Insurance World

Some Home Fire Insurance Protection Scheme only covered against damage to the internal areas of the house, which generally includes the floor slabs, internal partitions, ceiling, doors, windows, internal sanitary fittings, electrical wiring, etc. Any loss or damage to your renovations, or household contents (like furniture, decorations, electrical appliances and personal possessions etc.) is not covered.

There are some mortgage fire insurance will only cover you against damage to the building structure, including its permanent fixtures and fittings. Any loss or damage to your renovations, or household contents (like furniture, decorations, electrical appliances and personal possessions etc.) is not covered.

Look for a comprehensive home insurance plan

Look for a comprehensive home insurance plan that insures your renovations and contents within your home against fire, explosion, flood, theft and other causes specified in the policy. Best of all, some may even top up with offer benefits like Worldwide Personal Liability, Worldwide Family Accident Protection and Emergency Home Assist at no additional cost.
Does your home protection plan cover risks insured against for home contents?

Look for a home protection insurance scheme that covers for physical loss or damage to the renovations and contents in your house caused by any of the following causes:
1. Fire, lightning, domestic explosion
2.
Hurricane, cyclone, typhoon, windstorm, earthquake or flood
3.
Water discharged or overflowing or leaking from pipes, water systems or installations, roof, roof guttering and down-pipes in your house
4.
Impact by any land vehicle or any animal.
5.
Civil commotion, disturbance and riot
6.
Malicious act of any person
7.
Theft accompanied by violent or forcible entry into Your Home
What is the meaning of Sum Insured?

The “sum insured” is the insured value of the property and the maximum amount an insurer will pay if it is totally destroyed by an insured peril. The sum insured should reflect the cost of replacing the insured property to its original condition (or its equivalent) at the time just before the damage occurred.
How much can I claim for my renovations / contents?

Depending on the insurance plan, the maximum amount that you can claim will be up to the sum insured specified in your Schedule, or not more than a certain percentage of the sum insured on content.
When making a claim, your insurance company may send a loss adjuster to inspect the damaged property and/or assess your loss. Therefore To facilitate the processing of your claim, you should take photographs of the damaged property; present Quotations of repair or replacement of the damaged property; make a Police report if necessary.

In Part 1, we detailed the first five strategies on how to cut your car insurance costs. In Part 2, we show you the second five.

STEP 6 - Review, Change or Cancel No Fault & PIP (Personal Injury Protection)

No-Fault Coverage, and it’s Twin - PIP - started out as great idea’s. Your premiums were actually going to be lowered. Then, your State Politicians got involved (at the urging of Insurance Lobbyists, of course) and mucked it up.

You see, no-fault insurance coverage was originally intended to have each individual’s losses, covered by their own car insurance company - no matter who was at fault.

Today, in many States, car insurance companies are making a ton of money on no-fault because the insurance companies convinced State law-makers to make “modifications.”

Today, because of the these changes, car insurance companies have actually used the no-fault laws to reduce payments on a claim made by a customer, instead of reducing car insurance premiums as it was supposed to do.

So, premiums keep going up-and-up and insurance companies end up paying less for claims - Someone’s getting rich on that deal….and it’s not you.

And to make matters worse, some States (with really, really talented Insurance Lobbyist’s) also require an additional premium be paid on top of the no-fault premium. This beauty is called Personal Injury Protection (PIP).

PIP is a “wide-blanket” of coverage and can provide Collision Coverage, Hospitalization, Social Security Disability, Workers Comp, Personal Disability Insurance & Life Insurance.

The problem with PIP and what it covers is….

You already gave most, if not all, of these coverage’s anyway, don’t you? So, you’re paying twice!

So, you need to do a couple of things:

Google “minimum levels of required auto insurance” to see if No-Fault Insurance and/or PIP Is required in your State;

Then, check your policy. If it’s not required by your State to have No-Fault/PIP Coverage and it’s on your policy - cancel it. If No-Fault/PIP is required by your State….take the absolute minimum. Here’s how.

