Consider this approach: Gather your insurance policy documents in one place. You’ll need the declaration pages that show the insurance carrier, the effective dates, automobiles and coverages. You should also gather similar documents for your home, condo, renters or boat policies. Having more policies with one company affords bigger discounts.

Now that you have all the documents you need, call or visit someone that you can trust — your local independent insurance agent. Send your documents to him, and he will provide a competitive proposal that compares your current policy to the proposal. You decide if making a change is worth the little effort required to switch. Tim or Peter will make the transition as smooth as possible, by making sure you don’t pay for coverage you don’t need and dropping the old policy in the most effective way. The team of agents at most independent firms are trained and put their reputation on the line in the communities where they live and work. Haas Insurance Agency offices are located in Newtown, CT and Glastonbury, CT. Don’t hesitate to jump out of the online quoting maze to find out what value a professional can bring, especially when you’ll save as much or more than you could quoting everything alone without any help from someone that shares a mutual interest in your insurance protection at a great rate.

• Make sure you have plenty of windshield washer fluid
• Make sure the tread on your tires are at safe levels
• Don’t forget to put the ice scraper in the backseat of your car
• Make sure your windshield wiper blades operate properly, and you have new wiper blades for the season.

What are some of your tips for safe driving in the winter?  (leave a comment).

The recourse in a situation like that, if you are injured, is to make a claim under your underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage. Your own insurance company will pay for “damages which an insured person is legally entitled to recover from the owner or operator of an uninsured auto or underinsured auto because of bodily injury sustained by an insured person.”

There are several options in Connecticut:

1. Maintain Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage at the same limits that you have bodily injury limits.
2. Increase the uninsured motorist coverage to twice your bodily injury limits. For example if you have $100,000/300,000 bodily injury limits the uninsured limit would be $200,000/600,000.
3. Add uninsured/underinsured motorist conversion coverage. That coverage reduces the damages, not the amount of coverage available, if money is collected from another insurance carrier.

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage can be complicated, please call us at The Haas Agency in order to make sure the right choices are made for your situation.

Our first example is a person who is disabled and has a specially equipped vehicle so they can drive. The cost to equip the vehicle was $25,000. When they purchased the coverage  from the call center the person helping them did not ask enough questions concerning the vehicle and the equipment to know that special coverage should be added to the car to cover that equipment. When the loss occurred the insurance company paid to fix the basic vehicle but the damage to the specialized equipment was not covered, causing the insured to pay $3,495.00 to completely repair the car.

In this case the cost of not having an agent was $3,495.00.

At The Haas Agency we bring the desire to create a lasting relationship into the picture. That means questions are asked to provide protection for the long term. In the situation above we would have discovered the special nature of the vehicle and provided the proper protection. The  goal is to be cost effective not cost focused.

Medical coverage on the auto insurance policy is primary insurance and any auto injuries — even injuries while in someone else’s car — will be paid from a claim to the insured’s policy. Coverage limits can range from $1,000 to $5,000 and up to $50,000 or $100,000 for medical coverage. If a client has a high-deductible, like the maximum $5,800 on a Health Savings Account family plan in 2009, then medical coverage is appropriate to cover that deductible.

Reviewing your auto insurance to look for overpaying on medical coverage or to look for insurance gaps, is a worthwhile endeavor. You won’t find many agents talking about it, unless you ask. That is why we promote the information through every available channel at The Haas Agency. We care about our clients and live our motto, “Experience the Difference at The Haas Agency”.

Many people make the mistake of setting up their first insurance policies in their twenties. As they grow older and more independent, they fail to look back and update the coverages to meet new risks that they’ve assumed. This is a big responsibility, but one that can be managed in a few minutes witha a well-placed phone call to your insurance agent. I can promise the call will be worth the time to make it.

If you’ve been through any of the following life changes, you should take a serious look at your insurance liability coverages:

• Job change or career change with more or less income
• Marriage or divorce
• New children, family members and new members in the household
• Addition of young drivers
• Property sale or purchase
• Starting a new business
• New or used vehicle purchase
• New boat, jet ski, camper trailer, motorcyle, atv or scooter
• New pool, trampoline or dog
• Addition to the house, yard or landscape
• Big parties or events being planned

All of these types of changes and events happen everyday, and each one poses different types of risks. Liability coverage is part of your auto insurance and homeowners, and liability insurance protects you against harming other people’s property or causing accidental bodily injury to them. Claims are not frequent, but costs are very low to protect yourself against these risks. This is where a few minutes of preparation pays big dividends.

