Personal Umbrellas have historically been thought of for only the wealthy as a way of protecting their assets from liability related law suits. Due to an increase in litigation against almost everyone now along with lower premiums for policies, the personal umbrella is being looked at as a cost effective way to add a significant amount of coverage to your insurance policy and extending your protection.

So what is a personal umbrella policy?

A personal umbrella (we’ll just say “umbrella” from now on) is a policy that lays over your existing auto, home, or other policies that the umbrella states. The umbrella works in conjunction with your other policies as it picks up the liability when your underlying policy’s limits become exhausted due to a loss. This brings up a pretty good point that some people really don’t think about. It is VERY possible to run out of insurance in the event of a claim. With a standard minimum limits policy for instance with 25/50/25 limits (that’s $25,000 of bodily injury per person, $50,000 of bodily injury in total, and $25,000 in property damage) one can see just how quickly these insurance limits could become exhausted quite quickly. By the way, SIG never recommends minimum limit policies as it’s just asking for a disaster where you end up paying out of your pocket. $25,000 in bodily injury or property damage can happen pretty quickly. We typically only offer policies with a limit of 100/300/100 or above.

Let’s take an example of a $1,000,000 umbrella policy that sits over an auto policy and a homeowners policy:

I get into an accident by “t-boning” a higher end Mercedes, let’s say a new S63 sedan (we’re talking a $150,000 car and pretty prevalent in our area of North Dallas). During this accident the gentleman driving, an attorney, is hospitalized for several broken ribs, a broken clavicle, a broken femur, and a concussion. His car is totaled and his medical bills are $84,000 as he needed a few surgeries and months of rehab to get his body back in working order. I am found 100% liable for the accident. We’re looking at $84,000 in bodily injury and $150,000 in property damage from his totaled vehicle. Since my auto policy is a 100/300/100 policy my insurance policy picks up the tab for the $84,000 in medical bills for the bodily injury. The property damage section of the claim gets a little interesting. My auto policy covers the first $100,000 of the $150,000 car leaving $50,000 left unpaid. This would mean without an umbrella policy, I’m responsible for personally paying the $50,000 to the gentleman I struck with my vehicle. If I can’t pay it, he sues me and my assets start getting liquidated until he is paid in full. WITH an umbrella policy, the umbrella would step in and offer another $1,000,000 worth of limits to my property/homeowner’s policy and my auto policy. I would be personally liable for nothing else in this case since my auto policy picked up all of the bodily injury and 2/3’s of the property damage and my umbrella picked up the other 1/3 of the property damage.

Depending on the limits requested, these policies can go for as little as a few hundred dollars a year.

So who should be buying a Personal Umbrella Policy?

• Anyone in a position of responsibility who can be sued personally for their actions (School Board, Board of Directors, etc)
• Anyone in a position of professional responsibility such as an attorney, a doctor, a business owner or anyone else who could be personally sued for their actions
• Anyone who is wanting the maximum amount of insurance protection available for their household

If you need assistance or have any questions about a Personal Umbrella Policy, please feel free to contact us at contact@trustsig.com and we would be happy to assess your risk situation free of charge.

How do you know if your relationship with your workforce is that of an employee or independent relationship? Following are a few sample questions that the IRS considers for your relationship.

If you answer yes to any of these following you might have an employee versus independent relationship:

• Do you exercise control of every aspect of their work?
• Do you have authority to tell them where and when to work
  specifying location and hours of work?
• Do you instruct then where to purchase materials for the job?
• Do you provide extensive training for the job?
• Do they work exclusively for you?
• Do you imply that employment would continue indefinitely beyond a
  specific project or time?

If you answered yes to any of the above, you may have an employee relationship and be held liable for Federal and State Unemployment taxes, employee injuries and the administration of any employee benefit plans you might provide.

The IRS can provide you with Form SS-8 questionnaire to help further determine your relationship.

SIG Insurance Professionals can provide you solutions and protection for both your employee injuries and any benefit plans you might provide if you determine you have an employee relationship.

The following article was taken from MyNewMarkets.com.  The article goes over possible gaps in protection when college students leave home for school.

College Students and Homeowners’ Insurance Gaps

Notifying a client with this potential exposure accomplishes three objectives: 1) gives the agent the opportunity to close any coverage gaps to which their client may be exposed; 2) keeps the agent’s name (and person) in front of the client – building relationships and loyalty; and 3) the negative-positive that such notification can be very useful in defending against any errors and omissions claim arising out of an uncovered loss.

