Even though we’ve had quiet hurricane seasons in Florida during the past three years, there are problems in the coming year ahead.

To begin with more rate increases are on the way. Depending on where you live, you will be facing increases of up to 10% from Florida’s largest insurance company of last resort. Private Florida homeowners insurance companies have received rate increases in the range of 10-15%.

Those rate increases might not sound alarming to you. But they are happening during one of the worst economies in our lifetime. In addition, Florida recently passed Texas with the highest home insurance rates in the nation. So a 15% increase could be a very nasty surprise on top of an annual premium that is already high to begin with. Finally, while these are average rate increases, expect to pay a lot more if you live in South Florida Counties such as Dade, Broward, or Palm Beach.

Homeowner insurance policy cancellations will continue to occur in Florida during the coming year. The largest private Florida home insurance company recently received approval to cancel 125,000 policies over the next two years. Late last year, another national carrier received approval to drop 60,000 policies. Again, there could be a lot more cancellations in major areas such as Miami, Tampa, and West Palm Beach especially for older homes and homes close to the coast.

Watch for fewer discounts in the coming year. Fewer discounts will add to the 10-15% rate increases that have already been approved. Your company could discontinue discounts you’ve been enjoying for being claim free and multi-line insurance discounts. Finally, homeowners insurance companies in Florida are focused on the amount of wind mitigation discounts you receive for installing a new roof or hurricane shutters. If they are successful in challenging those discounts in the upcoming session of the Florida legislature, you could end up paying a lot more.

Florida home insurance companies are starting to fail at an alarming rate – especially since there have not been any hurricanes in the last three years. In the last twelve months, three companies ran out of money and were taken over by the state. In the last year, over 50% of all active homeowners insurance companies in Florida lost money. As a policyholder, you probably could care less about that. But you will if these companies don’t have enough money to pay your claim after a major hurricane.

Finding multiple companies willing to cover you is going to continue to be difficult during the coming year. Besides the fact that the larger companies are continuing to cancel policies, new companies are not being created fast enough to pick up the slack. The hardest homes to find coverage for are older homes, coastal homes, and wood frame homes. It will also be difficult to get coverage in the sinkhole prone counties of Pasco, Hernando, and Hillsborough.

All of these developments mean that you should expect Florida home insurance to cost more this year while it continues to be hard to find. Even worse, you could pay high insurance rates and still end up with a company that won’t have the money to pay your next Florida hurricane claim.

Now more than ever, it is essential that you don’t buy Florida home insurance just on price. If you do, the only one you can blame if you don’t get paid after the next Florida hurricane is yourself.

There may be a number of reasons why someone may be driving without a valid license in Florida including something as simple as forgetting to renew your driver’s license before it expired, or something more serious such as willfully driving without a valid driver’s license because it has been suspended or revoked because of a driving under the influence charge. Florida residents may also experience a license suspension for reasons other than a driving offense, such as failure to pay child support.

If you happen to get stopped by an officer in Florida and are found to be driving with an expired license you may get lucky and be let off with a warning that you need to get your license renewed, more than likely though, you will receive a ticket assessing 2 points to your driving record and a minimum fine amount of $63. Depending on how expired your license was at the time the Florida DMV may require you to take another vision test, possibly a written test, and you may have to take another driving test before the DMV will issue new another license.

If you are stopped by an officer and found to be driving without a license in Florida due to the fact that your license is currently under suspension for driving under the influence, you will be facing a minimum fine of $500 and could face up to 60 days in jail. Not to mention that the original suspension period will begin all over again. So if you were 6 months into a 1-year license suspension period, the 1-year period will begin all over again.

Willfully driving on a suspended license in Florida for an offense such as DUI can also result in the impoundment of your vehicle for a certain number of days. You will of course be responsible for paying any towing charges and daily impoundment fees.

Driving without a valid license in Florida can also affect one’s insurance rates. Every year your insurance provider will review your driving record prior to establishing your premiums for the coming year. Since you will have received at least a 2 point violation for driving without a valid license in the state of Florida, most insurance companies will adjust your rates upward based solely on the points and not because your license had been expired for a mere 2 weeks.

If your license is valid but you fail to pay your insurance premiums on-time your insurance provider will inform the DMV of such a lapse in your insurance coverage. If this happens the DMV will suspend your driver’s license for failure to maintain insurance. You will receive a Notice of Suspension letter in the mail stating that your license has been suspended. If this occurs you will be required to maintain a Florida SR22 insurance filing with the DMV.

The Florida DMV sends out a driver’s license renewal notice to every licensed driver in the state roughly 45 days prior to the license expiration date as a friendly reminder. The only problem with this is that if a person has moved to a different address since their last renewal the Florida DMV will send the renewal notice to the old address and the chances of it actually getting to the correct person are slim at that point.

Source by Gerald Benson

Based on the fact that there is an alcoholic related traffic fatality in the U.S. every 29 minutes, insurance companies take this very seriously and make it either very difficult for a person with a DUI to carry auto insurance or very costly.

Sometimes, a drunk driving conviction escapes the insurance company’s attention and does not end up on the driving record. In fact, a study made by the Insurance Research Council in June of 2002, revealed that as many as one-quarter of driving convictions never end up on a motor vehicle records. But, for the most part, once the insurance company finds out about a DUI, it’s usually going to cost the person quite a bit in penalties. The penalty may come in the form of higher insurance rates, policy cancellation or even non-renewal. One thing is for sure; if a person is convicted of drunk driving, most auto insurance carriers will decline coverage and more often than not, insurance companies will simply turn down people when they discover a DUI on record.  Surprisingly, even when an auto insurance company does find out about a DUI conviction, it doesn’t mean you’re going to have higher premiums. Most insurers will review your driving history, your record with the company and your claims record before making a decision about insurance.

Overall, most insurance companies handle DUI convictions by raising car insurance premiums and tagging the DUI individual as a high-risk driver. Even though insurance companies are forbidden to deny coverage to policyholders because of race, religion, residence, age or occupation, they can cancel your policy if you have been convicted of drunk driving. They also may cancel the insurance policy right in the middle of the term or terminate it at the end of the term. The company will send the person convicted of a DUI a notice letting them know the reason for the cancellation, leaving the individual to find another insurer. Naturally, with a DUI on the driving record, it’s going to be hard to find another insurance company that will insure that person.

