Insurance Helper Blog
Volunteer Wrongful Acts Insurance Coverage – Do You Need This Protection?
Volunteer work is a very integral part of the social fabric of America. Almost everyone has volunteered somewhere at some point in their life and many people have regular work as volunteers each week. But could your volunteer work get you into trouble? There are certainly several areas of liability that can arise from volunteering from acts as a director or officer of a non-profit all the way down to minor clerical errors that could lead to large personal liability risks for the volunteer. This article discusses a relatively new coverage form that can be added to some homeowners insurance policies to protect an individual from the liabilities associated with a wrongful act committed as a volunteer.
Let’s start with some definitions. What is a wrongful act as defined by the volunteer wrongful acts coverage endorsement? The policy endorsement defines this term as an actual or alleged error, misleading statement, act or omission, neglect or breach of duty committed by any insured during the policy period in the insured’s capacity as a volunteer. Now that’s a mouthful so let’s break it down a bit. First of all, the act must have occurred as the result of your volunteer work. It can be either an alleged or an actual error. It can be an omission or simply a breach of your duty as a volunteer.
Perhaps an example would better illustrate this kind of loss. Let’s say you are a treasurer for a local nonprofit and you make an honest error in calculations that indicates that the nonprofit has more money to spend on a project than they actually have in the bank. The project is approved based on your numbers and contracts are signed and the project gets underway. Soon it is found that you made an error and that this error is going to generate huge expenses for your nonprofit due to the contracts that were signed for the project. You could find yourself on the wrong side of a lawsuit with your nonprofit for these damages. If you had added volunteer wrongful acts coverage to your homeowners insurance policy, then you would have protection for this liability.
If you think you may need this kind of protection and want to add it to your homeowners insurance policy, then you next want to evaluate the limits of coverage that can be provided. Not every insurance company will allow this endorsement to be added to the policy and most will have limitations on how much protection you can buy. Also, when you purchase this coverage, be sure to ask if your umbrella insurance policy will pick up coverage where this endorsement leaves off. In most cases I have found that it will not do so.
Volunteering is a wonderful act of generosity and we should all encourage this kind of behavior as much as possible. Unfortunately the law can still put you in a vulnerable position when you volunteer so you need to make sure that you have the protection you need to make sure that you are just giving your time and not your personal assets. If we can help you with your homeowners insurance policy, please feel free to call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557.
Dark Clouds On The Horizon For Work Comp Insurance Rates
2011 was a difficult year for insurance companies all across the board. Much of their stress came from the more than $50 billion in property related claims due to storms and bad weather events all across the country. But workers compensation claims are only very slightly affected by weather, yet the year end numbers for the workers compensation industry indicate that things are not all rosy with this type of insurance either. And bad experience for the insurance industry will almost always result in higher rates for business owners in the near future. In this article I will highlight some of the bad news statistics that point to higher workers compensation insurance rates for business owners in the coming year, and then I will give you some insider tips on how you can avoid being stuck with these higher rates.
First let’s take a look at some of the numbers. In 2011, the nationwide lost-time claims frequency posted a 3 percent increase. This may not sound like much, but consider that this is the first time since 1997 that this measure increased from the previous year. Is this a one-time blip or a bell weather signal for changes ahead in workers compensation lost time claims? I think it may be the latter.
Added to this problem of increased claims frequency is the unsettling result that net written premium for the insurance companies declined by 1.3% in 2011. Now it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that if claims are going up and premiums are going down, then something has to give. That something will be the rates that you pay for your work comp insurance policy. Insurance companies like to measure the money that they take in (premiums you pay) against the money that they pay out for claims. They call this measure a loss ratio. If this loss ratio rises above 100%, then the insurance companies are losing money. In 2011 the loss ratio for workers compensation insurance in the U.S. increased to an astonishing 118.1%. This is the highest level since the year 2000 when it was 121%.
