RV Insurance Options That Can Save You Money
The whole idea of having RV and motorhome insurance is to be prepared as much as possible for those unexpected events in life when things just go terribly wrong. It happens to lots of people all the time. Those who have foreseen the possibilities and taken steps to reduce or manage their risk often do very well in such cases, while those that haven’t planned ahead adequately don’t.
Having sufficient RV insurance is an important consideration, especially for those that spend a lot of time on the road while being far away from home, or those whose RV is their home. If you travel a lot, you can expect that there are going to be some bumps along the road, and they may happen at the most inopportune places and times. So here are a few options that you may want to consider adding to your current RV insurance coverage:
* Roadside Assistance. Since your home is traveling down the highway with you, it’s important to be prepared for situations where you have to get your RV or motorhome towed. This could happen due to a variety of reasons, any of which could be very costly if you don’t have some advance arrangements for towing expenses. Many auto associations such as AAA and The Good Sam Club offer this kind of coverage at very reasonable rates if you are part of their service, but be sure that they cater to RV owners and will use the appropriate tow truck for your RV when it breaks down. A lot of damage can occur when a tow vehicle is used for an RV which really isn’t suited for it, so check for this in advance.
* Personal Effects Coverage. If you live and even work in your RV, you no doubt have some expensive personal effects and possessions that would be very costly to replace if necessary. The problem with most standard RV insurance policies is that they will cover loss of personal effects, but only to a certain point. And that point may not be anywhere near what your actual replacement costs would be. So read over your insurance policy very carefully to see what is exactly covered and for how much. If you need to increase your personal effects coverage, it may be a very wise move.
* Mechanical Breakdown. If you have Roadside Assistance coverage that will take care of getting your RV towed to the nearest service facility, but it will not cover any of the repairs that will need to be done to put you back on the road again. With the high cost of RV repairs being what they are, it often makes sense to have added coverage that will pay for any repairs that aren’t considered part of normal wear and tear on the motorhome. Such policies aren’t cheap, but they do allow a motorhome owner to budget in advance what their repair costs will be, and insure themselves against a major repair bill that could be very financially damaging while they are traveling.
These are a few options that can easily be overlooked when insuring your RV or motorhome. But advance thought and planning on these matters often results in a much smoother overall traveling experience.
Jim Johnson writes on many consumer related topics including motorhomes. You can find out more about motorhome insurance and rv insurance by visiting our Motorhomes Review website.
[tags]rv, motorhome, rv park, campground, recreational vehicle[/tags]
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Third Party and Comprehensive Insurance
Third party offers a measure of coverage to policyholders, including protection against fire and theft. The law requires we at least have third-party coverage with indemnity to protect us against accidents that occurred on shared roads. Under the law if you cause an accident you will pay for the damage, injuries, medical treatment, legal, and other costs out of your pocket. Third Party Coverage is a protection then “against other people’s claims against you.”
If you have third-party insurance with “fire and theft” coverage then this will offer you protection in the event a fire or theft occurs. If you car catches fire, it is often a total loss, and thus the insurance company will ‘write-off’ the car and offer you disbursement to pay for a car of equal value. Thus, if you have a Security System integrated into your motor vehicle, this will reduce the costs of premiums, since if your car is stolen, the thief may be caught later, but no one can tell what the damage of your car will be.
Thus, insurance companies enjoy providing coverage to those with security systems integrated into their car. The security system will provide a measure of protection, but unfortunately, many criminals have the ability to master most technical devices, therefore, the system will not protect you entirely. Many insurance companies charge excess fees when offering insurance coverage. The fees are the worth of your claims portion. In other words, if you are in an accident and the company has to pay for the damage of the third party they may charge you a portion of the costs. A few insurance companies may dismiss the excess fees if the policyholder has “put forth all effort to halt or stop the fire or theft from occurring.”
The companies may also apply excess fees to your policy in an attempt to ‘reduce your” premiums, at the same time dropping the risks the insurance company may have in the event a fire or theft occurs. Of course, the more claims you file when covered under insurance the higher your premiums will be.
