Posts tagged "Liability Insurance"

How to Choose an Insurance Company

Insurance is sold through four main channels in Canada.

Brokers- selling products of different insurance companies.

Agents- selling only the products of one insurance company.

Direct sellers- generally selling only the products of a particular company via telephone from call centres.

Group plans- sold either through the people above or through the workplace, alumni association, professional association, or other group affiliations.

If you want auto insurance, coverage for your home, condo or your belongings in a rental unit, or travel insurance, you will need a product (as they call insurance policies) from one of the approximately 213 private Property and Casualty (P & C) or general insurance companies. If you want life or health coverage, you will need a product from one of the about-100 Life companies. There are compulsory auto insurance plans, run by government, in British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan and, in Quebec, bodily injury in auto accidents is provided by the government insurer.

When you first set out to buy insurance, take a close look at your needs. For instance, consider your liability. If you drive a car or own a home, liability insurance will protect you for the liability you have for causing injury or death to other people or damage to their property. Consider your losses if you become sick or die; health and life insurance can protect you and your family against some of these losses. Be careful when considering coverage. For instance, except for Manitoba and Saskatchewan,insurance against damage to a vehicle is available on a voluntary basis. If this insurance is not purchased and the vehicle driver is totally at fault in an accident, there will be no recovery at all for vehicle damage.

Insurance companies are registered with and supervised by the federal or provincial governments regardless of whether they are foreign-owned, part of big conglomerates or mutual and stock companies.

Generally, insurance companies use the same basic policies for auto insurance, since this area is regulated by government, so you will have to look at the details of service and products to see which company might provide you with the best service and options for your vehicles. There are a number of options in home insurance among companies.

Ask friends and relatives about their insurers. Were claims paid promptly without a great deal of red tape? Were insurers capable of dealing with a number of claims during catastrophes like the Great Ice Storm or major power outages or floods? Did insurers offer a range of plans customized to the clients specific needs. Of course, premiums for insurance coverage vary greatly among a number of insurers. No matter what you hear, premiums for auto insurance, in particular, vary by insurer, sometimes by very large amounts. And when one insurer will not touch a prospective customer, another company will accept the client with open arms. It all depends on what an individual insurance company feels is an acceptable risk at the premium price.

There are insurers who will take on unusual risks. For instance, there are insurers who will cover pets including what could be very expensive veterinarian bills.

Dale Goldhawk
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/how-to-choose-an-insurance-company-107671.html

What is the best insurance coverage for the second home condo use for seasoanl rental?

The condo has flood insurance, but I was told to purchase the coveage, I guess liability inside my unit. What is the inexpensive and reasonable coverage?

You NEED full liability insurance. The amount should be enough to protect your Assets. If some one hurts themeself at your rental property, there needs to be enough insurance, so that they do not come after your assets. If you have a standard (150/300 or 300/500) on that property, you might be able to get an umbrella to extent all of your coverages ( your primary as well) to a million or more. You also have to check with your insurer to make sure that the fact that this property is rented does not invalidate it for the coverage you are purchasing

How much is Condo insurance normally?

it appears the condo assoc covers the outside of the unit, but how much will we have to pay for condo insurance? 350k unit.

Well it is gonig to depend on whether or not you are ensuring the contents inside the unit that belong to you or not. Other vaiables to consider is value of the interior of the unit, deductible, and what type of coverages you elect.

I bet that if you put a high deductible (over 1,000) and have little in terms of valuables, that you could do it around 300.00 a year. When you say 350k, I assume that is the value of the completed unit (w/ appliances etc).

The Assoc’s policy will have very high limits to include all property underneath the drywell along with high liability insurance.

Your lender may require specific requirements when it comes to what type of policy/limits you must have.

Can someone explain what Condo Insurance is?

Im waiting to close on a condo in NY. The realtor says i don;t need to get homeowners insurance because the building the condo is in, has its own policy that part of my maintenece fee goes to. someone suggested still getting condo insurance. can anyone please help me out with a description of what this is?

Your condo probably has property & liability insurance that protects the association if there a fire, water damage, or if someone falls in the hallway & sues them. However, their insurance probably does not protect YOU if someone steasl your stuff or someone is injured at a party in your place. Check with the condo association on this. They will know. You probably need to get your own condo policy, which is not expensive. Good Luck.

