Today we're going to answer the
common questions
insurance the first question a lot of
people ask is what coverage is available
so if we're talking about Auto there's
the pieces of liability there's the full
coverage word that everybody doesn't
- know is made up but it's a piece and
- we'll talk about it and then for the
- home there's just the liability of the
- home and the actual protection of the
- home itself there's a ton of pieces that
- cover that and I'll probably link some
- Post in the descriptions below for
some of these that want to get more
detailed with that but essentially the
coverage is a wide arrange for those
that want more than that the biggest
piece is the liability not necessarily
the asset so the asset is the car or the
house yes they're going to do what's
called actual cash value on the car 99.9
percent of the time that just means the
value of the car deteriorates over time
or if the value goes up so it's worth
whatever the car is worth at the moment
for the house they estimate the build of
a house how much it would cost to
reconstruct the house and sometimes they
include demolishing the home so if they
had to rip it all down there's an extra
thirty thousand dollars mixed in that
and then the house would be whatever it
costs to rebuild now there's all of the
little things like some what if someone
stole your laptop out of your car or
what if a pipe burst in the house what
if there was a fire or a theft and
things like that and it gets a little
bit more detailed I'll put a link to a
video in the end of this that goes over
more of the 101s about home and auto
insurance the second common question is
what is it
what is a liability comprehensive in
Collision they're very different and
they all come together if you order them
they're essentially what they call full
coverage that is the three pieces that
make up the assumed word full coverage
now liability is injuries to others so
what you're liable for if you damageliable for if you damage
their car if you hurt somebody it
usually pays the medical or the property
damage
the comprehensive is covering your car
for theft vandalism if you hit a deer uh
animal acts of God basically things like
that and then the Collision is covering
your car in the event of an accident if
you hit a house you hit a car whatever
that case is or someone hit you you've
got full coverage on everything that's
the full now the limits that you pick
are what differentiate the difference
between the levels So when you say full
coverage you're essentially adding those
pieces but it doesn't include Towing and
road service or rental car or having
better liability limits versus having
the state minimums and that where that's
where it gets a little bit more detailed
as far as the coverages that you need
like I said again at the end of the
Post or in this post we'll go over
some of the limits that we suggest and
then we'll talk about some of the
specifics now if you're looking more
about the car insurancecar insurance another great
question is what is the difference
between ACV actual cash value and
replacement cost so it's very uncommon
that insurance company will even do
replacement costs but there's two
options so actual cash value is the
value of the vehicle at the time any any
object it could be a house it could be a
pen that you own whatever that pen is
worth today is what the insurance is
covering the full replacement cost is
what does it cost to replace the vehicle
so the value of a used car that's five
years old might be five thousand dollars
less than you paid for it but the value
to replace the car might be five
- thousand dollars more to buy it again
- those are the big differences between
- the two now commonly the full
- replacement cost is on those sub items
- or classic vehicles and when I say sub
- items we're talking about a boat a
motorcycle uh trailer things like that
you can usually put full replacement
cost on those versus actual cash value
and yes the price will change based on
the cost that you think it's worth
versus what it is now you can't go crazy
and just put ten thousand dollars more
value on a replacement cost because
there is a limit to where it has to get
approved Beyond a certain number similar
to the car insurance the home also has
what's called the replacement cost and
that's a essentially the replacement of
the home typically a home insurance
policy will give additional replacement
cost so if there was a total loss and
let's say inflation hit and the cost of
lumber cost 10 20 percent more than what
the house was worth now you're stuck
with the bill right no most of the times
these companies will give you additional
replacement cost in the percentage base
so 25 percent more 50 percent more or
100 percent no matter what it is they're
just going to cover whatever the repair
is the fourth question is how are rates
determined and let's look at the auto
first it's really simple to understand
even though there's a ton of factors
it's essentially the main pieces of what
I call a profile each person is
different fits for each company that's
why your neighbor might get a better
price than you do because they have a
different profile and your location may
be different so the main things that
most States rate a lot of them do and
don't do gender it's kind of a 50 50
depending on the state you're in most of
them say credit is not a factor but they
use what's called an insurance score
which in all honesty is a version of
credit I have a video on my channel if
you want that goes a lot more in depth
and talks about the five pieces that
make up that score but essentially it's
your claims history and your credit
history and all of that mixed into a
package and that plays a big impact
location is a very large impact on your
car insurance because that is the risk
profile right how many people are
driving or how many accidents for that
company are in that place
that's why shopping for car insurance is
very difficult because you don't know
which company you're a good fit for if
you are shopping around for car
insurance your best bet is to deal with
more of an independent agent because
they shot five six 10 or 15 different
companies all at once that gives them an
idea when you plug in the coverages that
you want who's going to have the best
pricing based on the profile that you
are if that's the case I'll put a link
in the description below you guys can
fill out a quote and I'll link you up or
try to link you up with somebody that
does do insurance in your local area
