Insuring Luxury Items and Collectibles

There is no question that renter’s insurance is a smart investment for anyone who doesn’t own his own place, be it an apartment, townhouse, or single-family home. However, renter’s insurance is geared toward typical household contents, such as clothing, furniture, personal goods, and appliances.

Three categories of property may or may not be covered, depending on the policy: antiques, collectibles, and fine art. After a loss is not the time to find out the scope of your Texas Renters insurance.

Antiques and Vintage Furniture and Decor:
Typically, antiques are furniture or decorative objects over a century old. Vintage is more subjective, but typically includes items between 40 and 100 years old. If you have vintage or antique furniture in your rental, you should look into expanded coverage. Your agent will likely require photos and an appraisal. Again, after a fire or flood is not the time to find out the bedroom set you got from your grandmother’s garage was Depression-era Heywood-Wakefield and worth several thousand dollars.

Collectibles:
Collectibles can range from first-edition books and stamps, to comic books and plastic action figures. Before you talk to your insurance agent, take a thorough inventory, with photos, and have estimated replacement costs. Your vintage red-handled egg beater collection may be priceless to you, but you need to have an idea of fair market value.

Professional grade price guides are a good place to start. Otherwise, the 30-year-old $2.99 price sticker on the package may be the extent of your potential recovery. Depending on the size of the collection and the claimed value, a professional appraisal may be required to ensure full coverage.

Fine Art:
In general, fine art encompasses paintings, prints, sculpture, and other decorative objects that are either one-of-a-kind or produced in limited editions. A thorough inventory accompanied by good photographs is essential. Gallery receipts, appraisal letters, and comparable sales by professionals are some good ways to determine the replacement value of your fine art pieces.

Once you have determined the scope and replacement value of your luxury items, it is time to sit down with your insurance agent and decide what is the best coverage for you. Typically, there are two choices: specialized policies and riders to existing policies.

The Internet is rife with companies claiming they will insure your collection for low rates. Depending on what you collect, a separate specialty policy may be a good choice. However,  luxury items can usually be handled with specialized clauses called riders to regular renter’s policies.  A licensed insurance agent can help you make the best choice.

Contact an agent at Shawn Camp Insurance Agency for more information about renter’s insurance and how to protect your antiques and collectibles.

How to Increase Your Vehicle’s Fuel Efficiency Without Breaking the Bank

With fuel prices hovering around the $3.50 a gallon mark, getting an extra 3 miles per gallon can really add up. There are plenty of websites that exhibit the fuel-saving  actions of a type of driver called the “hyper-miler.” These drivers have perfected the practice of getting every last mile out of their gas tanks. Unfortunately, some of these practices put the driver, and their car, at much more risk than the reward is worth. While we applaud the hyper-milers for their dedication, we must remind them that they might end up paying the savings that they make at the pump might in their next deductible.

Not all hyper-miling techniques are bad. In fact, there are five of them that make absolute sense. Doing these five things will keep your car in top shape so it delivers peak performance every day and will make you a safer and more fuel efficient driver.

●      Inflate tires properly

●      Get routine maintenance

●      Remove excess weight

●      Anticipate red lights

●      Accelerate slowly and evenly

By having properly inflated tires, you reduce the amount of friction that is generated by the rubber against the asphalt. According to Fueleconomy.gov you can increase your mileage by up to 3.3% simply by inflating your tires to the recommended PSI.

Keeping your car in good shape is the next best  way to save on fuel consumption. If you have a bad oxygen sensor, it could be zapping as much as 40% of your fuel efficiency. Of course, this isn’t the case with most cars, but by doing frequent oil changes and having a yearly tune-up you can save about 4% of your fuel costs over the duration of a year.

Removing the excess weight from your vehicle is also a good way to get better gas mileage. It takes more effort for a car to pull more weight. Reducing your car’s weight by 100 lbs can give you about 2% more fuel economy.

When your car is idling, it is wasting gas. Eliminating idle time at red lights can significantly improve your gas mileage for a couple of reasons. First, by anticipating the changing of the light you can begin to slow down much further away and coast to the light. This will consume less gas. Second, if you time it right, you can avoid making a full stop and conserve the momentum of the car. Accelerating from a dead stop is far less efficient than from a slow roll. 

Lastly, accelerating at a slow and even pace and maintaining a lower average speed can increase fuel efficiency by up to 20%. This eliminates excess fuel from being pumped into the pistons and being wasted.

