City Council OKs contract to study Detroit-sponsored car insurance plan

Car Insurance

Detroit City Council has approved a contract for a firm to study whether it's feasible for Detroit to create its own city-sponsored auto insurance company.

Mayor Mike Duggan's office said the $75,000 contract for Bloomington, Ill.-based Pinnacle Actuarial Resources passed 8-0 Tuesday.

Car Insurance rates for Detroit residents are considered among the highest in the nation. Duggan said "the high cost of auto insurance has been one of the key reasons residents have been leaving the city for years."

He has suggested calling the company — if created — D Insurance. It would provide more affordable rates for city residents.

Duggan said during his State of the City address in February that his family's auto insurance rose by more than $3,000 a year after he moved to Detroit from the suburbs.

Source: http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20141119/NEWS01/141119758/city-council-oks-contract-to-study-detroit-sponsored-car-insurance

Importance of Earthquake Insurance

Some of the places are extremely prone to earthquakes. Earthquake Insurance provides protection against the property damage caused by the earthquake. It is similar to that of house insurance or that of property insurance. The policyholder pays a premium amount to cover the risk of damages due to earthquake. Some house owners when they buy home insurance think that they need not bother about Earthquake Insurance, but it is important to know if their insurance has the risk coverage for earthquake or not. But it is important to know the basic home insurance policy does not cover the risk of earthquake and they need to buy earthquake insurance policy or they need to pay higher premiums to get earthquake risk coverage. You should take care of risk coverage for repairs or replacement of the damaged property. 

It is always better to know how much risk coverage you are going to get and what type of household materials are covered under this risk coverage. Does all your electronic equipments like TV, Fridge, furniture and clothing are covered under insurance in case of damage. 

What is the cost of these materials? What will be your living expenses in case you have to make alternative arrangements till the repair work completes after earthquake. The estimated cost to rebuild your house, and the mortgage details to repay the loans in case of disaster like earthquake while you have your house rebuilt? All these things will be taken into account when you purchase Insurance for earthquake risk coverage. To know more details about this type of insurance you can log on to www.igainsurance.com.

Different Aspects of Commercial Property Insurance

Commercial Property

What is a commercial property insurance? 

Insurance that protects the policy holder from the perils of fire, earthquake, or any type of natural disasters, and clients who wish to have Commercial Property Insurance include businessmen, manufacturers, service-oriented units, and non-profit organizations. The investment is worth considering the inventory spent on machineries and other infrastructure facilities and these equipments worth millions of dollars, investment in insurance is considered as an appropriate move. 

It is necessary to provide suitable protection to the machineries and infrastructure facilities. The amount of premium paid to the insurance company is considered as their expenses and it is added to the expenses list. 

There are some of the major benefits when manufacturers or business people or commercial property owners purchase the commercial property insurance to protect their property. 

• It will help the property owners to recover the expenses incurred when tenants leave the place without any information to the landlords or property owners.

• The losses in the form of building damage caused by the tenants will be covered under this Insurance.

• When some of the property is carried away by the tenants without informing the landlords or owners, then the loss will be covered by the Insurance. 

• The majority of the companies all the legal costs incurred during the processing of the insurance claims. 

• When you consult the www.igainsurance.com you need not worry about the quote, you can get a free no obligation quote by submitting the property details to the company.

Top 5 ways to Save Money on Auto Insurance

It's a big budget item for you every year - paying for car insurance.

A recent study by nerdwallet.com found most Americans overspend by as much as $360 on car insurance every year.

That's compounded in Florida where we pay some of the highest car insurance rates in the country.

"Insurance is about protecting your assets. To go too cheap means more money out of your pocket," said Lynne McChristian from the Insurance Information Institute.

With the help of McChristian we created a list of the top 5 ways to save on Auto Insurance. Starting with: 

1. Bundle your insurance

Check your homeowners or renters insurance and bundle. That could mean big savings. 

2. Discounts for a garage

Lynn says if you live in a gated community and have a garage, both can mean a discount for you.

3. Not shopping around could cost you

The Consumer Federation of America says some insurance companies will charge you more if you've shown in the past that you're not the type who shops around. They could even do this if you've never caused an accident or been issued a ticket.

