Consumer Information

Insurance Consumer Information

1. Independent Insurance Agents
We represent many insurance companies. This allows us to compare their services, prices, coverages and put together the best combination for your protection and security.

2. Direct Writers
They represent only one company and are locked in to only the services that the one company provides.

3. Telephone Representatives
They can offer you the insurance of only one company and only on the telephone.

You should choose your insurance agent as carefully as you choose your physician, dentist, lawyer and other professionals who help you make decisions that affect your well being. Back to Top

Your Independent Insurance Agent:
¨ Is your friend and neighbor, with strong community ties. ¨ Gives you outstanding service and competitive prices
¨ Can provide insurance with many different companies. This allows you to change your insurance needs without changing your agent.
¨ Offers you a choice of services, price, and coverages.
¨ Can provide all of your insurance needs..auto, home, renters, business, farm, and health.
¨ Will periodically review your coverage to keep up with your changing insurance needs.
¨ Treats you like a person, not a number Back to Top

What is in a basic auto policy?
Your auto policy may include six coverages. Each coverage is priced separately.
1. Bodily Injury Liability.
2. Medical Payments or Personal Injury Protection (PIP)
3. Property Damage Liability
4. Collision
5. Comprehensive
6. Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage Back to Top

What determines the price of my policy?
There are many factors that influence the price you pay for auto insurance. The average American driver spends about $700 a year. Your premium may be higher or lower, depending on the following:

Your driving record
The number of miles you drive each year.
Where you live.
Your age.
The car you drive.
The amount of coverage.
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What is in a standard homeowners insurance policy?
A standard homeowners insurance policy includes four essential types of coverage. They include:

Coverage for the structure of your home.
Coverage for your personal belongings.
Liability protection.
Additional living expenses in the event you are temporarily unable to live in your home because of a fire or other insured disaster. Back to Top

How much homeowners insurance do I need?
You need enough insurance to cover the following:

The structure of your home.
Your personal possessions.
The cost of additional living expenses if your home is damaged and you have to live elsewhere during repairs.
Your liability to others. Back to Top

Regardless of the type of policy you choose, if you're a professional working out of your home, you probably need professional liability insurance. Some types of in-home businesses, such as those that make or sell food products or sell home-made personal care products, may have to buy special policies. Back to Top

Do I need workers compensation insurance?
Employers have a legal responsibility to their employees to make the workplace safe. However, accidents happen even when every reasonable safety measure has been taken.

To protect employers from lawsuits resulting from workplace accidents and to provide medical care and compensation for lost income to employees hurt in workplace accidents, in almost every state, businesses are required to buy workers compensation insurance. Workers compensation insurance covers workers injured on the job, whether they're hurt on the workplace premises or elsewhere, or in auto accidents while on business. It also covers work-related illnesses.

Workers compensation provides payments to injured workers, without regard to who was at fault in the accident, for time lost from work and for medical and rehabilitiation services. It also provides death benefits to surviving spouses and dependents.

Each state has different laws governing the amount and duration of lost income benefits, the provision of medical and rehabilitation services and how the system is administered. For example, in most states there are regulations that cover whether the worker or employer can choose the doctor who treats the injuries and how disputes about benefits are resolved.

Workers compensation insurance must be bought as a separate policy. Although in-home business and businessowners policies (BOPs) are sold as package policies, they don't include coverage for workers' injuries. Back to Top

How much life insurance do I need?
To help you decide how much and what type of life insurance you need, you have to evaluate your family’s financial needs.

Organize your family’s financial information and estimate what your family would need after you have died and are no longer producing income. Include ongoing expenses such as day-care, tuition costs and retirement savings, as well as immediate expenses at death such as medical bills, burial costs and estate taxes.

You should also count on additional money to help your family readjust to the changed situation. For example, the family may want to move to another home or your spouse may need to be retrained for another job to support the family.

As a general rule, you should buy protection equivalent to five to eight times your annual income. But your needs will vary greatly according to your financial assets and liabilities, income potential and level of expenses. Back to Top

What are the advantages/disadvantages of term and permanent insurance?
There are pros and cons to buying both term or permanent (cash value) insurance. Each has advantages and disadvantages. One or the other or both may be appropriate to meet your insurance needs.

Term Insurance
The advantages of term policies include:
1. Term premiums are lower than those for permanent insurance so you get more insurance coverage for less money. This allows you to buy more coverage when you need it the most, such as when you have young children.

2. Because term provides insurance for a specific period of time, it is ideal for covering specific financial needs such as covering your life until your children are through college, until they are self-supporting, or covering your life until you pay off your mortgage.

The disadvantages of term policies include:

1. Premiums increase every time a policy is renewed, so the cost of term insurance can become prohibitive as you near your late 50s and 60s.
2. Term life doesn't provide a savings feature known as cash value. Term policies only pay benefits if you die while the policy is in force.
3. If your insurance company wants you to take a medical exam when you want to renew your policy, you may be turned down if your health condition has deteriorated.
4. You could outlive your coverage, because term insurance is generally not renewable after age 70 or 75, depending on your state’s insurance regulations.

Permanent (Cash Value) Insurance

The advantages of permanent insurance are:

1. You lock in a premium rate at whatever age you start the policy and the benefits are guaranteed for as long as you live.
2. Your policy accumulates cash value that grows tax-deferred. Your premiums are invested by the insurance company in stocks, bonds, real estate, venture capital and other funds, and you receive a return on your money in the form of annual dividends, which increase your cash value.
3. You can tap that cash value while you are alive with low-cost loans. Any outstanding loans will reduce your policy’s cash value by the amount of the loan. Or you can withdraw the cash value, though you will have to pay income taxes on those withdrawals. You can also convert your cash value into an annuity that will provide fixed-income throughout your retirement years.
4. If you surrender your policy by discontinuing to pay premiums, you will receive any accumulated cash value.
5. Dividends can be used to pay your premium in whole or in part.
6. Once you have passed the medical tests and have been issued a policy, your policy cannot be cancelled for medical or any other reasons if you continue to pay the premium.

The disadvantages of permanent insurance are: