5 Ways to Make Insurance Shopping Easier

by Administrator 20. August 2012 11:32

While insurance is one of the most important protections you can provide your family with, it's not exactly fun to shop for. When shopping for cars, gadgets, clothes, shoes and other retail items, you cast a hopeful eye to the future and look forward to a time when you get to use the item that you're shopping for; but when shopping for insurance you must consider the worst possible events that could occur and purchase protection against the financial damages they will cause, all the while hoping that they never come to pass.

If you want to make the process of shopping for insurance a little easier and faster, here are a few tips:

  • Have all your information. Depending on the type of insurance policy you’re shopping for, you may need varying types of information. For example, when shopping for home insurance you'll need to know the value of your contents, the rebuilding costs for your home and what kind of anti-theft and disaster response systems you have in place. When shopping for health insurance, you'll need to know your medications weight height and so on. Call your agent and ask what specific information you should have ready when you met with her. 
  • Know what you want to protect. When you apply for insurance the goal is to create financial protection against certain types of losses. If you don't know, however, what you want to protect then it will be difficult to get the appropriate coverage.
  • Have a budget. When designing an insurance policy, not only must you consider all the property you want to protect and the events you want to protect the property from, but also what you can afford to pay for the insurance. These two pieces of information go hand in hand.
  • Have an agent. Not only is it potentially dangerous to shop for insurance without an agent helping you understand the various coverage options, limits, and exclusions involved but it's also inefficient. Agents can quickly compare costs for equivalent policies and can design insurance coverage with as few gaps as you can afford.

We’re here to help you get the policy design that you and your family need most. When you're ready to start shopping for Killeen home, auto, or business insurance or to conduct a review of your current policies, give us a call at Shawn Camp Insurance today.

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Insurance and the Power of Being Mindful

by Administrator 20. March 2012 11:56

In a 2009 article in Psychology Today, mindfulness was described as the practice of being in the present moment. This means that instead of being distracted, thinking about the future, dwelling on the past, or allowing lots of noise in your head over everything but “the now,” when you are mindful you are fully invested in the current moment and what's happening during that tiny piece of time.

Mindfulness and Insurance

When you buy insurance, it's important that you allow yourself to be quiet and mindful. It’s understandable to feel anxious when working on final expense and legacy planning, when thinking about all the perils facing your home and vehicle, when imagining your future potential disabilities and contemplating all the liabilities and other negative aspects of life that make insurance necessary, but if you want to be properly insured and prepared for the future, you must allow yourself to be fully invested in the process of insurance planning rather than distracted and intimidated by what-ifs.

Mindful Insurance Planning

Instead of being cowed by the unknown, when insurance planning you focus on the known: the risks that any individual in your situation may actually face and the value of the property you want to protect. It’s really as simple as that—and knowing this will allow you to create a much more secure financial future.

Being frightened of a potential future event that has not yet come to pass, or being overwhelmed by the amount of data you must consider as you buy insurance will not help you purchase and amounts you need to protect your family and it won’t make it any easier to select the types of policies that offer you the kind of protections you’re looking for. Instead, it makes you feel powerless during what should be a very empowering process.

When you give yourself the space and permission to be mindful, you allow yourself to approach the task of buying insurance as practically and unemotionally as possible. This makes it easier to be deliberate and reasonable as you assess the practical risks you face each day and assign a dollar value to them, and then make relevant adjustments as you consider your budget and potential premiums.

Your insurance agent can be a big help in keeping your emotions on track and your approach to insurance planning practical. If you are ready to start searching for insurance policies that will protect your family, give us a call at (254) 547-2381 for a Killeen insurance quote.

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How can the Drive-Other-Car Endorsement help my small business?

by Administrator 4. September 2011 12:21

 

It can be challenging to deal with all of your different insurance policies and assets that you have between your business and personal life. From business insurance to home insurance, life insurance to auto insurance for your personal and business vehicles the perfect balance of personal and business coverage can be hard to manage. Although a lot of these complex insurance arrangements cannot be simplified, the one involving your business and personal car insurance can be.

