auto insurance

January 27, 2017

The More You Know

Insurance can be one of the most confusing items in your life – but it shouldn’t be. If you know what questions to ask and can find someone to give you the right answers, you will find all the clarity you need. Here are some things we think you should know or ask in regards to various types of insurance:

What type of insurance do I need?
Once I have guaranteed replacement coverage for my home, do I need anything else?
If I have a home office/business, do I need any special insurance?
Does homeowner’s insurance cover me if, say, someone slips on my front steps, breaks a leg and sues me?
How do I decide the amount of coverage I want or need?
How much or how little is covered?
Should I just let the bank pick my policy?
How do I know if an item needs additional coverage?
Are all accidents in my home covered?
What discounts do I get if I have added safety features?
Is coverage for legal assistance included?
Is car insurance an absolute must?
What about life insurance?
How can I figure out how much life insurance I need?
Can I control the cost of coverage?
Does health insurance help if I’m sick or injured and laid up for a while?

There are so many other questions and items to consider for all of the various insurance you may need. We can answer all of those questions for you and give you the knowledge and control to enable you to make the most informed decisions.

January 20, 2017

Meet Debbie.

https://vimeo.com/157616296

Meet Debbie.
Debbie is going to share the story of Bob.

Bob was a man from a large family, with a lot of drive, and successful in business and at home life.
When Bob’s father died, he left his family penniless and Bob decided that he would never leave his own family in that same state of affairs. He made sure that he had insurance all of his life and was able to make it have a cash value that could be borrowed at a decent rate. This story is a real example of why it is so important to have life insurance.

January 9, 2017

Yes, You NEED Car Insurance

Have you ever been in a car accident? I have.
Luckily, I have never been at fault, but unfortunately, I have been hit more than once by a driver that didn’t have insurance.

Imagine this scenario:
You are the first car at a complete stop at the red light of a major intersection. While listening to your favorite radio station and waiting for the light to turn green, SMASH!
You get rear-ended.
The driver behind you was busy looking at a text on his cell phone and didn’t realize he needed to actually stop his car prior to hitting you.
Once the realization of the hit and whiplash registers, you step out of your car. There is severe damage to your vehicle, yet barely a dent to his. Of course. You start the process of exchanging information, but notice that he starts to get really uncomfortable. Clearly, he doesn’t have proper car insurance. In fact, he admits that he doesn’t have any auto coverage.

Car insurance is important and necessary.
Why?
To start, it is the law. Most states require that all drivers carry minimum liability coverage. Driving without insurance means you are breaking the law and if you get caught, it can result in substantial fines, increased insurance premiums, and even a suspended license. Outside of it being the law, your vehicle is a very important part of your life. They are an expensive investment that need protecting. You would probably have a very hard time functioning without your car. Cause an accident and be at fault – it could get so expensive that you can’t afford your other bills and worst-case scenario, have to file bankruptcy. Making a small monthly payment toward your total premium now, can save you a ton of money later on. HUGE expenses can results from being in a car accident. With over 6.5 million car accidents happening every year in America alone, you need the coverage for you, the car, the passengers, and property. It provides peace of mind knowing that you are financially protected and have the assistance of an insurance agent to help you through the claim process.

Do you still need other reasons?
Your car insurance provides a level of legal protection between you and other drivers that wouldn’t hesitate to sue you for even the most ridiculous reasons.
It also offers protection from the nasty acts of Mother Nature. Hail, flood, icicles piercing your windshield, swept up by a tornado, etc.…you really want to have that coverage in case Mother Nature strikes!
Bottom line – ALWAYS HAVE CAR INSURANCE!

November 4, 2016

Discounts Everywhere

Do you like discounts? I know I do! In fact, I don’t now anyone that doesn’t like to save money! There are numerous factors that can determine the type of discounts you are eligible to receive on your car insurance. Your gender, age, location, and driving record are the most common discounts that most of us either know about, hear about, and/or currently receive. However, the majority of us out there have no idea how many other discounts are available – and if we don’t know about them, then we can’t ask about them, and then we can’t receive them!

