Insurance Quotes

Wednesday 29 June 2011

Why You Need Boat Insurance

Some people simply overlook boat insurance. They think that nothing bad is going to happen, when in reality, bad things often happen involving boats!

If you own a boat, you need boat insurance. In fact, many states now require boat owners to carry Watercraft Liability insurance before they transport or operate a boat. If your boat has been financed, your lender will almost always require you to carry full coverage boat insurance.

Again, most people don't think anything bad will happen – but bad things do indeed occur!

Vandalism is one problem that you may encounter. This is especially true if you dock your boat in a marina. Vandalism can also occur when you park your boat at your home, or at a hotel when traveling.

When you shop for insurance, make sure that vandalism is covered on your policy. Most issuers of boat insurance will only offer you the Watercraft Liability – but in most cases, you need more coverage than that! Theft is another possibility. Cars are stolen all the time – but boats are stolen as well. In fact, stealing a boat is easier than stealing a car!

Boat insurance should cover you in the event of vandalism, theft, sinking, fire, storms, capsizing, stranding, collision, and explosion. Furthermore, the insurance should cover the boat, the motor, and the trailer used to transport the boat. The boat should be covered no matter who is operating the boat, as long as they are legally allowed to operate the vessel.

Boat insurance will typically cover you in the event of malfunction as well. If something happens to your motor, it should be covered by your insurance. It should also cover you in the event that your boat needs to be towed back to shore.

What you are covered for depends on what type of coverage you purchased through your insurance agent. For this reason, it is important to know what type of coverage is available. Not all insurance companies will offer all types of coverage, but they will offer Watercraft Liability and Watercraft Medical payments.

Watercraft liability covers you just like car liability insurance protects you in the event of an accident where you are found to be at fault. Medical payments will cover medical expenses incurred by you and the occupants of your boat that are the result of a boating accident in the covered water vessel.

Optional insurance usually includes coverage for reasonable repairs, emergency services to your boat, motor, or boat trailer, and wreck removal. Wreck removal is very important coverage to have. If you boat sinks, it will need to be raised before an insurance company can access the damages and pay your claim. This is very expensive, and in most states, the law requires you to remove wrecked or sunken vessels.

Boats may be luxury items – but they are very expensive luxury items.

Repairing or replacing a boat may not be something that you can easily afford – but in most cases, you will find that boat insurance is quite affordable. However, if you are thinking in terms of cost, and you think that you cannot afford the boat coverage, you can be certain that you will not be able to afford to repair or replace the boat either!

No matter how you look at it, you need boat insurance, even if you just purchase the watercraft liability coverage. Again, most states now require this liability coverage for water vessels, and if the boat is financed, the optional coverage may be required as well.

Discuss your boat insurance coverage needs with your insurance agent to determine what coverage is right for you and your boat.

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Women’s Cheap Car Insurance

As sexist as it may sound, gender sometimes place a significant role in a person’s car insurance rates. Women drivers usually get cheaper car insurance rates than men drivers, because statistically, of the two genders, women drivers are more conscientious drivers, who drive safer vehicles, and who file less car insurance claims. Sure, not all women drivers are better drivers than men drivers, but the statistics have spoken loud enough for many of the car insurance companies in America to listen.

However, American car insurance companies are not the only companies that have taken notice and began to offer cheap car insurance policies to women drivers; the UK is also offering lower car insurance rates to women drivers. There are many companies and organizations throughout the UK dedicated solely to helping women get cheap car insurance rates, as well as providing car insurance tips and advice to women drivers. A quick search of the Internet will bring up many of these organizations.

Of course, while women drivers may statistically get lower car insurance rates than men drivers, women drivers are subject to the same criteria as men are subject to, such as:

• Driving records and histories of the driver and/or policyholder
• Location in which the driver and/or policyholder lives and parks her car
• Safety, make, model, and year of the vehicle being insured
• Credit history of the policyholder
• Age and experience of the driver and/or policyholder

For women drivers to optimize their ability to get cheap car insurance rates, they must practice safe driving habits of their own – rather than riding the coattails of the safe women drivers before them – as well as continue to drive safe vehicles and park their vehicles is safe locations, regardless of the area in which they live. Women drivers should also pay attention to their driving records and credit reports, as well as make improvements whenever necessary and possible.

Worst Case Scenario: Will Your Home Buildings Insurance Cover You?

Nobody likes to consider the ramifications of a worst case scenario, least of all the financial consequence. However, did you know that if a major storm (of the likes we experienced in the UK in the late 1980s) struck the UK today, almost one-half of all homes in the UK would have inadequate home buildings insurance to cover the cost of repairs!

Valuation of your home buildings insurance – is it being done correctly?

Before you consider the value of your home, ask yourself a quick couple of questions:
- what is the principal reason why you have home buildings insurance?
- who assess the value of your home buildings insurance?

