Transcription Slide 1: Hello! I’m Dan Lyles with Lyles Insurance. In this video, we’re going to go over Uninsured Motorist coverage. Slide 2: Uninsured Motorist and Under-insured Motorist coverages are one of the more important components of your auto insurance policy. Yet, it is also the most overlooked part. There are states where it’s optional, and drivers may reject coverage. There’s also states where it’s required, but drivers only choose to take out the state minimum liability coverage that they can get by with. Slide 3: Now to quickly cover statistics, about 13% of all drivers on the road are uninsured. Now that’s the national average. In some states, it can be a lot higher, as many as 1 in 4 drivers. And also, another thing to keep in mind is that while most drivers are driving legally with liability coverage, many of them are only carrying the lowest level of coverage that their state requires. So that’s why both Uninsured and Under-insured motorist coverages are important. Slide 4: There are three parts to Uninsured Motorist coverage. Number one is Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury coverage. And you see the abbreviations I have for each of these. For the first one, UMBI, represents Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury coverage. You’ll often see those abbreviations on your Declaration Page of an auto insurance application. Number two: Under-insured Motorist Bodily Injury coverage. And that’s abbreviated UIMBI on your policy. And the third, Uninsured Motorist Property Damage coverage, which is abbreviated UMPD. Now let’s go over what each of these three are and what they mean. Slide 5: The first part: Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury coverage. If you get hit by a driver and it’s their fault, and they’re not carrying liability coverage like they should, and you have injuries, uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage would kick in on your policy. Slide 6: The second part: Under-Insured Motorist Bodily Injury coverage. In this situation, if you get hit by a driver and it’s their fault, and the driver is carrying liability coverage, but the level of liability coverage that they’re carrying is not enough to cover all of your injury expenses. Under-Insured Motorist Bodily Injury coverage on your policy will kick in. Slide 7: And the third part: Uninsured Motorist Property Damage coverage. This is where, again, you get hit by a driver and it’s their fault and they’re not carrying liability coverage. This will pay towards your own vehicle’s property damage. Slide 8: Before we finish, there’s two more key points you need to know about. Number one, when you choose your level of uninsured motorist coverage you are limited to the amount of coverage you have chosen as your level of liability coverage. So keep that in mind because if you only chose state minimum liability coverage, then that’s all they’re going to allow you to have with uninsured motorist coverage. You can’t go any higher. And second, this is a loophole in the law that I do not like, but it is what it is. Uninsured motorist coverage will not apply if you get hit by an unidentified hit-and-run driver. So if somebody hits you and it’s their fault, but they take off and you don’t know who they are, you can’t apply that to uninsured motorist coverage. To have coverage for that, you need to have medical coverage on your auto policy and also Collision coverage to cover the property damage. Slide 9: For those of you who live in the six states that I sell auto insurance in, if you live in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia or West Virginia, and you would like for me to personally run you an auto insurance quote, I will be very happy to do so. I have put a link here on my website to where you can go and fill out an auto quote form. And I will get back with you with rates. Or, if you’d just like to get a quote by phone, I’ve also listed my phone number. Thank you for watching and have a great day! Get an Auto Insurance quote with Lyles Insurance Call me for a quote
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Transcription Slide 1: Hello! I’m Dan Lyles with Lyles insurance. In this video, we’re going to go over why insuring your classic car with classic car insurance beats regular auto insurance. Slide 2: If you own a classic, antique, vintage or exotic car, you are far better off insuring your vehicle with a classic car insurance policy than you are with a regular auto insurance policy. And that’s what this video is going to go over, is the advantages a classic car insurance policy has over regular car insurance. Slide 3: So let’s go over those advantages. Starting with #1: Better Claims handling. Claims adjusters for classic car insurance companies specialize in just classic cars. And therefore they have much more expertise in knowing how to repair them. They only use original stock parts in repairs, and you have more flexibility in choosing body shops. #2: Lower price versus regular auto insurance policies. And the reason is, they understand that you only drive classic cars on an occasional basis. You don’t use them every day like driving to work, or running errands like you do a regular every day use vehicle. And therefore, you get much lower premium. Slide 4: #3: Classic