Most states require convicted drunk drivers to get an SR-22 from their insurance agency, which means in most cases, the person convicted of a DUI won’t be able to avoid having his or her insurance company find out about the DUI. An SR-22 isn’t insurance, but is proof that you have certain types of insurance and is required when insurance is provided to an individual who was convicted of a traffic offense. It’s a form that must be filed by the insurance company to the state motor vehicle department stating that auto liability insurance is in effect.

Source by Cooper Hill

Ideally, you should start comparing insurance policies before your current policy expires. Once you have allowed a lapse in coverage, there may be additional difficulty getting new coverage at a fair price. Remember, insurers look at many factors to figure premium, and these include: age, gender, occupation, credit history and current insurance. A gap in coverage will raise questions that will need to be answered. Did you simply forget to pay a bill, or is there something more serious?  Do you frequently allow insurance coverage to expire, and what is the length of the gaps? Longer gaps may indicate that you drive without insurance, which makes you a higher risk person.

If you can plan a change, there are some good times to change auto insurance providers which should net you a reduced premium. For instance, your rates will go down at age 25, so if your insurance is set to expire the month of, or after your birthday, start shopping with your new age in mind. If you know that you are about to move or change jobs, consider changing your insurance provider before hand. It might be harder to get insurance if your move was over a long distance; you will now be an un-established person in a new town, which equals higher rates. Your new occupation can change your rates as well, especially if you begin work in a high risk category, or if you will use your vehicle more than you did before.

But, if your driving record is spotless, you are 25 or older, there have been no major changes, and your rates have either stayed the same or gotten higher, than you might consider now the time to shop for a discount. Some companies will match a policy and its price if you tell them upfront that you are doing this. Smart research and some basic knowledge will assure that you are getting the best insurance coverage for the best price.

Source by The Internet Car Guy

Auto insurance fraud is a big money scam that victimizes a lot of unaware drivers yearly. There are various ways that scam artists usually do this in order to get the most out of a victim’s car insurance policy. It is important for those who wish to avoid such scams to know the common scenarios that might lead to possible problems for the victim.

Swoop And Squat
This scam scenario may involve two cars. One vehicle may “swoop” in while the second car “squats” in front of the victim. The two vehicles will force an accident that will involve the victim in a rear-end collision. Both vehicles usually may be full of passengers, both to claim false injuries and be a source of intimidation for the victim. It eventually leads to the scam victim’s insurance to pay for all the costly “injuries” as well as the damage caused by the accident on the two vehicles involved.

The Drivedown
Another possible scam scenario will involve an overtaking situation. The other driver may wave the victim to drive forward to overtake. But instead of letting the overtaking vehicle in, he slams into the victim’s car. When the police arrive, the other driver will deny the action of waving to the victim to go forward.

The T-Bone
This accident scenario will involve vehicles driving through an intersection. A vehicle crossing the intersection may suddenly be hit by an accelerating car coming from a side street. The other driver usually has planted fake witnesses beforehand to concoct the story that the accident was the victims fault by running through a red light or a stop sign.

The Sideswipe
This scenario may occur when a driver is turning around a corner towards a busy intersection with multiple lanes. As the driver drifts slightly into the next lane, a car on that lane may suddenly accelerate and intently sideswipe the other car. The following scenarios may possibly happen during a fake auto accident. It is important for careful drivers to try and recognize these scenarios in order to avoid them being victimized. This will help drivers become more aware of how some scammers may be causing auto insurance fraud.

Source by Rica Espiritu

This article is designed to help you understand why you should always call the authorities to the scene of an accident in which you were injured and why the insurance company you may be facing will hate that you did so!

You were probably taught in your first driver’s education course to always call the police to the scene of any accident in which you are involved.

This really seems quite simple. However, many folks involved in accidents don’t do it.

Why not?

Perhaps because the other driver promises to make sure that his insurance “takes care of everything” or that the he can’t afford to pay a traffic ticket or that the damage to the cars seems minor enough to just “handle things unofficially.”

So why do the insurance companies hate it when you call the police to scene of an automobile accident?

When you call the police to scene of your accident, then the police will require the drivers involved to exchange insurance and identification information.

The police may also charge the at-fault driver with some sort of traffic infraction, obtain witness information and preserve statements about the event, including descriptions of what occurred and complaints of injury.

All of this information will very likely assist you in the future with your claim and hurt the insurance company’s ability to deny your claim.

By calling the police, you have made an official record of the event and can be relatively sure that the information you receive about the other driver is accurate and truthful.

After all, not many folks will give fraudulent information about themselves or their insurance to an officer of the law.

This official record will effectively prevent the other driver’s insurance company from arguing that the incident did not occur or that their insured driver was not involved in the cause of your injuries. (Yes, insurance companies will deny responsibility at every opportunity, including whether their driver was even in the accident with you.)

This official record will also demonstrate that you complained of pain at the scene, which will help deflect any argument by the insurance company that you weren’t hurt or that you later fabricated your complaints to manufacture a personal injury claim (another favorite of the insurance companies).

Finally, statements from witnesses or the other driver may contain valuable facts that may be later forgotten (many witnesses may not later recall things like the speed of the other car prior to the accident, the weather or the color of the traffic light at issue) or can be used to rebut a “changed story.”

I don’t know how many times I have been told by my clients that the other person admitted fault at the scene, but later hear from the insurance company that no such statement was made and that the cause of the accident was contested. (You may not be aware of this, but I will bet that your own automobile insurance card, which you keep in your glove compartment, contains the following instruction: Do not admit fault for the accident.

Remember, the insurance companies hate it when their drivers take responsibility for the accident because it damages their ability to deny or effectively defend your claim.

After all, these companies are in business to make lots of money, not to pay it to you!)

If you follow this rule, then you are a step ahead in the game and you will have a much better chance of successfully prosecuting your Virgnia automobile accident personal injury claim.