Christopher J. Boggs, CPCU, ARM, ALCM
August 31, 2009

With kids settling back into the routine of the school year, parents now have time to review their insurance program to assure there are no newly-created gaps in coverage or limits. Of special interest, and the focus of this article, are college students (especially freshman away from home for the first time). Being away from home (the “residence premises”) and at school can create unique exposures and possible gaps in protection.

Is the Student an “Insured” for Property and Liability?

Students who leave home to attend college may begin the semester as fully-protected “insureds,” but can end the semester in a protection gap without property or liability protection extended from their parent’s homeowners’ policy. Status as a “full-time” student is the key to full insurance protection.

Insurance Services Office’s (ISO’s) standard homeowners’ policy (HO 00 03) defines “insured” relative to a student to mean:

5. b. A student enrolled in school full time, as defined by the school, who was a resident of your household before moving out to attend school, provided the student is under the age of:
(1) 24 and your relative; or
(2) 21 and in your care or the care of a person described in a.(1) above

“Enrolled… full time” is the key. As long as the student who lives away from the residence premises meets the defined age requirement and is considered a full time student by the institution in question, he qualifies as an insured. However, if he drops a couple classes and falls below the institution’s definition of “full time,” a potential coverage gap is created.

I began the first semester of my freshman year with an 18-hour load. Early in the semester, I discovered I had taken on too much and that there were teachers (and classes) I just didn’t like. The result – I ended the semester with 11 hours on my schedule. Twelve hours was considered full-time by the university; so, six weeks into my first semester I failed to meet the definition of a full-time student. My parents were not informed (at least not by me) that I no longer met “full-time” status; and even if they had been, I doubt, “what about his insurance protection” would have been the first thought across their minds.

If the student no longer meets the requirements contained in the definition, there may be a gap in both property and liability protection that is not discovered until after a loss or injury occurs.

Beyond the potential loss of insurance protection, there are exposures and losses unique to college students that are excluded simply by way of the policy language or created by the circumstances of the policy wording.

Property Protection Gap

Property of a full-time student kept in a dorm room is covered for all the same causes of loss as is the parent’s personal property. However, there is a theft exclusion if the student was not at the location within the 60 days immediately prior to the loss. This exclusion would not likely apply during the winter break as it is less than 60 days. The only time this exclusion might apply is if the student leaves his personal property for the summer. If the semester ends in mid-May and the student does not return until classes begin in mid-August, theft coverage ceases sometime around the middle of July.

Students with a Trade

Two brothers in my dorm were trained barbers. Their dad was a barber and he had them attend barber school prior to or soon after beginning college just so they had a trade they could practice to earn money while in school. Every evening, the “barber” brothers would set up chairs at both ends of the hall and guys would line up to get a haircut (starting at about 7 going non-stop to about 11). At $5 per cut, these guys made a killing; and for us students it was cheaper than any cut in town. To top it off, they were good barbers.

Does this enterprise meet the definition of a “business” as defined in the homeowners’ policy? The answer depends on the jurisdiction as there are state-specific endorsements that alter the definition, but likely this is a business by definition. As such, any liability arising out of the business’ activities is excluded.

Possible Solutions

Two of these three gap-potential issues could be solved with a Contents Broad Form policy (HO 00 04, aka Renters’ policy); and the last could be fixed by use of one of several endorsements. Rather than depending on the student’s status as “full-time,” checking the calendar to find the last time the student was at his dorm or self-insuring a potential “business” exposure, simply insure the exposures on the student’s own policy with applicable endorsements.

Eligibility for an HO-4 is not limited to apartments, rental houses or other such residence facilities. Since coverage is based on the contents (the stuff), an HO-4 can be written to cover the insured’s stuff and liability anyplace he lives – whether it be in an apartment, in the spare room over a body shop or a dorm room. The advantage of providing the student his own coverage is that he is protected for property and (more importantly) liability losses almost regardless of the surrounding circumstances and anything that happens is not on the parent’s insurance. Further, the agent develops a relationship with the soon-to-be independent homebuyer, car owner and family man (or woman).

Contents coverage (the HO-4) is so cheap in relation to the coverage it provides that most parents should likely be willing to provide the protection once the possible gaps and parental advantages are explained. And for students older than the age limits allowed in the policy language, an HO-4 is essentially required.

