Why Insurance?

Winter Floods

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 17:54:00 +0000

Winter flooding happens, too. Six quick answers about whether you need flood insurance:

Homeowners Insurance does not cover flood. Damage to your home caused by rising water, ground water, etc. is EXCLUDED.
You live on a hill. Flooding can be caused by major storms, but it can also be caused by melting snow, inadequate or clogged drainage systems, or failed water control devices such as dams and levees. Water flowing down from the top of the hill and running into your home is considered "flood".
You live in a floodplain. That doesn't mean you can not purchase protection. As long as your community participates in the National Flood Insurance Program, you can purchase flood coverage, whether you live in a high risk area or a low risk one.
You've already had one flood. That phrase "100-Year Flood" doesn't mean it only happens once every hundred years. It refers to an elevation that has a 1% chance of being equaled or exceeded each year.
You don't live in a flood zone. I hate to tell you this, but you DO live in a flood zone. We all do. It's just a question of how high of a risk you face. Over 1/5 of the flood NFIP claims filed every year are from people who live in low-risk areas, and 1/3 of the disaster relief goes to low-risk areas, too.
If there was a flood, FEMA would pay. That only works if the damage you sustain is caused by a DECLARED natural disaster. If your home is damaged because a culvert is blocked, or a water main ruptures just outside your home, FEMA will not be cutting you a check. Even if it is a declared natural disaster, FEMA will pay for only part of the damage, and may take years to settle.

Talk to your agent about flood insurance to get more information.

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

When it's Time to Talk

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:17:00 +0000

It happens. The time comes when we look at our parents or siblings or family friends and realize that maybe they shouldn't be driving anymore.

How do you approach the subject? Giving up driving is giving up independence. That has to be a tremendously difficult decision to come to. Unfortunately, to protect both our loved ones and the public, the day may come when we'll have to have "The Talk".

Hartford offers an excellent guide to opening this painful discussion. If you would like us to email you a pdf version of the guide, please call today, or email us at info@weinsurepayson.com.

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

Prevent Water Damage!

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 18:14:00 +0000

Water losses are one of the most commons causes of loss on homeowners policies with those companies that offer the coverage. Some companies exclude any kind of water loss. We're not talking about flood. We're talking about broken pipes, ruptured supply lines, overflowing appliances...the things that happen inside the home. Many insurance companies regard this type of loss as a preventable maintenance issue and they surcharge for such losses accordingly. Water losses can also be unexpectedly expensive, requiring the homeowner to lose the use of the home during drying out. Water leaks can cause damage to floor, sub-floor, drywall and any furniture in the area. They can also cause an environment in which harmful mold can grow.

Here are a few tips to help you prevent and/or mitigate water losses. Some of them are so easy, you'll probably slap your forehead and say, "Of course!"

Never run a load of laundry or the dishes when you're leaving the house, even just for a little while. This is actually one of the most common types of claims I have seen. Start the dishwasher and dash, and you may come home to a much bigger mess than a few dirty dishes.

braided steel toilet supply line

Check supply lines regularly. Don't skip any. Check the washing machine, dishwasher, faucets, toilets, water heater, R-O system, water softener and the icemaker on your refrigerator. Any hoses that are five years old or have a kink in them should be replaced. Save yourself a headache and spend a few dollars more for a better-quality stainless steel braided supply line.

water meter key

angle stop

Know where the water shut-off valve to your home is, and how to operate it. If it takes a water key, get one and keep it where you can find it in a hurry. Everyone in the home should know how to turn off the water to a device or appliance that is leaking. If the dishwasher or washing machine overflows, do you know where the valve is?

water heater pan

Place your water heater and washing machine in pans that are plumbed to drain outside. You can get them at almost any home-improvement or plumbing supply store. (They also come in a square for your washing machine.)

frost-free, anti-siphon hose bib

Do you have freeze-proof hose bibs on the outside of your house? Those only work if you disconnect the hose, so they can drain out. If they freeze, they often break inside the wall, causing damage to your home. Disconnect all the garden hoses, dog drinkers and bib-mounted sprinkler timers during the freezing months. This is also true of the yard hydrant type of outdoor faucet, although a leak in one of those won't generally cause damage to your home, just a visit from a plumber.

