BlogPerson, Author at Complete Insurance Services, Inc.

Protect Your Assets with a Personal Umbrella Policy

March 16, 2018 By BlogPerson

Even though you have insurance that protects your automobiles, your home or your “toys” (boats, motorcycles and seasonal locations), do you have insurance that protects your assets? Is protecting your family’s financial assets a priority for you?
Auto-Owners Insurance can help protect your assets with a personal umbrella policy.

WHAT IS A PERSONAL UMBRELLA POLICY?
A personal umbrella policy provides additional liability limits above your personal auto, homeowners and watercraft policies. It protects your assets from a liability suit and from paying out of pocket if there were a catastrophic liability claim. It also provides defense coverage, and in some cases may provide coverage when your other policies do not.

CLAIMS EXAMPLES
Here are two examples how a personal umbrella policy may help you:

Automobile: You are involved in an accident with another automobile where the passenger in the other vehicle sustained major injuries. You could be sued for $2 million in medical bills.

Social Media: Your teenager writes something on a social media site about another person in their school. The other teen’s parents sue for $3 million, because they feel the remarks are defaming and disparaging.

In both cases, your primary policy may pay on average only $250 – $500K, leaving the additional burden to you and your family. A personal umbrella can help ease that burden.

WHAT IS THE COST FOR A PERSONAL UMBRELLA POLICY, AND ARE THERE ANY DISCOUNTS?
A personal umbrella policy is affordable. If you have only one automobile and one home, $1 million in coverage may cost just $150 to $200 a year. Additional automobiles, recreational vehicles, watercraft and additional liability limits would cause the premium to increase.

We all love lower premiums and there is a way for you to save money with multi-policy discounts. When you insure your automobiles and home with Auto-Owners Insurance, you will receive a discount on your personal umbrella policy. Conversely, a personal umbrella policy will give you a discount on your automobile and homeowners policies.

Contact our agency for more information regarding an Auto-Owners Insurance personal umbrella policy and how it will help protect you and your family.

Car Rental Coverage – What’s up with this rental?

October 11, 2017 By BlogPerson

We frequently gets calls from customers wondering if their rental vehicle is covered by their auto insurance policy while on vacation. If you have an Auto-Owners personal auto policy, it has specific coverage provisions that address whether an accident in a rental vehicle is covered. Let’s look at a common example: You take a vacation to Las Vegas and rent a car. How does coverage extend from your car to a rented car while on vacation? Under an Auto-Owners personal auto policy, if you have comprehensive and collision coverage, it carries over to a rental vehicle. Liability coverage (coverage for another person’s medical bills or damage to another person’s property) extends only to the insured(s), a spouse, relatives who live with the insured, and anyone the insured gives permission to use the rental vehicle.

Physical damage coverage (coverage for the rental car if it is damaged or stolen) applies only to the insured(s), spouse and relatives who live with the insured. The broadest or best coverage from any vehicle on your policy extends to the rented vehicle. In other words, as long as one of the vehicles on your policy has both liability and physical damage coverage, the car rented on vacation will have those same coverages. If coverage can be extended to the rental vehicle it is not necessary to purchase the damage waiver from the rental car company. The Auto-Owners policy is broader than the industry when it comes to rented vehicles regarding what is covered. If you have questions on this coverage, please contact us. Keep in mind that it will be important to understand why the vehicle is being rented and who will be driving it, as these facts are important in determining if coverage will apply for a potential claim. And please make sure the leased vehicle is rented for your personal use, and not for business.

Show You Care: Pet Protection

August 15, 2017 By BlogPerson

We know you adore your pet, but if you haven’t set aside savings to cover veterinary costs for injuries or treatment, pet insurance may be a smart move.

Here are some advantages of pet insurance through Figo that could save you money:

You can visit any licensed veterinary practice, emergency hospital or specialist.
Figo will not discriminate against any breed or age of pet.
It covers the necessary medical exams and care needed.
Coverage frees you from financial stress when faced with decisions on veterinary care.
Figo’s Pet Cloud and mobile app offer easy access to vets, medical records and more!

By enabling you to authorize the medical treatment they need, pet insurance coverage could save – and extend – the life of your pet.

How to Save Time and Money With Your Insurance Audit

June 19, 2017 By BlogPerson

The word “audit” can increase a person’s heart rate and send butterflies racing to their stomach, but a commercial insurance premium audit should not be an occasion for worry.

The annual audit process ensures that you pay only for the exposure presented by your business operation. Informing our agency of changes to your business operation throughout the year can eliminate audit surprises.

When you receive a mail or phone audit request, or a physical audit scheduling letter, it confirms:

The date the information is needed by or the date of your appointment with the auditor
The policies being audited
The records you need to provide
The audit period

Be sure to let the auditor know if the date and time are inconvenient, so a mutually agreeable date and time may be arranged. Auto-Owners uses company auditors as well as third-party auditors for the audit process.

Good record-keeping practices and compiling the information prior to the audit has a large effect on the time required. A phone audit usually takes less than 15 minutes, and the typical physical audit less than one hour to complete. As the audit contact, you are not usually required to be present for the entire audit process.

