Discounts

So lets take a moment to talk about discounts. All insurance companies have them, and they'll through as many at you as possible.
Here's another way of looking at it. A discount is simply a way of grabbing the customers the company wants and making premiums prohibitivly expensive for those who don't.

Example: If Insurance X only wants customers who are 55 years old, who wants to insure their home as well, and has a record for staying with companies a long time, they'll offer deep discounts for being over 55, multi-policies and having been with their previous insurer for 5 years.

That's how it works and that's how insurers cherry pick their clients.

Furthermore, remember, just because you have a discount doesn't mean you can't loose it. You should talk with your agent and discuss what discounts they have applied to your policy and how deep they are. Imagine the sticker shock if you not only were surcharged for a claim, but also lost a 45% discount?

As always, I'm the Insurance Whiz, and your questions are welcome.

What Can You Do to Lower my Rate?

A lot of things can happen to raise your rate on any insurance. Sometime it's just inflation, the insurance companies often adjust their rates based on that. Sometimes it's you. A claim can dramatically raise your rates, sometimes far more then would be expected.

So what can you do to reduce your rates?

The most obvious, and time consuming, is to shop around. There are countless insurers out their that would be more then happy to take your business, especially if you have a clean record and it's just an inflation thing.

The next way is to change your coverages. Many people don't find this palatable simply because they have the coverages they want and don't want to change it.

My only caution is this: If you call your agent and ask to have your rate reduced and they say "Sure, here's your new rate" ask them what they did. Very few insurers have "hidden discounts" that they can suddenly apply. If they say they do, ask two questions, 1) What is the discount, and 2) why didn't you give me that in the first place? (This also may be a time to start shopping around, if you're agent is hiding something like a valuable discount, they may be too dishonest to maintain contact with)

Of course you can always wait it out. You may never get your claims free discount back, but eventually the surcharge will fall off and your rate will go down.

Anyway, as always, post questions or thoughts.

Insurance Whiz

A Little Knowledge

A little knowledge goes a long way, and that's the purpose of this blog.

I've been in the insurance business for a while now and the one thing that remains the same is that people always have questions, and many don't know exactly how they're being covered.

What I hope to accomplish here is to provide that knowledge, get people to look at their policies, see what they have and what their lacking and make moves to better protect themselves.

In no way am I'm selling anything, though I work in the field, this is a purely educational endeavor. Furthermore, the knowledge I provide here is not intend as advice, only information. If you choose to make any changes to your policy you should always, repeat ALWAYS, discuss it with your agent.

I will try to update every weekday with information on various parts of insurance policies, but I invite all questions and comments and will attend to each one as it's received.

So please, share the knowledge, share the questions and together we'll make sure that you're being protected as you deserve to be.


-The Insurance Whiz