Life Happens 365 - Are You Managing the Risk?

By Diane Tait For most Americans, having access to a car is almost a necessity.   Without it, many of us would be hard-pressed to make a living. Whether you own or lease a vehicle, one of the requirements is that you carry auto insurance. That’s why it pains drivers when they’re dropped by their insurance companies.   While many drivers consider it a slap in the face if they’re denied coverage, what they don’t realize is that insurance companies can be on the hook for much more than the premiums should a policyholder get in an accident.   If you’re ever denied coverage, there are a few things you need to know.  

  By Diane Tait We live in a complicated world filled with all kinds of technological marvels.   Today’s vehicles are not so much cars as computers with four tires and an engine.   When I bought a new car a couple years ago, it took me almost a month to figure out how to use it, since many functions that were previously analog had suddenly gone digital.   It got to the point where I started calling my vehicle the Carship, since it seemed to me to be part car and part Starship Enterprise.   While learning how to use voice actuated and touchscreen controls on modern vehicles can be confusing for some, so too is trying to decide how much auto insurance to carry.   To simplify matters, I thought I’d take the time to walk you through the ins and outs.

By Diane Tait If you own or lease a vehicle in the state of Florida, you’re required by law to carry auto insurance.   Get caught without it and you can expect to pay a hefty fine, have your driver’s license suspended and have your vehicle impounded.   Get picked up a second time and you could wind up behind bars.   That’s a pretty hefty penalty for failing to pay the piper.   Even if your current policy was to lapse, you could wind up being fined by both the state and your insurer who’s required to report the lapse.  

By Diane Tait Image courtesy flickr If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, then you no doubt recall how I always advise you to “Read your policy including the fine print.”   While that’s prudent advice for any contract, what makes insurance policies unique is that they have a language all their own.   Unless you’re a contract attorney or work in the insurance industry, much of what’s expressed in an insurance policy may as well be written in Greek.   Therefore, I decided to dedicate today’s blog into giving you a leg up on many of the terms you’ll find in a typical policy.

By Diane Tait Image courtesy pexels Last week I showed you everything you needed to know about accidents involving parked vehicles.   As with all car crashes, before an insurance company will pay to repair your vehicle or cover the medical expenses of anyone injured, it must determine who’s at fault.   In the case of hitting a parked car, determining who’s the at-fault driver isn’t all that difficult, unless the careless motorist who hit your vehicle flees the scene.   In the case of a crash involving two or more vehicles, it isn’t always so cut and dried when it comes to determining fault, as you will see below.

By Diane Tait Image courtesy Pixabay If you’ve ever parked your car on the street or in a parking lot only to come back to find that there’s a big dent in it, then you know the frustration of a vehicular hit and run.   Most motorists know that whenever their car is involved in an accident, fault is assessed on the offending driver.   The problem is when the offending driver drives away without so much as an apology, let alone taking responsibility for the damage done, the question is, what comes next?    

By Diane Tait Image courtesy flickr If you own or lease an automobile you undoubtedly have auto insurance.   That’s because sometimes bad things happen to good drivers.   That being said, auto coverage isn’t one policy.   There are really a number of insurance components combined to cover you, your passengers and the public from most everything that can happen if you’re involved in an auto accident.   There’s the collision component that helps repair or replace your vehicle after an accident causes damage.   There’s uninsured motorist coverage that’s designed to kick in if the driver of any car that hits yours either doesn’t have insurance or is carrying too little to cover the cost of the accident.   There’s personal injury protection that’s designed to reimburse you for any medical costs incurred in an accident.   There’s also liability insurance that most states require you to carry to help pay for medical expenses and/or property damage s...

By Diane Tait Image courtesy flickr Face it, we live in trying times.   If the stresses of everyday life in this wired world weren’t enough, now we have to add the devastating effects of the Coronavirus to the mix.   It should come as no surprise that everybody is on edge these days.   Loss of income, no place to go to bleed off some steam and even grocery shortages are beginning to take their toll.   I read a newsfeed the other day where two shoppers got in a knock down drag out over the last 4-pack of toilet paper in a grocery store.   When you can’t go to the movies, the beach or a restaurant it amps up people’s anxieties, sometimes to the breaking point.   Since we can’t count on when this crisis will end, you can count on more cases of road rage making the news in the not too distant future.

By Diane Tait Image courtesy pixabay For the past few weeks, nearly everyone has been completely absorbed in the Coronavirus pandemic.But I for one remember a time 22-years ago when another disaster reared its ugly head in Florida.   June, July and August of 1998 produced wildfires of epic proportion in the Sunshine State.   The reason I remember it so clearly is because that's when I moved back to Jacksonville only to see white flakes rain down on my backyard one morning.

By Diane Tait Image courtesy flickr With the cost of vehicles today approaching what starter houses cost just a few decades ago, more and more people are opting for ridesharing.   And why not?   Ridesharing allows you to not only pay only when you need a ride, it also eliminates the costs associated with fuel, maintenance and auto insurance.   Whether your rideshare company of choice is Uber, Lyft or the local cab company, if you put precious little miles on your current vehicle, the rideshare concept could well be something you’ve been thinking about for quite some time.   Before you place a for sale sign on your current ride, you need to know the full story of the fledgling rideshare industry.

