Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Read The Fine Print Before Buying Pet Insurance

There are many important things to consider when looking for a pet insurance plan. It’s good to be protected in case any accident should happen so you don’t have to break the bank. Pet insurance is a good money saving tool to have especially during these rough times, covering up to 90% of the veterinary bill.

The most people don't realize the importance of insuring their pet until it's too late and they have already received a large medical bill. While we like to think that our pet is invincible, we never know when something might happen so it’s a safe plan to be covered before anything might happen.

Being aware of the risks your pet faces might make you better understand the importance of insuring your pet. You should research your pet’s breed and what hereditary illnesses are common to your pet's specific breed, and then find out if the policy covers those. You might come across some exclusions for enrolling specific breeds because they are prone to certain conditions. Most companies will offer a limited amount of coverage, if any, for pre-existing conditions. Make sure to find out what is covered as far as pre-existing and chronic conditions.

Some companies increase your monthly premium because of your pet getting older. You might want to consider this during your selection of a policy.
Another important factor to look at with pet insurance plans is if you get penalized for filing a claim. Some companies will increase your premiums for filing claims. Along with this, it is important to check if there are limitations regarding filing a claim, for example if it must be filed within a certain time period of the accident.

When you compare pet insurance policies, be sure to look for annual limits. You might come across per-incident limits or per-year limits. It’s important to take this into consideration because your pet might be enrolled with insurance for ten years and have two big accidents. If both of those accidents fall within the same calendar year, then it might not all be covered by some policies because of annual limits.

The last things to consider are aspects of reimbursement. Research what is the average turnaround time for reimbursement for all of the companies you are considering. You also want to make sure that they are going to reimburse you the appropriate amount. It is possible that you will run into the issue where only a small percentage of your bill is covered because the insurance company refers to an outdated list to determine what that procedure should cost. Make sure, if they have a list of what they pay for certain procedures, to check it with your veterinarian to see if the numbers sound correct.

The insurance companies can tell you as much as they want about how great they are, but I recommend doing your own research. It’s helpful to read published reviews and comparisons about the companies, but it’s also a good idea just to find out what actual customers are saying about them so you can see how you might be treated in the future. Read testimonials and rants and raves about the company so you can find what best suits your needs.

What Should You Look Out For When Getting Teen Auto Insurance?


There are many things you should think about when you are purchasing teen auto insurance. Many things you should think about are paying annually, the type of car your teen is driving, adding a named driver, and more.

Finding cheap auto insurance can be difficult. So your teenager finally got their driver’s license and you now need to find them good insurance. There is a Pass Plus exam that is offered right now. The Pass Plus is an intensive driver’s training course that is aimed at teens and new drivers becoming better drivers. When a teenager passes this exam you will automatically receive a 35% discount on your auto insurance. This is a big deal because teenagers are very expensive to put on your insurance.

The car your teenager drives will make a big difference to what your premiums are for them also. You can find the lists on the Internet which cars are the most expensive to insure and which cars are the cheapest to insure. If the car is not on the highest stolen list then it will be cheaper to insure for your teen. The theory is that the cheaper the car is then the cheaper the teen auto insurance will be.

Though you are looking for cheap auto insurance you also need to realize you must have the appropriate coverage for your child. Statistics show that teenagers have more accidents than adults because they have less experience driving. This is a proven fact. If your child is in an accident you should be sure that your insurance will cover the damages your teen may have done to the other vehicle. You don’t want to have an insurance claim that you cannot afford to pay and your insurance didn’t cover. Be sure of all of the coverage you have opted for your child. Don’t be looking for only the cheapest because this might put you in a bad position.

If you have a teenage daughter then you are in a little bit of luck. It is proven that girls and women get in less accidents then teenage boys and men. Because of this statistic, females are cheaper to insure. However, just because of the gender doesn’t mean that the insurance will remain at a low rate.

Maintaining a low auto insurance rate for your teenager also means that they are driving without being pulled over for traffic violations. The first ticket is usually a freebie and your teenager will be sent to defensive driving school. That is of course if the violation is something simple like speeding. Your rates will begin to drop every six months as your child drives without any tickets on their license. If your teenager begins to get tickets and pulled over then your insurance rates will begin to increase and you may not be able to afford to insure them.

When you are looking for cheap auto insurance for your teenager you need to think about many things. Consider the type of car your teenager will be driving and be sure your teenager is driving responsibly not getting pulled over.

What You Didn’t Know About Insurance Law

The insurance law is basically the law that protects and regulates all aspects of insurance and can be broken down into two distinct categories:
The regulation of the actual business of insurance and the regulations pertaining to insurance claims.

What is interesting is that man first started thinking of risk management A.D. already, so although there were no insurance lawyers per se, there were a number of rather astute merchants who realised the value of protecting their assets by an informal arrangement; the precursor to the formality of insurance law.

The ancient Chinese were the ‘founders’ of risk management

The ancient civilisations were the catalysts for the more modern concept of insurance, with Chinese merchants arguably the ‘founders’ of risk management. These ancient traders often had to transport their wares along wild and treacherous rivers to the nearest market, where loss of both life and merchandise was common place. In an effort to reduce the risk, they would distribute their goods across a number of sailing vessels.

According to the celebrated Code of Hammurabi penned in 1750 BC, the Babylonians were the first people to pay additional fees as insurance; the original insurance premium. If a merchant applied for and received a loan from the moneylenders to fund a shipment, he would also cough up a little extra as a guarantee that the lender would cancel the loan in the case of the shipment being lost or stolen.