Pay attention to any indications of a leak in your home's water pipes. Stains, buckling or even a spot that is unusually warm can be a sign.

Make sure your water pressure isn't too high. Water pressure over 100psi is hard on appliances like water heaters and can cause them to leak.

Don't ignore cracks in tile or grout in your shower, or cracks in the fiberglass of a tub or shower. Even that little bit of water seeping through can destroy the wooden structure underneath and around your bath.

Be aware of your normal household usage. If your water bill suddenly fluctuates for no apparant reason, investigate. One way to begin is to turn off every use of water in the house and yard, and monitor the meter for a couple of hours. If nothing should be using water, but the meter is still showing use, find out where the water is going.

If you're going to be gone for several days, turn the water supply to your house off. Why take the chance?

A little routine maintenance and advance planning can save you a lot of trouble later on. There are some terrific DIY websites and books out there to help you. It will be worth your time.

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

Cool New Tool!

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 17:34:00 +0000

It's finally here! Central Insurance proudly announces their new apps for your smart phone--both i-phone and android apps are available.

To download your MyCentral app, you must have or set up an account using your regular computer at MyCentral (click here!). Then you can download the app to your smartphone.

The MyCentral App lets you pay your bill or check your balance, view your auto id card, sign up for e-bill, contact us, report a loss, get accident help and more. Download it today!

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

Sunset in Nicaragua

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 15:53:00 +0000

by Scott Crabdree

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

Sunrise in Nicaragua

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 15:51:00 +0000

by Scott Crabdree

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

Ball of Caterpillars

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 15:50:00 +0000

by Scott Crabdree

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

Why You Need Equipment Breakdown Coverage

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 17:15:00 +0000

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

Big News for Smart Phone Users

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 23:01:00 +0000

BIG NEWS!!

Effective August 2nd, Arizona law will allow you to present a picture of your auto insurance identification card on your SMART PHONE as acceptable proof of auto insurance. Of course, it's much easier on everyone if you just avoid getting pulled over. We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

Road Trip!

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Wed, 23 May 2012 23:21:00 +0000

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

WORTH YOUR TIME TO WATCH

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 20:22:00 +0000

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

Auto Insurance for the Under-25 Crowd

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:48:00 +0000

Just because you're under 25 doesn't mean you have to get your insurance from a cartoon character.

There are some big names in insurance who will write a preferred policy for a younger driver who has 3 years of driving experience. Some companies will consider your parent's policy as prior insurance, as long as you were listed as a driver.

The benefit to having a preferred policy with a bigger insurance company is the fact that a bigger company can meet your changing needs. When you rent that nice apartment that requires renter's insurance, you may be able to place that with the same company and get a discount on both policies. Getting married? Starting a family? Moving across the country? Look for a company that can address your changing coverage requirements.

An independent agent can help you find the right company for where you are now...and where you plan to go. Can a cartoon help you with that?

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

A step-by-step guide to removing your car from storage

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 20:13:00 +0000

A step-by-step guide to removing your car from storage

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

Payson People: Carrie Backe

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:31:00 +0000

Tom and Carrie Backe.

Today I want to introduce you to one of Payson's cultural treasures: our own award-winning poet, Ms. Carrie Backe. I love getting to play "Barbara Walters". Hopefully, I'll get better at the questions as I go along!

Carrie is a lovely and cherished person. Here she is with her dear husband, Tom. I don't know what that is that they're having for dinner; it looks like maybe Chicken Piccata or something, but it looks yummy. (I can tell what that is in her hand, though.)

Her answers are fun and inspiring, even if my questions are a bit prosaic!

Q: If you could invite three poets to dinner, who would you ask? A: If I could invite three poets to dinner they would be Ofelia Zepeda, a well-known Tucson poet, Emily Dickinson, and any one of the ancient Japanese haiku artists. Their closeness to nature inspires me every day. I imagine they would all get along, too!

Q: What is something you always wished you could do, but have never learned? A:
The one thing I have always wanted to be able to do, but don’t have the talent for, is play the piano. My favorite jokes about that are “I can’t carry a tune in a bucket,” and “The only thing I can play is the radio.”

