Safewindshields.com

A cracked or broken windshield is a very common driving incident. It can happen at any time and anywhere. It could be a bouncing rock that was kicked up from another vehicle or a blown truck tire that crashes into the windshield. What is even more unfortunate is that it could happen whether you are in town or out of town traveling.

Since a cracked or broken windshield is so common you would think it would be no big deal when and where you get it fixed. However, if you think about it, a windshield is the one major piece of the car that helps to keep you inside a vehicle incase of a head on collision. This could be a matter of life and death and when you put it in that light it becomes a little bit more important to make sure you have the windshield fixed and fixed by the appropriate shops. Auto Glass Replacement Safety Standards Council (AGRSS) works to certify and set stand for glass repair companies. Their website www.safewindshields.com, is a very helpful tool when it comes to getting your vehicle windshield replaced, especially if you are out of town traveling. The top right part of the screen has a “Registered Shop Locator” where you can type in a zip code and find the accredited glass repair shops near your current location. This way, even when you are out of town, you can find a qualified glass repair shop to fix your windshield and know that it will be installed correctly and securely.

So next time you get a rock in the windshield be sure to visit the AGRSS website or call your friendly Fey Insurance Services agent to make sure you get a high quality glass repair shop.

Legal Limits vs. Adequate Limits

Several auto insurance companies are doing a great deal of advertising about keeping you legal for less premium. What does that mean? All states including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Canadian provinces require you to carry Automobile Liability Insurance with certain minimum limits of coverage. In Ohio those limits are $12,500/person/$25,000/accident for Bodily Injury and $7,500 for Property Damage Liability. In Indiana and Kentucky the minimum limits are $25,000/50,000/10,000. In Wisconsin, for example, the minimum limits are $50,000/100,000/15,000. In some of the Canadian provinces the limit is $200,000. In short, if you carry the minimum required limits in a particular state or Canadian province, you are legally in compliance with that state or province's Financial Responsibility Laws.

But if you are legally in compliance, is that the same as adequate limits of liability protection? In our opinion, higher limits of protection are highly recommended to protect your assets, future earnings and driving privileges. For example, if you rear-end another party and cause serious bodily injury and/or property damage, your minimum limits Auto Policy might initially take care of the other person's medical bills, loss of income and pain and suffering and/or repair their car, but if it is not enough, the injured party could come after you for more. They could tie up your assets, you future earnings, your driver's license and car registration, etc. for long time. Even if you file bankruptcy they could still make it difficult for you to function while you are going through the process.

So what are adequate limits? Unfortunately there is no formula for determining this. With your home you can insure it for the replacement cost of the house using various estimation tools plus discussions with architects and contractors can help you determine the proper amount. There is no such simple formula to determine how much liability insurance to carry, but it is safe to say that Ohio's limits of $12,500/25,000/7,500 are not adequate even if they are legal in the event of a serious automobile accident. We would suggest limits of no less than $100,000/300,000/100,000 or $250,000/500,000/100,000 for your consideration. In addition, if you desire and need higher limits, buying a Personal Umbrella Liability Policy with limits of at least $1,000,000 or higher is highly recommended.

In Fey Insurance’s opinion, the minimum limits of protection imposed by states and the Canadian provinces are a start vs. no insurance at all, but they are not adequate to protect you in the event of a serious automobile accident.

Auto Insurance Basics

States have laws requiring drivers to carry auto insurance, sometimes referred to as financial responsibility laws. There are a number of ways a driver can show his ability to pay for injuries and damages. By a wide margin, auto insurance is the most common form of financial responsibility compliances and is the most frequently purchased form of insurance.

The two basic components of auto insurance coverage are liability and physical damage coverages. Liability coverage will pay for your negligence resulting in bodily injury and or property damage. Claims for bodily injury could include claims for medical expenses, lost wages, consequential damages including pain and suffering. Property damage coverage pays for the damage you may do to the property of others. Liability coverage includes the cost of defending yourself against liability claims. A companion coverage that is of great value is uninsured motorist coverage. This coverage protects you if you are injured by an uninsured driver.

Physical damage coverage can provide collision and or comprehensive coverage. Collision coverage provides payment for damage to your automobile as the result of a collision with an object. Comprehensive coverage pays for the damage to your auto by causes other than collision. Collision and comprehensive coverages are optional and not required by law. If you have a lien on the automobile, the lender will require you carry these coverages.

Insurance Score, What is it?

When it comes to figuring out what premium an insurance company is going to charge a person to insure them, there are a lot of factors. On a homeowner it depends on the year the house was built, where the home is located, what kind of construction is the house, etc. On auto insurance it was based on age of the driver, type of vehicle, how much you drive the car, what type of limits and deductibles you have, etc.

