At least 5 different times each week, I discuss insurance with someone who can’t remember what insurance they have and where they have it. People are deceived into believing that they are capable of being their own insurance agent. “Call us and save 15%”, “We’re on your side.” and “Ask your neighbor”, these are just some of the things you hear that lead you to believe you can figure it out on your own.
How do I know? Because I used to believe the exact same thing. “It’s just insurance”, I would tell myself. “You gotta shop around every couple of years to keep those dudes honest”. That’s another gem from the Warner Phelps vault of insurance misinformation.
The truth is that your insurance coverage is complex and even after almost 3 years in the insurance business, I still learn something new every day. There is so much going on behind the scenes that the typical consumer would never know, much less understand.
For that reason alone, I advocate always using an insurance agent you believe, like and trust. I’m not the only one. There are many more out there. I may not even be the best fit for you. But I will tell you that and I will give you honest and free advice regarding your insurance coverage. At the irreducible minimum, you’re at least able to have someone confirm what you think you know. Can’t beat that!
I was in a sales meeting yesterday when a rare moment of clarity hit me. Allow me to elaborate.
The presenter was a highly qualified attorney talking about different ways to use life insurance as trusts. Because, under current laws, any amount of money paid upon death by life insurance is NOT subject to income tax. Even in cases of payments as low as $50,000, that makes a REALLY big difference. Having to pay income tax on the proceeds can mean the difference between a family funeral and a pauper’s burial. And for that matter, having NO life insurance can really magnify that problem.
This presenter was very informed and well educated. I think he had 8 different sets of “letters” after his name. But he was speaking a language of law and idiomatic expressions that confused even me. And I do this kind of stuff for a living!
The part where the clouds opened up and I saw the light: There is a lot of bad information out there regarding life insurance and there is a lot of confusing terminology and insurance jargon and legalese. It’s kind of like this clip from one of my favorite tv shows ever.
The reality is that everyone needs a professional who approaches them where they are and explains insurance to them in a language they understand. That’s where Warner Phelps, Your Independent Insurance Agent comes in! I’d love to speak with you or your friends about any life insurance questions you have and answer them in a way that leaves you feeling like you actually understand the answer.
Here in Texas, we have been having a cold weather snap and it’s caused many to have concern that they might have a pipe freeze and result in a big mess. What does it mean for you?
The answer is that it depends. It always depends on what coverage you have and if you don’t know, you need to have an agent who does know.
There are many different ways a policy can be written in Texas and some policies may exclude damages like a frozen pipe. This is when it’s good to have an independent insurance agent who reviews your coverage every year and keeps an eye out for problems like this.
Here is some additional information from the IIAT:
Frozen Pipes and Resulting Water Damage
David Surles, IIAT Insurance Agency
The freezing temperatures last week affected the entire state – from Brownsville to Dalhart – but the unusually low temperatures in some areas caused water to freeze in unprotected pipes. The frozen water expanded pipes to the breaking point, resulting in the sudden release of water when the temperatures warmed up. This will be a significant loss event for Texas insurers, with damages in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The losses will include the costs to access and then repair or replace broken plumbing, in addition to damage to buildings and personal property caused by the water. Is it all covered? If the policy covers freezing, the cost to access and repair or replace the plumbing will generally be covered. If the policy covers water damage, the water damage losses will be covered. As usual, however, actual coverage depends on what kind of policy the insured has purchased and how insurers interpret certain causes of loss and exclusions. We’ll take a quick look at covered causes of loss on different policies first, and then look at some exclusions that may be troublesome.
Commercial Property Policies. The ISO commercial property program includes three causes of loss forms – Basic, Broad and Special. The insured may purchase one cause of loss form on building items (such as the special form) and a different form on the personal property (such as the basic or broad form). Basic form: no coverage for water damage or freezing. Broad form: covers water damage but not freezing. Special form: covers open causes of loss (“risks of direct physical loss”), including freezing and water damage.
Residential Property Policies. Texas HO-A: No coverage for water damage or freezing. Texas HO-A with enhancing endorsement (HO-470T or equivalent): covers freezing and water damage (unless the origination point for the break is below the surface of the ground or within or below the slab or foundation). All other Texas and ISO forms: cover freezing and water damage.
