Insurance is a personal matter and finding the right insurance agent is an important decision. Licensed insurance agents are trained to help you analyze your insurance needs and make coverage recommendations based on your personal or financial situation.

With so many TV commercials, newspaper and radio ads and unsolicited mailings to your home, how do you decide which insurance agent will best serve your needs? Here are a few ways to make sure the agent you choose fits the bill.

Captive Agent or Independent Agent?

Captive agents represent one insurance company and can only provide you price quotes and financial services from their one contracted company. They cannot “shop around” your insurance coverages with other companies. Examples of captive agents are State Farm agents, Farm Bureau agents and most Allstate agents.

Independent agents are appointed with multiple insurance companies and can quote your coverage with many different companies. They are not obligated to place your coverage with any particular company, and the choice is up to you. Read the rest of this entry

Progressive Insurance Company has a new car insurance program called MyRate which allows drivers to opt-in to save money on their Progressive auto insurance bill.

When you sign up with MyRate, you receive a wireless transmitter which plugs into the diagnostic port of your car. The little device constantly transmits your driving habits and mileage to Progressive, and if you are in fact deemed a safe driver, then you may see savings of up to 60% off your car insurance. Read the rest of this entry

State Farm’s announcement that it will no longer be writing property insurance in Florida will not affect the availability of car insurance for about 2.8 million Florida customers. The pull out only impacts homeowners, renters, condominium owners, boat owners and business property owners.

For existing State Farm policyholders, this will mean a transition into a new insurance company over the next year or so as their policies are non-renewed. The hardest hit will be the State Farm agents in Florida, who will have to focus on car insurance, life and health insurance and other financial services offered by State Farm.

Florida consumers can get information from the Florida Department of Financial Services at 1-877-693-5236.

There was an interesting article posted on Insurance Journal today about a Wisconsin family who had a UIM claim denied. You can read the article here. I’m not going to go into the details of the case, other than to say they had multiple personal auto policies, one of which had lapsed, the other had no UIM coverage. The father’s semi tractor was insured on a commercial auto policy and did have UIM coverage, so a claim was submitted on the commercial auto policy when the son was injured by an underinsured driver while he was riding in the family’s car (remember, that policy lapsed). Read the rest of this entry

As winter weather grips the majority of the U.S., hopefully you’ve already taken the time to make sure your car is winterized and ready for the harsh conditions. We frequently check our tire pressure, our battery and make sure we have an emergency roadside kit in our trunk, but how many of us take the time to do a winter-time car insurance checkup? Read the rest of this entry

I was watching TV last night and I happened to see an Allstate car insurance commercial that was a little more direct than just saying they could save you X dollars or asking if you’re in good hands. Allstate’s commercial spokesman, Dennis Haysbert, who is also the lead actor in “The Unit” on CBS, makes the statement that car insurance buyers who switched to Allstate from GEICO saved an average of $581 a year on their auto insurance. Read the rest of this entry

Think again.  That three, five or even seven hundred dollar GPS navigation unit that does everything but steer the wheel is essentially uninsured while in full view of anyone looking in your windshield.

Why do I say essentially? Ok, there is coverage actually, but it probably doesn’t come from your car insurance policy. Coverage may be provided by your homeowner’s or renter’s policy under your personal property coverage. BUT, and this is a big but (no pun intended), you need to exceed your homeowner’s policy deductible before you even have a claim. Read the rest of this entry

When buying car insurance from an agent, there are different types of agents you can choose from. Agents who write with companies like State Farm and Farm Bureau Insurance are captive agents, which means they only write for one company. They do not have access to car insurance rates of any other companies, so they cannot comparison shop your coverage for you.

Independent agents, on the other hand, write for many different insurance companies. They may have contracts with companies such as Travelers, Nationwide, Allstate and many other smaller regional companies. When shopping for car insurance, independent agents can quote your coverage with several companies and get you the lowest rate possible with their companies. The do not have access to the captive company rates, so in order to get the most comprehensive rate comparison, it’s a good idea to get quotes from both captive and independent agents. Read the rest of this entry

Buying car insurance online has transformed the way auto insurance is advertised, sold and delivered. Your only option used to be calling or stopping by your local insurance agent’s office. Advertising was much more location-focused with large companies attempting to push the consumer to their local representative.

Nowadays, advertising efforts are directed at getting the consumer onto a website or calling an 800 number and buying insurance direct from the company. Buying car insurance online is as simple as browsing to any number of online auto insurance websites, but is it for you? Are you comfortable enough with what you know about car insurance to make your own decisions about deductibles and liability limits? Read the rest of this entry

If you own a “classic” car, which could be considered anything over about 25 years old, you could save money on your car insurance by buying specialized classic car insurance.

There are two ways to find insurance for your older vehicles. The first is to check with your current insurance company to see if they have a rating classification for classic or antique autos. This rate will be significantly less than a pleasure use rate, but it may also come with some mileage or usage limitations.

The other way to insure your classic car is to use an insurance company that specializes in insuring restored vehicles. Their policies have unique coverages that may not be available with an ordinary car insurance policy. Here’s a breakdown of some of the categories of classic vehicles you might want special coverage for: Read the rest of this entry