What liability should I consider when purchasing Condo Insurance?

When purchasing a condo insurance, how far should I go with liability protection? Can HOA or my neighbors as individuals sue me if it was my barbeque grill (lit cigarette, etc.)?

Yes, the condo association or an individual has a legal right to sue the negligent party that was responsible for a loss. In fact it would probably the insurance company that compensated your association that would ultimately be the plaintiff. That being said it would probably be hard to conclusively prove that it was your sole negligence that was the cause of the loss. Even if you were not at fault the defense costs could be significant. If I owned a condo I would purchase significant limits of liability insurance because the cost is relatively minor (i.e. $1,000,000 or more ).

But I would also be concerned how your insurance matches up with the condo bylaws. Your condo association purchases insurance on the building and premises. Broadly speaking there are two approaches condo bylaws take to insure the property.

One approach is the condo association agrees to cover only the exterior and common areas. You are responsible to insure the interior this can include walls, wall coverings, flooring, furnace, appliances, lighting, plumbing fixtures, kitchen and bath cabinets (basically everything inside your condo). In this scenario you are responsible not only for your personal property but also the entire interior of your condo. As an insurance agent I did not like this approach because it is very difficult to determine how much insurance you should have to be able to repair or replace everything in within the walls of your condo.

The other approach, which I always preferred, was more comprehensive where the association agrees to cover the entire unit as it was originally built. In this scenario you only insure your upgrades (i.e. bookcases, upgrades, finished basements. etc.) and your personal property.

You need to carefully review your condo bylaws or have a good insurance agent go over the bylaws with you. If you don’t insure the property that you are responsible for you could find yourself woefully under insured and perhaps unable to rebuild your condo.

In addition to insuring the part of the building you are responsible for you need to determine the replacement cost of your personal property within the condo.

Sorry for the long answer but it is a surprisingly complex question.

Low Cost Homeowners Insurance – How to Get the Best Rate

Looking for low cost homeowners insurance? Want to get the best rate with a top-rated company? Here’s how …

How much homeowners insurance do I need?

You need enough homeowners insurance to cover the cost of rebuilding your home if it’s destroyed. You can determine this cost by calling a builder or a real estate agent to get the local building cost per square foot. Multiply this figure by your home’s square footage to get the amount of structural coverage you need.

In addition to structural coverage you need insurance to replace your personal possessions if they’re damaged or stolen. Most homeowners policies give you coverage for your personal possessions equal to 50% to 70% of the amount of your structural coverage. If your possessions are worth more than that you can ask your insurance agent to add more coverage.

You also need enough insurance to pay for a bodily injury or a property damage lawsuit when you’re found to be at fault. Most homeowners insurance policies provide a minimum of $100,000 worth of liability insurance. But due to the rise in personal injury lawsuits, purchasing at least $300,000 to $500,000 gives you better protection.

Lastly, you need insurance to pay for your living expenses if your home becomes uninhabitable due to a fire, storm, or other disasters. Most policies cover you for an amount equal to 20% of your structural coverage.

Where can I get the best rate with a reliable company?

Because homeowners insurance can vary by $1,000 or more from one company to the next, the first thing you need to do is to comparison shop.

There are insurance comparison websites that give you homeowners insurance quotes from a number of A-rated companies. Get at least three quotes then compare them to get the best one.

Some of these sites even offer a free online chat service and a toll-free telephone service so you can get answers to any insurance questions you may have. (See link below.)

To reduce the cost of your homeowners insurance you can raise your deductible. This is the amount you have to pay before your insurance company will pay a claim. The higher your deductible, the lower your insurance premiums.

Also, ask you agent for every discount you’re entitled to. Most companies give discounts for having both your car and your homeowners insurance with them, for having safety and security features installed in your home, and for a number of other reasons.

Visit http://www.LowerRateQuotes.com/homeowners-insurance.html or click on the following link to get low cost homeowners insurance quotes from top-rated insurance companies and see how much you can save. You can get more insurance tips in their Articles section.

ryan@thesatellitetvguide.com
http://www.articlesbase.com/insurance-articles/low-cost-homeowners-insurance-how-to-get-the-best-rate-160208.html