The business exposure will require one more step, the attachment of an endorsement to either the parent’s homeowners’ policy or the student’s contents policy if purchased (HO 00 04). If an HO-4 is purchased, the Permitted Incidental Occupancies (HO 04 42) endorsement needs to be attached to the HO-4 to extend the liability protection necessary to cover the business exposure plus provide coverage for the “tools of the trade.” However, if the parents choose to forego the purchase of a separate student policy, the Permitted Incidental Occupancies – Other Residences (HO 24 43) needs to be attached to their policy, listing the location of the work (be careful not to get too specific).

Both business-exposure endorsements extend liability protection to cover general liability exposures and losses arising out of the named operation. But there are two limitations that must be known:

1. Coverage is provided on the named premises only. If the insured leaves the premises, coverage ceases; and
2. As hinted to, this is coverage for general liability losses only. There is no coverage for any sort of professional liability losses. In the case of the barbers, there is no barbers’ professional liability coverage provided by either endorsement.

Short of attaching a home-based business endorsement or a BOP (both with proper endorsements), these business limitations cannot be overcome with standard homeowner policy endorsements.

College Student Conclusion

Agents cannot possibly know everything that goes on in the lives of their clients; but they can notify their clients of gaps and gap-closers. If the insured’s auto policy is written by the agency, the ages of every household member should be in the files. If any household members have reached college age, send a note to the client explaining that college students create unique insurance exposures that should be addressed.

This tried and true scam happened to me just last week. I was at the car wash and once again, the attendant noticed that I had a small chip in my windshield. He quickly said, “Oh, we can take care of that at no cost to you” while pointing to a big black sign with orange lettering that said “FREE WINDSHIELD REPAIR” in foot tall letters at the end of the drive for all to see.

Next came the clincher. The attendant said, “we’ll just need to see your auto ID card.”

So let’s stop a second. It’s free but he needs my auto ID card? What, is he going to file a claim?!

Why yes, yes he is.

This common car wash practice, which is now spilling on to TV ads for glass repair companies, is not a scam per se, it is more just misleading the consumer. What these companies are actually doing is filing a claim on your insurance so your insurance picks up the tab for the $50 dollar repair charge per rock chip.

Doesn’t sound like a big deal does it? Besides it’s free!

You’re right, it’s free… for now.

What ends up happening is when you renew your policy the insurance company notices several little claims for your “free rock chip repair.” There is a common saying in insurance: “frequency leads to severity.” To the insurance company, if there are several small claims it’s believed that there is an increased likelihood of a larger claim. This puts a rate surcharge on your premium as you are now considered more risky, and in the end you end up paying more for your insurance.

So in essence, that rock chip repair wasn’t necessarily free.

What is Comprehensive Insurance?

Rock chip claims are covered (if not specifically excluded) under a section of your auto insurance policy called Comprehensive Insurance. Comprehensive Insurance is meant to cover those claims that may occur to your vehicle that are not the direct result of an accident. This might be a claim from vandalism, a break-in, getting your car keyed, hail damage, or anything else that might happen to your vehicle that the insurance adjuster deems coverable under your policy.

A rock chip looks the same on your insurance record as someone breaking into your car, as it’s simply reported as a comprehensive claim on your CLUE report. If you were to have five to six break-ins per year you can expect a change in your premium (hint: It’s not going down), so you can expect the same with several rock chip repair claims.

It may be best to pay for this service out of your pocket, but either way I would not let someone talk you into rock chip repair at a car wash or anywhere else without figuring out who is going to pay for the repair. A single rock chip repair will probably not lead to a rate increase, but several would more than likely cause a surprise upon renewal.

It’s always been my personal recommendation to save your insurance for something larger and more unexpected like a break-in or a hail claim. The last thing you want showing up on your CLUE report would be several rock chip claims and a break-in during the last year or last several years.

**********

* – Photo source: H&F Windshield Repair

I caught this press release from U.S. Congressman Kevin Brady today. The first two paragraphs are excerpted below, along with a link to the chart:

Washington, D.C. - Four months after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously declared “We have to pass the bill so you can find out what’s in it,”a congressional panel has released the first chart illustrating the 2,801 page health care law President Obama signed into law in March.

Developed by the Joint Economic Committee minority, led by U.S Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas and Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the detailed organization chart displays a bewildering array of new government agencies, regulations and mandates.

Read full release — click here

Download chart – click here

Cranes are big, capable of performing enormous tasks, and require sophistication and training to be operated effectively. Cranes can also be dangerous, both to the people working in and around them and to the people liable for them operation.

