Did you know that general liability insurance coverage does not cover your employees if they are injured on the job?

This has been a question that’s been posed to us recently by several of our business clients who do not fully understand that they need a separate workers compensation insurance policy.

I want to make you aware that business general liability insurance, although it does cover property damage and bodily injury, there is an exclusion on there that it does not cover injury to your employees.

The reason that exclusion is there, is because you need to have workers compensation insurance coverage to cover your employees if they are injured on the job.

Who needs to have workers compensation insurance?

In the state of Maryland if you have one employee doing anything else other than clerical or more employees of course you have to provide them with workers compensation in accordance with state law.

Workers compensation insurance requirements vary by state, so please take time to verify with the state in which you do business in to verify the rules and requirements for your business.

Workers compensation insurance covers the injury to your employees if they are injured on the job. Workers comp insurance is there to pay their medical bills, their lost wages, and any rehab or additional training or things that they need to go through in order to come back to work.

So it’s important to remember that even though general liability insurance coverage rates may be based on payroll, it does not mean that they’re covering your employees if they’re injured on the job.

The complexities of workers comp insurance is also a great reason to reach out to your Trusted Choice Insurance agent. You want to make sure that you have all of the protections in place to cover yourself and your employees should something tragic happen.

Nancy Nicklow is the owner and President of Huff Insurance, a full service Independent Insurance Agent . We have been dedicated to Protecting Lifestyles™ since 1960. We offer a full array of Personal Insurance, Commercial Insurance and Life Insurance products. Call us at 410-647-1111

Personal Property Coverage and Your Homeowner’s Insurance Policy

This week I’d like to talk to you about homeowners insurance and your personal property coverage. Under your homeowner’s insurance or renter’s insurance policy you have coverage for your personal property, which is your contents. Basically this is all of your “stuff”.

However, did you know that there are specific limitations for theft for certain items?

Those items include (but not limited to) silverware, gold ware, jewelry, firearms, and furs.

The reason that there are limitations on those items is because generally as a whole most people have very little of these items.

So for those customers that have more than the average, then they recommend that you specifically schedule those items. You can schedule the items on your homeowner’s insurance policy or renter’s insurance policy

Another way to properly insure those items is by purchasing a separate policy to cover those items, which is called a Personal Articles Floater or an Inland Marine Insurance policy.

The reason that this is important to mention is that we have lots of customers that have jewelry that is very expensive or they have many guns because they’re hunters.

So, if you have these kind of items, and should these items be stolen, you would be very disappointed with the little amount of coverage that you have under your homeowners or renters policy.

By scheduling these items, it not only gives you the benefit of not having to pay a deductible if those items are stolen, it also gives you generally much broader coverage, including what is called mysterious disappearance.

Mysterious disappearance is when there really wasn’t a theft, but the item was there and now it’s not. So basically, you do not know how it disappeared, but it is now gone.

Mysterious disappearance is generally not covered by a standard homeowner’s or renters insurance policy, but you’ve scheduled these items, mysterious disappearance is something that the insurance carriers generally cover you for.

You can also schedule items that there’s not a specific limitation on, like golf clubs, musical instruments, bicycles, and laptops.

A lot of people will schedule these items because they’re concerned about the mysterious disappearance exposure. For example, if you drop off your clubs at the bag drop off area at the golf course, park your car, and your clubs are missing when you return, and no one saw a theft or witnessed anyone walking away with them, then that is considered mysterious disappearance and would most likely not be covered under your home or renters insurance.

This fine coverage point is just another instance of why it’s important that you contact your insurance professional here at Huff Insurance. So we can have a conversation and talk about your hobbies, your interests, and what it is that you collect or what it is that you hold dear to you so that we can make sure that it’s got the proper coverage prior to a loss and not finding out until after there’s a claim that there’s a gap in your coverage.

Huff Insurance is here to help you for all of your personal and business insurance needs give us a call today.

Ride Share Insurance | Will driving for a ride sharing company like Uber or Lyft affect your auto insurance?