Source by James Parrish

Usually, the biggest mistake that taxi drivers make while purchasing taxi insurance is buying the most expensive one, only to find that cheap taxi insurance provides a much better cover compared to what they just signed up for. It is but human nature that more expensive things appear to be more tantalising, but this should not be the case when it comes to private hire insurance. While purchasing insurance you must keep in mind a few tips which can be of real help in getting affordable and cheap insurance for your taxi.

You can start with composing a list on all the known companies that offer cheap taxi insurance. A little research can help you to check the services and reputation of these companies. It is important to eliminate possible defaulters from your list and arrive at one which contains all those national and local insurance companies, which are reliable and trustworthy. The benefit of choosing a national insurance company is that your private hire insurance coverage is valid all over the country.

The next step is to collect the quotes from all the insurance companies present in your list. You can personally visit or call the company’s office to get taxi insurance quotes. Once you are done with the job of collecting quotes then is the time to do a little comparative study. Along with the prices you must also compare the coverage being offered by these insurance companies, and decide on what type of plan suits your requirement the best. A little time spent on research can be extremely rewarding. Once you have decided upon the company then you can begin the negotiations. In fact, a little skilled bargaining will help get you a good deal. It is quite common to see insurance companies quoting higher prices but leaving scope for good deals, which can only happen if you have done your homework and you know what you are dealing with.

Now if you are relatively busy and find this whole process a bit time consuming then there is an easier way out. To save on some precious time and energy you can consider shopping online for private hire insurance. The process is undoubtedly speedier and definitely more convenient. Spend some time looking up the websites of some of the insurance companies that offer cheap insurance. You can even find information on websites that offer reviews of various insurance products. One more thing you can do is to search for reliable taxi insurance brokers. You can collect the rates from different brokers in a very short period of time. It is definitely going to be a much faster process when compared to visiting or calling various taxi insurance brokers.

Once you make up your mind, you can discuss the details with the chosen insurance broker and make sure that you get the one which has maximum coverage. There are many benefits of buying your taxi insurance online. It is not only time saving but it also gives you a chance to search the markets thoroughly and get hold of the best deals available.

Source by Eric Token

Car insurance is a must for every car owner. Not only does it prevent you from serving jail time in case of a nasty lawsuit with an unfavorable verdict. It also protects you from incurring heavy financial losses. You may lose any real estate you have just to pay your accident bills.

Depending on the State laws, the consequences for being caught driving your car without the necessary auto insurance varies. However, in most cases, you are required to show proof of your auto insurance, whenever you are stopped by a police officer.

In case the police officer finds out that you do not have car insurance, you will be required to appear before a court. When that happens, you will face charges such as court fees, fines, and crew assignment.

You will also be forced to obtain the necessary insurance for your car, which will naturally be more expensive. On some occasions, driving without insurance will cause you to serve jail time and have your driver’s license suspended.

Now, if you are involved in a car accident and don’t even have budget car insurance, you will face more serious consequences. You will be liable for medical expenses of the injured passengers and or car driver. If you are injured as well, then you have to pay for your own medical bills.If the physical damages are not severe, you may have to pay few thousand dollars. If the damages are serious, the medical procedure can cost you tens of thousands, sometimes, a hundred thousand dollars. Having car insurance put this cost onto the insurance company.

Besides medical expenses, you will have to pay for car repair cost, for other party or yours. If the car of the other party is totaled, then you will have to replace their car.

You will also have to serve jail time, have your driver’s license suspended, and face penalties. Simply put, you will have legal and financial nightmares. It would not be very hard if you have the resources to shoulder all expenses. If your savings are not enough though, then you will have to sell some of your assets.

There are cases however, when you have to claim compensation from the other party’s car insurance company. This happens when the other driver is at fault. The process can be tiresome as you will have to submit the claim to the insurance carrier.

In some cases, the insurance carrier will refuse to pay the compensation, prompting you to file lawsuit against them. In other States, each car owner will collect payment from their respective insurance company.

Getting insurance for your car should not be expensive. If you want to keep your savings, you should be on time paying for your car insurance premium. Get your insurance before you have an accident or are stopped by a policeman. If you have an accident your insurance will be much higher than if you bought it before the accident.

Source by Rudy Silva

What are the reasons for annual Insurance Premiums Increase?Every year brings about numerous new cars which are sure to cost much more in comparison with the ones produced a year ago. It’s quite natural that a sum spent on the repair of such new cars would be also bigger. The research held in 2004 by the Insurance Information Institute III claims that auto insurance cost rise in that year reached only 3.5 %, which is a record low figure in comparison with the previous 4 years. This can be put to a number of factors: car producers pay more attention at the safety features of a car, drivers are becoming better, the number of car accidents reduces, due to special laws there is less fraud etc. But there is another side of the medal:  in some states such as Massachusetts, New York and Florida the number of car thefts and fraud has increased which also couldn’t but have influenced the rise in the car insurance cost.
By the way in 2003 the increase in the cost was about 7.8%. In 2004 auto insurance cost was in average 871$, which is 29$ more expensive than in 2003. In order to cut down on the Insurance Premiums Increase, the majority of the insured drivers prefer to make insurance claims only in case of serious damage, the repair cost of which is sure to cover premium rise. The increasing number of car crashes also affects badly the insurance business. A lot of specialists put this to the numerous accidents happening to sport utility vehicles.One more reason for the rise in the insurance premiums is the great number of medical claims. This year there have already been 20 billion medical claims made. So this category of claims comes very expensive to the insurance companies and they try to compensate their expenses including medication and hospitalization with the help of premium cost rise.Though no one can tell for sure what the concrete reasons for the premium rise are, usually it can be put to your buying a new car or changing the place of living. Anyway we hope that this article would help to find the most suitable auto insurance plan and save some money.

Source by Alexander

Those words tend to make business owners very uncomfortable.
I think it has more to do with the AUDIT part of it.

If you have Liability or Workers compensation insurance you will eventually be contacted by an insurance auditor hired by the insurance company to conduct an audit.