It was the ancient Roman and Greek civilisations, however, that formed fledgling ‘life insurance’ companies around 600 AD. They would organise associations or benevolent clubs that were committed to the care of the family in the case of the member’s death and would also fork out for the funeral costs - ‘friendly’ life insurance.

The Great Fire of London was the catalyst for one of the first insurance companies

Way back in 1666, the city of London was virtually destroyed by fire and a rather intelligent Englishman, Nicholas Barbon, saw the perfect niche market for him and his merry men. After an estimated 13,000 dwellings were razed by the Great Fire of London, Barbon set up “The Fire Office”, which was a business dedicated to the exclusive insurance of buildings.

The Insurance business susceptible to irregularities

Another interesting snippet of information is the fact that insurance companies, like all other businesses out there, are susceptible to all sorts of illegal machinations.

A recent example of insurance irregularities was in 2006 when European insurance giant, Zurich Financial Services, was nabbed for bid rigging and price fixing. Fortunately, the relevant insurance regulator put a stop to this anti-competitive stance and the company had to cough up $171 million in settlement plus an additional $122 million in refunds!

Why Health Life Insurance is Important For your Family

Whether you deny it or not, health life insurance can really help protect your family. Although there are a lot of people who do not entertain the idea of death, it is still something that cannot be avoided. Unless you have discovered the fountain of youth, death is the ultimate threat to your loved ones.

The death does not just entail the loss of a loved one. In many cases, death haunts people because of the series of events that it triggers. For example, the death of the breadwinner in the family is more than enough reason to have larger than life problems. Would you want your family to experience this kind of situation? Get a health life insurance now.

The health life insurance in focus
A health life insurance is a kind of well, insurance, that covers a lot of things. Funeral costs are usually the major coverage of most health life insurance. In some cases, a health life insurance also provides people with the benefit of not worrying about hospital bills. There are also health life insurances that will provide your loved ones with certain amount of money after your death.

The different public and private institutions, health life insurances can be compared to social securities. People who have health life insurances are required to pay a minimum amount during a period of time. Once the insurance policy matures, the bearer of the health life insurance would be entitled to several benefits agreed in the policy.

The advantages of having a health life insurance
Having a health life insurance for your family will always provide you with a number of positive benefits. To give you an idea, here are just some of the things that you would enjoy for having a health life insurance:

• You’re insured!
A health life insurance would guarantee that you or your family will have the financial means to support and solve whatever life and health related problems will come along the way.

• No worrying about funeral expenses
Death may have its toll financially. As a matter of fact, funeral expenses can just aggravate the lost of the families left behind. Some sources say that funeral expenses costs an average of $10,000—an amount that not all families have. And since death is always unexpected, having a health life insurance that covers funeral expenses is like being prepared for the unknown.

• The money for those who were left behind
Some health life insurance also covers giving certain amounts of money to the beneficiaries of the insurance holder. Depending on the type of health insurance plan, the funds could be received in bulk or in scheduled releases. Having a health life insurance of this type will ensure that life would still go on for those who were left behind.

• No debts/bills to be paid
Since a health life insurance will cover all the expenses for the funeral and hospitalisation, families need not worry about paying bills or getting credits. This would mean that they would be free of worrying about the consequences of the death of their loved one.

Your Move, Your Car Insurance and You

Part of the beauty of living in a country that has fifty states rather than just one is the fact that you're free to move from place to place without having to spend hours (and dollars) convincing some government bigwigs to give you permission to do it. If you want to pack your bags and move from New York to San Francisco all you have to do is look for an apartment. You cut off your electric, turn on your California phone number…and make some changes in your car insurance.

The car insurance, like many other things, is regulated by state rather than federal government. That means that the regulations that dictate how much, how little and what kind of coverage you're required to have are going to change dramatically as you travel from the east coast to the west-and if you're not ready for it you may find yourself underinsured when the time comes.

The first thing you should do when you hop state lines (after you find your plates and cups, of course, is find out what the mandatory state limits are for minimum coverage. Your mandatory minimum coverage (also known as minimum liability coverage) is the amount of money your insurance company will pay out if you're involved in an accident.

The first number represents the bodily injury liability maximum coverage for a single person injured in an accident; for example, if you were driving and hit a car holding a driver and no passengers that would be the amount your car insurance provider would pay to cover their medical bills and any recuperative therapy. The second number stands for bodily injury liability for two or more people; in other words, any passengers in their car (or yours) injured as a result of the accident. In the example above (which is the actual minimum insurance requirement guideline for the state of Alabama) the insurance company will pay up to $50,000 in medical bills.

The third number shows how much your insurance company will pay for any property damaged-other vehicles, guard rails, street signs, street lights (yes, it's actually happened-something other than a tractor-trailer successfully sent a street light crashing to the ground after an accident), gas station windows or anything else that happened to get in the way.

These liability minimums are going to change from state to state, meaning you'd be wise to find out what your new state minimums are before contacting your insurer. Your old policy limits might not be up to par for your new home, and while most agents will be able to advise you on what changes you need to make to your policies every once in a while a new agent will slip through the cracks and sell you a policy that doesn't meet state standards. Unfortunately, that's still going to be considered your fault-even if you asked.

There are plenty of resources available on the web that will help you find your state's guidelines. Once you have those numbers in hand you'll officially be ready to become a resident of Monkey's Eyebrow, Arizona-or anyplace else you want to call home.