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.

You Get To Pick All Three

There used to be a popular saying in the business world.

"Good price, high quality, good service. Pick any two."

Implied is that you can't have all three. The concept is that if you're getting a low price, you might get high quality if you're lucky, or you might get great service, but that no one could afford to give you all three.

You can get all three, but it's rare. I like to think it's what I provide my clients. Insurance doesn't have to be expensive. In fact, homeowner's and renter's insurance are both surprisingly affordable. Service comes with no extra charge and it's what I do.

I've been referred to as "The Social Worker Insurance Agent," and what that means is that I'm really concerned with the best interests of those who are my clients, and I'll look out for them. If I hear about changes taking place that affect a client, that client will know about it quickly. Likewise, if we set up a life insurance program for you, I'll contact you at least every two years to see how your circumstances have changed. That way, for example, you and I will both know that it might be time to change some of your term coverage (available, of course from Farmers) into whole life coverage (likewise).

While I try not to be intrusive, I will contact you occasionally to make sure your desires and needs are taken care of.

So high-quality service is a given.

When it comes to price, that's what Farmers Insurance does. We've recently lowered our rates on both personal auto and commercial insurance of all kinds, so considering Farmers is definitely worthwhile.

Quality is both Farmers' job and mine. You get a quality insurance product and (I hope you'll agree) a quality insurance agent.

Price, quality, service. Pick Three.

You can reach me at 602-466-2636 or 480-628-9786. Thanks for your attention.

Not About Insurance - You Should Know...

Sometimes, we all do business with people and discover they're really good at what they do, and that other people should know about them.

I'll do this again, in coming posts, but for now just the following. By the way, you can't buy these recommendations. If you see one here, it's legitimate. You could conceivably disagree (though I don't think you will), but the recommendations are sincere and heartfelt.

If you need to get a message across and it requires a voice to communicate it, Rob Trygg's your guy. In addition to having a great voice (he's spent years in radio), he understands that what the voice says is as important as the voice that says it.

He does so many things that I can't do him justice. Just take a look at his site, and you'll see what I mean.

You can find his website at http://www.robtrygg.com. If you haven't read my other posts, after you visit him, come back here, OK?

Next time, more on insurance. And if you have questions on life, home, auto, or business insurance, please give me a call at 602-466-2636 or 480-628-9786. Thanks.

What's Up, Doc?

If you're a physician or an office manager for one or more doctors, you know that insurance takes a big chunk out of your budget.

You've got medical malpractice coverage, workers' compensation ("work comp"), and commercial liability, including auto coverage. And sometimes, you probably wonder whether your agent is doing the best possible job for you.

The whole process doesn't have to be painful. And you shouldn't have to wonder

You can probably spend less money and have a better agent relationship (that's thrown in, free) than you do now.

If you're interested in a quote on your commercial coverage and your work comp, give me a call. I'm reachable at 602-466-2636 or 480-628-9786 (the latter's my cell phone).

And here's something REALLY SPECIAL and FREE!!! (They teach in Sales 101, that the word "free" is a really big sales tool, but this really is free without cost to your practice, and the striking out of that word's a sad attempt at a bit of humor.

OK, what we're talking about is the combination of an affinity program and Farmers Preferred Plan.

If you're a doc, you get an extra discount on your auto insurance with Farmers. If your office signs up for Farmers Preferred Plan (easy and -- again -- free), anyone with your office is entitled to the same discount as doctors get.

Additionally if you or someone on your staff already has Farmers auto coverage (BTW - we just lowered our rates by almost 25%), when you sign up for the Farmers Preferred Plan, they get the added discount, without having to do anything (other than notifying us that they're Farmers customers).

Also, if you're not interested in the Farmers Preferred Plan, the doctor(s) and nurse(s) in your practice are eligible for the affinity discount, just for being who they are and doing what they do.

Not bad, right?

Naturally, we'd like to be able to answer questions that other staff members or you might have about Farmers, and have a chance to quote the cost of your coverage and that of any interested staff members.

That's about it for this post. Same deal as earlier - for more info, please give me a call. 602-466-2636 or 480-628-9786.

Thanks for your attention.

Why Bother With Renter's Insurance?

If you rent your residence instead of being a homeowner, you may not have thought of what it would cost you if your building (house or apartment) were to burn down or be destroyed in some other way.

First the bad news (the good news is coming). Your landlord's insurance won't cover the loss of your property.

Now the promised good news. Insurance on the property in the rented residence (your property) is remarkably inexpensive.

I just quoted a woman whose personal property in her apartment is worth an estimated $40 thousand and her monthly cost of insurance is under $20.00 per month.

