Water damage is among the most frustrating kinds of losses to deal with because there is so much confusion about what is covered and what is not.
The first thing to remember about flood insurance is that where the water came from makes all the difference.
Continue reading Do You Know the Difference Between Flooding and Seepage?
Don’t assume that simply because you pay for liability and property insurance every month, you’re covered in all instances of damage. Policies vary, but many have exclusions that will not allow you to receive compensation under certain circumstances.
Most people assume that when they pay for coverage under an insurance policy, they should be taken care of in the event of virtually any problem. Unfortunately, it does not work that way. Sometimes even insured individuals and businesses suffer damages which are not covered by their particular policies.
A recent example I came across involved a contractor who performs cleaning and maintenance services for homes and businesses. There was an accident in which a part of the property being worked on was damaged, and a claim was filed with the property owner’s liability insurance carrier to cover the costs of repair.
Continue reading Are You Covered for Defective Work Performed on Your Home or Business?
Don’t assume that it can never happen to you.
As the owner of a business and an employer, you have to be careful to safeguard what you’ve worked so hard to build, not just from those members of the public that might like to take advantage, but from your own employees as well. While surely most of your workers are honest and would never steal from you, all it takes is one bad apple to potentially bankrupt your company. And it’s often the one you never suspected that proves to be the culprit.
Employee theft is on the rise and it currently costs American businesses an estimated $40 billion a year. This is why it is a good idea to consider purchasing employee dishonesty insurance.
Many companies have no protection at all against this type of harm, and of those that do, a high percentage are woefully underfunded. Many policies will only cover up to $50,000 in damages, while the average claim filed for this type of loss is almost $1 million. A nonessential employee who steals a small amount of petty cash is unlikely to cause a claim to be filed anyway – it is the trusted higher-level managers who can loot the business that you as an owner need to be particularly worried about.
Continue reading Is Your Business Covered Against Employee Theft?
Everyone seems to love shopping online. It’s much more convenient than having to go to an actual store. You can shop in the middle of the night, on the weekends, and some people even do it while they’re at work! Due to the surge in popularity of e-commerce, merchants are trying to sell almost everything online now, including most forms of insurance coverage. Auto insurance in particular is ripe for this type of purchase, and major carriers such as GEICO have spent lots of money advertising that you can save money by just visiting its website for 15 minutes and picking out your own automobile insurance plan.
Yet there is one type of insurance that is definitely not advisable to purchase online. In fact, most companies don’t even offer you the opportunity to purchase it this way. This is Commercial Insurance.
Continue reading Why You Can’t Buy Commercial Insurance Online
Many people are growing unhappy with the rising costs of their insurance coverage. This common complaint raises an interesting question: How exactly do insurance companies decide how much to charge their customers for their individual policies?
Listed below are some of the major factors considered for disaster and accident coverage:
For years, residents of coastal areas within the U.S. have been paying relatively little in flood insurance premiums, considering the catastrophic nature of the threat they face. The low premium rates were partly due to the federal government’s subsidizing of this type of insurance, through the National Flood Insurance Program.
Since Hurricane Sandy and the extreme financial losses it caused, there has been a reevaluation of the system. Last year, Congress passed the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act. The bill will, in incremental stages, remove government subsidies that have historically kept flood insurance premiums artificially low for over a million policyholders nationwide.
Many clients are dismayed by the rising costs of their insurance coverage. A common question I am asked is:
“If I didn’t file a single claim this year, why would my insurance company raise my rates?”
There is no one answer to this relevant question. Many factors go into determining how much insurance companies charge for coverage. Like other markets, the global insurance market is cyclical and alternates between periods known as soft and hard markets.
Continue reading Why Your Insurance Premiums Are Getting Pricier and What You Can Do About It
Workers’ Compensation insurance provides wage replacement and medical benefits to workers injured during the course of their employment. In exchange for this coverage, employees give up their right to sue employers for any ordinary negligence which caused their injuries. Any business hiring employees in the state of New York must purchase Workers’ Compensation coverage. Continue reading Understanding NY Workers’ Compensation Laws
Welcome to our new blog: 3 times a month (every 10 days or so), we will publish a new article about a related insurance topic. Generally speaking, Jay Silverman will write about health insurance; Tomer Dicturel about life insurance; and Seth Jonas will write about property & casualty insurance. If you have specific questions, you may contact them privately (see each author’s About page), or comment publicly below each post.
We look forward to your questions & comments. Please also connect with the authors via their respective social media – also found on each About page.
The Insurance Pro 