When you buy a business auto policy to cover your company car you can choose the Drive-Other-Car endorsement to cover your driving activities with a personal vehicle rather than buying a separate policy for personal use. 

What is included in this endorsement?

The coverage provided under this endorsement is similar to that of conventional, personal auto insurance but only one bill payment is necessary—to your business auto policy. This makes paperwork easier for you and lessens the risk of one of your policies being interrupted due to nonpayment. The Drive-Other-Car endorsement can also be used to provide coverage to employees who are provided with a company car to take home.

The Drive-Other-Car endorsement can also provide bodily injury and property damage liability coverage as well as uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage. Whatever limits and deductibles you choose for the business auto insurance policy are extended to the endorsement.

Critical Factors to Consider

The Drive-Other-Car endorsement does not just cover you when you drive personal vehicles, it can also cover claims resulting from accidents that occur while you, or a covered employee, are driving a rental vehicle or a friend’s car. That helps to make this extremely flexible endorsement extremely comprehensive.

This endorsement can cover other drivers in the employee or business owner’s household too—but you must read your policy before you assume that this is the case. If your policy does cover household members then they will be protected whether driving a rental car, borrowed car or their own personal vehicle. However, this does not mean that they are covered under the business portion of your policy if they use your company vehicle.

In order to qualify for this endorsement, the business vehicle you use and insure must be owned by your business and not by you, a spouse or a member of your family. When looking for ways to buy insurance policies that protect you against financial risks and simplify your life, additional endorsements like the Drive-Other-Car endorsement are important and valuable tools to consider.

Contact us at (800) 212-2641 for a free company car insurance quote or visit our office.

 

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How to Save Money on Your Business Auto Insurance Policy?

by Administrator 4. July 2011 12:30

 

A business auto insurance policy protects your business from financial responsibility in the event of a business related vehicle accident.

If you are using a vehicle for commercial use, you must-have business auto insurance. But just because you have to have the coverage, that doesn’t mean that you don’t want to find a way to spend less on it.

Here are five tips to help you save money on your business auto insurance policy without sacrificing your coverage:

Hire safe drivers: Your insurance premiums will go up considerably if you hire a driver with points against their license because they pose a greater risk of accident to your company. Instead, make sure you hire employees with clean driving records.

    Mandatory training: Making safe driving classes mandatory for your employees will show your insurer that you are serious about safety and will train them to act properly when on the road. This will help reduce the risk that they pose and will help reduce your rates.

    Lower your limits: Keep track of the value of your fleet and lower your limits accordingly so that you can keep your policy affordable. Your company cars lose value every year and, if they are driven often, may lose value at a faster rate than a normal vehicle. There is no point in having a high limit if your cars aren’t worth that much, unless you are looking for replacement value instead of actual value. When it comes to medical and bodily injury coverage, be sure not to lower your limits too aggressively since these costs tend to increase over the year rather than decrease.

    Review your coverage every year: When you just renew the same insurance policy every year without reviewing it, you could be missing important changes that have occurred in your business and that should be reflected in your policy. For example, it is possible that you are covered for events that you and your drivers have little risk in encountering or, maybe you have too much insurance on a car that have lost value over the years. It is important to review all these factors every year so you can stay on top of inefficiencies and streamline both your policy and your premium.

    Take safety features: Make sure your cars have safety features such as airbags, anti-lock brakes and automatic seatbelts. All of these automated safety devices will help reduce injuries when accidents occur which reduces the possible medical expenses and reduces your insurance company’s risk.

We at Shawn Camp Insurance know that making decisions about your coverage is one of the most important things you can do. We stand committed to providing the best combination of service, price and products to meet your individual needs. We specialize in Business & Commercial insurance in Copperas Cove, Killeen, Temple, Fort Hood, Gatesville and across Texas. Contact us at (800) 212-2641 for a free business car insurance quote or visit our office.

 

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