You can potentially get discounts for – age, gender, location, driving record, driving training courses, multiple vehicles, policy bundling, being a good student, maintaining low mileage, having a low-risk profession, having a public service career, holding a degree in a specifc occupation, have memberships to auto clubs, credit unions, alumni organizations ( and more), bing in the military, being a federal employee, paying your policy in full – and SO MUCH MORE.

That is nowhere near an all encompassing list of potential discounts. Speak to your insurance agent as soon as possible and see how much money you could be saving with all these “hidden” discounts!

September 26, 2016

Insurance Trackers

By now you have probably heard about those car insurance trackers – you know, the advertisements that talk about those little devices you somehow plug into your car so it can track how you drive and then determine how much you should par for your car insurance and what level of insurance you need…??

How do those work? Do they really serve as a way to save you money?

The device connects to the internal computer system of your vehicle and sifts through all the information and date until it finds what it needs to determine how safely you drive. This info is then sent directly and wirelessly to the insurance company that you opted in with for this program. Often times you have to use the tracker for at least six months. During this time period, the device tracks habits, speed, accidents, time spent driving, distances, level and rate of braking, and sometime even location.

There are pros and cons to using such a device. Many consumers find the tracker to be a success and saved money in the process. Others didn’t like the outcome, didn’t save ‘enough’ money, or didn’t find the process to be fair. As of now, nobody is required to utilize a tracking device. You best bet is to stay in contact with an insurance agent you trust and keep your car insurance updated at all times.

September 15, 2013

Bad Driving Practices That Will Give Your Insurance Agent A Heart Attack

I love my career. As an insurance agent in California, I get to work with many different people. Some people prefer to work in person and are very diligent at bringing the necessary paperwork. We develop close relationships and I enjoy getting to know them and their families. I also have clients who want to keep up with all the latest technologies and are full of joy to learn our office provides paperless documents. Here are stories about two of my favorite clients, Sheryl and Mike.

The Best Coffee in Los Angeles

While driving down the interstate to discuss reevaluating her family’s finances and insurance policies with me, my client Sheryl gives me a call. She was already in route and wanted to verify I was in the office. Now Sheryl is a very prompt individual. She is highly organized. Sheryl is one of my most valued clients because she believes in following everything to the letter. She has never been involved in an accident, has an excellent college and retirement plan, and takes ample insurance coverage. All of her insurance paperwork and pictures are filed electronically and updated whenever she makes new purchases. She is also a very frugal individual.

So it alarmed me a bit as she called, but she assured me she was wearing her seatbelt and using her Bluetooth which was hooked up in her truck. She told me she was passing a new coffee shop that opened and heard it was the best in Los Angeles. After I said, I’d like a cup, all I could hear was a skidding noise and horns honking. I asked Sheryl what was going on, she replied that she had to cut across the highway because this cup of coffee could probably save her on her premiums and she couldn’t afford to be late for our appointment, nor pay another toll.

Going Green to Go Red

So, my client Mike is a conservative and laid back fellow. He’s likes to treat himself well and have a good time. I was surprised to hear from Mike not long ago as he told me he was in a new relationship and believed he was falling in love. Mike really wanted to impress his new girlfriend as she was an environmentalist and always talked about green efforts.

So, without ado, Mike enrolled in the Beverly Hills Library and started taking a few computer courses to brush up on his skills. He figured he would start by recycling efforts at home and trying to reduce paper waste. He’d heard a lot of his friends were going paperless with their bills and paying them online, so he wanted to verify my office did the same. I told Mike we sure do and he can even print his insurance cards and we would not need to mail them. Mike was ecstatic. So I helped walk him through everything online and he was ready to go.

One afternoon, I get a call from Mike. Mike had received a ticket the night before. I asked him what had happened and he replied he was on his way to the airport to make a business meeting. He was running behind and speeding. However, he didn’t want to take a chance on being pulled over without his insurance card and left the one I walked him through printing online at home. Mike got pulled over for speeding and pulling his insurance card up online at the same time. Mike talked the officer out of the ticket for not having his insurance card as he h anded the laptop to the officer and told him he was holding his paperless version. However, Mike did get the speeding ticket.