At SIG, we are not experts at guiding you on how to operate a crane safely. We are, however, experts on how to insurance a crane and how those responsible for the crane’s safe and effective operation can protect themselves.

There are myriad reasons why crane insurance is a necessity, with the potential for unfortunate desctruction obviously being chief among them. A couple of weeks ago we placed a few videos of crane accidents on the crane insurance page of the website; today, we are moving those three videos over here to the blog and adding a few more.

The goal is simple: remind you, with the most compelling visuals possible, that even the best laid plans often go awry. Will you be protected in the unfortunate event that something like what you see below happens to you or your company?

10 Most Destructive Crane Accidents Caught on Video

This is probably the most shocking of all the crane accident videos I saw while perusing YouTube for this post. You would think that a crane could lift a bus out of a river right? I would.

Guess not. (I hope they were insured!)

Also, though I don’t know how, it sounds like the crane operator was able to survive the fall. So this video is not nearly as tragic as it could have been.

It is, however, apparently indicative of a more-common-than-you-might-think crane accident. Here is another example of a crane being used not big enough or strong enough for the job.

(Note: If you read the first comment on this video it looks like some Photoshop shenanigans might be going on with the second crane falling in, the first one tipping over appears real.)

In July of 2007, three men working on the new baseball park in Milwaukee (Miller Park) died in the crane accident you can see in the video below.

Tragic fatalities are not the only event it is prudent to insure for. No one died as a result of the crane accident in the video below, but a major liability was created nonetheless.

First, a still image that offers a harrowing preview…then the video.

Oftentimes it just takes one miscalculated decision, or one inexperienced crane operator, to make a costly mistake.

I’m not sure what exactly caused the accident in this video, but the voice at the end seems to think that capturing it on video was a big deal. (Note: not much happens in this one until about the last 12 seconds. Be patient.)

Here is another video where, amazingly, no one is hurt…except for the ego of the operator.

And here’s another, with a soundtrack that sets the mood for a group of crane operators who clearly do not know what they are doing.

This video shows what can happen when a demolition is not operated at a safe distance from a soon-to-be-toppled building.

It is also important to remember that it is not just during operation when issues can arise. Watch the video below and you’ll see that even during transport cranes can be at risk.

Hopefully we have made our point loud and clear with this post that crane accidents can and do happen, and it is prudent to insure yourself against potentially devastating liabilities in the result of a problem.

Luckily for you, this website directs you to just the people who can help you. Visit our crane insurance page today, fill out our contact form, and let’s make sure that your crane insurance needs are effectively taken care of.

I spent the first several years of my insurance career working for a Direct Writer. In insurance language, this refers to an insurance carrier that sells their brand only (like State Farm, Allstate, Farmers, or Geico).  Now that I am an independent agent, my clients often ask for an explanation of the difference, as it can sometimes be a confusing notion.

Here it is:

As an independent agent, we represent multiple insurance companies, but do not work for any of them. Thus, we are not bound to selling a  policy through a particular company to meet a sales quota. Rather, we represent multipe insurance companies (think broker), all of which compete with each other for product placement. We shop your rate for you, help you evaluate your options and make an informed purchasing decision, and then YOU pocket the savings!

The process of shopping for insurance then becomes much more transparent. Rather than making five phone calls to five different companies (to have the same coversation) to “shop around”, why not speak with your local independent agent and have us do it for you? The difference is in the service! We’ll take the hassle out of “shopping”, and provide a wide range of coverage options from which to choose!

The value is a more client-focused relationship. Our focus as an independent agency is finding the most suitable combination of coverage and price for each client. Insurance is as different as the people who buy it, so what better way to ensure you are getting the best deal than to speak with someone who can do all the homework for you!

To illustrate the point, Take a look at the cost savings that we’ve seen over the past month:

• Family in Lewisville, TX    $860 over Liberty Mutual on auto & home
• Family in Lewisville, TX    $800 over State Farm on auto & home
• Family in Rockwall TX      $700 over Allstate on auto & home (11 year Customer of Allstate)
• Family in Frisco, TX    $1000 over Allstate on auto & home
• Family in Frisco, TX    $1000 over Farmers on auto & home
• Family in Seagoville, TX    $900 over State Farm on auto & home
• Family in Allen, TX            $400 over Liberty Mutual on auto & home
• Family in McKinney, TX     $400 over Farmers on auto & home
• Family in Dallas, TX          $500 over State Farm on auto & home
• Family in Grand Prairie, TX     $1250 over State Farm for auto & home (15 year customer of State Farm)

Still don’t believe me? Take 4 minutes and you can get an online quote at our website by using our online insurance quote tool.