Q: When did you first discover that you enjoyed writing poems? A: When I was 10 or so I wrote a (very bad!) poem. But, it rhymed, and I was proud of that. As I grew up, I learned the beauty of poetry, especially in the economy of words. That’s why I love haiku—such discipline, such structure. A handful of syllables can tell a whole story, evoke a torrent of images and memories. Nature is so changeable—in tiny ways each day, in catastrophic ways every so often. That’s why we need to pay attention, and not take nature for granted—always.

Most of my inspiration for poems comes from nature or from death and dying. We humans are part of nature. We all have our life cycles, just like the trees. It is good for us to understand that we’re all in the same situation.

Q: If someone wrote a biography of your life, would it be an adventure story? A love story? A comedy? A thriller? Or something else? A: If someone wrote a biography of my life, it would be set up as a choose-your-own-adventure book. Those books used to be popular with kids a number of years ago. Every few pages of an adventure story the reader would decide the direction of the story—go left or right; pick up the sword, don’t pick up the sword. We all live our lives like that. If I’d made a tiny decision differently years ago, I might now be living in a penthouse in Paris, or on a ranch in Wyoming. Who knows!

Q: Did you ever have an especially unusual inspiration for a poem? A: One of my favorite poems was inspired while driving through a particularly dry and desolated desert-like area of Wyoming. We had just learned of the death of a man I never met, but who was the brother of a dear friend. As my husband and I drove along, the scenery spoke to me of my friend’s grief. I wrote a mourning poem for him.

Carrie kindly permitted us to reproduce one of her poems here:

Eulogy for a Dead Saguaro

Like the ancient ones of the tribe

Who walked off alone to die,

Not to be a burden,

Your naked ribs are left,

Bleached and exposed.

Without the privacy of a burial.

Pride and personality gone,

The meat has fallen off

Your drying bones.

I cringe to look upon

Your broken skeleton,

Sinking into a

Pauper’s sandy grave.

A pathetic end

For one who

Once was king.

(copyright) Carrie Backe

Thank you very much, Carrie and Tom, for allowing us to share your photo, for playing along today and for letting us post your poem in this space.

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

Internet vs. Independent

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:52:00 +0000

You've seen the ads for those websites where you can enter all your personal information and get rate quotes from "several top companies"? It sounds so easy. To learn more, we tried it. It was an eye-opening experience.

We received calls and emails from several different agencies, so clearly our internet inquiry put the name on a list of leads, which are then sold to agencies who wish to buy them. In the era of Snail Mail, you would have called it a mailing list.

Some of the agencies were not around here. Each one needed more information, of course. In order to get a quote from those "several top companies", we would have had to hand out that personal information to each one.

I had to wonder, too: how many people had access to the information between the time we entered it and the time it landed in the lead-buyer's email?

How is working with Crabdree Insurance, as an independent agent, different?

You answer the questions once.
Your name doesn't land on a high-tech mailing list. Your information is treated with the utmost privacy.(click the link to see our Privacy Policy).
When your insurance needs change over time, you don't have to start the whole process all over again. We do the shopping for you, and present you with your available options.
You work with a licensed professional from the beginning.
It's our job to assess which companies are going to be the best fit for your insurance needs. Then we evaluate the quotes and present the best ones: both in terms of premium and coverage. You don't get emails with quotes giving you sky-high premiums or half the coverage you requested.

Crabdree Insurance doesn't buy those "leads". Instead, we offer professional, friendly, dedicated customer service and an array of companies to fit almost every insurance need. Our customer's kind words about us bring us more business than a cartoon character ever could.

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

The Payson Roundup / Minor earthquake strikes north of Payson Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:24:00 +0000

The Payson Roundup / Minor earthquake strikes north of Payson Sunday

Did you know that your homeowners policy probably excludes earthquake coverage? Call your agent to get a quote on adding it!

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

It's a GIVEAWAY!

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:21:00 +0000

FRIDAY IS THE DAY! You can win one of two prizes: 4 movie tickets OR a $30 gift certificate to Macky's.