So what is the problem? Well there are a few and none of them seem to show any signs of letting up in the near future, which is why I am predicting higher workers compensation rates across the board. First of all is the rising costs of medicine which now accounts for 60% of the workers compensation total claim payout. Medical inflation is running at 6% currently, far above that for most other items that you buy. Poor economic conditions are also a factor as there is a greater tendency for fraud in bad economic environments. In addition, the work force is getting older and more obese each year and these factors are also putting a strain on the claims costs both medical and time out of work.
So what must you do to keep your business from being swept up in the work comp rate increases that are bound to happen in 2012? Well I think the first thing you should do is take a good look at your work comp policy and your work comp carrier. There is a growing market segment of work comp only companies out there today. These companies realize that to make money in this business and to keep rates low for their customers, they need to be much more proactive in the prevention of claims as well as the recovery process. These companies will have loss control programs that can help you prevent claims from happening in the first place. They also tend to have nurses and claims case workers on staff to double check all medical bills for errors and fraud and to help your injured worker heal and get back to work as quickly as possible.
We have several of these specialty work comp companies in our stable of fine insurance companies with whom we do business. If you have questions about your work comp insurance, or if you would like a quote to see just how much you can save on your workers compensation insurance, please give us a call, toll free, at 877-687-7557. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
It’s Winter – Have You Protected Your Pipes?
Nearly a half million businesses and residences suffer from water damage as a result of frozen pipes each year. Do you know if your businessowners insurance policy or your homeowners insurance policy will cover the damage caused by this type of loss? Did you know that nearly all of these losses are completely preventable? Having a large preventable loss can spell trouble between you and your insurance company and that alone is enough reason to avoid this type of loss. But the pure hassle that you will go through if you experience a burst pipe situation should be enough to motivate you to take precautions now, before the really cold temperatures hit.
Let’s take a look at some of the steps that you can take to keep your pipes a bit safer. Start by protecting the pipes themselves. If your pipes are in a vulnerable spot like the attic or the crawlspace, you should be sure to insulate them properly. Both the hot and the cold lines should be insulated. Next take a look at their environment. Seal any leaks to the attic or space that might allow enough cold air into that space to freeze the pipes. Last of all, disconnect your garden hoses and drain sprinkler systems to lessen the chance of freezing at those points in the system.
When a hard freeze is coming, there are some additional steps that you can take for the short term to protect your pipes. You could let warm water trickle from the faucets overnight, particularly on an exterior wall, or on a long stretch of unprotected pipe. Next, open cabinet doors to allow heat to reach non-insulated pipes under sinks. Last of all, don’t turn your thermostat down at night when in a hard freeze. You will need as much heat as possible to protect your pipes. Paying a little more now on the heating bill to avoid the mess of burst pipes is a fair tradeoff.
If your pipes do freeze, it doesn’t mean that they have burst. You may still be able to save them. Here are a few things that you can do. First of all, turn on the water at the faucets and leave it on. As the frozen area starts to melt, water will move and help melt the rest of it. Next try to locate the frozen area of your pipe. If you are able to do this, then try to safely apply heat to the frozen area. You can wrap them in towels soaked in hot water, or use a hair dryer or an electric heating pad. Do not use a blow torch, kerosene or any other open flame to heat the pipe. These techniques could leave you with a home destroyed by fire! If none of these techniques work, then call a licensed, professional plumber.
In NC, the standard homeowners form will almost always cover loss to your home and your contents from water damage as a result of a burst pipe. But this protection should be your last resort. This type of claim leaves a nasty mark on your claims record and will almost certainly cost you in terms of higher homeowners insurance rates in the future. In this case, an ounce of prevention is definitely worth a pound or more of cure.
Teen Drivers And Texting – A Very Expensive Way To Communicate
Teen driver car insurance is much more expensive than car insurance for experienced drivers. Teens need time to develop skills behind the wheel and to learn good judgment when operating a vehicle. I think texting adds an additional layer of risk for teen drivers.