Troublesome Exclusions. All of the policies that cover freezing and/or water damage contain exclusions that may be trouble for some policyholders, depending on the insurer’s interpretation of these exclusions. Changes in or extremes of temperature: The exclusion for “changes in temperature” (found in policies providing open causes of loss) was interpreted in one court decision (Aetna vs. Fritz New, 1995, Dallas Court of Appeals) as having “no relationship to what the temperature is at any one time. It only refers to the difference between a temperature at a given moment and the temperature at a subsequent given moment… Hence, the exclusion must refer to damages caused by a difference in temperatures.” When freezing is clearly covered by the policy, the exclusion can’t refer to loss caused by freezing. Likewise, freezing can’t be considered “extremes of temperature” unless perhaps recorded weather data indicates the temperature that caused the loss was not subject to regular recurrence over a number of years (see Blaylock vs. American Guarantee, Texas Supreme Court, 1982). Reasonable precautions: Policies exclude loss caused by freezing (including resulting water damage) if the insured did not take reasonable precautions to (1) maintain heat in the building, or (2) drain the equipment and shut of the supply if the heat is not maintained. “Reasonable precautions” may be interpreted differently, depending on circumstances. If someone left home for a Caribbean cruise on Jan. 30 when the temperature was 81 degrees, was it unreasonable if they forgot to turn on the heat before leaving? Most insurers will not use this exclusion to deny coverage except in the most extreme circumstances evidencing a policyholder’s conscious neglect to prevent a loss.
So, you’ve had an accident in your beloved car or truck. The question people always have is, “What now?” Most people know that police need to be called but often don’t if the damage is minimal. Sometimes they just exchange numbers and maybe that’s it. The truth is that police always need to be called because their report can be used to establish who was at fault. Aside from any social commentary, it is always a possibility that someone could hit you and then later claim it was your fault. Maybe you did cut them off. Maybe they really don’t remember exactly what happened. Always call the police.
Here is a helpful checklist:
1. STOP immediately, but do not obstruct traffic, if possible.
2. Assist injured, Have someone call the police
3. Secure names, phone numbers, addresses of other drivers, witnesses and injured persons
4. Secure make, model and license numbers of all cars involved
5. Make a rough sketch of the scene showing position of cars and other details.
6. Don’t hastily accept claim settlements at the scene of an accident.
7. Remain calm, courteous and consistent in your version of the accident.
8. Notify your insurance agent as soon as possible.
This list is intended as general advice for all consumers and is in no way guaranteed or implied to be the 100% accurate version of what you should do. No legal advice is implied, construed or offered.
Red light cameras saved 159 lives in 2004-08 in 14 of the biggest US cities, a new analysis by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows. Had cameras been operating during that period in all large cities, a total of 815 deaths would have been prevented.
“The cities that have the courage to use red light cameras despite the political backlash are saving lives,” says Institute president Adrian Lund.
Looking at the 99 US cities with populations over 200,000, the researchers compared those with red light camera programs to those without. Because they wanted to see how the rate of fatal crashes changed after the introduction of cameras, they compared two periods, 2004-08 and 1992-96. Cities that had cameras during 1992-96 were excluded from the analysis, as were cities that had cameras for only part of the later study period.
The researchers found that in the 14 cities that had cameras during 2004-08, the combined per capita rate of fatal red light running crashes fell 35 percent, compared with 1992-96. The rate also fell in the 48 cities without camera programs in either period, but only by 14 percent.
Based on that comparison, the researchers concluded that the rate of fatal red light running crashes in cities with cameras in 2004-08 was 24 percent lower than it would have been without cameras. That adds up to 74 fewer fatal red light running crashes or, given the average number of fatalities per red light running crash, approximately 83 lives saved.
The actual benefit is even bigger. The rate of all fatal crashes at intersections with signals — not just red light running crashes — fell 14 percent in the camera cities and crept up 2 percent in the noncamera cities. In the camera cities, there were 17 percent fewer fatal crashes per capita at intersections with signals in 2004-08 than would have been expected. That translates into 159 people who are alive because of the automated enforcement programs.
This result shows that red light cameras reduce not only fatal red light running crashes, but other types of fatal intersection crashes as well. One possible reason for this is that red light running fatalities are undercounted due to a lack of witnesses to explain what happened in a crash. Drivers also may be more cautious in general when they know there are cameras around.
Based on these calculations, if red light cameras had been in place for all 5 years in all 99 US cities with populations over 200,000, a total of 815 deaths could have been avoided.