Once an auditor has verified that the records are adequate to proceed, and has an understanding of your business operation, they will enter the required information into an audit worksheet. The auditor will need to discuss the job duties for each employee, laborer and uninsured subcontractor.

For a physical audit, it is normal for the auditor to discuss the results of the audit with you and to provide a copy of the audit worksheet for your records. The auditor may provide a copy to our agency as well.

Hopefully this information makes the word “audit” less intimidating and provides some understanding of the process. Contact our agency for any additional questions. We thank you for your business!

Janitorial/Custodial Safety

May 17, 2017 By BlogPerson

From our friends at Accident Fund:

Janitorial/custodial workers play a key role in keeping the workplace operating safely. As they work to keep other employees and visitors safe, they often come into contact with hazards that increase their risk of injuries from slips/falls, material handling and chemical exposures. There are steps employer’s can take and general guidelines janitorial/custodial workers should follow to prevent unnecessary injuries.

General Janitorial and Custodial Safety Rules

• Do not obstruct exit pathways such as hallways or stairs.

• Use caution when mopping floors – use signage to mark wet/slippery floors. Also avoid upper torso twisting motions.

• Do not use chemicals that you have not been properly trained to use.

• Read the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) to understand the cleaning chemicals being used.

• Do not store flammable or combustible materials by boilers or other heat sources.

• Use care and proper handling techniques when dealing with hazardous trash such as broken glass, wires, rusty metals, etc.

• To move a load when your hands are full, use a cart and keep the load light. Never let a load obstruct your vision when traveling in hallways or stairways.

Daily Safety Focus – DSF – Four Easy Program Steps

April 13, 2017 By BlogPerson

Goal – For employees to “own” day-to-day workplace safety and understand the potential hazards associated with each job position.

Develop exposure lists for each job position, department or process:

List the major categories of safety hazards that are routinely encountered.
Include your employees in the process to ensure all potential hazards are included.

Develop major training points for each identified exposure:

List training points to control each safety hazard.
Keep the scope and detail of the training points minimal to ensure your employees are able to remember them easily.
An exposure list and corresponding training points are imperative to developing Daily Safety Focus (DSF).

DSF training for employees

Supervisors should provide DSF training to all employees under their direction.
Training should include provisions and review of the DSF with employees.
Direct employees should “own” DSF (e.g., commit the DSF to memory, consider the DSF daily, and act to implement DSF major training points).
Discuss the consequences for non-compliance with DSF with your employees.
Employees should sign a completion certificate stating they received DSF training.

Supervisory oversight of DSF

Observe work practices daily to monitor application of DSF.
Interact with employees to enforce/reinforce DSF compliance.
Promote employees’ ownership of DSF at every opportunity.
To maximize visibility of the DSF lists, post them in locations where they apply.

Accident Fund Insurance Company – If you want a copy of the full DSF article, please email Complete Insurance at contact@completeins.com.

Healthy Equipment Maintenance

March 12, 2017 By BlogPerson

We’ve all heard the saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” but did you know that preventive maintenance and routine checkups are necessary to keep your contractors’ equipment healthy, too?

When developing a maintenance program, the best tool to reference is the owner’s manual for each piece of equipment.The owner’s manual generally includes a section that outlines the recommended service plan.

When it comes to equipment, the number of operating hours is often the basis for periodic servicing. Logging a machine’s operating hours on the first day of each month helps to keep this schedule on track.

Preparing for a seasonal changeover in work often means putting equipment in storage. Before saying goodbye for the season, treat your equipment to an oil change and thorough cleaning!

This is also a good time for a checkup. Remember to check filters, spark plugs, grease, fluids and batteries. Gas-powered items should be run until the engine is out of gas and shuts off. Storage preparation should also include repair of broken parts, so you can avoid rust or further damage.

Indoor storage is the best way to keep your equipment safe from whatever Mother Nature may have in store for you! If indoor storage is not an option, consider water-resistant tarps to cover your items securely.

Equipment and tools are an investment, and as a contractor you should protect that investment. Remember: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. As we begin the winter season, seasonal maintenance and storage preparation is critical to keeping your equipment healthy.

Auto-Owners Paid-in-Full Discount

February 14, 2017 By BlogPerson

Did you know that most insurance policies from Auto-Owners Insurance offer a Paid-in-Full discount? With this discount you could save BIG money!

To qualify for the Paid-in-Full discount, the entire discounted policy premium must be paid by the due date of your first bill. Although the discount is significant, having to pay the entire premium in one payment can amount to a big chunk of change. But if your cars are insured with Auto-Owners, you may have another option that is easier on your pocketbook!

If you choose to have your 12-month auto insurance premium billed on a semi-annual payment plan, you will pay only half of the policy premium by the due date of your first bill. The remaining half will be due with your second bill, six months later. Here’s the great news: You still receive the Paid-in-Full discount!

To ensure you don’t miss out on this discount, you can also choose to set up your billing account on automatic payments. You can elect to have automatic payments charged to your credit card or drawn directly from your bank via electronic funds transfer. It’s a great way to guarantee you will never be late with your payment. The discount percentage may vary depending on the state you live in or the type of policies you have with Auto-Owners.

Contact our agency at 248-682-1510 for more information.

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