The reason that most folks who don't have it, haven't bought renter's insurance, is that they think their "stuff" isn't all that valuable. But if you think about it, you'll realize that replacing simple things like linens, towels, dishes, furniture and your clothing would cost a bunch of bucks.

One advantage of Farmers renter's insurance coverage is that if your personal property is destroyed, we pay for replacement of that property, if it's available (we can no longer obtain Timex/Sinclair computers or genuine original buggy whips, for example). Many companies only offer the depreciated value on what you purchased 10 years ago or 20 years ago or last week. In other words, if your purchases were a long time ago, they'll pay you what they estimate that piece of property's value, now.

As said on our page, though I'm a Farmers agent, this blog doesn't necessarily represent the views, policies, or opinions of Farmers Insurance. That said, the Farmers renter's policy will replace your old, destroyed items with new stuff.

And the premium's still very low.

Realistically, if you rent, you can't afford to be without renter's coverage.

Thanks for your attention. If you're in Arizona and have any questions about the topics covered here, or insurance in general, please give me a call - 602-466-2636 (office) or 480-628-9786 (cell).

Odd News From Here and There

As part of our "And More" section, we bring you the following.

In Europe, there's a really low-priced airline called Ryan Air, that's based in Ireland.

To save money for the airline and presumably to offer lower prices to passengers, the CEO, Mr. O'Leary has suggested that the airline might do away with the co-pilots.

He says flight attendants can be instructed on how to fly the planes in the event of an emergency. The pilot could ring a bell, the attendant would come forward and the plane could proceed. Of course, he didn't mention what could happen if the pilot passes out or dies without the opportunity to ring the bell.

None of this is surprising when you hear about some of Mr. O'Leary's other ideas for making flying less expensive. He's suggested a section on each plane for travelers who would pay less and stand up during the entire flight, holding on to rails. He also came up with a plan for vertical seats, in which passengers would be belted to the seat while standing up. In that way, you could fill a plane with a much larger number of passengers.

And don't even ask about his plan for coin-operated lavoratories.

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In a story out of Roanoke, Virginia, the local humane society has taken a page out of the book belonging to Priceline.com. Name Your Own Price, they're saying. The shelter is overcrowded, and for one day next week, they're allowing people who would otherwise qualify to adopt a pet, to do so at a price the adopter names. Normally the adoption fees come out to about $100.00 in that community.

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If you want to let us know something you think others would enjoy hearing about, please send me an e-mail to jbushman@farmersagent.com. If you have questions about insurance in general or your needs in particular, please call or e-mail me. The phone numbers are 602-466-2636 or 480-628-9786. Thanks for your attention.

Nothing To Do With Insurance

I love dogs, and if you do, you'll understand and enjoy this. If you're more of a cat person, pretend that I'm talking about cats, and it'll apply. The reason I'm including this, in this blog is for the "more" part of Insurance and More.

We have a tendency to treat our animals as our children. Maybe that statement only applies to those of us older than a "certain age," whatever that is, but I know it's true in our house.

The proof (besides our kissing and cooing to the point that makes non-animal lovers nauseous) is seen in the following two stories. Though they involve my wife as the human, I could've done the same thing.

About 4 weeks ago, our Chihuahua, Autumn, needed a vet's appointment. My wife called, they answered the phone and asked how they could help. Without thinking, Alicia said that she wanted to make an appointment for "our daughter." She realized what she said and corrected herself, but she and the receptionist had a long, good laugh about it. Apparently, this had happened before.

At our home, the third bedroom is referred to as "the office," for an obvious reason. When I came home today, I asked where Autumn was and was told, "she's in her office." I immediately had a craving to get our puppy some coffee and make copies for her.

Have your own animal stories? I'd love to hear them (and share them if you don't mind). Just drop me a note or give me a call. The contact info is: 602-466-2636, 480-628-9786, and jbushman@farmersagent.com.

And, if you don't want to talk about your insurance, let me know and I won't ask whether you'd like to save a boatload of money on insurance for your car, home, business or that boat.

Thanks for your attention.

Jeff Bushman

The Other Side of Under-Insured Motorist - YOU

In a prior posting, we talked about why it's a good idea to have Uninsured and Under-Insured Motorist coverages on your car insurance policies.

In brief, the Under-Insured Motorist coverage takes care of your injuries in the event the other driver's at fault and doesn't have adequate coverage to pay for your medical bills (and those of your passengers).

But what happens if you're the one at fault and your coverage isn't enough to cover the other people's medical costs?

If you have no assets, usually the answer is nothing, but we all have assets including those we don't think about.

Assets include your home, your car(s), bank accounts, and one most people don't contemplate - wages. If you work for a salary or wages, and the other driver sues you and obtains a judgment, up to 25% of your take-home pay can be seized to pay off that judgment.