Since the 1990s, communities have used red light cameras as a low-cost way to police intersections. The number of cities embracing the technology has swelled from just 25 in 2000 to about 500 today.
National surveys indicate widespread support for red light cameras. At the same time, opponents of automated enforcement have become increasingly vocal, claiming that camera programs are revenue-generating schemes that violate drivers’ privacy.
“Somehow, the people who get tickets because they have broken the law have been cast as the victims,” Lund says. “We rarely hear about the real victims — the people who are killed or injured by these lawbreakers.”
Red light running killed 676 people and injured an estimated 113,000 in 2009. Nearly two-thirds of the deaths were people other than the red light running drivers — occupants of other vehicles, passengers in the red light runners’ vehicles, bicyclists, or pedestrians.
Without cameras, enforcement at intersections is difficult and often dangerous. In order to stop a red light runner, officers usually have to follow the vehicle through the red light, endangering themselves, as well as other motorists and pedestrians.
Moreover, the manpower required to police intersections on a regular basis would make it prohibitively expensive. In contrast, camera programs can pay for themselves by requiring people who break the law to shoulder the cost of enforcing it.
Previous research has established that red light cameras deter would-be violators and reduce crashes at intersections with signals. Institute studies of camera programs have found that red light violations fell at intersections where cameras were installed and that this effect also spilled over to intersections without cameras. An Institute study in Oxnard, Calif., found that injury crashes at intersections with traffic signals fell 29 percent citywide after automated enforcement began.
The new study adds to this by showing that cameras reduce not only violations and crashes throughout entire communities but deaths, too.
“Examining a large group of cities over several years allowed us to take a close look at the most serious crashes, the ones that claim people’s lives,” says Anne McCartt, Institute senior vice president for research and a co-author of the study. “Our analysis shows that red light cameras are making intersections safer.”
Results in each of the 14 camera cities varied. The biggest drop in the rate of fatal red light running crashes came in Chandler, Ariz., where the decline was 79 percent. Two cities, Raleigh, NC, and Bakersfield, Calif., experienced an increase.
“We don’t know exactly why the data from Raleigh and Bakersfield didn’t line up with what we found elsewhere,” McCartt says. “Both cities have expanded geographically over the past two decades, and that probably has a lot to do with it.
In Texas, Homeowner insurance is limited in several ways. Your policy should have A, B, C, D, E and F limits. Has anyone ever explained to you what that means?
A – The limit of insurance on your physical home – The cost to replace and/or rebuild your home due to catastrophic loss
B – The limit of insurance on “other structures” – Usually includes sheds and other buildings but if you have an unattached garage, this is part of that limit
C – The limit on personal property – Basically everything from the studs in is included in this number, furniture, fixtures and clothing. It seems like a lot of money but you’ll burn through this money fast when you start to think about buying new clothes and furniture, appliances, etc. And you better hope that you have “Replacement Cost” coverage. Because if you don’t you’ll be getting $80 for the $1500 couch you bought 10 years ago.
D – Loss of use – The limit of what will be paid if you are unable to live in your house
E – Personal Liability – Did you know the average liability claim in Harris County, after jury trial, is $270,000?
F – Medical Payments – A coverage that can be used if you are not liable but still want to rectify the damaged parties.
Confusing, isn’t it? Has your agent ever explained this process to you? I bought insurance from different agents for 5 years and never understood any of this until I became an agent myself. I hope you’ll consider how much is at stake the next time you think about insurance because it’s a lot more than saving $100 here and there.
Call or email if you would like to know more!
Warner Phelps
Your Independent Insurance Agent
832-494-1949 www.warnerphelps.net
Please remember that if you or your friends ever need any assistance with insurance related questions, I am here to help.
Earlier this morning, I saw a sign that said, “Open 24/7” and I started to think about a saying that used to go, “24/7/365” meaning, open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. In the insurance business, I believe 7/4.5/225 is more the norm. Meaning most insurance agents are ‘available’ about 7 hours a day, 4.5 days a week and 225 days a year. Translation: We’re available when we want to be.
Now, I would never make the bold statement that I’m not like any other agents because I’m available 24/7/365. I don’t believe any one person can make such a brave promise as that. I do however pledge to be available as customers demand it and if that means calling someone back on a Saturday or answering the phone after 5:00 pm, I do my best to do it. I want to be Your Independent Insurance Agent and the first step is communicating with clients and those who request an audience with me on THEIR time, not mine.