car insurance policies insure vehicles on an agreed value basis, not an actual cash value basis like regular auto insurance does. This is important because if you ever total your vehicle, you will know the exact amount that will be paid with agreed value coverage. Actual cash value coverage only pays for current market value, which is usually much less. #4: Zero deductible option. All classic car insurance companies will offer you a zero deductible for Comprehensive and Collision coverage. The good thing about it is, they offer those coverages at a very low rate. Regular auto insurance policies rarely ever offer zero deductibles. And if they do, they charge a lot higher premium for it. Slide 5: #5: Having only one liability charge. Now this only applies to those of you who own multiple classic or antique cars. But if it does apply, you only get charged one liability charge for the whole policy that covers all the vehicles on the policy. That’s a lot different than what you get with regular car insurance, where you get a liability charge for every vehicle you insure. So that saves you a lot of money if you own multiple classic cars. And #6: You get special coverage options specific for classic vehicles that you won’t see on a regular auto insurance policy. Slide 6: This is just a simple table that compares classic car insurance versus regular car insurance. I’m not going to go through it because we’ve already covered these. But once you look at them side-by-side, and see what is offered, there really is no comparison. Because classic car insurance is both better coverage and at a lower price. Slide 7: To see if your vehicle qualifies as a classic car, under classic car insurance, it’s pretty easy. There are only three things: Number one, your vehicle must be at least 25 years old (unless it’s an exotic vehicle). Number two, and this one is important, it can’t be a regular use vehicle. Meaning, you can’t use this classic car to drive to work every day. In fact, in order to qualify, they’re going to want you to show proof that you have regular auto insurance on your every day vehicles. That way, they know you’re not driving these classic cars on a daily basis. And number three, you can’t have any serious violations on your driving record. A couple dings doesn’t matter. But if you have anything like a DUI or a reckless operation, they’re not going to allow you to take out classic car insurance. But other than that, those are the only main qualifications to a classic car insurance policy. Slide 8: For those of you who live in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia or West Virginia, and you would like for me to personally run you a classic car insurance quote, I’ve listed a quote page on my website that you can click on and fill out. Or if you would rather get a quote by phone, I’ve also listed my phone number, and I’ll also have those posted on my site as well. Thank you for watching, and have a great day! Transcription Slide 1: Hello! I’m Dan Lyles with Lyles Insurance. In this video, I’m going to go over why you shouldn’t buy auto insurance directly from an auto insurance company. Slide 2: Whether you shop online or by phone, buying auto insurance directly from a company is fast and convenient. But there are some shortcomings in doing so. And that’s what this video is going to go over. Slide 3: There are three main reasons why buying insurance directly from a company is a bad idea. Number one, it bypasses the agent, and they use a customer service rep instead. Agents, they have your best interest in mind, where the customer service reps are told what to say by the company. Number two, if you have an accident, you want to get claims advice from your agent. Not from a customer service rep, who’s going to, again, tell you exactly what the company wants them to tell you. This is really true with small minor accidents and accidents where you’re not at fault. And number three, it’s just not time efficient to quote with one company at a time. You can get a quote from an independent agent will get you a quote with multiple companies at once. That greatly increases your chances of getting the best rate. Slide 4: I want to give you a general background about the difference between an independent agent and a customer service rep. And also go over the difference between an independent agent and a captive agent. So first, let me go over independent agent (like myself). An independent agent sells insurance with multiple companies. So when you get an auto insurance quote with an independent agent, they’re going to take your quote information and shop around with several companies at one time. That gives you the best chance of finding the lowest rate. And also it’s the most time efficient, as opposed to quoting with one company at a time. A captive agent, they only sell with one company and they’re stuck with that company. They are direct employees of that company. And while they give you better advice than a customer service rep does, they’re still stuck with only being able to quote you once. And as far as a customer service rep, they get hired as an employee with one company, a direct company. They usually make hourly wages. And everything they tell you is scripted from the company. So the responses you get aren’t always in your