What to do in case of an Accident:

Your Professional, Massachusetts, Independent Insurance Agent offers:

What to do in case of an auto accident:

  1. Stop. Be Courteous. Stay Calm. Your interest will be served best if you are courteous and engage in no controversy at the scene of the accident.
  2. If there is significant damage to any of the vehicles or any potential injuries call 9-1-1 immediately.
  3. Get the names fo the owners and drivers involved. Get license numbers, telephone numbers, and registration (plate) numbers.
  4. Get the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of witnesses.
  5. Express no opinion as to who was at fault. Give no information except for as required by the authorities. Do not sign any statements unless required by authorities.
  6. For prompt claims help:

Contact your Professional, Massachusetts, Independent Insurance Agent.

Home Insurance Primer

Home insurance rates have been going up across the country. The best way to save money on your home insurance is to package it with your auto insurance.

The first step for home insurance is figuring out the appropriate amount of coverage. Your Coverage A, Dwelling, amount should represent the “Replacement Cost” of your home. This should be the amount that it would take to rebuild your home if you were to suffer a catastophic loss. The “Replacement Cost” or Dwelling Amount should not be confused with the home’s Market Value.

Once you have the “Dwelling Amount,” the next three parts (B, C, & D) are usually percentages of this coverage amount.

 For example:

Coverage A, Dwelling, amount:                                                                      $300,000

Coverage B, Other Structures (10% of Coverage A amount):                   $30,000

Coverage C, Personal Property (70% of Coverage A w/Replacment)      $210,000

Coverage D, Loss of Use (20% of Coverage A amount):                             $60,000

Home insurance also provides you Liability Coverage (Parts E & F).

Part E, Personal Liability Coverage, protects you from on and off-premises liability claims against you & family members. We recommend limits of $500,000 per occurrence and we recommend you consider Personal Liability Umbrella Coverage that sits over these and your auto limits.

Part F, Medical Payments Coverage, is usually in the amount of $1,000 or $2,000. If provides Medical Payments coverage for anyone (except household members) injured on your property.  

For savings, we recommend you compare deductibles from: $500, $1,000 & $2,500 deductibles. 

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Personal Liability Umbrella

When it rains it pours. Especially, it seems once you’ve been at fault in a serious car accident. Do you have Umbrella Coverage? If you are unsure, then you probably don’t have a Personal Liability Umbrella policy.

A Personal Liability Umbrella Policy “sits-over” your home and auto liability limits. Coverage starts at $1,000,000 and provides you protection from lawsuits.

Coverage is relatively inexpensive to purchase. $1,000,000 of coverage, sitting over two autos and a home, would cost about $180 annually.

Umbrella Policies require underlying motor vehicle liability limits of $250,000 per person/$500,000 per accident.

In addition  to coverage limits, insurance companies provide legal defense. So, when you purchase higher limits you are also purchasing improved legal defense.

Auto Accident Surcharges in MA

In Massachusetts, unless combined damage is less than $500, drivers that are found “at-fault” are assessed points. If over $2,000 is paid out the accident is considered “major” and 4 points are applied to the driver’s driving record. If less than $2,000 is paid out then the accident is considered “minor” and 3 points are applied. If less than $500, there are no surcharge points.

There are two burdens of proof when it comes to an at-fault accident. The first burden of proof is with the insurance company. Who, in the accident, was more at fault. There are certain “rules of the road” that assit claim handlers when deciding fault. Some example of “at fault” accidents are: taking a left hand turn, pulling out of a parking space, leaving a stop or yield sign, rear-ending someone,  or being in a single vehicle collision. If you have broken one of these “rules of the road,” then you will, most likely, be found “at-fault” for the auto accident.

Once you have deemed found “at-fault” for an accident by the insurance, you will receive a surcharge notice from The Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The second burden of proof is with the state. Unlike the insurance companies that deem someone at-fault (unless the accident is considered a 50%-50%) for an accident, the state will consider contributing factors in the accident when it comes to applying the surcharge.

In other words, if you rear end someone in an auto accident, your insurance company will find you “at-fault” for the accident and they will have to pay for damages. You will then receive a surcharge notice from the state. For a fee of $50 you can appeal the surcharge. If the accident was weather related, we always recommend our clients fight the surcharge. If there were other contributing factors, such as, ice, snow, rain, sun in the eyes, or the other vehicle suddenly stopped short because a family of ducks were crossing and you rear-ending the other party was unavoidable, then you stand a real good chance of winning the appeal. 