An insurance audit is basically a “checking of the facts” about your business. When your policy was issued, your premium was based on your estimate of variable rating information, such as payroll or sales. An insurance audit is performed to determine what the actual premium should be based on your company’s actual results.
This guarantees you have the proper amount of coverage in the event of an incident.

There are 3 types of audits and you may end up doing 1 type or all 3 over the course of your business life:

The first two types are basically the same, Phone or Mail-in.

Both of these types of audits consist of a form being sent to you for you to fill out with the pertinent information and then sending this information, and any verification sources, back to the auditor for processing and review.

In the case of a phone audit, the auditor generally requests an appt to go over the audit with you by phone. The auditor uses this call to clarify any items that require more detail.

The third type is the one that most people dread- The Physical audit.

This type requires you to set and confirm an appt for an auditor to come to your place of business or to your accountant’s office. The audit can take anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours depending on the size of your company, # of employees and how well you have prepared your books.

When scheduling the appointment, the auditor will provide you with a list of the documentation you will need to have ready for the audit.
Some items you may be asked to provide:

• Payroll records with overtime separated
• Job titles and descriptions
• Listing of corporate officers
• Subcontractor costs
• Subcontractor Certificates of Insurance
• Sales receipts
• Quarterly Federal and State filings
• Automobile information

The auditor then goes through all records and inputs the information into a software program (Auditors usually carry a laptop).

At this point you may be asked some questions. If you are unable to physically be at the audit be sure the person who is there can answer most, if not all, questions. Also be sure to provide a day and time the auditor can call you later to clarify any missing info.
Possible questions:

• In detail, what does your company do?
• Again in detail, what does each employee do?
• Commercial work or residential? Or both?
• What are your hours/days of operation?

When the auditor is done they should review the findings with you and may ask for you to sign a statement confirming they have done so.
Many auditors (if applicable) will advise you on how to better prepare for next year.
Once the auditor leaves the audit they will then re-review the information provided and double-check for spelling errors, etc. the audit is submitted for review and processing to your Insurance carrier. It can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks before you will find out the final results from your insurance company.

If you have questions during this waiting period, you should direct them ONLY to your insurance agent or broker. The auditor has no control or information about your audit once it is submitted for review.

Some helpful hints:
• Please remember, the auditor is an information gatherer only. They have no control over your account.
• They are just doing their job- be courteous and helpful
• Do not lie to the auditor- they may not catch it but someone down the line will and then you can be fined and/or canceled.
• If you repeatedly ignore appointment requests or continuously confirm, then cancel, appointments the auditor will be forced to file a Non-compliance report. In this case generally the insurance company will send you a premium bill that includes a hike of up to 30%.
Save everyone the time and irritation, just make and keep the appointment.

Don’t let the audit process stress you out. The auditor wants to make things as easy as possible for you as it makes their job easier as well.

Source by Christina Nelson

There is also a beginning and continuing professional education requirement for insurance licenses. For example, California requires 52 hour insurance course, i.e. 52 hours of prelicense education before qualifying to take the life insurance exam. During the first four years, licensees must take at least 25 CPE hours per year. Thereafter, the CPE requirement is 15 hours annually in a course approved in advance by the California insurance department.

General Course Description

This course will teach you the Educational Objectives that the California Department of Insurance has determined you need to know and thus prepare you to pass the State exam. This includes 40 hours of Life, Health & Disability as well as the 12 hours of Codes & Ethics.

Package Includes:

1. Online study manual as well as a hardcopy shipped directly to you.

2. Lesson Quizzes

3. E-mail & Phones Support

4. Certificate of Completion

5. Reporting directly to the California Department of Insurance

6. Online Review Questions Available for 90 Days | Excellent educational tool for students to study & prepare to pass the state exam | Students score 65% higher on the California state exam after using these online review questions.
Effective January 1st, 2007 the California Department of Insurance has amended the California Code to allow online Insurance pre-license training. No more long commutes, high costs or waiting until a lecture class starts. With over five years of insurance pre-license training experience in California, ISSC is at the forefront of the changing insurance training marketplace. Look at the press release text below:
Assembly Bill 2387 (Vargas, Chapter 590, Statutes of 2006) was signed into law on September 28, 2006 and
will take effect on January 1, 2007. This law amends Section 1749 of the California Insurance Code to remove
the word “classroom” from the prelicensing requirement and will add Section 1749 (g) to ensure that safeguards
are in place to maintain the integrity of prelicensing education. As a result of this change, prelicensing
education providers approved by the California Department of Insurance (CDI) can now submit online
prelicensing education courses to the Commissioner for approval.
Although regulations will be required to implement this legislative change, the CDI will review these courses
prior to the Office of Administrative Law’s approval of the regulations. Courses approved by the CDI will be

given “provisional approval,” which means that the course may be offered immediately as with the case of any
CDI approved course. However, these courses are subject to further review once the regulations are approved
which could potentially result in required changes to the course.
Until such time as the California Code of Regulations can be amended to reflect the change in the statute, the
reviews of online prelicensing education courses will be accomplished by ensuring that they meet the
requirements set forth in Section 1749 of the California Insurance Code. Section 1749 states, in part, the
following:
?? Applicants for a license as a fire and casualty broker-agent, life agent, and
personal lines broker-agent are to complete the minimum prelicensing education
hours required (i.e. 20 or 40 hours of product training, whichever is applicable,
and 12 hours of code and ethics training);
?? Review and approval of prelicensing courses not conducted in a classroom shall
include an evaluation of the safeguards that are in place to ensure that the student
completing the course is the person enrolled in the course; methods used to
monitor the students’ attendance are adequate; methods for the student to interact
with the entity providing the training exist; and, the methods used to record the
times spent completing the course are adequate.
Assembly Bill 2387 also added Section 1749 (h) which will become effective on January 1, 2007. This section
states that all prelicensing certificates of completion will now expire three years after the completion of the
prelicensing course, whether or not a license is issued to the student.
You can feel certain you are studying the right material when you study at ISSC. All of our CA Insurance course materials were completely revised in January of 2007 to better follow the California Educational Objectives. Our courses include a Flash Paper study manual, hundreds of online exam questions with explanations and online video instruction led by highly qualified insurance professionals to give you the edge you need to pass your exam. Click Available courses above to view further information about our innovative programs, or click register now above if you are ready to start your insurance career!