best interest. They tell them what to say. And those little bits of advice are more often than not in the company’s best interest. Slide 5: I’ve made a quick reference chart here to help you go over the pros and cons of both types of agents and customer service reps. So just briefly look over that. It will give you a good understanding of the difference between the three that I’ve been talking about. Slide 6: For those of you who live in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia or West Virginia, if you’d like to get an auto insurance quote, I will be happy to run one for you personally myself. I’ve left my quote information from my website on here. And I’ve also listed my phone number. You can go online and get a quote or just give me a call. Thank you for watching and have a great day! Related Blog Articles: Video: Should I add/increase deer coverage on my auto insurance Video: The best way to buy auto insurance online Transcription: Slide 1: Hello! I'm Dan Lyles with Lyles Insurance. In this video, we're going to go over the things you must know when buying snowmobile insurance in Michigan. Slide 2: Buying snowmobile insurance is easy. But there are some good policies and there are some lousy policies. How you set up your policy makes a big difference. And this video will show you the things you need to know, and what to look for in a good snowmobile insurance policy. Slide 3: It's very important that you set up your policy correctly. And there are two ways to insure a snowmobile. The first option is to add your snowmobile as an attachment to your homeowners insurance policy. But a better option is to buy an exclusive standalone snowmobile insurance policy. Nine times out of ten, an exclusive standalone policy is going to be better. And in the next few slides we’re going to go over the reasons why. Slide 4: First, let's go over the pros and cons of an exclusive standalone policy. As far as pros: Number one, you don't have crazy policy coverage restrictions that many attached policies have. They offer all of the basic coverages. And they also offer many other optional coverages. And more often than not, they match or come close to the same premium that an attached policy has. The bad side of a standalone policy is the inconvenience of having two separate policies instead of just one combined attached policy. Slide 5: Now let me go over the pros and cons of a snowmobile attached to a homeowner's policy. First, the good side is the convenience of only having one combined policy. And also, most companies will give you a bundling discount when you do this. The downsides of it: You've got to be careful here because many of them have crazy policy restrictions. Now I’ll get into that a little bit more. It also doesn't offer the five basic coverages that any standalone policy does, and it doesn't offer any additional optional coverages that are available on a standalone policy. Slide 6: Regarding the crazy policy restrictions I was referring to, some of them include things like not being covered off of your property, not being covered outside of your sled’s garaging zip code, and some won't even cover you during recreational trail use (how crazy is that!). You've got to look at the fine print. And make sure you don't have any crazy restrictions or exclusions like that. Slide 7: As far as the five basic coverages I was referring to, they're the same basic coverages that you would find on an auto insurance policy: liability coverage, uninsured motorist coverage, medical benefits coverage, Comprehensive coverage and Collision coverage. Now, you're only required to take out the liability coverage. The other four are optional, unless you're financing your sled. Then you'll need to carry comprehensive and collision coverage as well. But any policy that doesn't offer that for your snowmobile, it's not worth its salt! Slide 8: As far as additional optional coverages, there are four major ones. They may not all apply to you. But if they do, they’re very good coverage is to have. Number one is trailer coverage. Number two is accessory coverage. Number three is total loss coverage, which kind of works like gap insurance for anybody that has a brand-new or almost brand-new sled. And also, many sledders like to go to Canada. You should be offered coverage on any good policy that will cover you also in Canada. Slide 9: If you would like to get a snowmobile insurance quote, I'll be very happy to help you. The companies I carry include all the coverages I've mentioned earlier. And I handle all quotes myself personally and privately. I don't share or sell your information to anybody. I posted my website, where you can get a quote. Or if you want, I've also posted my phone number. You can just give me a call. Thank you for watching and have a great day! Get a Snowmobile Insurance Quote with Lyles Insurance Get an SR22/SR50 quote with Lyles Insurance here if you own a vehicle. Get an SR22/SR50 quote with Lyles Insurance here if you don't own a vehicle. Call me for a quote Transcription: Slide 1: Hello! I'm Dan Lyles with Lyles Insurance. In this video, we're going to go over a small problem that's been happening to Indiana drivers, where the BMV employees are telling them that they need both an SR50 and an SR22 auto insurance filing to get their