In most cases, the answer to the first question is you need to have home buildings insurance because it is a requirement under your mortgage agreement. The answer to your second question is also likely to be your home mortgage provider, because they feel they know the value of your home better than you do. So, what’s the problem? Well, the problem is, each year your home mortgage is going down, but hopefully the value of your home is going up. As your insurance is principally to cover your outstanding mortgage, a disparity - between the value of your home and the outstanding mortgage amount - will rapidly arise. Therefore, it is vital that you keep control of valuing your home for home buildings insurance purposes and always ensure that the insurance relates to the actual value of your home, not the outstanding mortgage amount.

Improvements to your home – are they being included?

Likely as not, over time you are going to do some building work to your home. Maybe you’ll add an extension. Put in a greenhouse. Add a conservatory. Etc. The question is – are all of these add-ons being included in the additional value they bring to your home, or are you only continuing to insure the main part of the home that was part of the original policy?

Increased costs – have you factored these in?

Nearly every insurance policy comes with an excess amount. Essentially what this means is that you have to pay a threshold amount before you can claim against the insurance company. Fine, let’s take an example: say you bought your home in 1980 and set the threshold amount at £500. Would you get more or less in materials and labour today if you were still maintaining an excess sum of £500? Answer, far less and you’d be claiming on your insurance far sooner, which in turn means your premiums are likely to be higher.

As you can see then, home buildings insurance is not as simple as guessing what you think the value of your home is. It takes certain precision and year-on-year upkeep if you want to make sure you’ll be sufficiently insured should the unfortunate worst case scenario occur.

Your car insurance

Automobile insurance is an increasing expense for almost all Americans. We can't afford to have it, and we certainly can't afford to not have it. When researching car insurance companies and comparing policies, it is a good idea to follow these easy guidelines to get the most coverage for your insurance dollars. Get discount car insurance quotes from as many carriers as you can. Automobile insurance rates may vary drastically depending on the model of your car and the type of coverage you need.
Consider as high a deductible as you can reasonably afford, since higher deductibles translate into lower insurance premiums. Review quotes and policies carefully to make sure you are only paying for coverage you really need.

If you have homeowner insurance, ask your agent if you are covered already for certain items you might be charged again for on your auto policy. After you have gotten quotes from different car insurance carriers, it is usually a good idea to create a spreadsheet to help you avoid comparing apples to oranges. Set up a scenario with car repairs and medical expense to best compare the coverage differences under real-life situations. Once you have chosen the two least expensive automobile insurance policies for the coverage you need, contact a reputable body shop in your area for a referral.

Automobile body shops deal with insurance companies every day, and you want to make sure the company you send your premiums to each month will be responsive and fair if you have to make an insurance claim. The body shop probably has a good insider opinion on how the insurance company operates, how long it takes to get an adjuster to view the damaged vehicle, how long it takes to get paid on a claim, how fair the estimate was, were used parts requested versus brand new parts and so on. Trust me, a 10 minute talk with a reputable body shop manager can reveal a lot of great information about an insurance company and how they tend to handle their claims.

A few dollars difference in premium dollars to get coverage from a company that handles their claims properly may save you a world of hassle in the event of an automobile accident.

Young Female Cheap Car Insurance

If you’re a female driver, you already have a head start for getting cheap car insurance. Car insurance companies take into consideration statistics claiming that, overall, female drivers are:

• More likely to drive a safer car than male drivers.

• Less likely to commit traffic violations and get traffic tickets than male drivers.

• More likely to choose an economical car that gets good gas mileage and doesn’t cost a fortune to repair.

According to statistics, female drivers also file fewer car insurance claims to their car insurance companies than do male drivers; whether this means that female drivers are involved in fewer accidents or that they just don’t report every bump and scratch is up for interpretation.

In any event, statistically speaking, most female drivers are less risky to insure than most male drivers, which means they are more likely to get cheap car insurance than are male drivers.

However, if you’re a young female driver, you still have an obstacle to overcome. It’s a big obstacle, actually – your age. Young drivers, regardless of gender, normally don’t get the cheap car insurance quotes that older drivers get. Car insurance companies take precaution when offering car insurance quotes to young drivers – male and female – because they are inexperienced. Of course, inexperience means a great risk for car accidents.

Don’t let these statistics discourage you. Being a young female driver also means you have time to start taking the necessary steps to build a great driving record. As long as you drive safely, preventing car accidents, and obey the rules of the road, preventing infractions and tickets, you will avoid points on your driving record. Car insurance companies look at a driver’s driving record when deciding how cheap the car insurance quote should be.

Also take a driver education course. Most high schools offer them, but if yours doesn’t you can take one from a private company in your area.

Monday 23 May 2011

A short guide to travel insurance

Travel Insurance – A Need to Know guide?