Source by Mark Genovese

Nobody knows when floods happen. These are natural disasters that can just strike the least we expect it. We may live in deserts or atop a mountain and still experience flooding.

In fact, 50 states have reports of flooding. The reason behind this is that hurricanes or tropical storms are not the only causes of natural flooding. Flooding inside homes can also be due to the flash flooding and rising river water.

In layman’s terms, flooding is the combination of mud and water in an area. So if the water is not wet on a normal basis but it still combines these two elements, then there is still the possibility of flash flooding taking place.

What does flood insurance cover? This is a question practical people ask. They know that flood insurance is a necessity for any homeowner.

It protects their assets and saves them from additional costs just in case flooding is something they have to include in their problems.

The coverage of flood insurance depends on the kind of plan your insurance company offers you. There is a definition that you should know. If you live in a 100-year flood plain, this does not mean that flooding in your area will just occur once in a 100 years.

In fact, a lot of people ask What does flood insurance cover when they are in a 100-year flood plain. They don’t know whether they should get an insurance or not because of this.

The solution to this confusion is to look at the flood maps in order for them to know whether the location of the home puts the homeowner at a risk when it comes to flooding.

The homeowner should know the kind of flood plain that the risk level he is in with the area that he is residing.

So after discovering the cost of flood insurance, the next question for homeowners is What does flood insurance cover. Well, imagine that there are a lot of factors that should be looked upon.

Flood insurance covers a percentage of the damages cost depending on the following factors. They look at the coastal policies of the client. For example, living along a coast gives the insurance holder a high premium.

In this scenario, the question to what does flood insurance cover is lower than people who are residing in an area that rarely gets wet.

As accommodating as insurance companies are to people who are looking for flood insurance, they still have to make a business and the coverage of an insurance policy really depends on the possibility of the area taking place.

The higher the possibility of this happening and the higher the flood insurance means the less coverage in actual cost.

Source by Ricky Lim

Suresh K Sethi is Chief Executive Officer of RIA Insurance Brokers Pvt. Ltd.; anIRDA approved insurance brokerage firm, headquartered in New Delhi with branches at various locations in India. He is of the firm opinion that Health (Mediclaim) Insurance is the important segment of Indian insurance industry. It is expected grow at the rate of 200 to 225% per annum in the years to come. It will emerge as one of the important segment of non life insurance Industry. This book is written for all those who are not having insurance background but wish to buy Health Insurance cover for themselves or for their family or for the organization for whom they work.                         

Suresh is also Vice President Director of Insurance Brokers Association of India,the only association of all IRDA licensed insurance brokerage firms operating in India. As a member of Insurance Committee of FICCI as well as PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry he has made value addition towards use of technology in Insurance.                              

He is author of Best Guide to Buy Health Insurance. This e-book with full fledged web-site is a step in the direction of on-line marketing of Health Insurance.        

He has presented papers various national conferences, on ‘Health Insurance’. His views are covered in reputed publications like Mint (in association with Wall Street Journal),Financial Chronicle,Money Today Magazine. He appears regularly on TV Shows, where various aspects of Insurance Industry/products are discussed.                             

He is regular contributor to ‘Personal Finance’ of Sakshi Telugu Daily published from Hyderabad.

Source by S.K.Sethi

ABSTRACT

The launching of a Title Insurance Policy Coverage (TIP), specifically designed for the Sierra Leone real estate market in December 2006, by Medical & General Insurance Company and Saddleback Re (USA) ushered in a significant milestone and seismic shift, as private enterprises in Sierra Leone were at long last beginning to proactively participate in bringing about market-based solutions to some of our country’s developmental challenges.

During his opening remarks at the launching ceremony held at the Sierra Leone Insurance Commission (SLICOM) headquarters in Freetown, the author representing the interests of Saddleback Re (USA), while encouraging the proactive participation of business sector leaders opined that “the partnership of Saddleback Re and Medical & General Insurance Company (MAGIC) in designing and introducing the first policy of title insurance was intended to address the acute problems currently endemic in the real estate market in Sierra Leone through the utilization of market-based risk management tools”.

CONSTRUCTION BOOM

The end of the civil war in Sierra Leone ushered a potential boom in the purchase, transfer of land and the construction of private homes and commercial buildings in major population centers of the country. This move is being fueled primarily by the thousands of Sierra Leoneans, some who fled overseas during the civil war and are returning to rebuild homes, businesses and other infrastructure as peace and tranquility now prevails throughout the country.

The full potential of this economic boom in land acquisition and construction will inevitably become stymied and impeded, if the country :

• Fails to embark upon meaningful reforms in her land tenure system.
• Fails to create reforms in her public land records system.
• Fails to reform its real estate laws and procedures, and
• Fails to provide requisite legal protection to land and real estate buyers, lenders and sellers.

MINISTRY OF LANDS

While the government, through the Ministry of Lands, is charged with creating and facilitating an orderly business and legal system, together with procedures and methodology for the sale and transfer of real estate, the tools utilized by successive governments and ministry officials so far have not coped with the rampant corruption, forgery, fraud and defects in title prevalent in the system. As a result scam artists and some corrupt government officials are prone to solicit potential land purchasers with fraudulent title deeds, sometimes selling the same piece of land to more than one purchaser.

This situation is even more acute in the cities of Freetown, Bo, Kenema, Koidu, Port-Loko and Makeni where the availability of land and houses for sale, coupled with the absence of a transparent system documenting title transfers and insurance has resulted in several unscrupulous real estate transactions, mostly disastrous to the financial interests of prospective land or home buyers.

  JUDICIARY OVERWHELMED

 A prominent attorney in Freetown recently reported that over fifty percent of all cases pending in the courts are land/real estate title matters which can on average take between 5 to 10 years to litigate. The courts are inundated with cases where land and property has been sold to multiple buyers without proper title searches or insurance that could provide the requisite guarantee against loss from defective titles, liens and encumbrances.

