So, what is what?

Most people approach buying auto and home insurance with great trepidation. After years of dealing with customers, I understand that apprehension; most consumers don't buy insurance all of the time, and when you don't do something very often it's easy to get overwhelmed by the confusing terms and unfamiliar coverage that you are offered when you shop for insurance.

So today I am going to unconfuse you. Today is auto insurance, we will deal with home insurance next time.

All policies start with "Liability" coverage. This is your liability to others; if you are in an accident and at fault, this coverage will pay for the bodily injury and property damage of the people you ran into while you were texting, or eating, or whatever you were doing instead of driving. This coverage is generally denoted with three numbers, as follows;
30/60/25
The first two numbers represent the Bodily Injury coverage "Per Person/Per Accident"
The third number is the property damage coverage to others - the damage you can do to their property.
The higher these three numbers, the less you have to worry about. I keep mine high so I can do just about as much damage as I please.

Next, we generally have "Uninsured/Underinsured" coverage. This is split like liability, but it covers you and your passengers in the event of an accident with someone who either doesn't have insurance - or more likely, doesn't have enough. Higher is good on this, too.

After that we have PIP - or Personal Injury Protection. Read more about that here.

After PIP we come to your deductibles. These are generally between $100 and $1000. You actually have two types of deductibles; comprehensive and collision. Your comprehensive deductible covers anything other than collision, and collision coverage is pretty self explanatory. The deductible represents the amount of the claim that you must pay for before they repair or replace your vehicle. Lots of people advise higher deductibles, and if you can pay  a higher deductible without it putting you out on the street, then save some money up front. However, look at all of your pricing options before you choose a high deductible, because it might not save as much as you think.

Finally, you have towing and rental reimbursement. Most companies now offer "roadside assistance" as part of their towing coverage, so be sure and ask about that. I also recommend paying a couple of extra dollars for higher rental reimbursement coverage, to make sure you don't end up in a rollerskate if you have an accident.

Whew. Not too much fun today, but I'd rate this as one of our more helpful blogs. Now take this knowledge I have given you and take on the world - you could call someone else and shop, or you could just call us. I'd prefer the second option. 214-253-0570.

Wind in your hair, cash in your pocket.

I know that lots of you out there drive convertibles, but do you have the right kind of coverage? Do have a high comprehensive deductible? If so, have you considered this possibility?

That, my friends, is a cut roof. That happens when someone thinks that they deserve your things more than you do, and they take their knife out of their lowlife pocket and cut your roof and take your stuff.

If you have a low deductible (as I am suggesting) then you can call your insurance company, have a low out of pocket on your repair, and move on down the road, remembering to park in brighter lighted lots in the future.

When you buy insurance, you need to keep in mind the kind of risks that you are most likely to encounter in order to cover your property properly. You either need to think about it yourself, or call an expert (like us - preferably us, in fact) and let that expert guide you in your purchase. In our increasingly DIY world, The Phoenix is one place where you can get the advice and service that you deserve. We are here to advise you how best to invest your insurance premium dollars; give us a call and see how easy it can be to buy insurance.

Fun coverage.

I'm sure that most of you look at the title of this blog and say to yourself, "Fun insurance coverage? No such thing."

Maybe I used the wrong word there. Perhaps "fun" isn't the right word. Obviously, if you are going to use your insurance, there is nothing "fun" about having a loss that requires you to make a claim. Rather than "fun", let's say there are some coverages out there that are unique - and can be valuable.

For instance, one of our companies offers cell phone insurance as part of their auto policy. That is a zero deductible coverage for your cell phone; lose it, break it, have someone steal it, it's covered, automatically, at no cost to you. That's kind of a "fun" coverage. In my opinion anyway. Another great coverage available to you on several different companies' auto policies is roadside assistance. This one is also not really "fun", because when you are using it, you are stranded somewhere. Then again if you have this coverage, you won't ever be stranded anymore, so that's fun.

Auto policies aren't the only policies with "fun" coverage. One of our favorite new companies is Universal, and they have an interesting coverage that will replace your appliances, should they break down. It only costs $50 a year, but it works much like a home warranty. That's kind of fun, not having to worry about your appliances breaking down.

I think the most "fun" coverage of all is the one that doesn't cost you any MORE, that's for sure. Generally, when we are quoting people, we do our best to ensure that they have all of the coverage that they really need - and hopefully some extra coverage that they will never need. We also hope that during that process we can put some money back in their pockets. More often than not, we do.

That's the part that I find fun, to be honest. Fun like a waterslide on a hot day.

Ring a ding ding ding.

I know that most of you aren't in the habit of calling your insurance agent very often, but today, I want you to pick up the phone and call his or her office. I'm going to guess that one of two things will happen; some processor or secretary will pick up, or you will have to sit through a phone tree to actually talk to someone.

