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Oregon Department of Insurance and Its Activities

admin — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:36:20 +0000

The state of Oregon has a Department of Insurance. The Oregon Department of Insurance provides the perfect forum for information on insurance. This is one of the unique features that only a few states like Oregon provide to its residents. It is a lot different as you know when it is a particular state that takes hold of a particular service in the community. It gives the community more assurance that they are investing their money wisely on insurance companies that are under the control of the state. Also, it creates a feeling that should anything turn out behind the expectation, there is a state that they can channel their concern.

The Oregon Department of Insurance was primarily created to give the public accurate information about insurance system. This information includes the insurance company available and the coverage that they offer. This information is supposed to help them make good insurance decisions. This is to avoid much of the common insurance frauds committed by insurers to the expense of the unknowing purchaser of the insurance policy. Aside from this, if you have concerns regarding your insurance policy of the insurance company itself, then the department listens and takes appropriate action on complaints about insurance companies.

The Oregon Department of Insurance takes an active role in the insurance industry. The department creates administrative rules that are related to insurance while the state creates statutes. Another activity that the department undertakes is to inform the public about insurance companies and provide further consumer information and company information. The department receives complaints and sends out forms. It also has forms on rates, consumer complaints, insurer forms and miscellaneous forms. To keep the public updated, the department has a publication that you can view on their website or order in print form. In the department’s website is a license directory through which the public can browse through and get information about companies. To make their administrative rules more responsive to the situation, the department holds out public meetings.

The insurance industry can be confusing and very technical. A lot of people come at a great disadvantage for lack of knowledge about the matter. The public in Oregon should be glad about the care that their state has shown to them especially in the insurance industry. Take advantage of Oregon department of insurance’s work by visiting their website.

By: Anthony Thedford

General Contractor Liability Insurance

admin — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 09:58:16 +0000

Normally, it is difficult for general contractors to work without general insurance. General contractor liability insurance is intended to guard operators and owners of companies from claims that may come from a broad spectrum of sources. These exposures could be just about anything, including liability engendered by accidents from the operations of the insured party, contractual liability, products manufactured by the insured party, etc.

The liability you select, whether it is one, two, or three million dollars, determines the cost of general contractor liability insurance. Also factored into the rates the rates are the kind of work undertaken, gross receipts and total payroll expenses. Similar to auto insurance, when it comes to general contractor liability insurance, you will first have to make a down payment and then follow it up with installments. Before buying general contractor liability insurance, it is best to compare the quotes available in the market.

It is the general contractor’s job to make sure that the people working under him are covered by an insurance policy. If for example, a person who is not a part of the project gets injured, the injured person’s lawyer can target just about anyone involved in the project. The more individuals that are involved, the greater the chances of a successful lawsuit.

The General Contractor will have to make sure that all his subcontractors have general liability insurance. If they have the necessary insurance the liability exposure, and the insurance rate, is distinctly reduced. Generally, the subcontractor is not considered an employee; he is an independent worker. So, the contractor is not liable for his subcontractor’s mistakes. Still, a lawyer worth his salt can find ways to charge anybody working on the project with negligence. Thus, liability insurance for everyone becomes imperative.

By: Steve Valentino

Why Is Insurance Good To have?

admin — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 18:15:29 +0000

Perhaps you are wondering why you need to have insurance. After all, you may be young and healthy, so why pay the money for an insurance policy? The answer to this question varies depending on the type of insurance your considering, but as a whole insurance is an important part of your financial plan.

First, some types of insurance are required by law or by lenders. If you have a mortgage, for instance, your lender will require you to have homeowners insurance. Lenders and state laws require auto coverage as well. For this reason, you really do not have a choice about purchasing auto insurance.

Insurance protects you from the things that you cannot anticipate. Accidents, natural disasters, or unexpected illnesses can strike without warning. The medical bills, repair bills, and other expenses caused by these events could wipe out your finances completely. Consider, for instance, if your home were to catch on fire. If you did not have insurance, you would have to pay for all of the repairs and replace all of your belongings out of your own pocket. Chances are you do not have this type of money.

Health insurance is one of the most common types of insurance to ignore, particularly for those who are in good health. Health insurance is expensive, but if you end up with cancer or some other devastating illness, you will not be able to afford the necessary treatment without health insurance. Cancer treatment, for instance, can cost millions of dollars. Without insurance, you would not be able to get access to the treatment that could potentially save your life.