Comprehensive insurance then is a full coverage policy that will protect policyholders against fire, theft, personal injury, accidents, and so forth. Comprehensive insurance will cover your automobile and any damages, injuries, etc, fully in the event loss or damage occurs.
Comprehensive insurance will not cover you on all claims. Therefore, read the information provided by the insurance company to learn what exclusions if any exist. The exclusions is what the insurance policy will not payout. Comprehensive indemnity will cover you if the other party driving has caused damage to your vehicle. The third-party claims will not cover damage to windshields sometimes; however, the comprehensive coverage will recover the windshield in the event you suffer loss as a result of fire, theft, or accident. Since the windshields are considered different types of ‘excess charge’, thus the insurance companies often handle the claims differently. This is because the latent smash up is ‘limited to the replacement cost of the” complete windshield.
The greater part of car insurance companies will often prohibit coverage on mechanical and electrical matters. Wear and tear of your motor vehicle is also prohibited on car insurance. However comprehensive coverage will often cover “loss of use” whereas if you are restricted from the use of you vehicle, they offer rental coverage. This means you can rent a car until your car is repaired. During the take out of your policy, you are expected to pay upfront fees, including excess, portion of premiums, coverage fees and so forth before you are legally covered.
As you can see third party coverage offers less coverage than the comprehensive plans. If you want to protect your self entirely against problems then it pays to get comprehensive coverage. However, if you have an old beater then it is not worth fully covering the vehicle, thus third party liability coverage is optional. Finally, you must have insurance, since if you do not you are facing legal penalties. Do not drive your vehicle until the car is covered by an active policy.
Authored by Michael Bens. For more great information about all forms of insurance visit our free online insurance publication the Gabae Insurance Source to find the information you’re looking for!
Also you can check out Gabae Insurance Articles to find the articles you’re looking for!
[tags]insurance,third party insurance[/tags]
Criticism of Insurance
Insurance policies work by taking premiums from customers in exchange for baring the risk of certain costly events occurring. For example, if there is one fire in your town each month, everyone could just sit tight and hope their house doesn’t burn down next, or everyone could pitch in and pay an insurance premium each month and this is then used to rebuild the house that burns down. Very simply this is how insurance works. It is a method of spreading a risk over a far wider area, so that it will not be as devastating as if it was concentrated solely on the person who experiences the loss.
Exclusion Clauses
There are a few problems with this however and they attract much criticism. One criticism is that by taking on the risk for people, insurance makes people take greater risks than they otherwise would. For example, if you know your home contents are insured against burglary, then you may not be as careful about locking the doors and windows every time you leave the house. Or if your bike is insured, you may not bother to lock it as much as if it wasn’t insured. In the insurance industry, this problem is known as the moral hazard.
Insurance companies protect themselves against this by inserting exclusion clauses into their contracts, which remove their obligation to pay out if the insured performs or fails to perform certain stated actions. They might for instance require that you fit smoke detectors, or use good locks on your doors, or other things that will reduce the risk of the insured against event occurring.
Too Complex
There are also certain risks that you are not allowed to insure against in most countries. This is first of all because it would be too difficult for the insurance companies to quantify, but mostly it’s because they are risks that governments want the person at risk to bare himself or herself. They generally apply to multinational companies.
There is also the criticism that insurance policies are far too complex for the vast majority of consumers to understand. It is simply unreasonable to expect the customer to understand lengthy documents that have been drafted by not one, but usually teams of specialised lawyers. This can lead to consumers being misled or buying insurance policies on unfavourable terms. To get around this, most countries regulate the content of insurance contracts to ensure that they remain fair to consumers.
There is also the option of using the services of an insurance broker to shop the market for you.
Joseph Kenny is the webmaster of the insurance site http://www.insure121.com/ where you will find information, news and links to the leading providers of home insurance in the UK.
