California, Here I Am

OK, that's not exactly the title of the old song. As this is written I'm at a hotel, after a day's worth of classes at the University of Farmers. Personally, I think they should've named it Farmers University. It would've made the baseball caps have a more interesting set of initials.

That said, I'm getting training, and having a good time. I'll be returning to AZ with more knowledge and information, designed to serve my present and future clients with greater skill.

Hopefully, that'll actually work.

Meanwhile, if you need insurance or have questions about your present coverage, whether you're with Farmers or not, I hope you'll contact me at any of three numbers: 602-466-2636, 480-628-9786 (cell), or the recently-added: 480-44-BUSH-1 (442-8741), or you can write to me at: jbFarmersAgent@gmail.com.

Thanks.

Referral Program Helps You, Helps Them, Helps Charities, Helps Me

We've started a referral program, through which you can earn gift cards and either keep them or give them to someone who's suffering financial difficulty, or to a formal charity.

In brief, if you refer someone to my agency (602-466-2636 - office; 480-628-9786 - cell), who then makes and keeps an appointment to discuss their insurance with me, I'll present you with a gift card to a supermarket, gas station, or any other kind of store that has a program. You just need to tell me what store's gift card you'd prefer.

You can then either keep the gift card or give it to someone you know who's been negatively affected by the economic situation in the country. Alternatively, you could give the gift card to a charity.

If you'd like  a brochure we prepared which spells the program out, please call or e-mail me. The best e-mail address is: jbFarmersAgent@gmail.com.

Thanks.

Jeff

Mobile Homes Need Protection Too

People who live in mobile homes often have the misconception that insuring their home and possessions would be as expensive as "regular" homeowner's insurance. Or, if they live in an inexpensive mobile, they may think it's not worth insuring.

Both concepts are wrong.

First, mobile home insurance is really pretty inexpensive. And, although major claims are rare, fires that destroy a mobile home and its contents do happen. If you live in a mobile home and don't have coverage, what would happen if that occurred to your home?

Another factor is liability coverage. If someone trips on your carpet or otherwise injures themselves while in your home and has major medical expenses as a result, without insurance, you could be personally liable for their costs. Which of your assets would you choose to lose if that happened?

Obviously insurance is better. And when you consider that mobile home insurance (from Farmers wholly-owned subsidiary, Foremost) can be obtained for around $300.00 per year -- depending on the value of your home and its contents -- it's almost silly to be without it.

Please feel free to call for a no-obligation quote or with any other questions you might have about mobile home insurance. If you do have coverage, let's see if we can get you covered for less. I can be reached at 602-466-2636 (office) or 480-628-9786 (cell).

Thanks for reading.

Not About Insurance - Real Estate

A brief recommendation. I've known Adrian Cluff for several years now. He's an extremely knowledgeable real estate professional, working primarily in the eastern part of the valley. If you're trying to sell, would like to buy, or are just wondering what the current value of your property is, Adrian's a good person to call.

Go to his website at http:www.adriancluff.com, or if you don't want to type that all in, click here.http://www.adriancluff.com. When you get there, you'll see a picture that looks a lot like the one in this post. He's also very informed about investment opportunities. Telling him I sent you won't do you any good, but it won't hurt you either.

Don't Under OR Over-Insure

We previously wrote about the problem with under-insuring yourself, specifically the risk that your assets could be lost if you have too little liability insurance on your car policy.

But there's another danger.

Your insurance agent could be trying to make you pay too much.

I'm not talking about your current insurance costing more than it might if you called me (which could also be true, but that's a different subject). If you're an individual who's renting an apartment, and you're in a minimum-wage job (good luck affording your apartment, if that's the case - but we digress), to have a policy which could pay $100 thousand per person injured and up to $300 thousand for each incident is going to cost you too much, relative to your income.


The truth is I'd agree that the above coverage is a minimum everyone should have, because if you're in an accident and other people are hurt, it COULD cost that much.