Travel insurance protects holiday expenses against adverse events such as cancellation and interruption and also reimburses medical expenses, the loss or damage of property and transit delays.

Many millions of travellers and holiday makers purchase some form of insurance every year, but few people know really what it is and how it can be defined. If you know what is included, and what is not you will be able to make the most of your protection, and get reimbursed fairly.

There are four main categories of travel insurance:

1. Health and Medical reasons

Emergency evacuation: This garuantees emergency transportation to either a local hospital in the event that the traveller is unable to get there by themselves or back to a hospital near the traveller’s home town. If family members are covered on the same policy they can travel back home also.

Medical reasons: This reimburses emergency medical and dental costs. Nearly all holiday insurance plans work by reimbursing the traveller after they have paid locally for treatment. Claims are usually paid within 7 – 10 working days. Pre-existing medical conditions are covered by most policies if the policy is purchased within (at the most) 21 days from the date the traveller made the first payment or deposit.

2. Delays and cancellation or curtailment

Cancellation: Re-imbursement comes into effect if travellers have booked and paid for a holiday, but are unable to embark because of personal illness or injury, death (of the individual or of a family member), adverse weather conditions, transport strikes, terrorism, bankruptcy, sudden unemployment, jury duty or by sustaining serious damage to their home causing it to be uninhabitable due to fire or flooding.

Delay: This reimburses travellers for hotel, food or clothing expenses in the event of a flight delay. Some plans also cover costs associated with catching up with a cruise should another delay cause the traveller to miss embarkation.
Interruption: Insurance companies pay money to policy holders abroad if they have to cut short their trip due to illness, death (of the traveller or a family member), terrorism, weather, airline strikes, bankruptcy, sudden unemployment, and other adverse conditions which mean that, due to events outside the control of the holiday-maker, a trip has to be curtailed.

3. Death:

Accidental death – covers death or dismemberment at any time of your trip. Usually garuantees the lowest amount of coverage due to a higher risk
Air Flight accident – this covers death or dismemberment during an air flight only. Usually garuantees the highest amount of coverage due to fairly low likelihood of this occurring.

Common carrier – Covers death or dismemberment while travelling on public transport such as a plane, ferry, train bus or taxi.

4. Loss or damage of property:

Baggage loss – reimburses travellers for lost, stolen or damaged personal items. This coverage is usually restricted to the duration of the trip and not confined to baggage damaged or lost by the airline. There are two policy limits, total claim and per item maximum. Some policies also place limits on the type of items that can be claimed for – such as precious jewellery, laptops and sporting goods

Hire Car damage – This reimburses travellers for damage or loss to a rental vehicle. It is designed to allow the traveller to decline collision damage waiver (CDW) coverage offered by the car rental companies. Liability coverage should still be purchased through the car rental company. Rental Car Damage coverage is also often included with the credit card used to pay for the car rental which is often matches the coverage provided in the policy.

Assistance services – garuantees a 24-hour collect telephone advice and assistance service to travellers. This service can be used anytime a traveller needs advice. Make sure you keep a copy of this number in several places in your luggage or on your person when you move around.

Saturday 14 May 2011

Travel Insurance

Planning for a trip world wide? Looking out for an insurance to protect your travel and make your experience a memorable one? The cheapest rate in a policy will hold no meaning if it doesn’t properly cover your overseas travel needs. Choose a company that does not cut on the insurance cover but on the cost of insurance. They should provide you with round the clock emergency assistance as well as cover you for activities and sports you are interested in. Get started with your skiing, snowboarding or bungee jumping, experience the best vacation ever. Do not forget to get an insurance cover of worldwide travel insurance.

Seek provisions for extending your overseas stay. Online option makes it convenient to you if you decide to extend your overseas stay, the holiday insurance should be chosen to protect your holiday. After all every one hopes that we won't need the insurance but it is always best to have it. When you are in a foreign country and something goes wrong whether it is a stolen wallet or lost passport you really do not want to go alone. This is precisely why one opts for worldwide travel insurance for all overseas travel.

Medical cover: you can be covered for any medical assistance or hospitalization charges. While you are on a world tour then the mounting medical bills might cost you the earth and leave you penniless.

Concerns about your personal baggage, protect it from any kind of stealth or damage to your personal belongings. You, as a globe trotter could possibly be having such worries and may be on the lookout of a way out of this. It could be the fear of theft of cash and other ensuing problems.

You plan your trip and relax let your travel insurance agent do the rest. You are going to be really relieved to have the insurance guy deal with things and see you have the funds etc to carry on with your trip and not have it ruined by some unforeseen problem. Your policy should be flexible enough as well as accommodate for any value that you might add during your holidays while making purchases. Independent insurance companies offer the cheapest source of obtaining cheap worldwide holiday insurance that provide for senior travelers, winter sports and globe trekkers low cost insurance.

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