Using these techniques will make you a more conscious driver. When you are focused on driving more steadily you become more aware of your surroundings and are less apt to end up in an accident that could have been avoided. Safe drivers get the lowest auto insurance rates across the board. So, by becoming more aware of your surroundings and taking better care of your car, you’ll be able to save money, not only at the pump, but on your monthly insurance bills as well! For more information on your Texas Auto Insurance policy, give us a call at Shawn Camp Insurance Agency today.

Will Home Insurance Cover Your Broken Property?

Not every item damaged during any insurable incident is in pristine condition before the incident occurs. If you have property in your home that was broken before a hurricane, fire or other insurable incident, you may be wondering if you can include that property in the claim that you make for the other damages you've experienced.

There really is no yes or no answer to this question. Property that is broken could still have a value that an insurer may reimburse after a claim is made. For example, if your insurance policy covers the actual value of your property then it already subtracts some of the item’s original value for depreciation, which means a broken but repairable item that was totaled during an insurable incident may be considered to have depreciated more than a functional item its age would have. In order to get the appropriate value for your property, describe the pre-existing condition of all the items that have been damaged. When you explain the extent of the disrepair of an item that was broken before the insurable incident, the insurance company will be better able to determine what its actual value was.

If your Progressive homeowners insurance policy covers replacement value of your assets then you may be out of luck because the broken property needed to be replaced before the insurable incident occurred, therefore the need for replacement is not caused by the insurable incident and may not be reimbursable by your home insurance policy.

Knowingly making a claim against your insurance for an item that was broken before an insurable incident without disclosing its true pre-existing condition could be considered fraud. Rather than risk the renewal of your insurance policy, it's generally best to give too much information rather than too little when you make an insurance claim. If you aren't sure how your insurance policy will cover a certain piece of property you own or how to fill out your claim forms, stop by or give us a call 866-251-5220.

5 Ways to Make Insurance Shopping Easier

While insurance is one of the most important protections you can provide your family with, it's not exactly fun to shop for. When shopping for cars, gadgets, clothes, shoes and other retail items, you cast a hopeful eye to the future and look forward to a time when you get to use the item that you're shopping for; but when shopping for insurance you must consider the worst possible events that could occur and purchase protection against the financial damages they will cause, all the while hoping that they never come to pass.
If you want to make the process of shopping for insurance a little easier and faster, here are a few tips:

• Have all your information. Depending on the type of insurance policy you’re shopping for, you may need varying types of information. For example, when shopping for home insurance you'll need to know the value of your contents, the rebuilding costs for your home and what kind of anti-theft and disaster response systems you have in place. When shopping for health insurance, you'll need to know your medications weight height and so on. Call your agent and ask what specific information you should have ready when you met with her. 
• Know what you want to protect. When you apply for insurance the goal is to create financial protection against certain types of losses. If you don't know, however, what you want to protect then it will be difficult to get the appropriate coverage.
• Have a budget. When designing an insurance policy, not only must you consider all the property you want to protect and the events you want to protect the property from, but also what you can afford to pay for the insurance. These two pieces of information go hand in hand.
• Have an agent. Not only is it potentially dangerous to shop for insurance without an agent helping you understand the various coverage options, limits, and exclusions involved but it's also inefficient. Agents can quickly compare costs for equivalent policies and can design insurance coverage with as few gaps as you can afford.

We’re here to help you get the policy design that you and your family need most. When you're ready to start shopping for Killeen home, auto, or business insurance or to conduct a review of your current policies, give us a call at Shawn Camp Insurance today.

Fixing an Anemic Insurance Portfolio

Insurance is a product that is meant to provide protection to policyholders and their families over the years. A properly developed insurance portfolio provides adequate protection for the policyholder’s property and risks while also sheltering them from too much in self-insurance liabilities.

If one isn’t careful about how they design their insurance portfolio, they could end up with a placeholder plan that provides a significantly false sense of security and very little real protection. 

There are four things you can do to fix your insurance portfolio if you think it doesn’t provide sufficient protection:

1. Increase your limits: If your limits are too low then you will not be reimbursed enough to make yourself whole after an insurable incident. Increase the limits on your insurance policies so that you have sufficient benefits.
2. Decrease deductibles: If your deductibles are too high, then you will be self-insuring a large portion of your potential losses. Decreasing your deductibles can raise your premiums, but in exchange for a more protective insurance portfolio.
3. Look for highly rated carriers: An insurance policy is only as good as the company that issues it. Your portfolio may be anemic for reasons you don’t expect—including that your insurance company can’t actually back their promise to pay you in the event of a claim. A.M. Best is an insurance rating agency that examines the financials of insurance companies and issues letter grade ratings to indicate how financially healthy a company is. Check out the ratings of your insurers and if you find them falling, consider changing to a more secure carrier.
4. Add additional coverage: Insurance policies can have different options for coverage that supplement the main purpose. For example, a life insurance policy can be designed to also provide living benefits in the event that the insured is diagnosed with a terminal illness. A Texas auto insurance policy can be restricted to just the state-required coverage or it can be structured to include loss of use and comprehensive benefits to reimburse in the event of theft or vandalism. Understanding these options and including them in your policies will help beef up your protection exponentially.