Life insurance is another product you may not want to purchase. However, if you die without it, those you leave behind will have to pay thousands of dollars for your funeral expenses. You can purchase a small policy for an affordable price and be able to protect your loved ones after your death. As you can see, insurance is important for a variety of reasons, and living without it is a dangerous gamble that you should not make.

By: Cary Bergeron

Best Cheap Home Insurance – Home Insurance Tips

admin — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 12:15:03 +0000

Lately hurricanes are becoming frequent so some major home insurance companies have stopped writing policies in Tampa and other places where these natural disasters are heating more. This is shrinking the insurance market in places like Lutz and Wesley chapel and as a result home owners are finding it very difficult now to get comfortable rates. The only option that is open to home owners now is to go to websites, source for insurance companies and compare their rates.

Now you are not buying insurance policy online, you are only comparing the rates they offer e.g. some companies have telephone numbers that are toll free which you can use to reach an agent, make all your inquiries and get all your questions answered free of charge.

Be wise and combine your insurance. This means that you can buy all your insurance policies in one company in Wesley chapel and discover that you are saving between ten to thirty percent on the cost of your insurance and for those who may have raised up their deductibles this savings will make up for the higher deductibles.

Don’t buy an insurance policy for a land in Tampa or Lutz; only insure your possessions and your home. Make sure you put your burglars’ belt and whistles, smoke dictators, fire extinguishers, dead bolts and other security devices in place and you will be surprised that these will also earn you some good discount on your home owners insurance. There are many helpful information for you on how to secure your home…

Where to start online?

By: Iyke Phelim

How To Seek Private Unemployment Insurance

admin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 02:25:59 +0000

There are some people who extend their unemployment benefits by using private unemployment plans. There are several private companies that offer unemployment insurance. You can receive a pay out for a small monthly fee should you become unemployed through no fault of your own. In this article we will discuss the pitfalls and things you need to look out for when you purchase private unemployment insurance.

Before taking out a private unemployment insurance policy check to see what their claim recovery rate is. If they only ever pay out on 30 percent of their claims then you should look elsewhere. They are legally obligated to give you this information so do not be afraid to ask for it.

Think twice before signing a policy that has a lot of pages. You may want to have someone you trust go through it with you. A lot of pages in a policy could be an indication that there are hidden things in the Unemployment Insurance Agreement. There is no reason why you cannot be given a short document with everything outlined in layman’s terms.

Many times companies will only pay out if you were laid off, not fired. Make sure you understand the conditions in which your company will pay out. Some companies will try to hide this with clever language. If full comprehensive unemployment insurance is what you want then make sure this is what you are getting. There are several companies that offer this and will pay out provided you did not quite your job or were not fired for gross misconduct.

If you want accident or sickness coverage with your policy again make sure you understand the terms and conditions. Some companies will only pay out with a very expensive specialist diagnosis. Try to find a company that will pay simply by seeing your doctor.

By: Leonard Garrett

Loan Payment Insurance Protects Unemployment and Incapacity

admin — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 05:16:42 +0000

None of us know what lies around the corner and if we have commitments to payout each month it makes sense to do everything we can to ensure that we would be financially secure. One way of protecting any loan or credit card repayments you have to make is to take out loan payment insurance. A policy can be taken with a standalone provider to give you a sum of money each month so you are able to maintain your outgoings.

Loan insurance has earned a bad name in the past since it was revealed that many policies have been mis-sold and consumers were unable to claim on them when needed. It has also been called over priced with high street lenders raking in

Digital Insurance

admin — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 06:42:30 +0000

With the advent of downloadable content on the internet and the rise of social networking websites, our buying habits have gone through a change when it comes to purchasing music.

With a wide range of mp3 players on the market and a variety of methods for selecting and downloading music, the choice for consumers is endless.

As we move away from the world of CDs and film reels into an age where music and photographs are stored and shared digitally, so the value of the data we keep on our computers is on the increase.

As a result, the risk of loss and theft has also increased, many now leave the house with packed music players and laptops – which may contain music files that run into thousands of pounds and priceless personal photographs and images for business purposes.

The thought of such equipment, and the data contained on it, being lost or stolen is enough to send a shiver down the spine of any music lover, graphic designer or social networking addict.