If you must have No-Fault/PIP, ask for and get a deductible from your car insurance company.

STEP 7 - Cancel Medical Coverage

Medical Coverage, on most car insurance policies, is a promise to pay “reasonable” medical expenses for anyone who is riding in your car should you have an accident…as well as anyone in your car should it get hit by someone else.

Cancel it. You don’t need it.

Why is that you say? Well, medical coverage as part of your car insurance policy is a duplicate of your own:

- Medical Plan; - Any Life Insurance Coverage you might have, as well as; - The Liability Sections of almost every car insurance policy written in the U.S.

Think of it this way….Do you have a Health/Medical/Hospitalization Plan thru work or an Association you belong to?

Then why are you paying premiums for Medical/Hospitalization Coverage on your Car Insurance Policy?

Here’s what’s going to happen when you tell the car insurance company or Agent that you “Don’t want the Hospitalization/Medical Coverage.” You’re going to hear very slick “scare tactics” to help change your mind.

The insurance company employee will say “Well, if you’re in an accident, and it’s your fault, who’s going to cover the medical bills for any injured passengers in your car?”

Here’s your answer. Your family is already covered by your Health/Hospitalization Plan. If anybody else is in the car and they’re injured - they’re covered by your Bodily Injury Liability coverage that you’re already paying for….and their own Health/Hospitalization Plan.

So go ahead - save some more money and get rid of this coverage.

STEP 8 - Cancel Death, Dismemberment & Loss of Sight

Do you have any of these coverage’s on your existing car insurance policy? If so - cancel them.

And if you’re a first time car insurance buyer or, just looking at getting several car insurance quotes, don’t let anyone talk you into them!

Why?

Because, these coverage’s are an absolute waste of money. Most of these optional coverage’s are simply “glorified” life insurance policies with ridiculous provisions and horribly overpriced premiums. If you need life insurance, make it a separate Insurance Policy.

STEP 9 - Cancel The Extras

Do you have “Roadside Assistance” or “Rental Car Reimbursement” on your policy? If so, cancel them.

And again, if you’re a first time insurance buyer or getting a few car insurance quotes, don’t bother with these coverage’s.

Why? Because they’re severely overpriced, are rarely ever used, and limit what you can and cannot do.

For instance, some rental car reimbursement” coverage is almost $100 a year for each vehicle on your policy. So if you have two cars, you’ll spend almost $2,000 on rental car coverage in the next 10 years - and likely never even use it.

And roadside assistance? The piece-of-mind it offers gets trampled by the premiums the car insurance companies want for this coverage. Roadside assistance is a good idea. But use AAA for a cheaper solution.

STEP 10 - Terminate Comprehensive & Collision Coverage On Older Cars.

If you have an older car - by that I mean one that’s worth less than $2,000 wholesale (the amount a car dealer would give you if you were trading it in) cancel any Comprehensive and Collision Coverage you have or decline that option when getting a car insurance quote.

Here’s why. If an 8 year-old car and a brand new car have identical damage, the cost to repair both will be identical as well, even though the 8 year-old car is worth next-to-nothing.

You see the cost of a bumper and fender are the same - whether it’s for a brand new car, or one that is 8 years-old. That’s why your premiums don’t go down as the value of the car goes down. Your payments remain almost the same, year-after-year-after-year.

But, the bottom drops-out of what you’ll be able to collect on that older car. For instance, if your car is “totaled”, your insurance company will only pay you the wholesale value of your car.

So, let’s say your car is worth $1,000, but the total damage is more than $4,000, the insurance company is only going to give you a check for $1,000….minus your deductible, of course.

So you might end up getting $500 back. Sounds like a lousy deal….but that’s how it works.

So, the rule-of-thumb is this - cancel your comp & collision coverage when your vehicles value is less than $2,000….or you’ll be throwing your money away.

Okay - you’ve jotted down some notes and are ready to make some changes to your car insurance policy. So pick up the phone and start slashing your premiums!