license reinstated. This is simply not true! And I'm going to go over why, and give you some ideas about how to handle the problem. Slide 2: First, let me give you a little background info regarding SR50’s and SR22’s. Indiana is the only state that has the SR50 filing. But several years ago, the law changed, and they did away with SR50’s and replaced it with the traditional SR22 filing that most states use. However, if you were charged before the law changed, you're still grandfathered into the old SR50 filing. Slide 3: What's the difference between an SR50 and an SR22 filing? Well, they're very similar and let's start with that. When you buy an auto insurance policy with either one of those attached to it, it lets your BMV know that you have taken out at least state minimum liability auto insurance coverage. The difference (and the only difference) between the two is that an SR50 only covers present tense. Meaning, they let the BMV know, yes, you've taken out this policy. An SR22 covers both the present and the future. So as long as you're required to carry an SR22, you have to keep this policy active. Otherwise your license will be suspended again. But that's the only difference between the two. Slide 4: Now here is where it gets tricky. Because if you need an SR50, since Indiana law has done away with them, so have almost all of the auto insurance companies. And so the BMV allows you to substitute an SR22 for an SR50. It doesn't work vice versa because the SR22 has a higher standard. But if you need an SR50, you're probably going to have to take out an SR22 instead. But don't worry. It works just fine, and you're not held to that higher standard of following you in the future like an SR22 does. Slide 5: Here's where the problem arises. Recently, I've received calls from a few drivers that the BMV told that they need both an SR22 and an SR50. This is not only illogical, it doesn't make sense but it's completely not true. Problem is, BMV employees don't get as much training as they should, and some people don't quite have it right. So if this happens to you (and I've had this occur several times over the last few months): If you're in person at the BMV, try moving to another line where hopefully somebody's more experienced and knows what they're talking about. Or, if you're on the phone ask to speak to a manager. And another idea may be to just call another BMV branch and hope you get somebody that knows what they're talking about. But anybody that tells you that you need Both, it is simply not true! Slide 6: So when a BMV employee tells you “you need both filings”, what then? Well, if you're told that you need both the SR50 and the SR22 all you need to take out is the SR22. It's as simple as that. Slide 7: Contrary to popular belief, neither the SR50 or SR22 is actually auto insurance coverage. All it does is simply attach onto an auto insurance policy. Now what type of policy do you need? Well, that's real simple also. If you own a vehicle or have a vehicle registered in your name, you simply need a regular auto insurance policy and attach the SR22 onto it. If you do not own a vehicle, you need what's called a named operator policy (also known as a non-owners policy) and attach the sr22 onto it. Slide 8: If you would like to get a quote, I'll be happy to help you with that. I put links here for both vehicle owners and those who don't own a vehicle. Click on those links and it will take you straight to a quote page. Fill out some information, and I'll run a quote for you. Or, if you'd rather just get a quote by phone, I've also posted my phone number at the bottom. Thanks for watching and have a great day! Get an SR22/SR50 quote with Lyles Insurance here if you own a vehicle. Get an SR22/SR50 quote with Lyles Insurance here if you don't own a vehicle. Call me for a quote Related Blog Articles: Video: Guide to getting Indiana Non-Owner SR22 Insurance quotes Click Here to get a quote if you own a vehicle. Click Here to get a quote if you do not own a vehicle. Call me for a quote Transcription: Slide 1: Hello! I'm Dan Lyles with Lyles Insurance. This video is a buyer's guide for those of you who need FR44 auto insurance in Virginia. Slide 2: What is an FR44 filing? It's basically a state filing that attaches onto an auto insurance policy. It's usually the last step you have to take in getting your driver's license reinstated. And basically, what an FR44 filing is, it guarantees the Virginia DMV that you're carrying at least double the state minimum requirement in auto insurance liability coverage. And the way it works is, once you buy a policy, you can get your license back. And once your license is reinstated, the FR44 filing acts as a “tattletale” if you ever cancel or lapse on a policy. Slide 3: So after you've had a policy canceled with an FR44 filing attached, the auto insurance company, like I mentioned on the last slide, will tattle on you to the DMV because they're required to by law. What happens then? Well, unfortunately, your license would be suspended again until you either reinstate or start another policy with a new FR44 attached. And just to give you a quick heads-up, Virginia's very strict about that! When you cancel on an FR44 policy, they're probably going to hit you with another reinstatement fee, which can really