[tags]Home Insurance, policies, insured, premiums, finance, contracts, insurance, insurance broker, protec[/tags]
Talking Money with Your Doctor Drugs and Tests for Less
Would you buy groceries without knowing their prices? I suspect not. You probably compare the costs of different boxes of cereal in order to get the best deal. But when it comes to medical care, do you even ask for the prices involved?
While it’s true that good health is priceless, and cutting corners on health care is risky, there is still much you can do in order to obtain the same good value in medical care that you insist upon in other areas of your life.
If you lack a prescription plan that pays for your medications, it’s high time you discussed the cost of drugs with your doctor. Your doctor’s number-one choice in medication for your medical condition might be expensive. There are usually reasonable alternatives that cost less. You should take advantage of your doctor’s expertise in estimating trade-offs involved with each of your options.
Apart from prices, your doctor is already balancing a number of important factors in making a drug recommendation. First, of course, the drug needs to be medically effectiveotherwise, why bother? The doctor also takes into consideration what other medications you are taking, what other illnesses you have, your age, your gender, the drug’s side-effect spectrum, and also its convenience aspects, like how many times per day it has to be taken and whether or not blood-tests are required to monitor it. A drug that might score high on effectiveness and side-effects might still be inconvenient. An alterative might be both convenient and effective, but pose a higher risk of side-effects.
So the truth of the matter is that your doctor is already sorting through all sorts of trade-offs in choosing a medication to prescribe. Factoring in the prices of alternative drugs just builds on the comparing-apples-to-oranges process you are paying your doctor to do for you in the first place. But if the doctor doesn’t know that you lack a prescription plan, he or she might not include the cost of drugs in these reckonings and you might be stuck with a prescription that wrecks your budget.
The next step in obtaining maximum value for your investment in medication is to shop it around. Let your fingers do the walking by phoning several pharmacies for a price-check. I even write out a script for my shy patients who get nervous when they talk to medical personnel. It goes something like this: “Hi, I’d like to do a price-check on my prescription medication. How much would it cost to buy thirty furosemide 20 milligram (or whatever) pills? Thank you very much. Have a great day!”
In repeating this process with different pharmacies you will discover there can be quite a spread among even nearby drugstores. Suppose that your ten minutes on the phone saves you $20 on your prescription. Then you have just earned money at a rate of $120 per hour each month for your efforts. It is time well spent.
Cost-consciousness is also valuable when it comes to medical tests. If the cost of a medical test is prohibitive (as is often the case) and you don’t have the luxury of letting someone else pay for it, then encourage your doctor to talk through your alternatives with you. Does the same test cost less at one facility than at another? How important is the test? What could go wrong if you skip it, delay it or substitute a less expensive test? What are the chances of a serious repercussion?
Unfortunately, your doctor usually has less latitude when cost-optimizing your medical tests, but what could it hurt to ask? You might be glad you did.
And how about optimizing the doctor’s fee? This is also a fair topic for discussion. When you are considering an appointment with a new doctor it is certainly appropriate to ask for typical fees. However, in the current U.S. medical marketplace, the doctor’s time is usually the least expensive component of medical care. The doctor’s fee is usually much less than the costs of medications and tests. So while it is perfectly reasonable to shop around for affordable doctor fees, when it comes to choosing a doctor, quality issues should come first.
(C) 2005 by Gary Cordingley
Gary Cordingley, MD, PhD, is a clinical neurologist, teacher and researcher who works in Athens, Ohio. For more health-related articles see his website at: http://www.cordingleyneurology.com
[tags]medical,health,money,expense,cost,value,doctor,physician,insurance,drug,medication,prescription[/tags]
4 More Ways to Consolidate Bills and Save Money
It may be time to consolidate bills if you find yourself struggling with debt and you are behind on your bill payments. You will reduce your monthly payments, simplify payments by dealing with only one lender, reduce the interest you pay and give yourself the relief you need from the financial stress you are going through now. In this follow-up article, you’ll find 4 more ways you can consolidate your bills and save.
1. Nobody wants to believe it can happen to them, but sometimes life throws a curve ball. A sudden job loss or medical bills may have you searching for ways to deal with your bills. You may find yourself looking in places like your 401k plan. Even though these are your retirement funds, you may want to consider a 401k loan to consolidate bills.
