More Reasons to Choose Travelers Insurance

There are 3 big reasons we simply love Travelers.

1. They have tremendous financial stability and are rated “A+ Best” by A.M. Best.
2. They have innovative coverages that help to meet each individuals needs.
3. They have superior claims service to assist in getting your damage repaired fairly and efficiently.

Travelers continually strives to offer more, and better products for their customers. They have introduced several options this summer that make Travlers even more attractive.

• Raised account discounts up to 20% on your auto and 30% on your home for combining your home and auto policies. Don’t forget, Travelers offers extended multi-policy discounts for; valuable items policies, umbrellas and boats.
• Lowered the first installment to a single month down if you set-up automatic deductions from your checking account or credit card. Plus you will save $5 monthly on billing charges!

Don’t forget the great commercials Travelers is becoming well known for. If you haven’t had a chance to check them out view them here.

Do you get an insurance discount for being a teacher?

Yes! We offer auto insurance discounts up to 12.5% for full-time teachers. The discount applies across the whole auto policy. Every vehicle on the policy has the discount applied.

Avoid Our Most Common Home Claim and Keep your Rates Down

Our most common homeowners claim is for; personal property stolen from a vehicle. Over 1.95 million car breakins are reported to police annually in these United States. Many clients think since the property is stolen from the vehicle that the coverage applies from the auto policy. The majority of auto policies exlude coverage for personal property even when it is in your vehicle.  Personal property in your vehicle ultimately is covered from your homeowners policy.

The damage to your vehicle such as, a broken window or stolen in-dash stereo, is covered on your auto policy. Your perosnal property is covered on your home policy. So a car break-is a double whammy in that you maybe responsible for two deductibles, the auto and home. Or if the claim doesn’t meet your deductible the entire damage may be out of pocket.

Preventing claims can go a long way in making sure you are getting the best value from your insurance. Leaving expensive personal property in your vehicle, even when locked, is an invitation for a loss and a claim.

Here are some quick tips to help prevent breakins:

1. Don’t keep valuable items in your car if at all possible
2. Hide items that may clue in thiefs as to valuable electronics such as: chargers, suction cups for gps and plugins for IPODS
3. Park in a visible spot
4. Turn on your alarm and leave the windows shut

Want to talk about other tips to protect your stuff? 661-327-5531

Is Your Home in a High-Risk Fire or Brush Area? Some Tips on How to Insure it

Many homeowners are finding that their current insurance company is not offering renewals because their home is located in a fire or brush area. New home buyers in those areas are finding that getting adequate coverage can be tough.

Companies are using more underwriting information to better access potential risks. Your home location is listed in an “ISO Public Protection Class”. This rating measures the fire departments ability to suppress a fire at your home. Ratings are listed from 1-10. A rating of 1 is listed as “superior” and a 10 would not meet ISO’s minimum rating. Companies may also use other tools to identify homes in high risk areas.

No matter how severe the fire area, there are options to get the proper coverage to meet your needs.

What an insurance company will consider…

• distant from the responding fire station (less than 5 is good, over 10 is higher risk)
• distance to fire hydrants or water storage tanks
• clearance from brush
• home construction type and roof type
• wildfire history in the area

Specific Area Concerns

Slight Fire and Brush Areas (Outer Areas of Tehachapi, Bear Valley, Hart Flat near Highway 58)

If you own a home in these areas, many companies may not be willing to write coverage for you. There are plenty of companies available including preferred companies like Travelers Insurance. Travelers offers a “tiered” program for homes in brush areas starting with “Eligible” being no brush risk to “Eligible 3″ being the highest brush risk they are willing to consider.

The benefit of a company like Travelers considering higher risk homes is that you can still qualify for a multi-policy discount and get a great value on your insurance.

Properties that are ineligible for Travelers tiered policy can still be placed with companies such as Foremost, American Reliable or American Modern.

Things that are considered are;  road access, slope and elevation of the property, possible smoke drift from a large forest fire, construction type and roof type.