Whilst you are able to include electrical equipment – such as stereos and computers – on your home insurance policy, newer equipment such as mp3 players were not usually included in the list of contents that are covered by their policies.

However, many insurance companies are now beginning to include digital content – such as music, digital photographs and video game files – as part of home contents cover.

Keeping a record of your downloads can be crucial when it comes to making a claim, usually this can be done by e-mail – so printing the receipts and keeping them safe can be very beneficial should anything happen to your computer.

In order to ensure that your digital data is kept safe and secure, it’s best to keep a backup of all your important data. Its also essential to ensure that you have updated anti-virus software installed on your computer, for your cover might not extend to loss and damage as a result of a computer virus.

External hard-drives are becoming more freely available and cheaper to purchase, so it can be worth buying one to give yourself a bit of reassurance and to keep your most important data secure.

It’s always best to check with your contents insurance provider to see if there is the potential to cover your digital data. Many companies will offer the chance to insure your files as an add-on to your existing policy.

By: David Collins

Pollution Liability Insurance

admin — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 12:17:17 +0000

Pollution liability insurance is known as “pollution incidents”" in the insurance world. There is a thought to suggest that this insurance policy came into picture following the great amount of asbestos litigation in the 1970s. It was around that time that insurers thought it better to do away with pollution liability insurance in general policies and instead offer it independently.

Pollution liability insurance protects you in two ways: one is when the pollution takes place on your property; the other is when you suffer losses resulting from pollution on somebody else’s property. In such cases, it is the insurer’s responsibility to recover costs from the party that caused the incident. Conversely, your policy pays for damages you may cause to other properties.

The most general use of pollution insurance is to protect lenders, buyers and sellers in property transactions. Conventionally, buyers do hire environmental consultants to assess sites. That may take a little over twenty days and cost up to $5,000. Concomitant to the delay, there is another major danger in this. Consultants opine on the current condition of the site and not what may happen in the future.

Pollution liability insurance, on the other hand, guards the insured for the entire term of the policy, including for any later discovery of damage. The policies are largely renewable and can be in place for up to ten years. Also, these policies are a lot more cost effective than a site assessment.

Pollution liability insurance is doubtless a useful and an economically viable way of managing environmental risks. It can be particularly beneficial to those companies that deal with materials that may be considered as pollutants once released into the environment.

By: Steve Valentino

Boat Insurance Vs Homeowner’s Insurance Coverage

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 09:27:59 +0000

Many boaters cover their boat insurance needs by declaring the boat on their homeowner’s insurance policy. This may or may not be a good idea!

Having your boat under the ‘Umbrella’ coverage’s of your homeowner’s policy tends to provide you the security and safety of a large liability policy normally associated with a homeowner’s policy. It affords you a degree of ‘Cross Risk Insurance’ where the risks associated with the boat are so different than other, homeowner’s risks that the likelihood of claims from more than one risk hitting simultaneously are very low. If you are in the enviable position of having very significant assets to protect, it may be a good idea to have a separate boat owner’s policy as well as having the liabilities related to your boat declared on your homeowner’s policy.

Standard property and casualty (P & C) insurance companies that provide most of the homeowner’s coverage tend to not understand the marine issues, values and considerations of a boatowner. Their claims adjusters, for example, are typically not aware of the many intricacies related to repairing or replacing a damaged or lost boat. Most specifically, they tend not to understand the damages caused as a consequence of the sinking of a recreational boat. There can be very serious and expensive electrical and mechanical problems resulting from a boat being submerged, many of which won’t show up for quite a while after the boat has been dried out, freshened up and restored to service. Electrical contacts can corrode and cause short circuits as well as exacerbating any electrolysis issues in the boat. These are very subtle and normally not understood by adjusters without marine background or experience. Marine insurers, on the other hand, deal with boating issues regularly and their adjusters are savvy to the problems and values of the boat business. Many marine insurers use the services of marine appraisers to do their claims adjustment work. They are true professionals who are dedicated to the marine industry and serve the boat owner well.