The above status quo has been allowed to fester largely as a result of apathy and inertia on the part of both policymakers in the executive, the judiciary and officials in the ministry of lands, whose inability to innovate and meet the challenges by modernizing the antiquated and deplorable land records management system stands as a singular monumental impediment to development currently confronting the country.

NEW APPROACH?

The efforts of the current administration and especially the Minister of Lands, Mr. Benjamin Davis in seeking to revert this trend, by introducing progressive land management policies and innovations especially in the field of GIS mapping and computerization must be lauded.

However, merely introducing technological innovations in the lands management and records systems of the ministry of lands without a concomitant policy and regulatory shift requiring evidence of title insurance for all approvals of deeds and land transfers, essentially leaves out a large and important tool in addressing the risks inherent in the sale of property. The cog in any land reform modernization policy thus must entail as a central requirement the purchase of title insurance designed to protect and safeguard land purchasers and lenders ownership rights and investments.

Title insurance differs significantly from other forms of insurance in that whilst most other forms of insurance function as risk assumption entities through the pooling of risks, the primary function of title insurance is the elimination of risks and prevention of losses caused by defects in title.

Title insurance is today’s answer to bringing the transfer of real estate-land and mortgages in Sierra Leone, into the 21st century with greater security and orderliness. As a buyer, lending institution, seller and community at large, the purchase of title insurance guarantees against possible defects such as:

• Errors or omissions in deeds
• Liens & encumbrances
• Mistakes in examining records
• Forgery
• Undisclosed heirs.

A core tenet of the title insurance policy is the duty to defend against legal actions. Title insurance defends the insured’s title against any litigation and in the event of problems will compensate the insured up to the policy limit.

The following polices of title insurance are currently available through Medical & General Insurance Company in Freetown and by contacting admin@Saddlebackre.com.

• The Standard Land Title Policy
• Owners Title Policy
• Lenders Title Policy
• Sellers Title Policy

CONCLUSION

It is envisaged that with commercial private enterprise participation by insurance companies, offering title policies in the real estate market, we can be assured of the elimination of most of the problems inherent in the government only managed system.

For Diasporas interested in participating in the real estate market in Sierra Leone, title insurance will provide the added security of insurance to not only protect their interests and investments but of greater importance seek to eliminate all foreseeable risks and prevent losses due to defects in title, fraud, forgery and unmarketability of title.

It is hoped that the current land reforms being undertaken by government include as a central cog the need for title insurance coverage by all parties to a real estate transaction before title can be legally transferred in Sierra Leone. 

Source by Kortor Kamara

Jobs in the finance industry are diverse and far reaching. Banking jobs have long been viewed as dull and uninteresting but this could not be further from the truth. With roles in financial planning, investment banking and real estate to name but a few, career paths in the finance industry are plentiful.

Commercial banking jobs are wide ranging, they offer great entry level positions and good career progression. The many large organisations in commercial banking also offer good employment security. Commercial banks provide employ more people than any other sector of the finance industry, they offer good opportunities to understand the world of business and interact with customers.

The world of corporate finance is wholly different as it usually entails working ‘in house’ using your technical knowledge to plan for a businesses future, the work is driven towards the growth of the business. Fundamentally jobs in this sector of the banking industry create value for their company, they are predominantly performance related so subsequently can be high pressure, although this pressure is elongated and based upon long term goals.

Financial planners carry out similar tasks to those in the corporate sphere; these jobs however are focussed upon helping individuals plan for their future. The work requires outstanding interpersonal skills while it can be ultimately rewarding; both financially and personally. For this role understanding of estate planning issues, investments and taxes is a prerequisite.

The field of insurance also offers a variety of finance jobs; insurance is increasingly becoming a lucrative field as more and more people become dependent upon it. Jobs in this sector include calculating risk and anticipating future problems. Job roles include underwriter, customer and sales representative, as well as asset manager. Today the insurance industry is trying to leave its negative image in the past and promote the idea that their industry is there to help people in times of need.

Investment banking has long been seen as the most lucrative sector in the financial industry. The job includes purchasing assets, trade securities and offering financial assistance. As well as large multinational investment banking firms there are smaller companies that operate on a more regional level. These jobs are important to world finance as the work larger companies undertake is often for governments.

Being a money manager is one of the most rewarding jobs in banking. It fundamentally involves the investment side of the stock market. Dealing in stocks and bonds makes up the majority of the work although freedom to work how you like is a large constituent of these jobs.

Unfortunately starting in money management is difficult, top companies only hire experienced individuals, although experience can be gained with local pension fund companies and insurance companies. Understanding portfolio theory, fixed income investments and gaining official qualifications will assist in getting this type of finance job.

Finally there is the financial field of real estate, jobs in this sector are diverse and vary from construction to mortgage brokering and leasing. With over a third of the world’s wealth tied up in real estate this is a financially rewarding sector to enter. The close ties real estate has with society in terms of infrastructure development gives these jobs a sense of social responsibility, while the work offers different challenges on a daily basis. Of all the jobs in banking this is often the most interesting field to enter.

As previously stated, jobs within the banking and financial industries vary greatly; with so many disparate fields there is much to offer prospective financiers. The skills needed in the banking industries are considerably unique to each field. However, if you feel you are shrewd with funds and in most cases great with people, working in the finance industry could be the career path for you.

Source by Thomas Pretty

Although you can be charged criminally if you do not have at least the minimum car insurance or the equivalent. Technically Virginia does not require car insurance.

Liability insurance minimums required by law in Virginia are:

Twenty-five thousand dollars for bodily injury or death of one person in any one accident, Va. Code § 46.2-472(3);

Fifty thousand dollars for bodily injury or death of two or more persons in one accident, not to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars for bodily injury or death of one person in any one accident, Va. Code § 46.2-472(3);

Twenty thousand dollars for injury to or harm to property of others in one accident, Va. Code § 46.2-472(3).