some states I actually have a company
that we work with so you may get a call
from me or even my partner for the home
it's a little bit different the home is
really just the location because it
doesn't physically move the risk is a
lot lower on a home but one of the
larger pieces that they factor in is the
condition of the home any maintenance
issues that they've had if there has
been a foreclosure on the home so
there's likely some damage that might
have happened have they had any claims
on the home those are big things
obviously for auto as well the claims
matter but the home is really focused on
those main piece cases does Insurance it
score play a small factor sure the
number of people that live in the house
kind of not really as much anymore the
overall risk profile of that and then
the Reconstruction cost their biggest
thing that they worry about is somebody
buying a super cheap home but it's worth
a whole bunch more to replace so there's
high risk of fraud there and they want
to be careful on that scenario too five
what discounts are available I'm not
going to go too far in depth I'll go
with some major ones and then I will
promise I will link a article📰📰📰 that goes
over discounts at the end of this so for
the auto the main discounts is bundling
same thing for the home also for the
auto is having Longevity if you've been
with a company for five years or more it
can be three but five is the max in most
cases most companies will give you a big
discount in states that are no fault
States or not no fault States let's say
your liability plays a huge risk where
the states that have no fault and you
have to carry certain medical coverages
already have some of that liability
built in so if you're in one of those
states that is an at fault state it
helps that you have higher liability
limits when you shop around because
having those higher liability limits
give you a better price going forward
claims free is an uncontrollable
discount because if you haven't had any
claims you get a discount most companies
give a major discount for that shopping
in advance that also can help you if
you're 20 days or more most companies go
seven but there are a few that go a
little bit further for the home the
biggest discount is updates on the home
so if it's an older home newer roof
newer electrical newer plumbing New
Heating all of those play a factor in
the price of the home the purchase date
can help you if there are claims because
some companies don't rate claims that
weren't yours against you there are a
few that do so it is unfortunate but
once again that means that companies not
- necessarily fit for you and that home at
- that location six how much coverage do I
- need it's a very difficult question but
- I'll be honest most of the time agents
- will quote you a similar coverage
- because they do it all day long my
- comment and my default is lie ability
- for car insurance is two hundred and
- fifty thousand per person 500 000 per
accident that way if you hurt one person
you've got quite a bit of medical if you
injure multiple people it's less likely
you're going to get sued unless you have
a lot of income the property damage I
like to carry at least a hundred
thousand that way if you damage a nice
BMW or a nice vehicle then you're going
to have at least some or most of the
coverage if not all of the coverage that
you would typically need uninsured and
underinsured motorists those are pieces
I always add on that just protect you
any medical that you can give back to
yourself and then if you have a newer
going over the price that we want to be
at that's a quick snapshot of it in the
101 we go a little bit further in depth
in that as well for the home there's
just pieces I would always add on so
you've got the actual dwelling that's
actually going to be created by that
insurance company each company has an
estimate of a cost per square foot so
however many square feet you have above
ground they're going to calculate that
based off how much it costs to rebuild
typically it's 180 to 200 per square
foot unless you have a lot of updates or
upgrades to the home the pieces that a
lot of people don't realize on the home
is you want to have a couple things you
want to have water back up that's not
typically covered if water comes back
into the house toilet overflows sink
overflows something gets clogged you
want to have some coverage there I
default to 10 000 and then I recommend
more if you can afford it the medical
payments is automatic but a lot of
companies default to a thousand dollars
if somebody gets hurt in your home so
now because deductibles are higher
having five thousand is probably more
common it's not a very expensive thing
to add so it's a good piece to have the
other main piece that I personally make
sure that everybody gets is full
replacement cost on contents so we want
to have and make sure that your personal
belongings don't lose value over time
imagine if you had a fire and all of
your stuff went up in smoke you might
have had a 10 year old couch but are you
going to go Bargain shop for a 10 year
old couch and everything that you own no
it doesn't make sense so you're going to
get a lower amount for your personal
belong means you might as well have full
replacement cost so that you don't have
to worry about it they're going to give
you whatever the full value of that
couch purchased today so the three
thousand dollar couch you bought five
years ten years ago might be worth 200
today unused garage sale but to buy it
again is four thousand to buy you get
the 4 000 so that you don't have to
worry about going bargain shopping now
adding all of these pieces do create
some larger cost but in the home I would
rather have you have a larger deductible
I default to a thousand but we can go up
to fifteen hundred twenty five hundred
whatever the case is that fit your
budget so that way I'd rather you out of
pocket some extra money versus not
having enough coverage not having enough
coverage is 10 times worse than having
to pay a few dollars more if there's a
claim number seven what is the process
of filing an insurance claim it's
actually very simple so if you have a
claim here's what I recommend and I'll
tell you what here's what you should do
so I recommend that you talk to your
agent first if it's a major claim skip
this step if it's something minor and
you're not quite sure if it's worth it
talk to your agent or go to a body shop
get an estimate find out what the repair
would cost make sure that you always get