Two ways to win!
1: Sign up to follow our blog:

http://thewonderfulworldofinsurance.blogspot.com/
2: Like us:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Crabdree-Insurance-Financial-Services/340438459018

Do both and you get two chances to win!

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

Resolution Time

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:57:00 +0000

We're already into the second week of the new year. Amazing.

Do you make New Year Resolutions? There are the usual ones: eat healthier, exercise more, stick to my budget, get organized, call Mom more often...everybody thinks of that kind of resolution. How about a New Years Resolution for your financial well-being? Here are some ideas:

Meet with your insurance agent for a review of your policies. How long has it been? Things change. Are you getting your discounts? Are you still insuring a car you sold last year? It happens all the time. Sit down for a review. You may be paying for coverage you don't need, and skipping something you do need.
Make an appointment with a financial planner. Are you on track for your long-term and short-term financial goals? Could you realign your investments and improve your portfolio?
Take a careful look at your spending. What can go? How can you simplify? Are you saving enough?
Have you been attending to your home's maintenance? Many losses can be prevented by keeping your home well-maintained. That loose board on the front step could be the one that breaks an ankle.
Read. Yes, I know: it isn't a thrilling read. Read your insurance policy. Read your prospectus. Anything you don't understand, ask! Professionals are here to help. We can translate those abstruse paragraphs into English for you.

We are here to help you. It is important that you understand your insurance policy. You need to know what the conditions and exclusions are. A good example is a job delivering pizza. Your auto insurance might not cover you while you have that sign on the roof of your car. What about having a trampoline? Lots of families have trampolines, and many insurance companies exclude them. So if your child's friend gets hurt on the trampoline, YOU could be responsible for their medical bills. Find out for sure. There can be exclusions for pets and/or livestock, business activities and much more, depending on the policy.

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

Happy Holidays

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 17:26:00 +0000

The team at Crabdree Insurance would like to take a few moments to wish everyone a joyous and blessed holiday season.

We cherish our clients and our home in this lovely community. It is because of you that we have the privilege of being here.

We treasure our colleagues within the companies we work with. You make superior customer service possible and enjoyable, too.

Thank you so much for being our customers, colleagues and friends. Wishing you good health, happiness, security and prosperity now and for always,

Merry Christmas!

Scott, Tina, Karen, Alita, Cris, Trish, Sierra and Tim.

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

Payson People: Bobby Davis

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:16:00 +0000

Our first Payson People profile is about our good friend Bobby Davis. Bobby and his lovely wife Nina are fairly new to the Crabdree family of clients, but they are good friends and terrific Rim Country citizens.

I’m going to present this one Barbara Walters style. Just a question and answer session. Bobby’s wit, humor and heart shine through best with his own words.

Q: Tell me three things about our community that you think are perfect, just as they are.

A: 1.The people, and their willingness to give back. 2. When someone is in need or sick their friends will surround them and help them overcome any issue. 3. The Rim Country (Payson, Star Valley, Pine, Strawberry, Christopher Creek & Tonto Basin) all work together to make this a great place to live.

Q: Tell me three things about our community you would change if you could.

A: 1. This is a great place to live and raise a family; with the new college that will be built, it will change the demographics, and that will bring higher paying jobs and a nice mix of citizens. 2. The college will bring new business, new restaurants, more shopping; we the citizens need to be ready for the changes in a positive way. Now is the time to get ready before it is built.

Q. What is something that you are especially proud you learned how to do?

A. I am proud that I learned how to give back and to appreciate the family and friends that I have in my life.

Q. What is your absolute DREAM car? Make, model, color, everything.

A. My dream vehicle would be a new Ford F-150: top of the line, fully loaded, black 4x4.

Q. If someone made a movie about you, who would be the best actor to play the role of YOU?

A. Brad Pitt... but he would have to shave his head and gain about 50 lbs.

Q. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? How close to that did you come in real life?

A. Growing up in Texas I wanted to become a cowboy, and play football for the Dallas Cowboys. Well, I did become a cowboy and I worked on ranches. In high school, I played high school football. Then I joined the Marines and that changed my life. After my tour in the Marines I went to Dallas, Texas to try out for the Dallas Cowboys as a walk-on player. I found out real fast that I was way too small. At my age I am happy with the person I have become and the family and friends that I can share my life with.