This is called the minimum insurance or 25/50/20 insurance. This is the smallest insurance policy an insurance company in Virginia can sell. Automobile insurance laws in Virginia require the owner of a vehicle to have at least the 25/50/20 liability insurance on the vehicle or to deliver to the Division of Motor Vehicles a bond or cash or securities in lieu of the insurance; or to qualify as a self-insurer in accordance with the provisions of Virginia Code § 46.2-368.

If the vehicle is uninsured, the motor vehicle owner is required to pay to DMV a $500 uninsured motor vehicle fee in addition to normal registration fees. Payment of the $500 fee does not provide the motorist with any insurance coverage. If involved in an accident, the uninsured motorist remains personally liable. This fee is valid for twelve months but maybe prorated for a shorter amount of time. Be smart. Protect yourself and others with insurance.

There are two categories of auto insurance – first party coverage and third party coverage. First party coverage covers you and your property (such as medical expenses, damage to your vehicle, and includes the insurance company’s duty to defend you in the event that you are sued as the result of your operation of a vehicle, etc.) Third party coverage is for your responsibility to pay for injury caused to other people (and vice versa), whether in your vehicle, or another vehicle involved in the accident. Your insurance policy sets forth the coverage and its exclusions. In exchange for the payment of a premium, the insurance company promises to provide compensation in the event of certain occurrences.

Suppose the other driver has NO insurance? You automatically have Uninsured/Underinsured Motorists coverage if you have automobile insurance. In the event that the driver that caused the accident did not have insurance, your uninsured motorist coverage (UM) will pay for your damages. Your uninsured motorist coverage (UM) will also pay for your damages in the event that the driver that caused the accident was a hit and run driver who cannot be found.

Suppose the other driver does not have ENOUGH insurance? If the other driver had liability coverage limits lower than that of your own policy and assuming that your damages are greater than the amount of liability coverage held by the at-fault driver, the underinsured coverage (UIM) will pay for your damages.

As an example, suppose your injuries entitle you to recover $100,000, that the at-fault driver had only a $25,000 policy, and that you had $100,000 policy. In this example, the at-fault driver’s insurance company will pay $25,000 and your insurance company will pay you $75,000 for your total of $100,000. Your insurance company can then try to get its $75,000 back from the at-fault driver. It is better for you that your insurance company is trying to get its $75,000 back from the at-fault driver than for you to try to collect $75,000 from the at-fault driver. This UM/UIM coverage will even apply when you are a passenger in someone else’s vehicle.

A full recitation of insurance coverage and laws would occupy several large text volumes, hopefully this report made you a more informed consumer when it comes to insurance and personal injury law. An experienced personal injury attorney can guide you through the process and can represent your interests, whether against an insurance company or in front of a jury.

Source by John Harris

Pennsylvania auto insurance requirements are very unique when it comes to the first party benefits portion of the policy. Unlike many other states, Pennsylvania’s first party benefits are the only “no fault” portion of the coverage that is required by the state’s laws. These coverages apply to you and you household family members, thus the “first party” designation. I will try to explain these coverages in a way that I hope will help guide you toward making a better informed decision on what limits will best cover your family.

Medical expense coverage is required in the amount of $5000 for each automobile you insure on your policy. This coverage is considered primary in Pennsylvania and will pay before any other insurance when you are injured in an automobile accident. You and any of your family members will be covered for up to $5000 in medical expenses each. Pennsylvania auto insurance law requires each company to offer up to $100,000 in medical expense coverage. For clients who do not currently carry major medical insurance I would advise carrying a higher limit of medical expense coverage.

Income loss coverage is not mandatory in Pennsylvania but it is a very affordable coverage. Consider adding this coverage to protect your potential lost wages in the event that you are injured in an automobile accident. I’d like to remind you that this is also a “no fault” coverage which means that irregardless of who is at fault your lost wages will be paid by your insurance policy. Limits up to $100,000 and as low as $5,000 can be added to your policy for very minimal cost.

Funeral benefit and accidental death benefit coverage are both available as add-ons. Neither of these coverages are mandatory but are relatively inexpensive to add. If you think a dollar or two is worth covering yourself and family for these unforeseen expenses, you’ll want to add this coverage.

Extraordinary Medical Expenses is a coverage that was assigned to the insurance companies when the state of Pennsylvania decided its CAT fund could no longer afford to exist. This coverage covers the medical expenses beginning at 100,000 and up to 1,000,000. If you are adding this coverage to your policy you need to be sure that you are carrying $100,000 on the medical expense portion or you will have a huge gap in coverage.

Review these coverages with your agent and be sure to get price comparisons between the coverages that you have now and the coverage you really should have. You’ll be surprised at how affordable the right coverage can be.

Source by Dan Williams

A study by Legal and General has found that Britons think it is more important to protect their mobile phone from loss or theft than it is to insure themselves against critical illness, accident or death.

The most surprising result from the survey highlights the fact that possessions are more likely to be insured than the person owning them. Most people surveyed, over 54%, had no protection policies whatsoever, while 22% had their phone insured compared to 17% who had critical illness and life assurance. Income protection was considered important by only 14% of those questioned.

Furthermore the survey finds that significantly more people have insured their home contents than their life, with over two-thirds of those questioned saying they have insured their home against 41% who say they have insured their life. Time and again the insurance industry reports that there is a huge gap between the amount of cover that UK citizens have taken out and estimates how much should actually be taken out to cover everyone, and this survey suggests that gap is in no danger of closing.

Legal and General’s protection sector Marketing Director Bonnie Burn’s thinks it is a worrying trend. She said:

“The priorities of the nation seem mis-guided, with people more concerned about the loss of their mobile phone than how they would cope financially if they could not work, through illness or serious accident. We all hate facing up to our mortality, but when insuring our life is considered less important than insuring our possessions, then perhaps it’s time for something to be done.”

The fact that people are willing to pay for relatively expensive phone insurance, but not for life or critical illness cover is particularly depressing news for the UK life insurance industry. When you compare life insurance cover pound for pound against mobile phone insurance the figures make sobering reading. For example paying an average premium of £4.99 a month would result in paying almost £60 a year for a phone worth around £150 – over a third of its value in one year. Many people take out this insurance unaware that they may also be covered for mobile phone loss or theft on their home contents policy. On the other hand a 30 year-old man wanting £200,000 life cover would pay on average only £13 per month; a lot more cover for your money! It appears that even through the majority of us have it ahead of any other protection cover mobile phone insurance most definitely works to the benefit of the insurer.