August 7, 2013

Auto Insurance

When you are young, insurance does not matter to you. Not really. It is this thing your parents have, and that they pay for every month–often kicking and screaming. When you were a kid, you tended to hear your parents cursing their insurance agent over the premiums, not to his or her face, of course, but behind closed doors.

Your mom heard that Sara’s dad paid a much better price for their homeowners insurance than your parents did, and your mom was mad! Why couldn’t they get that deal? They argued about changing plans, changing agents, changing zip codes. Insurance sounded awful, and you had no idea what it really was. Home insurance, life insurance, health insurance, car insurance. Ah yes, car insurance. That’s where you started to pay attention, because one day you’d be driving that car.

And then one day you got your license and all hell broke loose. You remember that well, don’t you? Your parents complained about the price of their premiums doubling. You had no idea what that meant, and you didn’t really care, as long as you weren’t paying for it.

But then you moved out and had to start paying for car insurance on your own, and what an eye opening experience that was. Maybe you had to get a job, maybe you had to get a second job just to pay for your car, car insurance and gas. Whatever it was that you had to do, you remember that it definitely made you realize the value of that automobile! Perhaps you considered biking it or taking the bus, just so you could get rid of your car…but then you decided a car equaled freedom so you’d just have to keep going to work.

We all remember what that was like. The open road, your friends in tow…just heading to the mall, or nowhere. Maybe you grew up in a town ( and a time) where ‘cruising’ was a thing to do on the weekends…driving around aimlessly, just showing off the fact that you had a car?

And now, years later, you are the parent. You have the teenager that is about to go out and get his or her license. And you are dreading it, because now it has come full circle! You are your parents! Now it’s you that are about to put that ‘under 25’ driver on your auto insurance policy and you know what is going to happen to your premiums. You remember those arguments (discussions?) your parents had when they were putting you onto their insurance policy.

But don’t stress too much! It doesn’t have to eat you out of house and home anymore. If you shop around for the best rates, that will help. Also know that the type of car your son (or daughter? If you do have a daughter, lucky you! Lower rates!) drives reflects upon the premium. A pickup truck actually has lower premiums than a car, because less riders fit inside!

And if your child gets good grades in school, bonus! Many times you can get a discount based upon their grade point average! Score! There are options, there are solutions to the problem. Compare rates now and avoid ending up in tears each month.

August 17, 2012

When It Rains, It Pours

[youtube]http://youtu.be/qFPLldf1Ws8[/youtube]

This Mercury Moment was recounted by an African-American woman who returned to her home in Cheviot Hills after work to find a broken water pipe in her home. Already convinced of Mercury’s superior auto insurance coverage, she was happy to discover the company’s Homeowner’s Insurance Policy to be just as responsive and reliable. Individuals who hold both home and auto coverage through Mercury can save up to 15 percent in premium costs. Find out more and get a quote here.

June 29, 2012

Road Rage

Road rage. You hear about it, you know what it is, however when is the last time you actually were involved in it? Being in the insurance industry, you can bet that I hear about road rage, its effects on driving habits, premiums for auto insurance and so on. I’m a trained professional, so I would never fall into that trap I know so much about and take it out on another driver, or would I?

I’m driving home from the office, minding my own business. The street I’m driving on begins to narrow, well it always does that after all. However today there appears to be some parties in progress. There are rows of cars parked on both sides of the street and I immediately notice no less than ten valet scurrying up and down the street picking up and dropping off cars. Being the careful, well trained vehicle operator that I am, I slow down for safety.

After a few moments, I’m at a complete halt; not really much of a choice with cars on both side of the already narrow street and people walking around and valet personnel hopping and jumping about. Soon I’m inching my way up, taking turns with cars coming down the street, I pull to the left, the car passes, I migrate up a car length while the opposing traffic does the dose-e-do with me. This is the safe, polite and in all truth only way to slowly crawl up the street and we’ve all done it before. Haven’t we?

From what appears to me as out of the blue, a car whips around the corner and I would have sworn connected its front bumper to my rear bumper. As I’m inching my way along, this car is for all intense and purposes, attached to me. After a few duck and cover operations trading space to let oncoming cars go by and then moving along myself, this car, or more accurately this driver starts honking at me. It’s a shame that a car horn only signify objects in front of you and not behind, because if I had the ability to honk back at him, I would certainly have opted to do so.

