The Insurance Agent

Archive for the ‘Insurance News’ Category

It seems like we never think too much about insurance until we settle down and have a family. Sure, you get the mandatory car insurance so you can drive but most people don’t think too much about other insurance products until they have a family of their own. For example, few people bother with life insurance as life insurance policies usually pay out a lump sum of cash should the policy holder die. If you’re single, you’re not worried about supporting a spouse or children if you should pass away unexpectedly. Who would you leave the money to?

Landlord insurance is another insurance product that’s popular with older individuals who have the money to invest in rental property. Landlord insurance covers individuals renting out their property either personally or via a letting agency but you’ll find few 20-somethings who have the money for investment property. Still, it’s an excellent insurance product for anyone who lets.

Whilst insurance coverage can benefit every individual regardless of age, it is important for young people getting married to review their insurance needs. If the worst should happen, either to yourself or to your residence, you wouldn’t want your family to suffer financially. Insurance is protection from the unexpected and once you get married and have children, you’ll see that the unexpected can happen quite frequently.

Every one of us dreams about having a sweet home where we can live with beloved ones. When one day your dream comes true and you get that dreamy house, next thing on your mind is do your best to protect it from harm.

Unfortunately, accidents and disasters happen. It could be a burglary, a fire, a flooding or an earthquake. When that happens, you are bound to suffer loss. What’s still worse is that you and your family will be put at stake.

No worries, home insurance is to help! Home insurance is specifically used to deal with unexpected incidents that may cause damage or loss to your home or your family.

For most of us, the single purchase of a house can cost a lump sum of money. Further more, home insurance means another hefty expense. Nailing down a cost-effective home insurance can be a bit trying. That is why we present the following tips for home insurance purchase so that you can have your precious time and energy focused elsewhere.

Raise your deductible

You may have heard of deductibles, the amount of money you are required to pay toward a loss before your insurance company starts to pay. And the amount of deductibles is based on the terms of your policy. But what you may not know is that the higher your deductibles are, the more you can save on your premiums.

The standard deductible most insurance companies require is at least 500 dollars. Raise it to 1,000 dollars if you can afford. How can this help? Well, at least 25 percent on premiums is saved.

A few notes for those living in a disaster-prone areas, you may choose an insurance that includes a separate deductible, such as

1. A separate windstorm deductible if you live near the coast in the East
2. A separate earthquake deductible if you live in an earthquake-prone zone
3. A separate hail deductible if you live in an area vulnerable to hail storms

Stick to the same insurer

If you buy two or more of the insurance products from the same insurer, you may get a 5 to 15 percent off your premium. For example, you can combine home and auto insurance into one. But do remember to make sure this kind of combined price is lower than what the different insurance coverage from different companies cost. After all, you don’t want to throw good money after bad.

Always shop around & seek out discounts

Yes, you read that right. As much as it is suggested that you should go with the same insurer, it won’t hurt a bit to shop around and check out all the possible discounts there. When choosing a home insurance policy, bear in mind that it is not a deal or no deal thing. There are plenty companies that offer various types discounts. For example, if you are 55 years old and more and are retired, you may qualify for a discount of up to 10 percent at some companies. Group insurance programs designed for employers and professional associations can even get a better deal at certain companies than they can get else where.

Remember that? Always shop around for better deals, compare and save!

Improve your home

Premiums can be negotiable, mainly depends on the condition of your home. So you may want to do a little home improvement work to decrease premiums.

And when it comes to home improvements, sound protective measures beat sounder solutions. See what you can do to make your home more resistant to floods, windstorms and other natural disasters. Save a few bucks on your premium by simply adding storm shutters, buying stronger roofing materials. To make old homes withstand earthquake better, you can get them retrofitted. To reduce the risk of fire or water damage, you may want to consider modernizing your heating, plumbing systems.

All in all, you are sure to get creative in the art of saving money on home insurance.

One aspect that boiler buyers need to understand is that the cost of a water heating system does not only entail the purchasing price. There are other costs, which are attached to the boiler system and these include the repairs, maintenance and servicing costs. There are also energy costs as well as boiler replacement expenses. With a central heating boiler insurance, you are able to get relieve from these costs whenever your central heating system, the boiler and controls experience faultiness.

There are different packages of central heating insurance and these provide you with a choice to make on the most suitable coverage to take. With the £6.50 monthly premiums central heating boiler insurance package, your central heating system is covered against boiler, controls and central heating repairs. There are unlimited call-outs in a year’s contract. You can also choose the £50 excess coverage package, which encompasses repairs of the boiler, controls and central heating.

If there are any parts required for the repair, these are also provided in this coverage. The labour cost is also paid for. Moreover, there is replacement of the boiler when it breaks down. The replacement is done if your boiler is less than 7 years old and also if it’s less than 10 year and was installed by British gas and there was an agreement on continuous central heating boiler insurance for the life of the boiler system.

One thing as a new parent, you start to examine the needs of your growing and thriving family. When you are evaluating your needs, make sure to include adding critical illness cover on the list of things to do. It is great that you have life insurance to help your family after you are gone, but what about when you become too sick to work and bring in the income your family needs to make ends meet? Making sure you have critical illness coverage will help with that.

Critical illness cover is an added insurance that covers most common illnesses and conditions that may happen to you. If you know that a common condition runs in your family, such as heart attacks and strokes, then you can find coverage that has them included in the policy. When searching for the right one for you and your family you can search different websites independently or you can find a website that offers multiple quotes from different companies. Some of these websites also offer live help from specialists that can help you figure out the best policy is best for you within your budget.

Most policies offered pay a lump sum of money that is tax free so you can still provide for your family while you are unable to work. This can take away some of the stress you have to deal with while taking care of yourself and recover from any illness that incapacitates you. You may find that it is more cost effective to find a payment protection and critical illness cover policy that pays out for either incident. This is just in case you either face a long term illness or a condition that you can recover from in a short time such as injuries from a car accident. When buying any insurance policy, make sure you are getting what your money is worth. The cheapest option isn’t always the best for you so make sure when you are searching for life and critical illness cover quotes you know at least the basics of what you need and go from there.