High Fire and Brush Risk (upper Bear Valley, unprotected areas of Tehachapi, areas of Hart Flat, Shaver Lake, Alta Sierra)

If your home is classified as being in a severe fire area and other companies are unwilling to write a policy for you, you should consider the California Fair Plan. The Fair Plan is a syndicate of all property insurers licensed to do business in California and was established in 1968. The California Fair Plan is intended to be the “insurer of last resort” for hard to place policies.

 The California Fair Plan has major gaps in coverage that make it unsuitable for most needs without a “wrap-around” policy. A “wrap-around” policy helps to fill coverage gaps such as liability coverage, loss of use coverage and extended perils such as theft or burglary.

“Wrap-around” policies are offered by many major carriers and may qualify you for a multi-policy discount. A Fair Plan policy with a “Wrap-around” may offer you an economical policy to help insure your home in a high-risk area.

Need more info?

If you have specific questions about your homes wildfire or brush risk, we would be glad to talk with you. You can get an instant quote here. You can call us at 661-327-5531, email us at agent@crosbyandcrosby.com or stop by 111 “H” Street in Bakersfield.

Auto Insurance Tips for Your Young Driver

A 16-year-old with a brand new drivers license is full of excitement and ready to hit the road. While they are excited, parents are often worried about their safety and the cost of adding them to their insurance.

A new driver is more expensive to insure than someone with a history of safe driving experience. But there are things that you can take advantage of to help make that more affordable.

1. Compare rates with an independent agent - Companies rates and offerings vary greatly for young drivers. An independent agent has access to multiple companies and can find the best solution for your unique needs.
2. Take advantage of multi-policy discounts. Most companies will give a discount for combining your home and auto policies. Look for companies, like Travelers, that go beyond the normal discounts and apply discounts for rental properties, umbrella policies, scheduled valuable items and boat policies.
3. Good Student Discount – Getting good grades pays in reduced premium. You can save up to 18% if your young driver maintains a grade point average of 3.0 or better.
4. Take Advantage of Occupation Discounts- Occupation discounts apply across the entire auto policy. Teachers, Attorneys, Doctors, Engineers, Scientist and Law Enforcement Officers commonly are eligible for occupation discounts.
5. Safe Driving – Requiring your young driver to maintain a safe driving record can go a long way to keeping them safe and helping you to keep an affordable rate on your insurance. Many companies will not accept drivers with any incidents and under 3 year so of driving experience.
6. Traffic School – Since companies have such strict requirements for young drivers make sure if they get a violation and qualify for traffic school, that they take it and turn in the necessary paperwork.

When does it get better?

After 3 continuous years of experience and, 1 violation or 1 property damage only accident, drivers are eligible for  a “California Good Driver Discount”. This discount usually is around 20%.

Insuring Families Since 1963

Ever since we wrote our first policy in 1963 we have focused on insuring families.  We have the right solution for your young driver.

If you have any questions give us a call at 661-327-5531, agent@crosbyandcrosby.com or stop by 111 “H” Street.

Don’t Get “April” Fooled by These Tricks

April 1st is a good day to pull a fast one and get a few laughs. Getting tricked on your insurance is not a laughing matter.

Don’t be caught by these tricks we have seen. They appear to save you money. But they do that by giving you less coverage.

Reducing or Removing Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist: With most reports showing up to 1/3 of drivers being uninsured and a vast majority carrying minimum liability limits “uninsured and underinsured” motorist is one of the most valuable coverages you can purchase. There is no reason to reduce and especially not remove this valuable coverage from your policy.

Deleting Physical Damage Coverage from a vehicle:  There are many things that you need to consider when deciding to cover the physical damage to your vehicle or not cover it. Simply by deleting the coverage and showing the lower premiums as a “pile of cash” isn’t getting you a better value for your insurance.

Home policies with artificially low dwelling replacement costs: Most insurance companies use a 3rd party to help determine what a home needs to be insured for. Too many times that coverage amount is lowered to create a lower rate. Once the company completes a replacement cost estimation that coverage amount is raised and the result is an increased premium.

Don’t be fooled by many of the unfair and not so funny tricks that are out there in the insurance market.