First, you should do whatever is possible to prevent accidents with safety measures. However, should an accident occur, you need to be sure in advance that you have enough protection to prevent an injured party from seriously damaging your financial well-being. You want to sleep well at night.

Take a moment to gather your thoughts about recent changes to your lifestyle and household. Consider what your plans are for the next year that involve any significant lifestyle changes. Gather your ideas about risks that might occur, then  call or e-mail your insurance agent to be sure your properly covered. You can contact any one of the Haas brothers to discuss your insurance needs by clicking here for our contact information.

We’re happy to help and make policy adjustments to keep your auto and homeowners insurance liability coverages properly balanced when life changes.

I have always recommended the use of high deductibles because my philosophy has been to encourage people to keep more of their money in the bank and save for the deductible if it is needed in the future.

The strategy works like this; put $1000 or $2000 away in a savings account that you will not raid for a spur of the moment purchase. That money will be used to pay all kinds of deductibles. Then raise the deductible on any insurance policy that you have to the maximum that you have put into that account. Immediately, you will be able to take the premium savings and put that to use another way. Depending on the original deductible the savings could be hundreds of dollars per year. Year after year that will add up to a sizable sum. I have always believed the money is better off in my clients pocket than the insurance company.

Saving money on insurance is easy when there is a clear strategy to raise deductibles.

There will be more drivers riding their cars without insurance or without adequate insurance to protect you.  Uninsured motorist coverage is your way of protecting against this risk.

Imagine for a moment, another driver hits you from behind by failing to stop at a stop light – a common occurrence. Now imagine the other driver runs off or has no insurance, but that your seriously injured. Your uninsured motorist coverage will pay for hospitalization and rehabilitation to bring you back to health. However, these bills can mount rapidly and $50,000 — even $100,000 — may not be enough. We recommend at least $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident uninsured motorist coverage for individuals and small families that own property. More coverage is required, especially if you have no health insurance due to unemployment or for other reasons.

Medical coverage is helpful in the same situation, when the at-fault party in an accident doesn’t have enough insurance. Medical coverage pays for the same types of expenses that are paid by uninsured motorist coverage, but medical coverage pays out immediately when bills are due. With uninsured motorist coverage, injuries may need to be fully restored before payments are made. Medical coverage is primary insurance and pays first with a claim against your policy. It’s a worthwhile coverage to have, especially if you do not have any health insurance on your own or if you have a high-deductible health insurance plan.

There are many issues to consider when deciding on the appropriate limit for uninsured motorist coverage and medical insurance coverage on your auto insurance. It’s best to consult someone who has experience with the issues involved, and it’s definitely a wise decision to review the coverages now. Don’t wait until it’s too late, especially these days when more people are driving without adequate insurance. We’re seeing many folks cut back on important expenses like auto insurance this year. A warning is in order. Now is the time to be even more vigilant and confirm that your auto insurance coverages are set right for your individual and family situations.

An example of this in action is the use of insurance scores. An insurance score is made up of many factors that go into your overall credit score. Most companies use these scores since they are very good predictors of future claims. The lower your insurance score the lower the premium for your auto insurance. Most of the online quoting systems assign an assumed insurance score, since they do not have permission to check individual consumer reports. These assumptions will create lower premium quotes. This is not necessarily a bad thing since the online quoting systems are only part of the way companies market to consumers. This lower quote will encourage a consumer to take the next step by contacting the company or a local agent directely.

At The Haas Agency we appreciate the fact that people are becoming more educated by getting online quotes for auto insurance. We look forward to the discussions we have making sure that the proper coverage is in place at the most competitive price.

Men are more likely than women to be ticketed for violations related to speeding, failure to yield, running a stop light or a stop sign. The claims that occur with these types of violations are usually more expensive than the claim costs incurred by women. Women are 27% less likely than men to be found at fault in an accident and that results in fewer claims paid out to other parties.

For all the men out there reading this post I know you may hear the dreaded “I told you so”, however, if the woman in your life doesn’t see this and you just change your driving habits she will be very impressed with your ability to change. Ultimately the truth will save you money. Drive less aggressively