Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Auto Insurance Company

Auto Insurance Company - What to Look for in an Auto Insurance Company

Choosing an auto insurance company is a decision that can either save you, or cost you, several hundred dollars per year. You would think that finding a car insurance company would not be too difficult. After all how different can they be? It turns out they can be very different as many drivers would be happy to attest.

The automobile insurance company you choose should have competitive rates, responsive customer service, and an efficient claims process. Finding this information is easier than it has ever been due to the wealth of information that exists on the Internet.

Finding this information online can be done by most people fairly easily. It is easy enough to find the price for auto insurance from each company by visiting an automobile quote web site. The prices will be displayed in a few minutes after answering a few questions.

The level of customer service is also easy enough to gauge just by making a few simple phone calls. By calling a prospective auto insurance claims department you will get a good feel for how the company does business. Feel free to ask them any questions you may have. After speaking to each company you will have a very good idea on what you can expect from the company after you purchase a policy.

The last piece of information can be a little bit harder to find, but it is definitely out there and worth finding. The claims process is the hardest thing most people will do with their insurance company. If the process goes smoothly and the car is repaired quickly you will be very satisfied, but if there is a problem it will sour your experience with the auto insurance company that you do business with.

As you can see shopping for auto insurance can be a difficult process. By using the above mentioned tips you will save the most money and have the most peace of mind after purchasing your auto insurance policy.

Classic Car Insurance

Classic Car Insurance - 6 Questions to Ask Before You Apply

Let's take a minute before you pick up the phone, to review the six questions you need to consider before you talk with an agent.

The essentially, your agent is going to want to know how much the car is used and how you plan to maintain it. Knowing the answers to these questions will save you time on the phone -- and put you in a much better position to negotiate the best insurance coverage for your classic honey.

1. Do you plan to insure the car for what you feel it's really worth? Your agent will undoubtedly ask how much insurance coverage you are seeking -- if your personal opinion of value is higher than the vehicle's appraised value, you may want to consider a higher level of coverage.

2. Do you plan to participate in car club events? If so, you need to consider the amount of liability you can incur in such events. A classic car that is stored 365 days a year has much less potential for liability claims than a car that is driven regularly in parades and other event.

3. Are you planning an extended period of renovation for the car? If so, do you need to insure the car while it's off the road?

4. Do you plan to ship the car any time soon? If so, additional coverage may be warranted since the car will be outside of your control.

5. How many miles a year do you expect to drive the car? If these miles are limited, you may be able to negotiate a lower premium. Be sure to ask about any maximum mileage limitations. An annual restriction of 2,500 miles may be imposed by your car insurance company.

6. Who will be repairing or maintaining the car? Again, if the car is outside of your control, you may want to consider higher theft and damage coverage. On the flip side, if you personally maintain the car within secure confines on your property, you may want to pay for minimal coverage.

The answers to all of these questions need to be considered before you decide how much coverage is warranted for your classic car. Also, car owners should be aware that some insurance companies specialize in classic car insurance. But as with any car insurance policy, it's best to get quotes from several insurance providers before making a decision.

Hopefully, by carefully considering the answers to the six questions we've discussed, you'll be prepared to shop for the best coverage for your classic car.

How To Find The Right Health Insurance Plan

The Health Insurance 101
It can be scary to get sick, with the doctor's visits, medication and the feeling that you don't quite know exactly what is going on.

However, possibly more frightening than that is going through all that without the safety net of health insurance to lighten the amount of medical costs you will incur through inevitable treatment and care.

There are roughly 46 million people in the U.S. currently living with no health insurance, and while the government is working on a way to reform the healthcare industry, a new kind of healthcare plan may still be a couple of years away.

For the uninitiated, this may be a good time to get familiar with the basics of healthcare because aside from some its confusing aspects, it's more important to live with health insurance than live without it.

Do I need healthcare insurance?
Without health insurance, a person or family may be forced to incur the full costs of their doctor's visits and hospitalizations, which can quickly accumulate to a small fortune. Also, it isn't enough to just get treatment when you are sick. Preventative care is another important element of healthcare and could save on costs in the future.

Getting regular checkups and physicals with a doctor within your healthcare network can ensure that you are keeping an eye on your body and maintain optimal health.

The last, people who are under a health insurance plan will pay less for doctor's visits and hospitalizations when compared to people who are not enrolled in a plan. And given the current state of the economy, isn't the name of the game being fiscally responsible?

How does this system work?
In a typical healthcare plan, which is called a fee-to-service plan, an enrollee pays a monthly premium (which is like a monthly subscription for a certain service) and when the patient has to visit a doctor or a hospital, the health insurance provider pays a portion of the bill.

Which plan is for me?
A Good question and it's one that only you can answer since there's a lot of different factors that go into choosing a healthcare plan.

One thing to keep in mind is a term called "pre-existing conditions." If you had a known illness or injury prior to you signing up for healthcare, it may affect your coverage. Some plans only consider a condition pre-existing if treatment was involved. Other plans may have a wider definition.

It's important to determine what exactly you need from a healthcare plan. Older people may want coverage that includes surgeries and prescription medication while younger people may be more inclined to embrace a plan that's more about preventative care.

