found these two important.

I guess if all of us followed the above advice even us grown ups would have fewer mishaps.

Hope that helps.


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The First Lesson in Car Insurance

What is the most important part of YOUR Auto Policy?

You may get a different answer from everyone you talk to (medical coverage might be the other most chosen answer).

However, my answer is "Bodily Injury" (referred to as B.I.)

BI protects the "other" person if you are at-fault in an auto accident and there are resulting injuries. Keep in mind, it does not have to be another car we hit. What if we run over a pedestrian, a child riding a bike, or a motorcyclist? You can be sure there will be injuries or worse.

Question: If BI protects the "other" person, why is it the most important part of MY policy?

What happens if you hit someone and they are injured or die? You will be defending a lawsuit, right?

Bodily Injury helps protect your assets and income from a lawsuit. Now, there is no guarantee that your BI will be enough to fully protect you but having $250,000 per person in BI coverage will do more good than the typical $15,000 we often see.

That is why I believe BI to be the most important part of a policy.

Hope that helps.


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