A number of years ago a new factor was added to this list for both home and auto insurance called insurance score. An insurance score helps insurance companies determine the future likelihood of auto or home claims. The insurance score takes into account two major categories. The first is your past claims history, meaning what claims have been reported and paid by the home and/or auto insurance company.

The second is your financial behaviors. By financial behaviors they mean things like your current outstanding debt, how much credit history you have, how often you pay or not pay bills on time, have you ever foreclosed or declared bankruptcy, how often do you apply for credit card or other loans. It does not factor in, however, your age, race, income level, marital status, etc.

So what does this insurance score do to your insurance premiums? Well, if you have a good insurance score, companies give you a break on pricing because they feel you are less likely to have insurance claims and therefore should be paying less in insurance premiums. If you have a poor insurance score, then they may charge debits to your insurance premium which can then cause your premium to increase. As mentioned earlier, insurance companies feel that if your insurance score is poor then you are more likely to have claims and therefore you should pay a higher premium.

This is great news for those with good insurance scores but bad news for those with poor scores. So, it is important to stay on top of your financial behaviors, not only so you can get a good credit score and better loan rates but also so that you can have a good insurance score and have better insurance premiums. It is important to make sure you monitor your bill paying, keep outstanding debt to a reasonable level and just have a good overall credit history.

One final thought, Fey Insurance Services is not a big fan of insurance scores but it is something that all insurance companies are using. The main reason we are not a big fan of insurance score is that there is no way to inform a customer exactly why their score is what it is. Your credit score is a big factor in determining the insurance score, and it is private information. We prefer methods all parties totally understand. However, as mentioned previously, all insurance companies are filed with the states to be able to use these scores so it is out of our control. We can simply keep you educated on how it can affect you and make you aware of the factor.

Cincinnati to have a Ban on Texting While Driving

On Wednesday Sept 8^th Cincinnati’s City Council voted to ban texting (reading or writing) while driving in Cincinnati, OH. This new law carries a $100 fine. The offense is a primary offense meaning you can be pulled over if all you are doing is violating the texting ban. The new law is scheduled to go into effect in the next 30 days.

You can still use your phone to make calls and you can still use portable GPS Navigation Systems. One thing to make note of on the GPS devices is that you are only allowed to input information into the device if the vehicle is not moving and is out of the way of traffic. The extra stipulation on use of GPS Systems leads me to believe you can be pulled over for inputting data into the device while you are still driving.

Our Cincinnati insurance agency office wanted our clients to know this information so that they can be safe and legal when driving around the Cincinnati, OH area.

Rental Car Insurance: Buy or Not Buy

During the summer our agency receives a lot of phone calls from clients who are sitting at the airport getting ready to sign up for a rental car. The rental car employee has just asked them if they wish to purchase the “extra” insurance from the rental car company, and they are not certain if their personal auto insurance protects them on rental cars or not. So they pull out the cell phone and call Fey Insurance Services. Our answer is always this, “It is not a black or white answer.

Unfortunately it is a gray answer so we recommend you purchase at least the “Collision Damage Waiver”. Normally the client is somewhat confused on what the “gray” answer is but the beach is calling and they want to get on their way. So, I thought with this blog article I would hit on two reasons why it is a “gray” answer when it comes to purchasing insurance from the rental car company on a rental car.

The first reason is contract language. Two contracts would be involved if you did not purchase rental car insurance from the rental car company. The contracts would be the one between you and the rental car company (the one you sign in order to rent the car) and the contract between you and your personal auto insurance company. Each of these contracts can be different depending on which rental car company you are using, which state you are in and which personal auto insurance company you have. Because of this there are all kinds of possible gaps in insurance coverage. An example gap is “loss of use”. A number of rental car companies will charge you for the loss of use of the car while it is in the repair shop after you caused an accident that damaged the vehicle. This means that if it takes a week for the car to be repaired they will charge you a week of rental. Some insurance companies do pay this extra cost and some don’t. Gaps like this can be avoided by just spending the extra money on “Collision Damage Waiver”.

A second reason we feel it is a gray topic and you should just purchase the extra coverage is that often times you drop off a car after your trip and no one from the rental car company is present to help you check for damages to the car. We have had a couple of cases where our clients received a letter from the rental car company seeking money for a ding or scratch. They swear they never caused any damage to the car. Unfortunately, when they turned the car in there was no one to sign off that the car was returned undamaged. So, when another vacationer in an unfamiliar car at an unfamiliar airport (who is late for their flight) pulls in next to you to drop off their rental car, and they bump into the car you had just dropped off twenty minutes ago, you have no way of proving you where no longer responsible for the vehicle when the damage occurred.