the license of the person if it's
something where you're kind of
questionable it would always be good to
have a police report in either scenario
I've seen so many people scammed because
they give you a fake ID or they didn't
give you theirinsurance information insurance information or
they didn't have any now there's no
proof that it was or wasn't your fault
in the scenario of what happens now the
police don't always determine the fault
but it gives you a good leg to stand on
especially if they're the one that
didn't cause the accident if that repair
is within reason you may want to just
fix it yourself and not worry about the
rate increase depending on the state
you're in if it's a major claim then
just go straight to the claims adjuster
when you look at your paperwork usually
on your ID card it'll actually have a
claims number if you have Towing call
the towing company get that all set up
whatever the case is but you call claims
number they're going to ask you the
situation calm down get your head on
let's figure this out out don't just
call them up and be like this should
happen and so you're freaking out and
then you just start blabbing because
whatever it is imagine you're being
interviewed this is almost like the
first response that you're going to say
if you say things incorrectly then you
don't want to be held liable for those
pieces if that wasn't the scenario get a
Cool Head figure out the situation if
you have a police report to back it up
that's even more powerful call the
claims adjuster make sure that you get
specific time frames adjusters can take
a few weeks to get everything finalized
so make sure that they're letting you
know what time frame you can expect or
call back whether you can have the car
in the shop right away how long it's
going to take to get the car fixed if
you have Rental Car Coverage then you
may also want to know about that too so
you can get a rental car while you're
waiting very similar scenario on the
home the unfortunate piece of the home
insurance is that is a little bit
riskier because there is no fault nine
times out of ten if you have a claim it
goes against the house and the house is
what you're insuring so your price goes
up no matter what if that happens then
you want to be mindful of is it worth
filing a claim if you do decide to file
a claim talk to your agent get the
advice same thing you call it the
adjuster and they send someone out to
inspect it most of the time if it's just
a common issue and you're not going over
the moon asking a ton of different
questions then they're not necessarily
going to pull up red flags usually it's
simple and easy to go through that
process depending on the company you
went with but as long as they're not
pulling up red flags now no one has to
inspect everything if that's the case
it's cut and dry and it's a simple
process I believe we're on Coach number
nine what is the insurance company's
Financial stability so this is very
simple there's something called am best
and they rank companies based on the
financial stability that's essentially
how much money and assets they have they
break them up into two pieces because
insurance companies have to have X
amount of money in the savings account
or in the bank so that if they do have
claims coming in all over they can pay
those it's one of the things we saw
recently like in Florida where these
companies went and solved it that means
they ran out of money and there's too
many claims the government had to step
in and they went bankrupt so there's six
seven I think even almost nine companies
that went bankrupt in Florida because of
all the claims they didn't plan on so
insurance companies are investing that
money so they want to take as much as
they can put in Investments grow the
stock grow the portfolio buy everything
they can on a low risk level and that's
how they make their profits they have to
have certain amount of Investments so
this am best you can go right to the
website I think it's ambest.com the
stability of the company
most of the companies at least the ones
I've worked with and the ones we talk
about a lot are a rated or a plus rated
it's as simple as that it looks like a
grade report a b c d and they have
pluses and plus pluses the plus plus is
the max and that means they're the most
stable thing you can think of however
that doesn't mean that they're
necessarily going to pay claims they
could have a high stability but they
could be one of the worst companies for
paying claims because they're stingent
with the claim process and the money
going out just be careful when that
happens that am Best ratings don't
necessarily say how good a company is
it's the customer retention there's
actually a study done on several
companies that is more based on the
customer's interactions and the overall
satisfaction to me that's more powerful
but obviously we want to make sure that
we're not dealing with b and c rated
companies because they are very unstable
it leads to question number 10 which is
what is customer service like each
company is completely different in this
scenario what it should be like is very
helpful the small issue that we've run
Table of contents
into in 2022 going into 2023 and so on
and so forth is that customer service
has gone down considerably part of the
reason is the prices have gone up so
there's a lot more questions a lot more
service needed the other issue is
there's a lot more medical claims being
paid out in the last two years than
there ever has been there's been more
accidents so there's a lot more busyness
on top of that everybody is on delay so
getting the right parts getting the
right metals and all of that getting
things fixed is taking almost twice as
long and that's creating some issues
with service unfortunately your larger
box companies if they get overwhelmed
they're going to be slower they can
afford to lose the customers based on
satisfaction now that's not the
reasoning they want to do it but
unfortunately they haven't been able to
get to them because they don't have
enough resources to get the claims
pushed through that's one of the
downfalls of the smaller companies but
we're starting to see it with the larger
companies now to be honest with you
there are a few companies that I've
worked with in the past that are really
really good at letting the gray things
go and what I mean by great things is
you have your Cupboards in your not
covered it should be just a st
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