get pricey. So once you start a policy, you want to make sure you keep it active for as long as you need to keep that FR44 filing. Slide 4: So to start the buying process, the first thing that's very important is which type of policy do you need? And the answer is very simple. If you own a vehicle or have a vehicle registered in your name, you need just a regular auto insurance policy, and attach the FR44 filing onto it. Now for those of you who do not own a vehicle, you're going to need what's called a Named Operator's auto insurance policy. And again, an FR44 filing will attach onto it as well. Slide 5: As far as FR44 coverage, the main thing you need to watch is what I have in bold there at the top. You need to increase your liability coverage to at least double the Virginia state minimum, which would be 50/100/40. You also need to carry the uninsured motorist coverage of at least 25/50/20 like all Virginia drivers are required to. But other than that, all other coverages are optional So you can select yes or no and each of them. That includes medical payments coverage, income loss coverage or comprehensive & collision coverage (which if you have them both together is what people call “full coverage”). Slide 6: If you would like for me to personally run you a quote, I will be very happy to do so. I have several FR44 friendly companies in Virginia (meaning they go easy on price for those who need an FR44 and have dings on their driving record. I will shop around and find the company that comes out the lowest in your situation. If you'd like to get a quote straight from my website, I've posted two links. The first link is for those of you who own a vehicle. The second link is for those of you who do not own a vehicle. Or, if you'd rather just get a quote by phone, I've also posted my phone number at the bottom. And I will also post those links at the bottom of the video, whether you're watching this on my blog or YouTube. So I hope you've learned what you need to learn about FR44 filings. Thank you for watching and have a great day! Transcription Slide 1: Hello! I'm Dan Lyles with Lyles Insurance. In this video, we're going to go over how to correct an invalid VIN number on your vehicle. Slide 2: It only takes one digit to be off on any of the seventeen digits of a VIN number for it to come up as invalid. But the good news is, since 1981, all vin numbers have been standardized. And because of this, there are some very good clues that are there that can help us identify which digit is not correct. Slide 3: Two of the three numbers that are most likely to have an error happen to be the first and second digits. And fortunately those are very easy to look up. The first digit is simply the country in which your vehicle came from (country of origin). And I've listed several of the most common countries. And the second digit is the manufacturer code, or make of your vehicle. And I've also put most of the common makes. So that makes it very easy to check the first two digit digits. Slide 4: Digits 3-8 can tell you a lot about your vehicle. However, they're all specific to your manufacturer. So you'll have to look them up online. The ninth digit is the check digit. It's basically a mathematical calculation that shows you if there's an error in a VIN number. And the eleventh digit is the plant code. This tells you exactly which factory your vehicle was assembled. And digits 12-17 are your sequence production number. And these amount to your vehicles fingerprint. However, all of these for now, I want you to just skip and ignore because there are easier and quicker ways to find the errors than pulling these. Slide 5: So now let's get started with helping you find where your problem is, and how to correct it. First, we're going to start with the very obvious and easy errors. For example, there are no I’s, O's or Q’s in any VIN number. So if you see those, try plugging in a one for the I or zero for the O's or Q's and see what happens. Then you have visual errors. This is usually from not being able to read someone's handwriting. An ”S” can look like the number 5, a “B” can look like the number 8… Those are very common. So look for those. And also, if you've taken a VIN number over the phone, verbal errors happen a lot. That's because nine letters rhyme with the word “free”. Letters like “S” as in Sam and “F” as in Frank can sound alike. The letter H and the number 8 can sound alike, things like that. Slide 6: Now we get to the tenth digit, which I haven't went over yet because it's the one where you're probably going to get lucky in figuring out the error. Most often the error will happen with the tenth digit, which simply represents what year your vehicle is. There's a 30-year cycle in which all model years go by. And I'm going to show you that chart here in just a second. But that's usually where the problem gets solved. So watch the tenth digit. And another thing that I've noticed in many cases, your VIN number might be correct but maybe you're just a year off on what model year your vehicle is. Slide 7: So here you see the tenth digit VIN number chart. It's very important that you make sure the year of your vehicle corresponds with the right letter or number that goes with that year. And so if you see anything that doesn't match up, that