If you are ready to explore the gaps in your insurance coverage and limits and give your anemic insurance portfolio a boost, give us a call at 866-851-5220.

Dos and Don’ts of Auto Insurance Planning

As with every financial planning endeavor, there is a right way and a wrong way to approach auto insurance planning. Understanding both the dos and don'ts of auto insurance planning will help you get the best policy for your money and avoid creating a plan that crashes and burns.

• Do get multiple auto quotes in order to find the best rates. Every insurance company has its own formula for developing auto insurance rates. While some may look upon certain risks generously, others may overcompensate for them. By getting a wide range of quotes you can ensure that you've explored every possibility and gotten the best value for your money.
• Don't buy insurance based on price alone. Insurance policies are not always created equal. The cheapest quote you get may not offer the kind of protection you need. Evaluate your auto insurance options by comparing the protections that each policy offers and weighing the cost against those benefits.
• Do ask for discounts. Discuss with your insurance agent all the different factors that could go into qualifying you for auto insurance discounts. Talk about any driver’s training courses you've taken, any policies you can bundle, any payment options that offer discounts, any safety gadgets built into your car, and so on.
• Don't misrepresent the facts. Telling little white lies, misrepresenting the truth on your insurance application and leaving out important facts could score you a cheaper insurance quote, but at the end of the day when the insurance company finds that you were not completely honest, your policy could be rescinded and you may be left uninsured.
• Do comply with the auto insurance regulations of your state. Make sure that you get all the required coverages so that you are in complete compliance and face no penalties.
• Don't allow the state to dictate how much coverage you have. While you must, at minimum, comply with the regulations of your state, don't assume that those minimums are actually enough protection for you and your family. Instead, discuss with your agent the financial risks you face after an auto accident and buy sufficient insurance coverage to protect against them.
• Do consider a deductible. An auto insurance deductible is the amount that you are required to pay out-of-pocket after an incident occurs. Auto insurance deductibles offer a great opportunity to help create a manageable premium balanced with insurance benefits that are legitimately helpful.
• Don't take on too much deductible. Auto insurance deductibles are per incident, which means that you must pay them each time you have damages rather than on a cumulative annual schedule. If you agree to very high deductibles and have multiple incidents each year, you could easily find your savings depleted.

There are many things to consider when designing your Killeen auto insurance policy and at Shawn Camp Insurance, we’re here to help you work through the difficult decisions.

The Actual price of Car Insurance Fraud

Fraudulent activities are an unfortunate reality. In the insurance industry, fraud frequently takes the form of overstated claims, the filing of several claims, filing a claim for an accident you weren’t really involved in, illegally registering cars in regions that make car insurance quotes less costly, and more.
Most people assume that when they commit these types of fraud, the only people they are hurting are the insurance executives. Of course, that fact alone is still not a good thing, but the suggestion that only those at the top get harmed by insurance fraud is wrong, because it is all consumers who must pay.

Increased Premiums

The worst fallout of auto insurance fraud is the increased premiums that it causes all insurance customers to pay. In order to cover the cost of the excessive or improper claims, the cost of investigating claims, and the changes in risk that are assumed by the claims, insurers have no choice but to spread the losses by raising the premiums for all policyholders. This means the typical customer ends up paying for the fraudulent activities of others.

Increased Paperwork

When frauds are attempted and found, or committed and later discovered, insurance companies realize that they must change their processes in order to try to prevent them from happening in the future. This means they will take great pains to have applications and claim forms that attempt to weed out potentially fraudulent activity. This increases your work, however, because all of their insurance policyholders will need to use this paperwork. It also creates an extra expense for the insurance company which is, once again, passed on to policyholders.

Increased Taxpayer Dollars

Some claims involve police and arson investigations. When the claims are fake, these investigations result in taxpayer dollars being wasted on paying the payrolls of those who must investigate them. This also ties up law enforcement officers when they could be out preventing actual crimes.
Insurance fraud is a problem that we all must consider, even if we are not guilty of committing it. We should take whatever steps are rational and safe within our own lives to make certain that those we know and love are not encouraged to commit fraud and that potential frauds are reported to the appropriate entities.

Give us a call at 866-851-5220 to get your free, personalized Texas auto insurance quote today!