This news comes on top of the news issued by government that estimates that almost seven million working Britons are not making enough provision for their pension. That combination of inadequate income, critical illness and life cover, and pension provision suggests that many Britons are financially ill-equipped to face the future, and could face real hardship if the worst should happen.

Source by andrew.regan.2006@googlemail.com

This article is one of a series of tips to help business owners save large amounts of money on business insurance. Today, we are going to talk about loss runs, which are vitally important to any buyer of business insurance, who wants to save money. They are also known as policy history reports, but are more commonly called loss runs. This information applies to all forms of business insurance, including contractors general liability insurance.

What are loss runs? A loss run is simply a report from an insurance company showing claims you had for a particular policy. It should show the policy number, effective dates, and list for each claim a claim number, amount paid, amount reserved, amount incurred. It should show premium paid for the policy also.

Why are they important? Failure to obtain them at the right times is a primary cause for overpaying large sums of money. If you can’t obtain your loss runs, no one can give you an accurate quotations.

Why is it difficult to get loss runs? Brokers know their clients cannot get competitive quotations without them. To avoid unwelcome competition, they rarely give them to clients voluntarily. Brokers often try do delay handing over loss runs to clients, and use the time to capture as much control of your renewal as possible. Brokers may find they can’t get loss runs on policies you got through other brokers. The critical job of capturing currently valued loss runs 90 days in advance of your renewal routinely gets mishandled. Not making sure this is done is an expensive mistake that can also create unwelcome crisis as a renewal approaches.

What is the solution? Collect and organize the information necessary to secure your loss runs. You absolutely need a spreadsheet listing all the policies you have now, and all those you’ve had in the past 5 years. The table headers (in a row across the top) are as follows, along with explanations after the dash:

Inception Date – what date did the policy start?
Expiration Date – what date did the policy end?
Insurance Company – Exact name of insurance company.
Policy Number – Record it accurately.

Premium – use the final audited premium.
Total claims paid – amounts actually paid by the insurance company.
Total claims reserved – amounts not paid, but set aside in anticipation of being paid.
Total claims incurred – the sum of paid and incurred. Type of Coverage – Liability, Auto, Property, Excess Liab, Professional Liab, Workers Comp
Loss Run Contact – Name, phone, fax, email address of person who publishes the loss run.
Loss Run Valuation Date.- The date the loss run report says it is valued.

A good way to get this to happen is to ask your broker for it. Be alarmed if your broker cannot provide it to you. This is absolutely vital information your broker needs to effectively run your renewals. Insist that your broker put this together and deliver it to you. It is best to do this long before your next expiration date.

You want the policy history rows sorted first by line of coverage, then by inception date. That way you will see 5 years for each line, in neat chronological order. For each line, you can sum the premiums and the claims to see how much money you are making the insurance companies. It is usually a lot.

Summary: Failure to get complete loss runs on time is a primary reason for overpaying for business insurance. No one can accurately quote your insurance without currently valued loss runs. This means you have to get them every year, 60 to 90 days in advance of your expiration dates. Keep organized as I am describing, and you will avoid the following expensive mistakes:

1) Letting your broker think he or she has a monopoly on your renewal. When your broker knows you have all your loss runs currently valued, you can get competitive quotes. If you don’t have them, you can’t.
2)Emergencies caused by a loss run your don’t have, that an underwriter requires. A missing loss run can cause a quote to be pulled by an underwriter which might have saved you money.
3) Getting ignored by underwriters, who view your applications for quotations as incomplete without the loss runs.

Source by Don Bury

Purchasing worker’s compensation insurance is a requirement in all 50 states with the exception of Texas. If you happen to own a small business from Maryland, it’s imperative that you understand the basics about Maryland workers compensation insurance so that you will be able to protect yourself and your employees from possible problems from work. The worker’s comp insurance program was created to provide monetary forms of compensation for the employees in a situation where a potential accident causes an injury which results in lost wages. This injury must occur during work hours, while doing a task for the job. It does not matter whether the employee or someone else is negligent for the injury that occurred. This is called no fault coverage. This saves most people the trouble of going to court. The employee will be able to receive all of his benefits, without employers needing to admit any type of liability for the illness or injury that was caused. When you begin to search for agents that will offer worker’s compensation coverage, here are a few tips to consider:

Experience

Just like with any other type of insurance, it’s important that your agent have experience handling these types of cases . Along those lines, you need to go someone in that industry and to someone who will give you the most coverage for the lowest provide.  If the agent has enough experience, he or she will be good enough to explain the entire process to you. He or she will discuss the discounts and a bit of advice to go along with it. There are definitely many companies in the market today that will be able to offer you great service while providing great coverage. Even though all the companies don’t necessarily provide Maryland workers compensation insurance, it will be important that you look for agencies that do provide this type of insurance, while giving you tons of choices to look through.

Availability

How available your insurance provider and agent are is also an important consideration. Even though it would be unrealistic to request your agent’s attention at midnight, it’s expect that your agent return your calls and answer all your questions. Ask your agent if they have a 24 hour customer service line you can direct all your questions to. Maybe, they might even have an operated answering machine that tells you what you need to know? It’s always better to just ask. Your agent should return all of your calls in a timely manner because you need to know that he’ll be there for you if the time ever came where you needed him.

Auditing

For any underwriter for worker’s compensation insurance, it’s important that they audit. All the rates and premiums you have are heavily dependent on whether claims are reported accurately and the annual sum of payroll. If the agent does not do a good job, it can have a huge effect on your premiums. If they charge you too little, the insurance agency might lose its liquidity, making it unable to ensure your compensation later on.

Using an agent that works well in the industry will be a great upper hand. Providing your business with the best insurance is the only way you can guarantee your company and employees get exactly what they need, when they need it most.

Source by Renee Walker