Many teenagers use texting as their primary form of communication with their friends. They use texts to chat, make plans and even just waste time when they are bored. This behavior leads some teens to become what I call chronic texters. These chronic texting teens are often so attached to the text activity on their phones that you can lose them in the middle of a sentence or the middle of a conversation. They look down at their phones and for a moment they have simply forgotten that you exist or that you are even engaged in a conversation with them. The incoming text and their response to it suddenly take precedence over all other sensory experience for them in that moment. Now this behavior is annoying when it happens during a conversation or at a restaurant. But if it happens while they are driving, then you have more than an aggravation, you have extreme danger for them and all drivers around them. Combine the distraction of texting with a teenager’s lack of driving experience and you have some pretty scary behavior going on on our highways and roads.
Recently a Miami court awarded $8.8 million to the family of a woman killed in a crash. Her car was hit by a teen driver who was speeding and texting at the same time. The phone records show an outgoing text from his phone at 8:19 pm and paramedics were called to the accident at 8:21 pm. Think about this, if your child is driving and texting and has an accident, the court is going to know that your child was texting while driving. What is this knowledge going to mean for the judgment against your child? Yeah, it is going to mean a lot more money out of your pocket. So if I can’t convince you to teach your child not to touch his or her phone at all while driving using the safety angle, maybe the thought of losing all that you own will convince you. This is serious stuff, people are dying out there!
Any family with assets to lose who has a teenage driver should seriously consider buying higher liability limits. You may need to add a personal umbrella policy to your portfolio of insurance policies to better protect your assets from the losses a teen driver could cause you. I would suggest a two pronged approach to this problem. First of all, talk to your child and help them understand that the phone must be off limits while they are driving. Model this behavior yourself so that they see that you practice what you preach. Secondly, talk to your insurance agent and purchase as high of a liability insurance limit as you can afford to protect your assets from the risk of your young drivers on your policy.
If you need help with your teen driver insurance, or if you would like a quote on your auto insurance, please visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com, or call us, toll free at 877-687-7557. If you would like to see some of our free tools that can help you teach your teen to be a safer driver, please visit our teen driver insurance page.
Auto Insurance – Who Is At Fault For This Accident?
Auto accidents are a pretty common occurrence. You may someday find yourself involved in one. What you do and say after an accident can often have a big impact on who is ultimately blamed for the accident and thus whose insurance pays out for the damages. Here are some tips to help you move through the process in a way that should ultimately leave the blame for the wreck with the person who actually caused it.
Get a police report. Seems obvious but I have seen situations where people were so convinced that they were at fault that they agreed to pay for the damages, only to be surprised when the other party’s insurance paid for the damages instead. I have seen accidents where the person at fault denied even being in a wreck. The police report is designed to protect you if you are not at fault. Always call the police, no matter how small the accident. The police report will provide the insurance adjuster with the drivers names and contact information, witness information as well as a brief summary from the officer. If you don’t think the accident was your fault, then tell the police officer this.
Get the other party’s information. If they are in a hurry and don’t want to wait for the police, don’t let them leave without getting as much contact information about them as you can. This should include the make and model of the car and the license plate number as well as the driver’s name and contact information. If you are in a hurry, try to let that go and be patient enough to wait for the police officer. Recently one of our clients who claimed she wasn’t at fault in an accident didn’t wait around for the police officer to arrive. She was shocked to read the police report later as it didn’t accurately reflect what she thought happened.
Take a lot of photos. These days almost everyone has a camera on their phone. Take photos of anything and everything you can think of. Include photos of skid marks, debris fields as well as photos of the cars both before and after they are moved from the scene of the accident. It is difficult to know just what might be important later so the more photos you can take, the better.
Make your statement. Your statement about what happened will need to be made with the officer but then you will need to record a statement later with the insurance adjuster. When you give your statement to the adjuster, be sure to include everything you can think of, no matter how trivial it may seem to you. The adjuster will compare your statement with the summary provided by the police report and along with that and the other party’s statements and photos will then decide who is at fault.
If you have any difficulty with any of your claims, you know we are here to help you through the process. If you are Clinard Insurance client, then you will not be alone in the process of settling a claim. We are here to help you through the claims process in any way that you need us.