After honking at me for a solid minute give or take, I would have loved to let him pass, however alas, there is barely enough room for one car to get by let alone one car pass another. So, I do what any conscientious law abiding driver would do – I stop. Completely stop and wait for my little attached to my bumper tumor to take a few breaths and relax. Sure, in hindsight, I can see how this would probably not accomplish that at all, and in fact it didn’t. It royally pissed this guy off.

Being the uber-social fella I am, I figure if I roll down my window and wave to him, smile, perhaps make the “calm down” gesture, he will get my drift and actually, well, calm down and relax. After rolling my window down I do just that and wouldn’t you know it, I can hear him, well, saying, cursing at any rate, trying to communicate back to me. Ok, so maybe I should just keep moving then. So I keep moving up, stop, pull to the right let a car go by, go up a little more, rinse and repeat.

At long last I make it to a place where there actually is room for a car to get around me, apparently a spot a valet didn’t yet fill and my little growth takes the opportunity to speed right around me. I’m expecting “the look” or worse, so I put on my best and most friendly smile. Instead of any communication human to human, he instead pulls infront of me and slams on his breaks bringing me and all cars behind to a halt. I can’t say screeching halt, as much as that would make this sound so much more dramatic, after all we are only going a few miles an hour at best. I sigh and say to myself, ok, get it out of your system and we’ll all move on. Sure enough, after a minute or so and people behind me begin to honk, he starts moving along. All is forgotten and we’re all moving along again, same pace, just a new leader in the pack, him.

Uh oh. Now he pulls over and waits to be passed. I exhale and just drive on past, not even turning my head to engage him. Sadly, he is not ready to live and let live. Tires smoking leaps behind my car, almost hitting the car that was behind me and again re-attaches his front bumper, fugitively speaking, to my rear bumper. Now I’m spooked. I’m not going to let this dude follow me to my front door, so I take the first opportunity to turn on to a street, hoping he will pass. Nope. No dice, he turns with me.

With my luck for the day, I have turned onto a cul-de-sac and have no choice but to turn around and head back and surprise surprise he has pulled over and rolled his window down to have a little chit-chat with me. So be it. I slowly pull up, with no other option, and our two driver windows are only a foot apart. I stop and open my window.

He asks what I was doing, and although I think it was pretty self evident, I decide to give him an honest answer. I tell him I was driving carefully up the street. He says I was holding up all the traffic, and I explain to him that I was really going as fast as was physically possible and he really should just relax, it’s always better to drive and error on the side of caution. Next he wants to know why I had the “audacity” to stop in front of him. Again, I smiled and gave him an honest answer, “to give you a few seconds to calm down.” He tilts his head to the side studying me to see if I’m serious and then smiles and says, “ok, well take care and have a great day.” Not even the slightest hint of sarcasm in his voice either, oddly enough. I pay him the same respect back and we both pull away.

I notice he drives the other way, back down the street, meaning he actually was following me, at least for a while to follow me, not to get to anywhere specific in the direction I was traveling. That won’t give me too many nightmares.

At the end of all of this, I’m left in my driveway thinking it all over. What did I do wrong, where did I go wrong? Leave a comment below and you tell me who you think was in the right, or wrong.

Karl Susman, Agent

June 11, 2012

Taking cars

I came across an interesting article about Cars talking to each other to avoid a collision. Imagine you are driving along and your car is always driving with you. I’m not talking about steering or cruise control, I mean it is there, aware, talking to all of the other cars around you. If you are at an intersection and somebody is jumping a red light, your car would know before you could even see it, because the other car is talking to your car, and in turn, your car is telling you of the danger. What are the insurance ramifications of this? Would you get a discount on your auto insurance for having such a safety feature in your car? What if it failed, would you have a claim against the manufacturer of the device? The future is coming fast and the insurance industry will, no doubt, be there with you. Be sure to ask for your Autonomous Driver discount today!

Karl Susman, Agent

The More You Know

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