4. Don't shop for the lowest payment alone

You can raise the deductible and save up to 40% but be careful.

"You should never take a higher deductible than what you can afford." Even if you're saving money month by month, you would have to shell out more cash if you're in an accident," said McChristian.

5. Talk to your agent at least once a year

-Tell them about any new safety features you have

-Ask if any new discounts are available

-Don't sit around waiting for savings to come to you

"They buy it once and don't want to think about it anymore. But insurance requires you to be an active participant."

About three percent of a Floridians' annual income goes to car insurance. It's already higher in Florida than in most states, so why pay more than you need to?

Source: http://www.wptv.com/homepage-showcase/5-ways-to-save-money-on-auto-insurance

Sometimes, Raising your Car Insurance Deductible Doesn’t Save You Much

Damage Car

Most of us know that if you raise your car insurance deductible, you'll save money. If you get into an accident, you'll pay more out-of-pocket. Depending on what state you live in, though, that cost savings may not be worth the increased risk.

We've given you tips in the past for saving on Car Insurance like skipping comprehensive protection. Another common tip is to raise your deductible. The more risk you take on in the deductible, the less your insurance costs.

Source: http://lifehacker.com/sometimes-raising-your-car-insurance-deductible-doesn-1656116213

New Des Moines bid policy: Is it really needed?

The Des Moines City Council recently approved a taxpayer quality assurance policy. The policy will apply to construction projects that are estimated to cost in excess of $1 million, bid and constructed by the city of Des Moines and funded without state and federal money.

It is not clear why this policy is needed.

The policy supposedly will provide justification for spending more taxpayer dollars on these projects as opposed to awarding the projects to the lowest responsible bidder. It appears this will be justified by stretching the definition of "responsible."

For these projects, the council members will now be thrown into a subjective process of selecting the contractor that will receive the contract. Expanding the definition of "responsible" is a slippery and uncomfortable slope.

The vague reasons cited are far from justifying costing the taxpayers more money and putting the council members in the position of hand picking who will be awarded city contracts.

The only new tool that will be provided to the city is a new questionnaire. It certainly is not close to the scrutiny that is already done by the insurance companies when underwriting whether or not to provide a bond to the contractor. The questionnaire appears to try to determine whether or not the contractor is a union firm. This should not be the primary consideration for awarding contracts on public projects.

The new questionnaire is unnecessary. Bidders on these projects have already been prequalified. With their bid, the contractor includes a bid bond. This is the assurance to the taxpayers that a licensed insurance company has prequalified the bidder. It is a promise that the lowest responsible bidder will provide the bonds to protect the project owner and subcontractors, suppliers and laborers providing services to the project. The insurance company's assets back that promise to the public owner.

Being in the prequalification business, I am familiar with the process a contractor must go through in order to obtain these bonds. Beyond the Contractor Insurance company's own questionnaire, much more information is underwritten and scrutinized. This information includes a thorough review of the contractor's financial performance and financial strength, their other projects on hand, their credit quality, their bank relationship, references from owners of past projects performed, and a review of each owner's personal financial condition.

What does the city gain by adding to this process? There is nothing wrong with the city requiring a questionnaire to be submitted when bidding a city project.

What will create a problem is when the city determines that the award should go to a higher bidder. Not only does this directly conflict with the state laws that require contracts to be let by competitive bidding, but the appearance of, and perhaps in reality, favoritism or cronyism will occur. This would result in a much higher frequency of appeals by prequalified contractors with responsible lower bids, thereby causing delays and increased costs, including legal fees.

As quoted in the article, "The city of Des Moines has built over a half-billion dollars of infrastructure without a major project ending in a litigation stalemate of stopped work and escalating claims." This implies that the current prequalification process is not flawed. What is the City Council trying to fix?

My employer specializes in underwriting and providing these bonds, called surety bonds. For full disclosure, my company and our competitors will charge more premium dollars for bonds on higher bidders because the premium is based on the contract amount. Yet, I disagree with the city's new policy.

Source: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/columnists/iowa-view/2014/11/03/larry-taylor-new-des-moines-bid-policy/18395001/