Talk to us about coverage issues and how we can or can continue to sensibly provide you a great value for your insurance.

How do I insure my guns or firearm collection?

Your normal homeowners policy includes limited coverage for firearms. Your coverage is limited to “named perils” such as fire and theft and losses caused by theft are usually further limited to a lower dollar amount. Many policies limit coverage for theft of firearms to only $1500.

Getting more coverage…

There are 3 options on getting more coverage for your firearms:

1. Scheduling each specific firearm: you can schedule each specific firearm for an agreed value to be paid in the case of a loss. I.E. you schedule your Browning Citori Featherlight for $2500 in value. Your Citori is now covered against “all risk” for $2500. Losses are not subject to a deductible.
2. Blanket coverage: in our opinion the best way to cover a firearms collection is a blanket limit. If your total collection is worth $5000 you can blanket the coverage to cover each individual firearm and the entire collection up to $5000. Losses are not subject to a deductible.
3. Write your home policy in an enhanced program. By taking an enhanced home policy you can have higher coverage limits in the policy. Kemper “Elite” covers firearms up to $5000 on an “All Risk” basis. Travelers “Platinum” covers firearms up to $3500 and Travelers “Platinum High Value” covers firearms up to $6000. Losses are subject to your homeowners deductible.

How much?

To schedule or blanket firearms the cost varies by county but prices start at $18 per $1000 in coverage. A $5000 policy would cost as low as $90.

What if I don’t want to list my firearms and serial numbers?

By using a blanket limit you can cover your whole collection without listing each firearm. You collection and each item will be covered for a single limit. It is always good to use a inventory sheet like this available at California Rifle and Pistol Association.

What about scopes, binoculars and other shooting gear?

We can blanket cover your optics and other shooting gear with both Kemper and Travelers Insurance. DO NOT be like our insured who turned a canyon corner and his Swarovski binoculars flew off the dash and out the window.

We are always able to help you answer any questions on your coverage. Remember each company is different so our blog should be considered general insurance information.

We can always be reached at agent@crosbyandcrosby.com, 661-327-5531 or an office visit at 111 “H” Street.

New mobile phone applications from Travelers Insurance

Try out these new mobile applications  to help you start your auto claim with Travelers Insurance.

They are available for iPhone, Blackberry and mobile web for any cell phone.

Try out the new applications here.

Set-up automatic deductions with Travelers Insurance

Check out our video post on setting up automatic deductions with Travelers Insurance. You can use the same information to change account information and billing date.

Should I have a personal umbrella insurance policy?

An umbrella policy or personal catastrophe policy protects you and your assets against large liability claims. It protects you if your regular (underlying) liability limits on your auto and home policy are not sufficient to cover an individual loss.

Personal Umbrella policies are written for amounts between $1 million and $10 million.

What does it cost?

Umbrella rates depend on how many vehicles, homes, recreational vehicles and other specific risks that you need to cover. A policy that covers a home and 2 vehicles will cost around $150.

New Discounts Make Umbrellas a “No-Brainer”

Both Travelers and Safeco now offer extended multi-policy discounts for writing an umbrella policy. You can save 5% with Travelers on your home and auto and Safeco now offers a 10% discount on your auto.

With the savings including an umbrella now would cost you less than $5/month in most cases and on some accounts may actually save your money!!!

What limits?

You need to consider among other things:

• Net worth – including real estate equity- assets such as vehicles, boats and toys- savings and retirement accounts etc.
• Future Earnings- Your future earnings need to be considered. If you were to have a judgement for liability over your policy limits your wages could be garnished.

Speaking with an insurance professional is advised. We have a 5-minute insurance review that can help you to decide the proper liability limits you should be carrying.

Underlying Limit Requirement

With an umbrella you are required to carry a minimum underlying liability limit on your home, auto, motorcycles and recreational vehicles. For the best rates you need to carry $500,000 of underlying liability.

If you would like to complete a free 5-minute insurance review give us a call 661-327-5531, email us at agent@crosbyandcrosby.com or if you are in Bakersfield stop by for an old-fashioned office visit at 111 “H” Street.