tells you right off the bat that either the VIN number is wrong, or you may have the year of the car listed incorrectly. But this is where most of the errors are found. So make sure you double-check this. Slide 8: And finally, if you've tried all the easy quick solutions and nothing's worked so far, the best thing to do is just find a copy of the VIN number, and check all the numbers and letters out. You can find a VIN number on your title, your registration, if you financed your vehicle, you'll find the VIN on your loan papers. A lot of people check through the windshield on the corner of the driver's side dashboard. And one that a lot of people don't know about (and this might be your best bet), there's usually a sticker placed on the outside of your door. I've included a picture of mine. I had to turn the camera sideways so you could get a better look at it. But that's going to have everything about your vehicle. So if nothing worked for you with any of the quick easy solutions, try one of those, and see if everything matches up. I hope this video has helped you get some good ideas about how to solve your problem. Thank you for watching. And have a great day! Transcription Slide 1: Hello! I'm Dan Lyles with Lyles Insurance. This video is about understanding your auto insurance declaration page. Slide 2: A declaration page is basically a summary of the auto insurance coverage you have. It will show you which vehicles are covered, which drivers are insured, what coverage you have on each of the basic parts of an auto insurance policy (and the levels you're carrying on each part). And for those of you who financed your vehicle, it will also show if a lienholder is listed. Slide 3: It's very important that you know what coverage you have on your policy. You need to understand what each part of your policy covers and how much coverage you have on each part. And also, whenever you compare rates with other auto insurance companies, you need to know the levels you are carrying so you're able to compare apples with apples. Slide 4: It’s important that you understand the five major parts of an auto insurance policy. So let's go over each one briefly. Number one: Liability coverage. That pays the other guy if you're at fault and caused an injury or property damage in an accident. Number two: Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. This pays you if you get hit by someone, and it's their fault, and they either don't have insurance or they don't have enough insurance to cover all the damages. Number three: Medical payments. This pays for you and your passengers who get injured in an accident in your vehicle regardless of who was at fault in the accident. And numbers four and five go together: Comprehensive and collision coverage. Added together, they make up the physical damage coverage on your vehicle. Now I want to show you an actual declaration page so you can get an understanding and an idea what to look for and explain the levels of coverage. Slide 5: So here we see the outline of coverage part of a declaration page. And we'll start with liability (what you see highlighted there). And it shows when you're at fault in an accident, it will pay up to $100,000 each person maximum. Or if you injured more than one person, it can pay up to three hundred thousand. And it will also pay up to $100,000 for property damage. Slide 6: Next we have uninsured and underinsured motorist bodily injury coverage. And you see here, the limits are the same. $100,000 for each person maximum up to $300,000 total. One thing I want to point out here, you can only select those limits as high as you chose for body injury on the liability coverage. So if you skimp on your liability coverage and only go with, like state minimum, you're also going to be stuck with having low levels of uninsured motorist coverage as well. So keep that in mind when you're choosing levels of coverage. Slide 7: Next is medical payments coverage. In some states that might have a different name, such as medical benefits coverage or PIP (which is personal injury protection). Regardless of its name, they all mean about the same thing. And as you can see here, this driver chose to carry up to ten thousand dollars maximum per person. Slide 8: And for the last parts, comprehensive and collision coverage: In some states, you may see comprehensive listed as “Other than Collision”. But either way, they mean the same thing. And as you see here, they come with deductibles. This driver has chosen two hundred and fifty dollar deductibles for both comp. and collision. So that will be their out-of-pocket expense if they ever have to file a claim on their vehicle. Slide 9: So now I hope you have a better understanding of how to read the coverage levels on a declaration page. For those of you living in the six states I have listed at the top there. If you'd like to get an auto insurance quote, I'll be happy to run a quote for you personally myself. I've left a link to my website there which I’ll also post that under the video. Or, if you just want to get a quote by Phone, I've also posted my phone number. Thank you for watching and have a great day! Related Blog Articles: Video: Why State Minimum Liability Auto Insurance Coverage Sucks! Video: Car Insurance with a Speeding Ticket: Shopping around