The world is changing quickly. Unfortunately, the insurance industry is usually slow to keep up with the needs for ride share insurance.

We are finding more and more clients are driving for UBER or LYFT. When you are driving for these companies you are using your vehicle as a livery service.

Although, the companies of UBER and Lyft do provide you some auto insurance coverage there are some gaps in coverage and some things that you must be concerned about.

Generally, most insurance carriers will not allow you to be insured with them if you are using your vehicle for ride sharing. A few have endorsements that we can add to your personal auto insurance policy to cover you while doing working for Uber or Lyft.

If you are using your vehicle in ride sharing, your auto insurance company should know about it to make sure that you have the proper insurance coverage. UBER and LYFT may be providing you some auto liability insurance coverage once the passenger is in the vehicle. But, most personal auto insurance policies will not provide coverage after you accept the ride on the phone app—and that leaves a gap in coverage from the time you accept the ride to the time you pick up the passenger.

There may also be another gap in coverage when it comes to the physical damage coverage for your car. So, if there is an accident while operating your vehicle during ride sharing, your personal car insurance carrier will most likely decline coverage for the physical damage to your vehicle. Uber and/or Lyft providing this coverage either. This is another gap for your auto insurance.

If you are using your personal vehicle for Uber, Lyft or any other ride share program, please contact your auto insurance agent to discuss the possible risk or gaps in coverage.

We understand that driving for a ride share company can be a great way to make a second income. But as a Trusted Choice Insurance Advisor, we have an obligation to point out that doing so with a personal auto insurance policy may cause some issues and serious gaps in your insurance protection plan.

So please make sure you talk it over with your insurance agent prior to driving with a ride share company. There will be options for you to make sure that you are properly protected such as adding an endorsement to your existing auto insurance policy (if available) or obtaining a commercial auto insurance policy to properly cover your risks and exposures.

Just a reminder that delivery is also excluded on your personal auto policy. So if you are delivering pizza, flowers, or documents for example there is could be no coverage should you be involved in an accident.

Speed Camera ticket affects on auto insurance.

A question that we’re commonly asked here at Huff Insurance is: Does a speed camera ticket affect my auto insurance rates?

Well, currently in Maryland, they cannot positively identify who the driver is who received the ticket in the vehicle. So therefore, the ticket does not show up on your Maryland driver’s license. The ticket is simply just mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle.

In Maryland, several counties and cities have enacted the use of speed cameras and red light cameras. Because of this, we hear the question on how it affects auto insurance premiums on a regular basis.

In Maryland, the camera tickets are mailed to the vehicle’s registered owner, regardless of who what actually driving the vehicle. So if you loan your vehicle to your best friend, your kids, the neighbor, etc. and they get a speed camera ticket, the ticket is coming in your mailbox.

What Should You Do If you Get A Speed Camera Ticket?

If the you simply pay the fine, then the violation will not appear on your driving record, and therefore not affect your auto insurance premiums.

You also have the right to fight the ticket in court. But, should the you elect to fight the ticket in court, and lose, being found guilty by a judge, that camera violation then WILL be put on your driving record and most likely will cause an increase of your auto insurance premiums at their next renewal.

So, if you do receive a camera ticket in the mail, you will have to make the decision to either pay it, or fight it.

At Huff Insurance, we always encourage our clients, family and friends to adhere to the laws.

Huff Insurance is a Trusted Choice Independent Insurance Agency dedicated to doing what is best for our clients.  If you need any help with your insurance protection needs, feel free to give us a call at 410-647-1111.

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorists Insurance Coverage, How Important Is It?

Uninsured/Underinsured motorist coverage is probably the most important coverage on an auto insurance policy.

We all know that auto insurance is required on all vehicles on Maryland roads. Car insurance is pretty much the same across the board.

The only real difference is the person who sold you the policy and how they explained it.

For a majority of people, price is the single biggest reason where they purchase their auto insurance. And the insurance is purchased either through an Maryland Independent Insurance Agent, which is what we recommend, or through companies that you may  see on TV.