If you have been surcharged for an accident, and if you believe you were less than 50% at-fault, you may contact the Massachusetts Merit Rating Board to appeal.

Merit Rating Board @ 617-351-4400

MAIA Cautions Consumers About Progressive Quotes

On May 6, 2008 The Massachusetts Association of Insurance Agents issued a bulletin to member Agencies regarding their press release cautioning consumers about Progressive Insurance’s auto insurance quotes. As a consumer service, the bulletin is as follows:  

MAIA Cautions Consumers About Progressive Quotes;

Files Formal Complaint With DOI

Today, MAIA issued a press release to every daily newspaper in the state cautioning consumers about serious issues with quotes received from the Progressive Direct website. After initial reports of “dirt cheap” rates, MAIA took a long, hard look at the quotes produced by the site.

According to MAIA President and CEO Frank Mancini, “Our review of the quotes provided by Progressive reminds us of the old saying, ‘it it looks too good to be true, it probably is.’ Consumers should use extreme caution when requesting online quotes because a computer doesn’t ask the questions a live person would ask to be sure you are adequately protected.”

Since many of MAIA’s issues with the website are believed to be serious violations of the managed competition regulation, MAIA has also filed a formal complaint with Commissioner Nonnie Burnes and notified Attorney General Martha Coakley and Undersecretary of the Office of Consumer Affairs & Business Regulation Daniel Crane of the violations.

The most flagrant violations include:

  • Progressive requires anyone requesting a quote to provide their social security number, gender, recent military service and marital status. The quote process also informs applicants that Progressive obtains credit reports and credit scoring information, which is prohibited in Massachusetts for both rating and underwriting purposes.

  • Progressive acknowledges that Massachusetts law requires that every insurer offer twelve-month term private passenger motor vehicle insurance policies at the consumer’s option, yet there is nowhere on the Progressive site where a consumer may exercise that option. When questioned on the phone about a twelve-month policy, a Progressive representative admitted that twelve-month policies are not available.

  • Comparative quotes of Progressive rates with the rates of other companies writing auto
    insurance in Massachusetts are inaccurate and use a policy term of six months which is not
    available from any other insurance company in Massachusetts. While other insurance company quotes include an indication of the impact of your driving record in terms of surcharges for atfault accidents and conviction of traffic violations and credits for good driving, the Progressive quote does not appear to include merit rating information.

We have posted the complete text of the MAIA press release on our website, and you may access it by clicking here.

It is imperative that the information in this press release be seen by as many consumers as possible, and we need your help with this. If you have contacts with your local daily and weekly newspapers, please walk the press release into your contact as soon as possible. Offer to answer any questions your contact or consumer reporters have, or refer them to us if you’re not comfortable in that role.

We have also posted a copy of our complaint letter to the Commissioner on massagent.com. You may access this document by clicking here.

Click here to see a copy of the MAIA’s letter to The Commissioner of Insurance, Nonnie Burnes regarding Progressive Insurance.

 

Kids & Cars

Our Agency recommends that parents, in order to best protect assets, consider registering and insuring a vehicle in their child’s name.  In Massachusetts parents are provided 100% insulation from lawsuits arising from bodily injury or property damage claims.

Mass. MGL Chapter 231, section 85A: “If a car is registered to the child and the child gets into an accident causing personal injury and/or property damage, there is no reponsibility on the parent. It does not make any difference who bought the car or who pays for the insurance, or how old the child is so long as we are talking about negligence.”

On this basis it might make sense for parents to consider insuring a vehicle in their child’s name.?

Advanced Driver Training

Advanced Driver Training

By far, the number one killer of teens is automobile accidents. Our Agency, Johnson & Rohan Insurance, promotes safe driving amoung teens and we promote In Control Advanced Driver Training Center. As part of our promotion, one of our companies (Safety Insurance) supplements the cost of the In Control class. Instead of paying the standard rate of $299, Safety insureds pay only $75. In addition, they receive a 5% Open Group discount (Safe Roads Alliance Application Form). 

If you would like to discuss, please give us a call at: 1-800-491-1414. Please feel free to use our “Get A Quote” form to get different coverage and premium options from us.  

Massautoquote.com

Ma Auto Insurance & the little, green lizard

Never in the history of the Massachusetts Professional, Independent Insurance Agent community, have five letters been so feared.

Not, “t-h-e-f-t.”