In my experience as a marina operator, there were several occasions in which, for one reason or another, one of our customer’s boats was damaged or sunk by collision, carelessness or nature. Forgetting to put the plug in before launching was number one on the list. At times, a customer would leave his/her boat tied to a dock without a cover and when enough rain entered the boat to cause the bilge pump to run long enough to drain the battery, the boat would then fill up and sink. When the P & C insurance adjuster would come to assess the damage, they would only see the water damage to the upholstery, etc. and would value the cosmetic items that were lost or damaged. We were never able to convince them of the hidden electrical and mechanical and fuel system damages involved and there frequently was bitter disputes between the boat owner and the insurance company for months before resultion.

Conversely, whenever an adjuster from a marine insurer would come to assess the damage, they would first evaluate the systemic electrical and mechanical issues and often gave us the authority, on the spot, to perform the extensive electrical system diagnostics, hull evaluation, and mechanical item replacement (all fluids, filters, anodes, etc). We never knew of a dispute between the boatowner and the marine insurer.

Another issue that few people consider is the insurance of the boat while it is stored and not operational. Most people assume that the insurance of the marina or boat storage facility will cover their boat while it is stored there. That is only partially true. If the marina operator were to drop your boat or otherwise cause damage by negligence, their liability insurance would surely cover this. On the other hand, if a hurricane, fire, flood, or other natural disaster were to cause damage to the boat while it is stored, the insurance of the boatowner would be responsible. Many boatowners who lost their boats when Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf of Mexico were very surprised to learn that the marina’s insurance did not cover their boats. Many were a total uninsured loss.

Some marine insurers even offer a discounted rate for times of prolonged storage vs the assumption that the boat is operated year round. Many times a boat is really only used for 5-6 months of the year during the summer season and then it is stored at a marina or in the garage for the remainder of the year. You might check with your marine insurer to see if they offer a notification system wherein you can report the boat in a storage status and receive a reduction in your liability rate and premium as a result.

Be sure to investigate the cost and coverage’s of boat insurance offered by marine insurers and compare those to those of your homeowner’s policy before singing up. Be certain to ask about the marine qualifications of the adjusters used by the carrier. This will be critical should you happen to have a claim.

Like most things, it pays to do your homework!

By: Don Seibert

Differences Between Firearm Insurance and Firearm Business Insurance

admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 01:08:32 +0000

The difference between firearm insurance and firearm business insurance is based on the use that the weapons receive. Therefore, a business working with firearms should not be satisfied with firearm insurance and should get firearm business insurance too.

Simple firearm insurance protects the bearer from accidents and liability by damages produced with the gun. However, if the firearms are used as part of a business like in sporting firearm commerce or collector’s exhibitions, there is another kind of policy that needs to be purchased. Moreover, there are actually two different policies that are known as firearm business insurances.

Firearm Insurance

Firearm insurance protects the owner and or bearer of the weapon from damages caused by its use or misuse (depending on the extension of the insurance contract). The average policy includes only accidents caused by the use of the gun, however, some insurance policies may include other risks like damage to properties when using the weapon reasonably, etc.

Under no circumstances an insurance policy will cover for the illegal use of a firearm that results in damages to people or possessions. However, damages caused when using a firearm to defend oneself are usually covered by firearm insurance policies as the self defense is an exception that excludes the misdemeanor from most actions that would otherwise constitute a crime.

Firearm Business Insurances

As explained above, there are two different types of firearm business insurances. Neither of them has to do with actual firearm insurance and should complement it. These insurances protect the holder, user or transporter of any damages caused to the weapon or by the weapon under its commercial use. Since firearms can be used commercially in different ways, more than one insurance policy had to be created.

Collector policies are firearm business insurance that protect the owner against damages when the weapons are not fired or used. This includes the use of weapons only for exhibits, and needs also to protect the goods while they are in route to a show or exhibition against: fire, flood, theft, damage, explosion or other accidental damages that may render the firearm useless for the commercial purpose covered.

Sporting firearm business insurance, on the other hand, protects weapons that are used for competitive shooting, target shooting, hunting or any other LEGAL use that implies firing the weapons. It obviously protects both the weapons and other possessions and people from the damages caused by the firearms.

On both cases, it is very important to obtain, prior to the insurance contract, an appraisal of the firearm value, especially when the weapon is an antique. It is advisable to get it from a third party and not to resort only to the insurance company’s appraisal specialists even if your are asked to provide a value yourself for the insurance contract as price variations can occur and you should be protected of that too.
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By: Hilary Bowman