Q. Imagine you are marooned on a lovely island in the South Pacific. What three things would you wish to wash up on shore?

A. Assuming I had food and water, then I would want a luxury yacht to dock and Ricardo Montalban and Tattoo, his side kick, to bring me a check for 100,000 million dollars. They would tell me that my beautiful wife Nina and our 4 great children and spouses and 7 perfect grandchildren were on the yacht, waiting to sail around the world.

Q, If someone wrote a biography of your life, would it be an adventure story? A love story? A comedy? A thriller? Or something else?

A. When Brad Pitt shaved his head and gained 50 lbs. he would find that it would be the best adventure, love story, thriller and most of all, a comedy with a happy ending.

Q. What part of the world do your ancestors come from? Have you ever been to that country?

A. British/Scandinavian...not yet but plan on going someday.

Q. If you could wake up one day with a new talent or skill, what would you like to be able to do? Why?

A. Understand and predicate the stock market so I could accumulate wealth. Then I would have the time and money to help others and to make a difference in children’s lives.

Thanks so much, Bobby, for playing along at Payson Profiles. Your answers made us all smile! (Maybe even an LOL or two!)

Bobby’s profile and picture appear in this space with his approval. What a good sport!

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

It Could Have Been Very Bad

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 20:48:00 +0000

Social media. That's what this is. Blogging, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, Pintarest, etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum. But do you ever stop to really think about it?

Here's what happened to us. My sister called me. We had a nice chat, conversation perking along fine. Finally, she asks me, "OK. What's the deal with your son?"
"Which one?" I ask, completely puzzled.
"Oh, my gosh. You don't know!" She says.

It turns out that someone called our elderly mother, pretending to be one of my sons. The scammer sounded like he had a cold, and told a very credible story of being in jail and needing $2800 in bail money. He said he had been arrested on a DUI, but "Honestly, I only took some cold medicine!" Could she please wire the money to him?

My Mom, she's nobody's fool. She was not taken in by the scam, fortunately. We were all very lucky. I speak to my mother very frequently, she is sharp and well aware of what is going on with our family. But how might that have turned out if Mom was more easily confused, or if the scammer had been more convincing?

Here's what I found out. These scummy scammers browse social media sites like Facebook, and from that and other sources, they craft a believable story. I heard one story about a girl who posted that she was going to another country. The scammer used that tidbit: they posed as this girl, sick (of course, to disguise a voice I suppose) and stranded in another country. Grandparents wired thousands of dollars to "rescue" the girl and the scammer got away with it.

Our family had a happy ending. The scam didn't work this time. Talk to your young family members about the privacy settings on their profiles, and talk to your elderly family members about the danger.... please!

For more reading on social media sites and some thought-provoking information, click here:
http://blog.central-insurance.com/2011/12/14/whos-really-reading-about-you-on-facebook/

Wishing you a safe internet experience,

Trish

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

The Messenger

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 21:09:00 +0000

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

Payson Senior Center

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:24:00 +0000

My Grandmother was a regular at the Senior Center, back in the early 1980s. Even though she did have family around, and had no need to receive meals on wheels, the Senior Center was a wonderful resource for her. It was social contact with her own peers, which is very important, it was information and entertainment and companionship. Payson Senior Center was a blessing for our entire family. How much more of a blessing is it to the senior who does not live with their children, does not have family nearby to be their chauffeur and may not be able (financially or physically) to prepare their own meals?

I know that most of you are familiar with the "Credit for Kids" program. I just found out that our own Payson Senior Center has been approved as a recipient of a different tax credit donation. I am going to quote directly from Joanne Conlin, Payson Senior Center Director, as she explains it much better than I could!

"We are an approved charitable organization under the Working Poor Tax Credit Program. This program is separate from the Credit For Kids and tax credit program for the private schools. You can donate up to $200 for an individual and up to $400 for a married couple. You can also take it as a charitable contribution on your federal taxes.