My favorite response someone once told me when we saved her a large amount of money… “you just made my next month’s house payment… thank you.“

For Immediate Release

SIG Insurance Professionals is now offering online insurance quotes for most personal lines of insurance with the added benefit of a professional coverage review of each online quote.

Starting today, users can access our free insurance quote tool for any combination of auto insurance, homeowner’s insurance, condo insurance, and renter’s insurance. Users simply follow our easy to complete quote tool and will be presented with a multitude of quotes from top-rated companies such as Travelers, Hartford, Safeco, Progressive, Metlife, Unitrin, State Auto and over a dozen more.

Upon completing the quote, the user will see the a price from each carrier for their proposed policy. The twist is at this point the team at SIG will review your choices behind the scenes to verify that you did not make an incorrect choice that might underinsure your valuable property or fail to give you adequate liability coverage.

You can start your quote today by visiting our online insurance quote tool.

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Foursquare is invading the country right now as “the next big thing” in social media. You may have already seen your friends using it with Facebook status updates like “Leif Hurst just checked in at The Cafe.”

At the time of this writing, it’s still a relatively new service but is growing exponentially due to the built in “viral marketing” and fun factor users get while playing.

Wait, “playing”? What exactly is Foursquare?

Foursquare is an online game that gives points to real life people for visiting real life places or doing certain activities. Think Xbox Live (online video games) but in real life with GPS… without that whole dying / “game over” thing.

Foursquare users get points for checking in or visiting, completing a “to-do” item, repeat visits to a location (sometimes within the same day), and other items. Users can earn badges they can proudly display to their friends and can even become “The Mayor” of a location by visiting that location the most of any other Foursquare user.

So what’s in it for my business?

As a business owner or manager (your head should already be spinning) you can advertise specials to Foursquare members through Foursquare.com, Facebook, and Twitter. Foursquare users get your notification and go to your place of business, sometimes en masse with other Foursquare members and non-Foursquare members. When they arrive they’ll “check in” on their mobile device, which will display your place of business to all of their friends and followers (typically in the hundreds to thousands) on any linked social media websites.

Advertise a new menu, the availability of a sports game, drink specials, new product releases, etc. Get creative with it! A restaurant local to our office saw an extra 120 customers in one lunch session on a slow day by simply saying, “Free apple pie with lunch.” Advertise with a chalk board who the current “Foursquare Mayor” of your establishment is and have specials for that honor.

So how do I get started?

You should sign up for a free account at Foursquare.com to get a feel for it. Try searching for your business and see if anyone has already “checked in.” You can claim your business and then start using Foursquare to push out offers and hopefully get your first new customer to check in and share your business with everyone they know.

SIG Insurance Professionals prides itself on being a different insurance solution providor. Instead of being a reactive part of your business plan who only tries to protect your company, SIG finds new and innovative ways to help your business grow, stay competitive, and protect your business with insurance products. If there is anything that we can do or you’d like to speak with us directly, please feel free to contact us by email at contact@trustsig.com or by phone at 800-490-8850. Be sure to tell us you found SIG on the internet!

Are you an insurance broker for a national brokerage or a bank-owned agency and tired of selling a bunch of insurance for your employer and having no ownership in your book? SIG Insurance Professionals has an interesting model in which our producers begin earning ownership from the day they validate. In a short period of time producers may earn ownership of up to 50% of their book of business.

Brokers may choose to set their book up as a profit center and share those profits with SIG Insurance Professionals.  If they decide they want to build up their book and buy it to start their own agency they may not only do that, but do so with the help and encouragement of SIG.

We have a unique attitude towards our producers:we see them as our partners and not a temporary employee who brings in the business, passes it off to the service team. and then hopes the client is well cared for.  Yes, we do have a very talented service team to take care of your clients, but at the game’s end they are your clients.

SIG Insurance Professional has one of the best management teams in the country. We have in-house sales training, an extraordinary marketing team, and the most forward thinking technology to help producers prospect, sell, and serve their clients. Our IT department is well, WOW…after all you did find us because of them.

Imagine if you could have larger commercial accounts call you because of our IT department rather than doing all of your prospecting the “old fashioned way?”

Contact us for more information to see if we might be a fit for your next and last insurance career change.