Not, “f-r-a-u-d.”

And no, not, “c-l-a-i-m.”

I am talking about “G-E-I-C-O.”

Not since my childhood Godzilla days, have I been so scared of a lizard.

For years they have advertised in our proud, Commonwealth and for years I have smugly told customers, “GEICO? They don’t even write insurance in Massachusetts!”

Nationally they don’t use Independent Agents, either.

They use call centers and service centers and they don’t write home insurance.

When you work with an Independent, Professional Insurance Agent you are working with someone who who has your best interest in mind. You are working with someone who will shop your insurance with many different companies to get you the best rate. You are working with someone who is your advocate at claim time. Who, at GEICO, works as your advocate? Who, at GEICO, sells multi-lines of insurance and shops your insurances with many different companies?

Like the chilly winds of our Massachusetts’ autums, it seems inevitable that GEICO is coming. When? I don’t know. 2009? 2010 at the latest, is my guess.

For now, it is up to the Independent Insurance Agent, to get the best rates for our clients, to package policies and to round accounts. It is time to save our clients money. It is time to advise and to advocate. It is time to demonstrate our value.

Rate Review Reality Check

Here we are, Massachusetts, 18 days into “Managed Competition.” Seems like 18 months.

The other day I was (sort of but not really) bragging about this Massachusetts Auto Insurance BLOG and I was told that my four posts were not enough. Shocked, I was told that I need to BLOG more.  BLOG more? “Dude, it’s a BLOG and you’re my insurance guy.” 

Besides still not being quite sure what a BLOG is (Wikopedia tells me that it’s a “Web Log”), I do know that our Agency has been going crazy learning new rating software, quoting & re-quoting auto and home insurance, applying new discounts and programs, sending out renewals, transferring customers, cancelling policies, writing new business and, probably, drinking too much coffee. 

However, and in an effort to BLOG more, I present a Rate Review Reality Check:

18 days into our new “Managed Competition” auto insurance system and , I think, MA consumers are doing pretty well.

I have, however, seen some very real auto insurance rate casualties:

We have a client that lives in Lynn that renewed last year for $1,168. This year: $1,357.

We have a client that lives in Dorchester that renewed two vehicles last year at $2,960. This year: $3,031.

We have a young married couple (licensed less than six years with 4 points & 10 points on their licenses) and their premium (two vehicles) went from $3,201 to $3,498.

So far it appears that new drivers, drivers with points, drivers that live in urban areas and those without a “companion policy” are the ones that are not going to enjoy the heavily advertised discounts.

Added Value

It seems to me that for the past thirty years, or so, Massachusetts insurance consumers and Professional, Massachusetts Independent Agents have been pushed around by the insurance industry. Enjoying “state set” auto insurance rates, Massachusetts bloated to the fourth highest auto insurance rates in the country and whithered to only 19 auto insurance carriers. I believe the handwriting was on the wall a number of years ago, Massachusetts auto insurance rates plummeted 26% over the past three years. As of April 1, 2008 Massachusetts moved to a “managed competition” system. This move has been good for most consumers with a statewide decrease in auto rates of almost 8%. The rate casualties seem to be those with 10 or more points on their license and new drivers.

With all the industry changes and as a small business owner, I have found myself working harder and working longer. My wife and three babies wonder who this tie-wearing, slightly stressed out, stranger is.  I continue to ask myself, as an Independent Insurance Agency: “Do we add value?” The emphatic answer: YES.

Unlike the Liberty Mutuals and The Amicas, we write insurance with many different companies. We represent our clients, as opposed to representing the companies that we place business with. We spend the time to find out which companies are the best fit for our clients. Some companies have more of an appetite for new drivers, some more of an appetite for the home and auto “account business.”

We are here for our customers whenever they have a claim problem or a billing question. We also offer free Registry of Motor Vehicles service.

We are Professional Insurance Advisors that have the best interest of our customers in mind. We offer multiple lines of insurance and as our customers lives change we are here to assist with all their insurance needs. 

Your Independent Insurance Agent should offer a lifetime of insurance products and services:

Parents put their newly licensed child on their auto policy, the child buys his first car, he moves out of the house and gets an apartment, he opens a business, buys an engagement ring, gets married, buys a home, has a child, buys life insurance, puchases a personal liability umbrella policy, gets rich, buys a vacation property, buys the ’65 Mustang Shelby GT350, and retires.

We are here to help every step of the way.