One of my clients called me a couple of weeks ago. She’d stopped at a red light waiting with cars in front of her and behind her for the light to change. She heard a horrible noise behind her.
Most Texas car insurance policies may contain up to 7 sections within them. The first section forms the foundation coverage for our car insurance. In fact, it is the only section the state of Texas requires policy holders to carry, and that’s liability coverage.
I’ve never hit a deer or other large animal, but I have come close, usually when heading out to or home from a backpacking trip. I’ve seen them walk in front of an oncoming car and just miss getting hit. Luckily for the drivers of the car, and the deer, they were able stop the car or SUV safely without a loss of control and give the deer another day. Not everyone is so fortunate, as the amount car insurance companies and the Federal Highway Administration reports.
For the last 10 years, Texans have had the ignominious distinction of paying the highest or second highest home insurance rates in the nation. This year, we caught a break and are currently number three with an average annual premium of $1,625. Florida beat us out to take the top spot with an average annual premium of $1,991 followed by Louisiana with an average annual premium of $1,722 according to Value Penguin for 2015. Rounding out the top five were Mississippi ($1,451 a year) and Oklahoma ($1,428 a year).
I recently had a conversation with one of our Dallas client’s regarding her car insurance renewal. She’s in sales and I wanted to confirm if we had her driving type classified correctly. I asked if she commuted to an office and whether or not she met with clients and prospective clients in their office. It turns out she does, and she’s involved in outside meetings almost as much as she’s in the office.
North Texans finally got a taste of winter weather over the past two days when the rain that fell Sunday night froze leaving our streets covered with a half inch of ice. Snow is in the forecast for Wednesday morning which complicates rush hour traffic. We don’t get this weather very often, but it does provide an excellent backdrop to review safe driving practices in all kinds of inclement weather.
There are three bills that have been filed in the current Texas Legislative session; two are directly related to car insurance, while the third is not. Two of the bills aim to tackle the problem of named driver policies and exclusions, while the third bill focuses on the issue of texting and driving.
I had two interesting conversations over the past two weeks. One was with a client I was assisting with their car insurance renewal, the other was with a colleague who was working on a car insurance quote for a prospective client. Both of the conversations are worth sharing here as they provide a great lesson on how even a small claim can impact your car insurance rate.
I was reviewing a car insurance quote with a woman from Richardson last week, and she asked me a question after I confirmed her claims history. She had one claim for an accident that wasn’t her fault. Her question was, does an accident that wasn’t her fault still count against her?
When was the last time you thought about your insurance? Any kind? Most people don’t think about insurance, whether car, home, or business, except at different times including the purchase of a new car or adding a teen driver, buying a home, when a baby arrives, or when starting or growing a business. Some people may think about their insurance when it renews, and everyone thinks about it if when they have a claim.
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