Sometimes, these companies, and other insurance agents, fail to explain or even offer the important optional coverage’s in a vain attempt to give you the cheapest price possible. A

re they doing you any favors? I don’t think they are. Believe me, I know price is very important when it comes to insurance. However, it’s also my job to make you aware of all your insurance coverage options and explain how they can help protect you and your family. Ultimately, it’s your choice so you might as well be informed when making these decisions.

One of the most important coverage’s you should consider is Uninsured & Underinsured Motorist Insurance Coverage.

Here are the quick definitions:

• Uninsured Motorist Coverage (UM)- This covers bodily injury and other compensatory damages for you or your passengers if you are hit by an at-fault driver who doesn’t have any insurance to pay the amount you are legally entitled to recover.
• Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UIM)- Provides coverage for bodily injury and other compensatory damages for you or your passengers if you hit by an at-fault driver who doesn’t have enough insurance to pay the full amount you are legally entitled to recover.

Why is this coverage is so important for you and your family.

According to the Insurance Research Council, if someone is injured in a car accident in the United States, the chances are one in seven (over 13% !) that the accident was caused by an uninsured driver.

Now just think about how many cars you share the road with everyday. I know that 50,000 cars pass our office on Ritchie Highway every day. Using the averages, that means that 7,000 of those cars do not have insurance! That is real scary.

Then, when you think about the amount of people driving that are underinsured and carry just the minimum liability limits required by Maryland ($30,000 bodily injury per person, $60,000 bodily injury per accident and $15,000 property damage) makes everyday driving even scarier.

Examples of how this insurance coverage works

There are time bombs out there and I don’t want you to be caught with your guard down.

Imagine that you are driving your family across town (not too uncommon right?).  And another driver runs a red light and broadsides you.

Furthermore, there are significant injuries, loss of wages, rehabilitation costs, total damage to your new car, etc. You then come to find out that the person who hit you doesn’t even have car insurance!

What happens is that you have to rely on the uninsured motorist coverage of your own car insurance policy to bail you out of the financial ruin because of someone else’s negligence.

But, if you have enough UM/UIM coverage, you can make your claim with your own insurance company for EVERYTHING (except punitive damages) the bad driver owes you including:

• Medical Bills
• Lost Wages
• Special damages (example- future loss of earnings, diminished earning capacity, & cost to travel for medical treatment)
• General damages (pain & suffering, living forever with paralysis, loss of enjoyment, loss of a standard of living, etc.)

It’s important to note that MOST OF THIS IS NOT COVERED BY HAVING GREAT HEALTH INSURANCE!!!

This situation is all too real and happens every day of the week.

I can not stress enough the importance of this coverage.

It’s relatively inexpensive and can be added to your policy immediately.

After all, this will be coverage to protect you and your family.

Some companies are now allowing you to add UM/UIM coverage onto your umbrella insurance policy as well, adding an additional layer of protection for your and your family.

Please give Huff Insurance  a call at 410-647-1111 to review this important coverage.

That’s why we’re here.

Will your credit score get hurt if you shop for insurance?

The simple answer to this question is NO. 

An insurance inquiry on your credit score will not hurt your credit score.

When you pull your credit report from the major reporting agencies, you will see the names of the insurance companies who have placed an inquiry to your credit report. These are visible to you. But do NOT show for any other entity that pulls your report.  So insurance company A will not see that you also got a quote from insurance company B.

Each of the three credit reporting agencies is required to offer you a free credit report once per year. You can visit www.annualcreditreport.com to get your reports. You can pull them at the same time, or at different intervals.

According to an Experian release

“An inquiry will be added to your credit report each time an insurance company accesses your credit report. But, the inquiries will have no effect on credit scores or lending decisions. … They are not provided to lenders, so they are not considered in credit score calculations or lending decisions”

Almost every major insurance company does use your credit score for risk underwriting purposes.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act states that the credit agencies may furnish credit reports to any insurance company that is using the reports for underwriting an insurance policy.

The insurance companies have the data to support their ratings. Insurance companies have to get their credit score ratings approved by the each state’s department of insurance.  To do this, they have to show that there is a correlation between credit and risk of loss. So their data shows that they have paid more out in claims to those with lower credit scores than those with higher credit scores.