is a must! Video: Uninsured Motorist Coverage Explained Video: Why you shouldn't buy Auto Insurance directly from a company. Why is there a cancellation notice on my auto insurance bill? Should I choose a six or twelve month auto insurance policy? Transcription Slide 1: Hello! I'm Dan Lyles with Lyles Insurance. In this video, we're going to cover how your driving record affects your auto insurance rates. Slide 2: With most auto insurance companies, your motor vehicle report plays a big factor in how they calculate your auto insurance rate. And many drivers have errors on their record, and they don't realize it. We're going to show you what to do if you have any of these. And also, just knowing how companies handle accidents and violations gives you a better idea, and will prepare you in case you have any bumps down the road. Slide 3: It's very important to understand that auto insurance companies weigh violations very differently from one company to a next. And the point system that your state license bureau uses has nothing to do with how an auto insurance company looks at violations. They're free to weigh each violation in terms of severity however they please. And sometimes, you'll see some things that are little head scratching. For example, some companies won't insure a driver with a DUI. While other companies, they love DUI customers and weigh speeding tickets even worse than a DUI. And then other violations for example, seat belts. Some companies count seat belt tickets, some don't. And that's why it's important for drivers who don't have a clean record to shop around with multiple companies to get their best rate. Slide 4: How far back are violations counted? And again, companies handle it different ways. Some companies only go back three years for violations and accidents. Some go back five years. And then there's some that are in between. They'll go back five years for accidents and only three years for violations. And there are other companies that will go back five years, but lessen the severity of the violation after three years pass. So again, that's another reason why you need to shop around with multiple companies if you have any violations approaching a three year anniversary. Slide 5: Now want to go over a couple of the common errors I was speaking of. First one is At-fault versus Not-at-fault accidents. First, to give you a little background info: Some companies do not count Not-at-fault accidents on your driving record (meaning it won't cost you extra premium). But many companies do. And where I'm seeing a lot of errors, where some drivers have Not-at-fault accidents. But when I go and pull their motor vehicle report up, it’s incorrectly reported as an At-fault accident. Many people aren't even aware of it. So if this happens to you what you need to do is just get all the documentation you can, and hang on to it. Save it for at least five years (anything like a traffic crash report, police report, or payment from the other driver’s insurance company…. anything that shows you're not at fault in the accident). Make sure you save it. Slide 6: Here's another scenario that can cause errors on your driving record: Violations that happen around midnight. Just so you know: If you ever get charged for multiple violations from the same incident or occurrence, the auto insurance companies… most, not all, but most companies will only charge you for the most severe violation. So, like if you cause an accident and get a failure to control ticket, you're only going to get dinged for an At-fault accident. They won't count the failure to control. But where problems happen are when these violations happen around midnight. One might get processed before midnight and the other might get processed after. Well, that makes it look like it happened on two consecutive days, because of the date. So again, if that happened to you save your documentation…. You might need it. Slide 7: How should you dispute an inaccurate violation? Well, if it's something very obvious, you can always go to your state BMV or DMV. But I know they can be difficult to work with. What I've always suggested, is just handle it with your auto insurance company. And there's two ways that you can dispute a violation, depending on which way the company does it. Some will allow you to dispute a violation before you buy the policy. And then you have a few days to provide documentation showing that there was an error on your driving record. And other times, they might require you to go ahead and pay for the error up front, and then credit you back once you send in supporting documents. Slide 8: I hope this video has given you a better understanding of how companies handle violations. If you'd like to get a quote, and you live in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia or West Virginia, I'll be happy to run a quote for you personally. I've provided a link to my website where you can get a quote online. And I've also listed my phone number if you'd rather quote by phone. I have companies that go easy on drivers with dings on their driving record. And they also go easy on SR22’s, SR50’s and FR44’s, if you need a state filing. Thank you for watching, and have a great day! Transcription Slide 1: Hello! I'm Dan Lyles with Lyles Insurance. In this video, we're