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What do you do if you have hail damage on your vehicle?

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As an independent agent working in DFW area in Texas, I got so many calls and ask me what they should do if they have hail damage?  Based on my experiences, below are the few steps you  -sh-ould do:

What’s the first thing you need to do?

You should document everything.  Get out your phone and take photos of the damage.  Next, get in touch with your insurance agent to get the claims process rolling.  As a customer, please be patient, insurance company’ll be dealing with lots of people like you.  Serious losses take priority in the claims process, but that companies will likely throw extra resources at the storm.   I remember we had a very serious hail damage in March 2016,  total cost of the damages more than billions of dollars.    One of the counties in Texas had $600 million in insurance claims on that day.   because of the number of the claims, insurance companies had extra helps from other states to help us out.  when the customer makes the repair, make sure hold onto the receipt, you should get reimbursed later.

How do they prioritize what gets fixed first?

Hail Storm isn’t new to Texasen,  so insurance companies know what they are doing after some big hits.  Many companies will setup drive-up claim centers.  customers just need to drive their cars to a particular location, the onsite adjuster can inspect the vehicle and process the claim accordingly.

here are the advantage of this:

  • Quickest, easiest appraisal method
  • Average appraisal takes less than 20 minutes
  • No appointment necessary
  • Little to no wait
  • Convenient locations including several that offer Saturday service
  • Offering pre-inspection services when needed

What if you just have a little bit of hail damage – can you wait?

A lots of time, if it’s just cosmetic, there is nothing wrong with waiting for few days.  However, you should report the damage first.  After the storm, we may see lots of totaled vehicles , which could cause issues getting a rental.

Be caution of the scam and coordinate with your insurance company going forward.

For more tips or questions, contact us HERE or call us at 972-665-8608

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Critical Illness Insurance

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What is a critical illness policy?

Critical illness cover pays a tax-free lump sum if you’re diagnosed with a defined critical illness during the policy term.

Provided you keep paying your premiums, you should be covered throughout the term. Once the policy term ends, all protection stops.

When you take out a policy you can decide how long it will last e.g. until your children have grown up, or until the mortgage is paid off.

Critical illness cover is often available as a combined policy with term life insurance. In these instances, you can often only claim once.

For example, if you get a cash payout after being diagnosed with cancer, the policy is effectively finished. There is usually no life insurance payout if you die at a later date.

Who needs it?

Different people will need critical illness cover for a variety of reasons.

If you’re single, you might want a policy to ensure your mortgage is paid, and some form of cover is often a requirement of the mortgage application.

If you have children, you may want to ensure your family is provided for if you can’t work due to ill health.

Recovering from a critical illness can also mean extra costs for you and your family e.g. making changes to your home or car. Your payout could be used to cover this.

Should I get critical illness insurance?

Most people could benefit from a critical illness policy, but the impact of the premium and the benefit of the payout will vary from person to person.

It’s a matter of weighing up the monthly cost against the benefits of a payout. If you and your family depend heavily on your salary, it could be exactly the kind of protection you need.

If you have no financial commitments or dependents, critical illness insurance may not be for you.

How much cover do I need?

Traditionally, critical illness plans pay out the full amount regardless of how serious your illness actually is.

Some offer severity-based cover, where the payout depends on how bad your illness is.

When deciding on how much cover you need, think about what you would lose if you were unable to work due to illness.

Also, think about what financial commitments you would still have, such as children or a mortgage.

Try using our life insurance calculator, which can help you figure out how much cover you may need.

Which illnesses are covered?

Illnesses covered will vary between insurers, so it’s important to check the details of a policy before you buy.

Policies commonly cover illnesses such as some types of cancer, heart attacks and strokes, and may include optional add-on illnesses.

Other conditions that could be classed as critical illness include:

  • Major organ transplant
  • Parkinson’s disease
  • Deafness
  • Traumatic head injury
  • Bacterial meningitis
  • Blindness
  • Cancer
  • Diagnosis of ALS
  • End Stage Renal Failure
  • Heart Attack
  • Stroke

A critical illness and terminal illness are different things – a standard life insurance policy should cover any illness where you are expected to die within 12 months of diagnosis.

How can I this insurance?

There are two ways you can get this Critical illness insurance.  First, you can get a stand alone policy to cover this.  the premium is vary by the companies.  This type of policy usually have some limitations; such as the length of the policy term and the coverage amount.

Second, you may get this policy bundle with your life insurance products.  Currently some of the life insurance companies offer the rider that the customer can add “Critical Illness ” onto the policy.  So, the premium you are paying to the policy will have not only has the life protection, but also has the Critical Illness protection.   This life policy will not have the limit for the policy term and the coverage amount,  as long as your policy is active and in force, the customer will have the cover.

Our agency offer free consultation with the client and meet their needs.   Contact us today and see which option is good for you.

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Auto Insurance 101—Understanding Your Coverage

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The basic personal auto insurance mandated by most U.S. states provides some financial protection if you or another driver using your car causes an accident that damages someone else’s car or property, injures someone or both.

But to make the best decisions about purchasing other types of auto insurance coverage you might need, you’ll want to understand what’s covered, what’s not covered and what’s optional. In addition to understanding types of coverage, you’ll also want to consider coverage amounts. Why? Because state-required minimums may not cover the costs of a serious accident, so it’s worth considering purchasing higher levels of coverage.