So we recommend you play it safe next time you rent a car and purchase at least the “Collision Damage Waiver”.

Avoiding Insurance Mistakes: Five Tips

Here is a great video from the Insurance Information Institute about five mistakes to avoid with your personal insurance policies. Our Oxford and Cincinnati, OH insurance offices strongly agree with these items.

Vehicle Title Transfer

Several times a month our Oxford and Cincinnati insurance office receive calls from customers telling us to delete a car from their policy because they had just sold the vehicle. We always make sure to ask if this transaction was done between two individuals or if they sold it to a dealership. When we learn that it was sold to another individual we always offer a word of caution about deleting the insurance on the vehicle right away.

A normal vehicle sale transaction consists of the current owner signing over the title to the purchaser of the vehicle. Once the title is signed over to the purchaser the purchaser goes to the Clerk of Courts in that county and has the title officially transferred into their name. As everyone who has had to go to the Clerk of Courts for one reason or another knows, sometime it is difficult to carve out time in your day to make it to the county office and wait in line. This is the type of "To Do" item that many would put off or not have time to do for several days. This putting off going to the Clerk of Courts to transfer a vehicle's title can cause a small problem for the person who had just sold and signed over the title. Technically until the title is officially switched over to the purchaser the liability for the vehicle can still fall back on the seller.

Our Oxford insurance office once had a claim on a vehicle that our client had signed over to another individual two years earlier. However, the purchaser never went and officially switched over the title and our insured was pulled into a claim on the vehicle two years later because his name was technically still on the title.

So next time you have a private sale of a vehicle be sure to follow up with the purchaser and make sure they have switched over the title prior to calling and deleting any insurance coverage on the car.

Police Officer's Visual Estimate of Speeding

Ohio Supreme Court passed a new ruling 5-1 saying that a police officer’s “unaided visual estimation of a vehicle’s speeding” is strong enough to support giving out a speeding ticket to drivers. No long do they have to actually have a speed detector prove that you were speeding. The only criteria that has to be met for officers to be able to estimate that a person was speeding is that they have to be trained and certified by the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy or a similar organization.

We mention this in our blog post today because speeding tickets can often have an adverse affect on your auto insurance premium. Companies can charge surcharges for speeding violations. Some companies can even cancel your insurance if you have too many speeding violations.

So, now more than ever it is important to be mindful of your speed as you drive. All a police officer has to do is feel that you are speeding and you can be pulled over and handed a ticket and fine.

New ATV Registration Law in Ohio

Golf cart, ATV, and off-road vehicles are now subject to Ohio’s new mandatory registration which became effective 7/1/2009.

Please be aware of the new law and the need to have proof of registration with the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicle (BMV) for your recreational vehicle(s) before operating them on an Ohio roadway and now, thanks to the new law, Off-Road on Public and Private lands. (Note: Certain exemptions are still in place for usage on your own property or operations relating to agricultural use.) This new law and proof of registration will probably now also impact on how these vehicles are covered under standard ISO Homeowner insurance policies.

Most Homeowner policies do not cover usage on the roadways for these types of vehicles and this new law will probably change the way limited coverage has been offered off-road for these previously classified “unregistered” vehicles.

If you own an ATV, Golf Cart or Off-Road Motorcycle, please contact us to review the benefits of specialized Motorcycle and Off-Road Vehicle coverage.

Link to LAWriter Ohio Laws and Rules for new law 4519.02 Registration required - exceptions wording @ http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/4519.02

Hired & Non-Owned Auto Liability

Even if your business doesn’t have any vehicles titled in the business name, there is still an auto coverage that you should always have. That coverage is called Hired & Non-Owned Auto Liability. To help best explain this coverage here is an example claim. Say that you had an employee who during the lunch hour ran the daily deposit to the bank. They used their own vehicle for this errand. Let’s say that unfortunately during her trip to the bank she caused an auto accident. Now, the first auto insurance policy that would react to this claim is going to be your employee’s personal auto policy, however, if they don’t have any insurance or if their insurance is not enough to take care of the damages, there is a good chance that your business could be drug into a law suit. That is where Hired & Non-Owned Auto Liability steps in and helps protect your business.

Hired & Non-Owned Auto Liability can be written to provide protection for your business when you either hire or rent vehicles for business use and/or your employees use their vehicles on business for you. The premium for Hired Auto Liability protection is based on rental costs. You can also add protection for physical damage to the rented vehicle as an alternative to buying Collision Damage Waiver from the rental car company. The premium for Non-owned Auto Liability is based on the number of employees you have.

So even if your business doesn’t own any vehicles that does not mean that you don’t have an auto liability risk.