going to go over six common ways you can screw up your auto insurance rate. Slide 2: I see many drivers making the same mistakes over and over that hurts their insurance rate. Sometimes, they don't even realize it. So this video is going to make you aware of those common errors, and can save you a lot of money over time. Slide 3: Number one: Letting your auto insurance coverage lapse. This is very big. I see so many drivers do this. You need to carry continuous liability coverage at all times, and at least have six months of active coverage in order to earn a prior coverage discount. So don't allow any gaps in coverage. They really cost you a lot of money. Slide 4: Number two: Always paying late on your premiums. Many drivers have a habit of paying their premium just a little bit late after the due date. They know they have a cancellation date. They'll make their payment before it cancels, but yet once you go past that due date, you might get hit with late fees. And also, when your policy renews, auto insurance companies will reevaluate you every expiration/ renewal period. Anybody who pays their premium on time always has a better chance of being offered a lower rate than someone who has a habit of paying late. So keep that in mind and try to always pay on time. Slide 5: Number three: Picking the wrong payment plan. With most auto insurance companies, you basically have three general options: number one is to pay the whole policy in full, which saves you the most money. But I know for some of you that's an awful big chunk to come up with at once. So if that's not possible, your next best option is to have your payments come out automatically every month. You can do that through a checking account (and some auto insurance companies will allow you to also take it out of a credit or debit card every month as well). But what most people do is just pay month-to-month as they go. And doing so is going to end up costing you more money than the other two options. Companies charge installment fees (some call them finance fees, same thing). But they add up quickly. And so if you can pay for your policy in full or have it come out automatically, it's going to save you some money. Slide 6: Number four: Filing claims involving very minor damage. I'm not talking about a substantial claim (that's what your auto insurance is for, go ahead and use it). I'm talking about claims that involve very low dollar amounts. Give you a perfect example: I had a customer couple years ago slide on some ice, hit his neighbor's mailbox and fence. Only did about $200 worth of damage. The neighbor said “give me $200 and we'll forget about it”…. He should have jumped on that. But instead, he chose to let the auto insurance company pay the property damage liability claim of $200. And as a result, he now has an at fault accident on his driving record. And that's going to cost him more in the long run than $200 would ever cost. So always keep that in mind. And if you're unsure of what to do, make sure you call your agent first and get some advice before you contact the company directly. Slide 7: Number five: Not shopping around for a lower rate. Financial advisers recommend that you should shop around at least every two years for a cheaper auto insurance policy. But very few drivers follow that advice. And as an illustration, let's just say you bought insurance three years ago, and Company A was cheaper than Company B, C and D. So you went with Company A. Well, that doesn't necessarily mean that A is going to be cheaper than companies B, C and D down the road. Things change very quickly in the auto insurance industry. So always make sure you shop around on occasion. Slide 8: Number six: Not checking on possible discount opportunities. No matter which company you have your auto insurance with, chances are you're not getting every discount that you could be getting. And I'll say this all the time and nobody will listen. But just a simple call to your agent, you'd be amazed how much money you might be able to save. I would guess that nearly half of all drivers aren't getting all the discounts they should be getting. Slide 9: So I hope you've learned something from this video that maybe might change your habits and save you some money on your auto insurance rate. For those of you who live in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia or West Virginia: if you'd like to get a quote, I'll be happy to run a quote for you personally. I provided a link to my website where you can get a quote. I will also put that link under the video, so it will make it easy for you to click on. Or, if you'd like to just get a quote by phone, give me a call. I posted my phone number. Thank you for watching and have a great day! Related Blog Articles: Video: Car Insurance with a Speeding Ticket: Shopping around is a must! Video: Uninsured Motorist Coverage Explained Video: Why you shouldn't buy auto insurance directly from a company Why is there a cancellation notice on my auto insurance bill? Should I choose a six or twelve month auto insurance policy? |
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Dan Lyles is an Independent Insurance Agent serving Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.. Archives
March 2021
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