Is a credit score a valid underwriting tool?

There has always been a lot of debate on the validity of using credit scoring for the purpose of insurance underwriting. There are very good arguments for and very good arguments against the use of credit scoring in insurance.

Whether you are for it or against it, the fact is that it does exist.  And we all have to deal with the fact that our credit score my affect our cost of carious insurance policies. So it is yet another reason to monitor your credit score on a regular basis as stated above.

How is credit scoring used in insurance?

In Maryland, auto insurance companies are allowed to use your credit score as a rating factor for auto insurance policies.  But credit is not allowed to be used as a criteria for homeowners insurance.

It other states, credit is used for both auto insurance and home insurance. And in a few states, credit cannot be used at all for insurance underwriting.

So check with your state and with your insurance company if you want to see how your credit is being used in the rating of your insurance policies.

Something to keep in mind is that the scores used by insurance companies are not the same as the scores used by your lenders. So do not be surprised if your FICO score shows 800 with your lender and your insurance score shows 725.  And some companies use a tiering system, either numerically or alphabetically.  In thse cases, you will see the tier and not the actual insurance score.

Another thing to keep in mind is that each insurance company develops their own scoring system based on the credit reports.  So not only can your score vary from your FICO score, it can also vary from company to company.

Can you get a copy of the insurance credit inquiry?

You have the right to get a copy of every consumer report pulled by the insurance company.  Part of your quote or policy package should include the name and number of the credit reporting agency used by the insurance company.

Contact Huff Insurance Today

Fill out the form on this page or call us at 410-647-1111.  We can work with you to get the best insurance plan in place for your needs.

Your Child Buys a Vehicle in Their Name.  Can You Add it to Your Auto Insurance Policy?

Today I want to talk about vehicles and your auto insurance.

We had a question recently posed to us from one of our customers they wanted to know if they could add their son’s vehicle to their car insurance policy, even though the vehicle was titled just in their son’s name.

Most insurance companies do not want to add the son’s vehicle to your policy in that case.

And there’s some reasons why the son may not want to have his vehicle added to your policy in that case.

One is if the vehicle is solely owned by your son and not owned by you and him jointly is if the policy is written in your name and there’s a claim, the check is going to be made payable to the first named insured, which is you, not your son.

Unfortunately you have no insurable interest in your son’s vehicle so therefore the company may not even want to pay the claim.

Now a lot of carriers will give additional discounts for the son’s vehicle while he is a resident of your home and goes with the same insurance company as you. This way, they can take advantage of some of the discounts such as:

• multi-vehicle in the household discount
• multi-policy discounts

This is a great option then for your son so he’s not really losing anything by being on his own policy but because the vehicle is solely owned by him he really should be on his own policy.

The other thing is if your auto insurance company allows you do add his vehicle to your policy, they will only do it for the time period that your son is a resident of your household.

Well let’s face it when your son decides that he’s moving in with his girlfriend or he got a job in another state or he’s moving out on his own.

You will celebrating and crying at the same time, but you’re not thinking about “oh my gosh we’ve got to do something with the insurance before you leave.”

So what could happen is, Junior moves out, a month later he totals his car and then he’s not an insured under the definition of insured under the policy, then you’d bein the situation where you may have a company denying a claim when you need them the most.

So the best thing is that your son get his own car insurance policy if the vehicle is titled solely to him.

You want to make sure also that your son has the same limits of liability that you have, just to make sure that there’s no conflict in the event that you drive your son’s car because his was the last one in the driveway or your car was broken down and you grab his.

We don’t want him to have state minimum insurance limits and you have very good substantial limits, and then have an accident and find out that you’re limited now to just the state minimum.

If it’s titled to both of you then sure we can add it to your policy without much of an issue..

Things are changing all the time in your life. So when things like this in the household arise, reach out to your insurance agent here at Huff Insurance we’d be happy to go over how the life changes are going to affect your insurance needs, and help give you the right advice for the situation.