By Diane Tait Image courtesy Pexels I can still remember the day I first opened my insurance company.   Back then, I was the chief, cook and bottle washer.   By that I mean I was the sole employee of A&B Insurance in Jacksonville, Florida.   Of course, back in 2000, the insurance game wasn’t all that complicated, unless you factored in how I was forced to manually search through the couple dozen insurance carriers I worked with to help find the best coverage at the best price for my customers.   Back then, there was no integrated database that did the work for you.   That meant a lot of my time was spent reading, then writing up proposals.   Today, all I have to do is feed in some data and hit a button to generate a report that takes into account 93 A-rated carriers.   Not only does this produce more precise results for my customers, it also saves me a ton of time that I can use for service instead of research.

By Diane Tait Image courtesy flickr I just happened to be channel surfing last night when I stumbled upon a recent episode of Nova that was all about self-driving cars.   After taking the time to go through the evolution of fully and partially automated cars, along with the aftermath of several fatal crashes, the show pointed out the fact that like it or not, more and more cars on the road already have some form of automation installed at the factory.   Think about it.   What car doesn’t come equipped with Cruise Control these days.   Some of the pricier models even have Adaptive Cruise where the car’s speed is adjusted for the traffic ahead.   Most luxury models built today have what’s referred to as Lane Maintain that’s designed to keep the vehicle between the dotted lines.   Top of the line vehicles have automation that do everything from hitting the brakes if a hazard appears ahead to automatic lane change ability.   My point is that like...

By Diane Tait Image courtesy flickr I was visiting a friend in Palm Coast the other day, when two deer scampered across the road.   If you know anything about Palm Coast, you know the roads aren’t all that well lit.   It took all my driving skills to swerve to miss both the deer on the left and the line of mailboxes on the right.   Fortunately, I was only going 25, so I had time enough to avoid ruining Bambi’s day and mine.   While deer aren’t all that common in Jacksonville, the same can’t be said in other parts of north Florida.   In November of 2018, a teenager was involved in a fatal accident when he struck two deer that were crossing the road in Palatka only to swerve into a tree.   With deer mating season only a few weeks away, I thought I’d take the time to cover the dos and don’ts of dealing with deer on the road.

By Diane Tait Image courtesy Geograph If you own a car, you realize there comes a time when you either want to either sell it or trade it in.   As long as your car is still roadworthy, there’s no reason to trade it, since you’ll undoubtedly get more by selling it yourself.   That being said, some people are a little unsure as to how to go about getting their car ready for resale.   If that’s what’s bothering you, this week’s blog will show you what it takes to prep, price and sell your car privately.

By Diane Tait Image courtesy wikimedia Calling Florida the Sunshine State is somewhat of a misnomer during the summer.   That’s because nearly every day we Floridians can expect to see a thunderstorm.   As bad as it is to try to see where you’re going through the windscreen when the rain is coming down in buckets, there’s an even more insidious hazard contained within the heart of every thunderhead: Hail.   Known to crack windshields and ding hoods, hail is a hazard that can cause damage to cars and homes anytime a thunderstorm decides to pop up during the dog days of summer.   To give you a leg up on how to deal with these frozen pellets of peril, I thought I’d devote this week’s blog to the ins and outs of hailstorms.

By Diane Tait Image courtesy Pixabay With the school year nearly over, it’s inevitable that more Florida families will head out onto the highways and byways of the Sunshine State.  Whether you’re planning a day trip or an extended road trip, I thought it best to take the time to cover some of the potential hazards you’re likely to encounter on the road.

By Diane Tait Image courtesy Flickr You can’t watch TV these days without hearing an ad proclaiming, “Ten minutes can save you ten percent on your auto insurance.”   Whether the claim is true or just hype is a moot point.   Since Florida has the third highest rates for auto insurance in the country, just the possibility of paying less resonates with every driver in the Sunshine State.   With that in mind, I thought I’d take the time this week to talk about what causes individual insurance rates to go up, as well as what drivers can do to bring their auto insurance costs down.

By Diane Tait Image courtesy of wikipedia Insurance is like a pit bull on a leash.   You hope to never have to set it loose on an intruder.   But if you do, you don’t want it to turn on its owner.   If you’ve ever read any of your insurance policies, you can appreciate this fact.   While insurance has been protecting individuals and businesses for hundreds of years, understanding the language of insurance isn’t always the easiest of things to do.   Add to it the fact that you’ve no doubt read magazine articles written by writers who are only too eager to point out how someone who bought insurance was denied covered for specified damage they assumed was covered.   When it comes to insurance policies, the devil is indeed in the details.   To make sure you understand what’s what when it comes to your policies, below are some of the terms you could encounter when you peruse your policies.

By Diane Tait Image by Public Domain Pictures While most adults would never consider taking a prescription medication that has passed its expiration date, it’s not at all unusual for them to stick with an insurance policy that is past its prime.   Just as your health changes from year to year, so do many other aspects of your life.   Since an insurance plan can only effectively protect you and your family so long as all the coverage adds up to reflect your current financial status, scheduling a yearly insurance review can be just as important as having a yearly checkup.

By Diane Tait Image courtesy of PxHere While my agency carries a full line of personal and commercial insurance, the type of insurance that we sell the most of is auto insurance.   One of the reasons we sell so many auto policies is being an independent agency means we can query more than 50 insurance companies in order to find the best auto coverage at the best price.