Another element to factor in is whether or not you have a certain doctor you are comfortable with or a family doctor who knows your medical history well. Some healthcare plans have specific networks that only allow you to visit certain doctors, while others allow you to see whoever you choose.

The co-pay may be a bit higher for the out-of-network physician, but if it's with someone you trust, it may be worth it.

If you are between jobs and waiting for the start of your coverage from another health insurance, or if you are on strike or laid off, or if you are a seasonal employee or recent college graduate and your need is for only a specific period of time, short term health insurance may be a great option for you.

Who has these plans?
Most people in the U.S. get their healthcare insurance through the company they work for, which most likely has a relationship with a certain healthcare insurance provider.

However, some people like to investigate the kind of coverage a different provider has or may want to have health insurance that isn't tied to their job, in case they leave that company or get laid off.

In that case, some people have employed a health insurance agent to help them determine which public healthcare plan might be best for them.

Staying with the same healthcare plan may also help people avoid experiencing gaps in coverage if they lose their job. Gaps in coverage can be a potentially dangerous situation because you will be solely responsible for any medical bills.

Tips For Obtaining Low Cost Home Insurance

The low cost home insurance is not hard to find if you know how to find it and one of the best ways of doing so is to allow a specialist broker to search around on your behalf for the quotes. The quotes will be delivered to you and you do not even have to move out of your chair to get them. You can then take your time and compare those quotes from some of the top UK providers.

There are many ways that you can keep the cost of home insurance down and one of them is to increase the amount of excess you are willing to pay. All providers will add excess onto a policy which is the amount that you will have to pay towards a claim, if of course you make one. By offering to pay more for this excess you will save on the monthly premiums. However you will have to take into account that you would have to find the excess outright if you should need to make a claim.

The home insurance will include theft of items from your home so you can make savings on the premiums which allows you to obtain low cost home insurance the safer your home is. To do this you can install a good quality alarm on the property, install window locks and ensure your property is surrounded by good quality fencing.

A policy will also include loss of belongings by fire and again one way of cutting down the premiums could be by installing such as fire alarms. Often you will be asked if you smoke and non smokers might be offered cheaper premiums as they could be seen as less of a risk than those who smoke.

The premiums for home insurance are based on how much you wish to insure. If you were to take a wild guess and this guess is way over the cost of replacing all of your possession in the worst case scenario, you would be paying out for insurance you do not need. To ensure that you do not over insure yet do not under insure you need to take an inventory of all of your belongings. This means that you need to go around your home and jot down the cost of all items not forgetting such as possessions in the attic, cupboards or drawers. The figure you get to is the sum you need to insure against if the worst case scenario should happen and you lost all your belongings in a fire.

Finally one way of obtaining low cost home insurance is to never just renew the policy year after year. Just because you got a great deal on your home insurance last year does not necessarily mean that you will get the best deal this year. Insurance brokers will usually increase their premiums each year and if you just renew you could find that you are paying well over the odds for your home insurance. Again allow a specialist broker to make a search for the lowest premiums and then compare the premiums at your leisure.

Your Move, Your Car Insurance and You

Part of the beauty of living in a country that has fifty states rather than just one is the fact that you're free to move from place to place without having to spend hours (and dollars) convincing some government bigwigs to give you permission to do it. If you want to pack your bags and move from New York to San Francisco all you have to do is look for an apartment. You cut off your electric, turn on your California phone number…and make some changes in your car insurance.

The car insurance, like many other things, is regulated by state rather than federal government. That means that the regulations that dictate how much, how little and what kind of coverage you're required to have are going to change dramatically as you travel from the east coast to the west-and if you're not ready for it you may find yourself underinsured when the time comes.

The first thing you should do when you hop state lines (after you find your plates and cups, of course, is find out what the mandatory state limits are for minimum coverage. Your mandatory minimum coverage (also known as minimum liability coverage) is the amount of money your insurance company will pay out if you're involved in an accident.

The first number represents the bodily injury liability maximum coverage for a single person injured in an accident; for example, if you were driving and hit a car holding a driver and no passengers that would be the amount your car insurance provider would pay to cover their medical bills and any recuperative therapy. The second number stands for bodily injury liability for two or more people; in other words, any passengers in their car (or yours) injured as a result of the accident. In the example above (which is the actual minimum insurance requirement guideline for the state of Alabama) the insurance company will pay up to $50,000 in medical bills.

The third number shows how much your insurance company will pay for any property damaged-other vehicles, guard rails, street signs, street lights (yes, it's actually happened-something other than a tractor-trailer successfully sent a street light crashing to the ground after an accident), gas station windows or anything else that happened to get in the way.

These liability minimums are going to change from state to state, meaning you'd be wise to find out what your new state minimums are before contacting your insurer. Your old policy limits might not be up to par for your new home, and while most agents will be able to advise you on what changes you need to make to your policies every once in a while a new agent will slip through the cracks and sell you a policy that doesn't meet state standards. Unfortunately, that's still going to be considered your fault-even if you asked.

There are plenty of resources available on the web that will help you find your state's guidelines. Once you have those numbers in hand you'll officially be ready to become a resident of Monkey's Eyebrow, Arizona-or anyplace else you want to call home.