But as you know, if money's tight, you might have to take a gamble that nothing bad will happen. If you have a good agent, (s)he can talk to you about starting with a smaller amount of liability coverage, and then increasing  a little bit at a time, as time goes by. Yes, the increases in coverage will cost you more, but you'll be making the increases gradually, as your earnings increase.

If you haven't met with your agent to discuss this kind of question, you have (I'm sorry) the wrong agent. If you'd like to discuss your levels of coverage and how much it should cost you, call me. I'm a Farmers agent and can meet you at or near your home, or at my office.

Call me at 602-466-2636 (Office) or 480-628-9786 (Cell). Thanks.

It's Not A Commercial, But It's About Commercial

Commercial Insurance refers (at the risk of being obvious) to insurance for businesses. Generally, there are two kinds of commercial insurance: liability, and workers' compensation.

If you own or manage a business, you clearly need these coverages (the workers' compensation only if you employ 1 or more people).

The bad news in commercial insurance is that your premium may be going up. If you're insured by SCF (formerly State Compensation Fund), this is specifically the case. That's because the company, originally owned by the State of Arizona (and in each state where SCF has been, the state has usually owned the company)is being "privatized." In other words, it's no longer going to be state-owned and has to start earning a profit to succeed.

In order to do that, they're raising premiums.

The good news is that other companies are trying to acquire market share at SCF's expense. And if you're due to renew your workers' compensation insurance, you should let us quote you on both workers' comp and your liability coverage.

If you're not about to approach renewal time, you don't want to switch workers' comp coverage, since - even assuming that Farmers or another company could save you a fortune - in the long run it could be more costly to switch.

BUT you can switch your liability coverage any time.

So give me a call, let us take some info to run a quote, and if we can save you money, that would be worth it, right? Right. If we can't we won't bother you further.

OK, maybe we told a little white one. It's about commercial, but maybe it was a little bit of a commercial, too. Hopefully, you also found it informative and useful. You can reach us at 602-466-2636 (Office); and, 480-628-9786 (Cell)

Nothing's Wrong With 800-Insurance Companies, Except...

...except for the fact that you almost never talk to the same person twice. And except that no one's going to be pro-active and check with you every 6-12 months to find out if your needs have changed. Also, they typically only sell one kind of insurance, e.g., auto coverage, so they don't bring to your attention any other kind of policy and they can't answer your questions about any other kind of coverage. If you should have a claim, you might talk to Mary today and when you call again, you may talk to Harry or Rasneesh.

There's nothing wrong with these companies (examples: Progressive and Geico) or their people, but there's no continuity and no relationship between you and them, other than your monthly payment.

If you've been insured by one of these companies, you already know what I mean. In fact, I used to be insured by each of the companies I mentioned. I never had a problem with their people (though I know others who have, occasionally), and I assume their insurance was fine, but I never had a claim, so there was no real test.

That said, I'm sure they handle most claims well. The issue though is that you have no agent (this isn't still universally true, since one of them has started selling through independents), and an agent can help you with: navigating your way through the shoals, to get your claim paid; taking care of your other insurance needs; and, looking out for your best interest and answering questions you have about other insurance.

Is that worth the extra price you pay, in order to have an agent? The answer isn't a simple yes or no. It's also a false choice. I've had an opportunity to go head-to-head against the prices of companies like this and we (Farmers) usually provide a lower price, in which case you get your "hands-on" agent free.

In fact, today I sold an auto policy and saved the client over $100 per month on his auto coverage, as compared to what he was paying Geico.

We don't ALWAYS beat the competition on price, but we usually do. And when we don't we're still worth it. Let me explain how and why. Please give me a call at 602-466-2636 or 480-628-9786. I'll provide a no-obligation quote on auto, life, homeowner's, renter's, or insurance for your company. Let's see whether we can save you money. I'm betting we can.

Thanks for your attention.