Your donation will be put to good use. We serve approximately 200 meals a day between our Meals On Wheels Program and our Daily Lunch Program. We also transport about 450 seniors a month. These programs are so important to the health and well being of our seniors. For many of the people we service, we are their only contact with the outside for days on end and give them their main and sometimes it is the only meal of the day."

Contact Joanne for more information or to get the form for a donation. Call her 928-474-4876 or email her at pseniors@npgcable.com

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

Crabdree Family

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 18:40:00 +0000

Cris' son is part of the Payson Longhorn marching band. They were invited to perform at the 70th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. What a great honor! We are so proud of our band; they were one of only 12 schools invited to perform. Here's a link to watch them

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/18995074

We are all so proud of these young musicians, and we feeled honored as a community to be represented there, commemorating "a day that will live in infamy". With our deepest respects to all our veterans, and especially to those who lost their lives on that fateful day in December of 1941. Bless you all.

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

Auto Insurance 101

noreply@blogger.com (Crabdree Insurance) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 17:43:00 +0000

Should insurance coverage change for an older car?

We hear that question every week. The answer is, "No for some parts, and maybe for others." Sounds like a vague answer, doesn't it? For a complete answer, let's talk about the parts of your coverage.

First is liability insurance. This is the part of your policy that pays for damages and injuries for which you are legally responsible. This is the part that is required by law. How much liability insurance do you need? Ask yourself, how much do you have to protect?

The value of your own vehicle doesn't have anything to do with how much liability insurance you need, really. If you hurt someone or damage their car in an accident, it doesn't matter how old your car is. You want to make sure you have enough liability insurance to pay the damages you caused. If you don't have enough, their insurance company and their lawyers are not likely to just say, "Oh, that's ok. Never mind." They are going to want to collect the money from you somehow.

The same is true for uninsured and underinsured motorist. (read more about that coverage here) That is protection for you and your passengers.You aren't protecting the value of your car, you are protecting yourself and your loved ones.

Physical damage is the place you need to look to decide if you should lower your coverage. If your car is totalled in an accident, for example, could you afford to replace it? You need to seriously consider how much you could afford to spend to get your car repaired or replaced. If it is an extra vehicle in your household that you wouldn't replace at all, then maybe you don't want comprehensive or collsion coverage. But what if your car, whatever its age, is your only transportation? If you couldn't readily come up with the money for another car, it's a good idea to keep that physical damage coverage in place.

Let's talk about deductible. You know, of course, that the higher deductible you choose, the lower your premium. There are two ways you can look at deductibles. Find out how much you save with a higher deductible and then figure out how many years you would have to go without an accident to have saved any money. Many people would rather pay a little more each month, and have to come up with less money out of pocket if they did have an accident. Or you can think of a deductible as a bet: "I bet I won't have a loss of any kind, so I will save the money now and take my chances on paying more out of my pocket for a claim."

Liability claims are an unknown possibility. How bad might an accident be? What if you hurt more than one person? Worse, what if someone dies in an accident you caused? What if you cause an accident that damages a very expensive car, a fancy motorhome or even causes a pile-up? You have to insure for a worst-case scenario there. Physical damage of your own car is a known risk. "My car is worth $5000 so that is the most I would be out if it were damaged or stolen." That kind of risk you can anticipate.

Insurance is all about risk. It's about choosing the risks you want to take and the recognizing the ones you can't afford to take. You are the only one who can assess what risks you want to take. We are here to advise you and show you the options you have. But ultimately, YOU are in the driver's seat. (Pun intended!)

Drive safely out there. And always...if you have questions or concerns, come talk to a licensed professional.

We are offering general information and opinions. Talk to your insurance professional for questions and concerns about your insurance policy.

Why Insurance?

Winter Floods

When it's Time to Talk

Prevent Water Damage!

Cool New Tool!

Sunset in Nicaragua

Sunrise in Nicaragua

Ball of Caterpillars

Why You Need Equipment Breakdown Coverage

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WORTH YOUR TIME TO WATCH

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The Payson Roundup / Minor earthquake strikes north of Payson Sunday

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Resolution Time

Happy Holidays

Payson People: Bobby Davis

It Could Have Been Very Bad

The Messenger

Payson Senior Center

Crabdree Family

Auto Insurance 101

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