Now pick up your phone and call up The Phoenix Insurance. 214-253-0570. Go ahead, I'll wait.

So how did that work out? I'm willing to bet that you got an answer before the end of the first ring. That's not usual, for sure. I'm also willing to bet that the person that answered is a licensed insurance agent. Not a processor, not a secretary, not an answering service, but a real live person, who knows about insurance, and who knows how to assist you - immediately.

We figure that your time is precious, and we think that if you are going to have an insurance agent you should be able to get in touch with them right away. It's just that simple. In fact, we think that you are already spending too much time on hold when you call your cable company, or your bank, or your internet provider, or just about anyone really. Truth be told, I spend about half of my day on hold for my clients, getting questions answered, changing coverage, and getting billing adjusted. I don't mind ("The Girl From Ipanema" is one of my favorite songs, so I love being on hold) and in fact, when I have successfully navigated a phone tree, I feel accomplished. I feel like I gave that client that many more minutes back, and we all know how precious time is.

So why not give us a call? Meet your hold proxy, and see how valuable we are to you. Not just in dollars and cents, but in minutes and hours. We do insurance, sure, but we also spend time on hold so you don't have to.
I'll also make a pledge to you - no matter how good a company's hold music is, we won't let that sway our decision. We will still put you where you fit best.

Home is where the art is.

Like you, I have some nice stuff - in our house we have some art (yeah, I'm pretty fancy), some jewelry (I like my grille icy, yo) and some collectible things that have some serious value (I'm big into Beanie Babies - they represent at least 50% of my investment portfolio).
As someone who has such incredible things, I make sure that they are covered on my insurance by scheduling them on my homeowner's policy. When you schedule items on your homeowner's insurance, you protect them with an "agreed value" - what they are worth is guaranteed, so that in the event of a loss you can be made whole by the insurance company. While you do have personal property coverage standard on your insurance policy, things that have high value may not be covered completely - things like jewelry and art have coverage limit caps. By scheduling such items, you are just telling the company in advance of a loss that you have these things, and that their value is "x". One of the best things about scheduling items is that by doing so you set them outside your deductible, so you can get full value in the event of a loss - and they are also covered if you just lose them.

Scheduling items isn't just for jewelry, art, or collectibles; you can also schedule sporting goods (and doing that insures them against breakage as well), guns, cameras, electronics, and much more. I don't see as many scheduled items as I should, in my opinion - take a look around your house and asses what you own. If you live the kind of opulent lifestyle that we do at my house, you should talk to your agent about scheduling some of your things. Better yet, call us and let us help you understand the kind of coverage that is available to you. Why pay for insurance if you aren't going to maximize its value to you? 214-253-0570

Selfish for you.

So, I love money. I'll just put that right out front, before we even get started. Why do you need to know that about me? About all of us over here at The Phoenix insurance, really. It's important to know that because we all think that you feel the same way. So we save you as much money as we can on your insurance premiums by looking at a bunch of different options and companies. We do all of that just because we love saving people money so much. We revel in it here, telling each other war stories. "I saved her 21% a year" or "I packaged everything and he saved $900 a year..."

That is how we try to impress each other around the office. Do we make these savings for our clients by taking coverage off of their policies? Absolutely not. Usually we end up giving even more coverage for the dollar, protecting them and their stuff even better at a better price. We are greedy over here, but we are doing it for you. Selflessly selfish, that's us. Call us today and see.

PIP Oh, woe is me.

Personal Injury Protection - what is it, and why should I get it?

PIP is a coverage designed to help you pay medical bills in the event of an accident, regardless of fault. Even better, PIP can be used even if you are not in your car; if you are cycling, jogging, or even waiting for the valet at your fancy restaurant. the greatest thing about PIP, in our opinion, is that it cannot be recovered if there is another coverage that pays medical bills.

I hear you out there scratching your heads - let me explain. If you are in an accident and have "medpay" coverage in the amount of $5000, that coverage would pay out for you immediately. However, if your health insurance pays in addition to that, or if the other insured's insurance pays for your medical bills, then the $5000 in medical payments coverage is taken off of the top - basically, you have to pay your benefits back. On the other hand, with PIP coverage, that money is also paid out immediately by your insurance, but it is not recoverable. If some other insurance company pays your medical bills, your PIP money stays in your pocket - they do not attempt to recover from anyone paying out. An easy way to look at it is that "medpay" coverage is a loan, while PIP is money that you get to keep.

The cost of PIP is generally a few dollars more (literally) for a policy term than the cost of Medical Payments  coverage - but it's a better way to spend your insurance money in the long run, if you are looking for some sort of bodily injury coverage.

Call us today and talk to an agent; we are more than happy to help you understand what you are purchasing, and more importantly, why you are purchasing it. Here at The Phoenix we are ready to serve you, and even more ready to put some money back in your pocket. Why not take a few minutes and see just how much we can save you?