So, the bottom line is it might be time to consider increasing your auto liability coverage. If your limits are the state-required minimums of 15/30/15 and you have any of the assets described above, failure to increase your limits could be devastating.

For those who aren't sure what those limits mean, by the way, that's $15 thousand maximum per injured person, $30 thousand maximum per occurrence (no matter how many people in the other car are hurt) and $15 thousand maximum in property damage.

In other words, crashing into a Mercedes SUV with six or seven people in it could put you at substantial risk if you're under-insured.

The really good news after all of the above gloom-and-doom is that increasing your coverage is very inexpensive. Give us a call (602-466-2636 or 480-628-9786) and we'll explain more and run some numbers for you.

Why Uninsured and Under-Insured Motorist Coverage?

In Arizona, like most states, every driver's required to have car insurance to drive or operate a vehicle.

Want a surprise? Some people on the road have a license, but their insurance is no longer in force. Also, some folks who are behind the wheel don't have a license.

OK, so you're not surprised.

But if you get into an accident and it's the other driver's fault and you or your passengers sustain serious injury, what happens?

Of course you could sue the driver who caused the problem, but if (s)he's uninsured, the strong likelihood is that they don't have anything you can get after you get your judgment.

That's why Uninsured Motorist coverage was created.

While you may already be aware of this type of insurance, you may not be aware of its first-cousin, Under-Insured Motorist Coverage, which we'll talk about in a second.

But Uninsured Motorist (UM) means that if you have the kind of incident we were mentioning, i.e., an accident with an uninsured or unlicensed and uninsured driver, you're covered. You can get UM as part of your auto policy, and insurance companies in Arizona (and most other states) are required to notify you of its availability. But lots of times, a waiver of this coverage is something you might sign without having a conversation with your agent.

If that's happened to you, you might need a new agent (subtle hint?).

You might have medical insurance and your passengers may also be covered by health and major medical, but maybe not. If you're the only one that's injured, even if you do have that kind of coverage, the deductible and co-pays are still your responsibility. Uninsured Motorist eliminates that concern.

Under-Insured Motorist (UIM) Coverage is a slightly different animal.

If you have an accident with another vehicle and the other driver's at fault and has the state minimum liability coverage of $15 thousand per person and $30 thousand per occurrence, what happens if you and your passenger each have $20 thousand worth of medical bills?

Without UIM, the $5 thousand gap is the liability of the injured party. Obviously if the injuries are worse, so is the gap.

UIM covers the difference.

Naturally, I hope that you never need to be concerned about any auto insurance claims. One of the best things that could happen to any of us is to "waste" all the money we pay for car insurance by never having a claim.

But as the saying goes, it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

UM and UIM are important coverages to be included in your policy. For more information or to talk about your current coverage, give me a call or drop me a note. The number at the office is 602-466-2636 and my cell number is 480-628-9786. If you'd rather than I call you, drop a note to jbushman@farmersagent.com, give me your number and an idea on the best time to reach you.

Thanks.

Purpose

The purpose of this site is to invite you to learn more about insurance in general, with some specifics. I'm a Farmers Insurance agent, but this is not a Farmers-sponsored blog, and the views expressed are my own and don't necessarily reflect the views of Farmers or any of its affiliates or other agents.

That said, the first thing I should say is that if you're interested in saving money and having a solid, ongoing relationship with an insurance agent and you're in Arizona, please call me at 602-466-2636 (office) or 480-628-9786 (cell). If you need or wish to e-mail me, the best place to send mail is jbushman@farmersagent.com.

Let's talk a bit more about some of the subjects raised in the preceding paragraph.

First: Saving Money. Whether you're talking about car insurance, or homeowners coverage, life insurance, or coverage for your mobile home, motorcycle or speedboat, we can help you keep more dollars in your pocket. The same's true if you run a business and need commercial liability (including auto) and/or workers compensation.

Farmers has recently reduced rates. So give me a call or drop me a note with your number and I'll call you. We can take a few minutes to get your information and we'll then do a no-obligation quote to see how much money we can save you.

Second: A solid, ongoing relationship with your agent. Do you love your agent? If not, call. I'm not interested in making a quick sale and running out the door. I expect and want to become a member of your team. As an example, we can talk now about your cars and when appropriate and convenient, discuss what kind of life insurance you should either have or plan on getting. I want you to feel so good about the service you get that you'd recommend me to your friends, co-workers, and members of your family.

If you want more than you're getting from your current agent, or a company with an 800 number where you talk to a different person every time you call, you already know what to do, and you don't have to wait until your current coverage is about to expire.

Let's talk.