Here’s a rundown of the types of coverage available—some are required; others are optional; all are priced individually (a la carte) to let you customize coverage amounts to suit your exact needs and budget.

Mandatory Coverage

Nearly every state requires car owners to carry the following auto liability coverage:

  • Bodily Injury Liability—This covers costs associated with injuries and death that you or another driver causes while driving your car.
  • Property Damage Liability—This coverage will reimburse others for damage that you or another driver operating your car causes to another vehicle or other property, such as a fence, building or utility pole.

Frequently Required Coverage

Many states require that you carry the following coverage:

  • Medical Payments or Personal Injury Protection (PIP)—Provides reimbursement for medical expenses for injuries to you or your passengers. It will also cover lost wages and other related expenses.
  • Uninsured Motorist Coverage—Reimburses you when an accident is caused by an uninsured motorist—or in the case of a hit-and-run. You can also purchase underinsured motorist coverage, which will cover costs when another driver lacks adequate coverage to pay the costs of a serious accident.

Even if these types of coverage are optional in your state, consider adding them to your policy for greater financial protection.

Optional Coverage

While basic, legally mandated auto insurance covers the cost of damages to other vehicles that you cause while driving, it does not cover damage to your own car. To cover this, you need to purchase the following optional auto insurance coverages:

  • Collision—This optional coverage reimburses you for damage to your car that occurs as a result of a collision with another vehicle or other object—e.g., a tree or guardrail—when you’re at fault. While collision coverage will not reimburse you for mechanical failure or normal wear-and-tear on your car, it will cover damage from potholes or from rolling your car.
  • Comprehensive—This provides coverage against theft and damage caused by an incident other than a collision, such as fire, flood, vandalism, hail, falling rocks or trees and other hazards—even getting hit by an asteroid!
  • Glass Coverage—Windshield damage is common, and some auto policies include no-deductible glass coverage, which also includes side windows, rear windows and glass sunroofs. Or you can buy supplemental glass coverage.

Mind the Gap… Insurance

If you lease or finance your vehicle, auto dealers or lenders will likely require you to purchase collision and comprehensive. But keep in mind that collision and comprehensive only cover the market value of your car, not what you paid for it—and new cars depreciate quickly. If your car is totaled or stolen, there may be a “gap” between what you owe on the vehicle and your insurance coverage. To cover this, you may want to look into purchasing gap insurance to pay the difference. (Note: For leased vehicles, gap coverage is usually rolled into your lease payments.)

Who Is Covered—and When?

Your auto policy will cover you and other family members on your policy, whether driving your insured car or someone else’s car with permission. Your policy also provides coverage if someone not on your policy is driving your car with your consent.

Your personal auto policy only covers personal driving, whether you’re commuting to work, running errands or taking a trip. Your personal auto policy, however, will not provide coverage if you use your car for commercial purposes—for instance, if you deliver pizzas or operate a delivery service. Note, too, that personal auto insurance will generally not provide coverage if you use your car to provide transportation to others through a ride-sharing service such as Uber or Lyft. Some auto insurers, however, are now offering supplemental insurance products (at additional cost) that extend coverage for vehicle owners providing ride-sharing services.

If you have question regarding your coverage and want to know the difference, please feel free to contact us or call 972-665-8608

life policy

Type of Life Insurance policy

What are the principal types of life insurance?

There are two major types of life insurance—term and whole life. Whole life is sometimes called permanent life insurance, and it encompasses several subcategories, including traditional whole life, universal life, variable life and variable universal life. In 2003, about 6.4 million individual life insurance policies bought were term and about 7.1 million were whole life.

Life insurance products for groups are different from life insurance sold to individuals. The information below focuses on life insurance sold to individuals.

Term

Term Insurance is the simplest form of life insurance. It pays only if death occurs during the term of the policy, which is usually from one to 30 years. Most term policies have no other benefit provisions.

There are two basic types of term life insurance policies—level term and decreasing term.

  • Level term means that the death benefit stays the same throughout the duration of the policy.
  • Decreasing term means that the death benefit drops, usually in one-year increments, over the course of the policy’s term.

In 2003, virtually all (97 percent) of the term life insurance bought was level term.

Whole Life/Permanent

Whole life or permanent insurance pays a death benefit whenever you die—even if you live to 100! There are three major types of whole life or permanent life insurance—traditional whole life, universal life, and variable universal life, and there are variations within each type.

In the case of traditional whole life, both the death benefit and the premium are designed to stay the same (level) throughout the life of the policy. The cost per $1,000 of benefit increases as the insured person ages, and it obviously gets very high when the insured lives to 80 and beyond. The insurance company could charge a premium that increases each year, but that would make it very hard for most people to afford life insurance at advanced ages. So the company keeps the premium level by charging a premium that, in the early years, is higher than what’s needed to pay claims, investing that money, and then using it to supplement the level premium to help pay the cost of life insurance for older people.

By law, when these “overpayments” reach a certain amount, they must be available to the policyholder as a cash value if he or she decides not to continue with the original plan. The cash value is an alternative, not an additional, benefit under the policy.

In the 1970s and 1980s, life insurance companies introduced two variations on the traditional whole life product—universal life insurance and variable universal life insurance.