Daily Archives: July 24, 2009

Know your enemies on the road

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Sometimes life seems to be totally unfair. Let’s assume a situation where you became a victim of a car-related insurance fraud … you are down, what else can possibly happen to you? You pay! It is not only high premiums that you will have to pay, but also with your life, putting yourself and your family in danger. It is important to know how to deal with cases like this because we never know who might become the next insurance fraud casualty.

It all began back when the first car protection deal took place. Those incidents were recorded back in ancient Greece. Then fraud found its way and got to England and then to USA. When the world saw the first vehicle, the insurance fraud was taken to a whole new level. Nowadays car fraud have become hard to detect but don’t let yourself find this excuse and live with it. You can avoid being the next fraud victim.

To be able to avoid the scam you have to know how to detect it. There are many types of those. Sometimes, right when you thought it was a good deal with your car, it turns out you had been fooled. At times you feel like you can trust people when you really can’t. Most of the time people fall into these traps under some sort of influence. Usually most of us do trust doctors or lawyers. It happens not to be all so innocent.

Let us take a look at the list of mostly used scams:

Staged Rear-End Car Accidents: A prank driver will quickly get in front of an innocent car and then slam on their brakes. This causes the innocent driver to rear-end the scam driver. Along with collecting money for automobile damages, the prank driver will often fabricate medical injuries to collect even more money from his victim.

Adding Damage: After an accident the prank driver will cause his car even more damage and claim that the damages were caused by the innocent driver during the accident in order to collect more money

Fake Helpers: When it comes time to file the claim, the prank driver will deny getting anyone involved. They will offer keeping it quiet in order to solve the situation. Don’t forget the prank driver has others on his team. Those people will help him get more money from you – car reparation crew, doctors, lawyers and others.

In the world of today these scams could be waiting for us anywhere so it is important to be prepared. Awareness is what’s most important. Watch the other drivers on the road and make sure nobody is following you or trying to take a notice of your habits n the road. If the accident does happen please note all the details and keep the handy cam in the car with you in case you need to film or take pictures of the damages. It is wise to be protected. Auto insurance can guarantee you some sort of help, and sometimes the acknowledgment of that is what helps people stay confident, but please remember that no auto insurance can save you from sly people that are looking for to a victim with a big wallet.

When age starts to cause problems while driving

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Most doctors will agree that the first warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia may be though to establish, but what may be even more difficult is making of the decision on how and when to take the car keys from a driver who counts on his vehicle in their day-to-day life.

The MIT (Hartford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s) Age lab is meant to help families recognize the signs of Alzheimer’s and dementia in one of their family member’s life. One section on their Age Lab website named, The Talk with Older Drivers offers ideas on how to clear up the situation and what to talk about with a driver you think may have one of these severe maladies.

Alzheimer’s disease and dementia can confuse the driver enough for him to make some drastic mistake and have an impaired judgment which can affect the his perception of distance, block him from having a fast reaction on the road, and ultimately make them a driving danger not only to themselves, but to other people driving on the same road as well. This make auto insurance companies refuse to insure these people. Unfortunately these diseases do not give people a chance to understand they are not safe driving a vehicle. People that suffer from these two maladies think they are perfectly fine.

And it may break your heart stopping one of them from driving and taking away their right to be independent and free on the road but it is only for the best. The decision is made to stop sick people from getting into some sort of trouble they cannot control or cope with.

A few steps that may be taken to ease the transition from driver to passenger are to:

  • Limit driving to daylight hours only with the max amount of hours
  • Only permit driving on roads they know well
  • Ask friends and relatives to help with transportation and never let them drive alone
  • Arrange to have groceries delivered if it is necessary

You should test their driving if you have this possibility. There isn’t any test that would show if the driver has or doesn’t have Alzheimer’s disease or dementia but you could try to make some assessment and judge their driving abilities.

There are different sorts of tests online for those who want to try them on the members of their family. We will tell you how to do the tasks. Here are other things to read about:

  • Do not hesitate to speak to other family members about your concern. Make sure everybody in the family is involved and wants to help the driver. Keep an eye on him.
  • Try to pay attention to all of the mistakes the potential ill person makes on the road. Note them and talk to other members of the family about them.
  • Be sure to discuss the alternatives to driving when you speak to the person that needs help. Don’t get them on the defensive, and reassure them that their freedom isn’t being taken away
  • If needed, get assistance from a doctor or health care provider to help explain to the person that there may be a serious problem.

Please protect those who need your help. Some of them might not even realize they are in danger. Auto insurance was made to keep people out of risk. Remember it.

Insuring your business trough an agent or online service

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Getting insurance quotes and buying a policy without leaving your home with only a few clicks of the mouse is nothing new these days. Many insurance companies have sites ran online, and while the real-world negotiations are still prevailing, the number of businesses employing online insurance services is steadily increasing. In case a business owner follows certain tips on quoting and buying insurance online, this form of insurance purchase can offer significant saving options.

What you won’t find online is an insurance agent or broker that will offer valuable tips and solutions right when they are needed. It is said that having an agent or a broker to represent your insurance interests is a good investment for the business in the long run. On the other hand, the savings, offered by online insurance vendors can eliminate this disadvantage. What’s really needed is a closer look and a detailed comparison of online vendors and insurance agent services from different perspectives.

What the client gets

When employing the services of a real agent or broker there are certain advantages he or she may offer to the business:

  1. Pay visits in person to your enterprise.
  2. Undertake a financial analysis of your assets and liabilities to determine what kind of policy your business requires.
  3. Give advice concerning local and state laws.
  4. Represent your interest when filing claims.
  5. Suggest solutions for avoiding possible claims.

When getting your insurance online, you will get such services only in case the online vendor has a contract with a local insurance agent you will be referred to.

Selection of insurance providers

There’s no definite win here. On one hand insurance agents and brokers offer a limited number of business insurance providers. Agents in general are tied to a particular company, representing only its services. However, the knowledge and expertise in these services is very profound and vast, allowing you to receive very detailed analysis and suggestions regarding your policy.

On the other hand, insurance quote sites offer a far more diverse selection of insurance providers but without the profession in-depth look into the offers. It is up to you to decide which offer is good and which is not.

Quality and security of services

By looking at search results in Google for business insurance, you will clearly see that there are many well-established insurance companies offering their services online. But the number of questionable sites that have no valid proof of their quality and safety is far more overwhelming.

Here insurance professionals take their lead in terms of safety and quality because:

  1. Insurance professionals are regulated by the state.
  2. Insurance agents and brokers are accountable and should follow the insurer’s guidelines.
  3. Insurance professionals wield their own workers’ insurance.
  4. Insurance brokers typically analyze the financial situation of the enterprise before offering insurance services.

Conclusion

After taking such an analysis there is still no clear win in this battle. Both sources for business insurance have their pros and cons and it’s up to the business owner to decide what his or her business really needs and what is more welcome and why. As always, it’s a matter of personal choice within a particular situation.

More about health and small business insurance

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The general statistics show that health insurance premiums have been rising faster than inflation in the business sector while the extent of the cover is being more narrowly defined. It is the old “less for more” syndrome. Insurance companies are not unjustified in raising their premiums. They can point to the rising costs of drugs and medical devices, and the increasing charges levied by hospitals, clinics and professional health care providers. Since their costs are rising and their investors expect a dividend, premiums must rise. Worse, the health of the nation is deteriorating. With an epidemic of obesity, the health services are buckling under the resulting waves of cases with high blood pressure, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Unless there is government intervention to fund the national expansion of health care, the costs for all will rise. This gives business owners and managers a serious problem as the recession gathers pace and revenues fall. How does a business reduce costs without sacrificing the employees’ goodwill? Under normal circumstances, it would trade-off between the cost of the health plan and other benefits. But in this economic situation, it is likely that pay and benefits must be reduced if the business is to survive with full employment. Among small businesses, the number of employers providing health plans has dropped 10% in the last three years. Alternatively, a number of nonessential employees will have to leave to pay for continuing benefits for the survivors – painful downsizing.

One compromise tactic is to play the yearly “shuffle”. As an incentive to transfer business, insurance companies often offer a first year discount. So some small businesses look to transfer their health plan to a new carrier every year. This is a real administrative headache and inconvenient for all the employees to switch doctors, but it does save money. The great hope was that businesses would pool their insurance and negotiate their cover as a group. Insurance companies have mostly won the war against this both as an initiative of business associations and at state level. California, for example, attempted to combine features of the individual and group market. This was not a great success. This leaves business with the choices of increasing the deductibles or making the co-payments or paying the expenses fo the employees. These are slightly risky options because, unless limits are written into the commitment, a serious accident involving one employee or one long-term illness can swamp the budget. However, this is a balancing of cause and effect. In any group plan, major costs incurred by one can also drive up the premium for everyone in the plan.

Insurance helps to keep businesses afloat. Small business insurance is particularly important because, until there are cash reserves to fall back on, even a small liability can be devastating. Health insurance is a valuable part of the remuneration package in businesses of all size. It helps maintain staff morale and gives a business the best chance of keeping key personnel healthy. But, equally, business insurance premiums must remain affordable. Hence, the interest of business associations and states in group schemes.