This is an option of last resort but if it means your health or losing your house, it’s a very real option. The best thing about a 401k loan is the interest you pay is to your 401k plan - so you are paying yourself interest until you pay back the balance.
2. If you have a whole life insurance policy, you can borrow against the plan. The funds can be used to consolidate bills and help you get your finances back on track. You don’t have to pay back the funds if you so choose but keep in mind you chose the policy to protect your loved ones in the first place.
3. If you don’t have collateral to secure a loan, you can always shop around for a personal loan to consolidate your bills. You will receive higher interest rates with this option than you would with a secured loan like a home equity loan or line of credit, but the rates you can receive should still be considerably less than the charges and penalties you are paying on your outstanding debt.
4. A low interest credit card can be a viable option if you can pay off your balance quickly. It can provide very low or sometimes no interest for a specified period. You can use this offer to consolidate bills provided you can pay off your balance in the low interest specified timeframe. Once the special offer has expired, you may find yourself paying regular or higher credit card interest rates. If you are confident you can pay it off within the specified timeframe, you can save yourself a lot of money.
With these 4 options for consolidating bills, you can reduce your monthly payments, make repayment easier by dealing with only one lender and get lower interest rates. All this will help you get a handle on your bills and give an opportunity to get back on solid financial ground.
Thomas Erikson is co-founder of Your-Debt-Consolidation-Loan.com which provides debt consolidation information and solutions.
[tags]consolidate bills,401k loan,whole life insurance,personal loan,low interest credit card[/tags]
Taming Teenage Driver Insurance Rates
One alarming statistic from the IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) has it that 16-year-olds cause 10 times as many accidents as drivers over the age of 30 years.
It is also a well-known fact that many adults have a problem trusting teenagers with their cars. So how would you expect the Insurance company to behave? After all the guiding principal in any insurance is, the higher the risk, the higher the insurance premiums.
This is why it is so difficult to get discounts or low insurance rates for teenagers. Most insurance companies will not hear of it.
Still there are things you can do to bring down the insurance cost for your teenage children to drive.
To start with, it is not all insurance companies that have this totally negative view towards teenage drivers. A little shopping around will clearly prove this to you and help you find an insurance company that will be a little more sympathetic.
One idea that has helped many parents reduce on the cost of insurance for their teenage children is by putting them on their own policies. That is rather than setting up an independent policy, they opt to have them as an additional driver on their own insurance policies. In this way, all the discounts that have been applied to the parent is passed on to the teenager.
Some parents go further and even give their kids a cash incentive to be good safe drivers. Usually having a 3.0 or higher GPA will reduce your car insurance by a whooping 10 per cent. What many adult family members do is to simply share out the savings that they get. To help their teenage children achieve this, many parents even enroll them in driver education courses. In this way they gain knowledge and skills that help them to become safer and obviously more knowledgeable drivers.
More tips and secrets to help you save on your teenage driver auto insurance at the writer’s low cost car insurance site.
[tags]Driver insurance rates, Insurance rates, teenage driver insurance rates, insurance[/tags]
Is A Cheap Life Insurance Policy Right For You And Your Family
When it comes to life insurance over 70% of the adults in the United States have some form. The normal routine consists of a person in their early twenties or even late thirties purchasing some form of life insurance either through their company plan or on their own. Normally this life insurance plan will require the payment of a monthly premium of a pre-determined amount with the intent that the insurance policy will pay out a death gratuity or benefit in the event the insured consumer passes on prematurely. For many individuals the premiums are at a decent rate because many insurance companies are capable of offering cheap life insurance policies provided the insured individual is relatively healthy and at a rather young age.
Unfortunately as we age so does the cost of the life insurance policy. In order to obtain or keep cheap life insurance you may be required to reduce or eliminate some of your current life insurance coverage. Now with that said there are some very important decisions that need to be made because life isn’t always about cheap life insurance.
If your considering cheap life insurance or looking at ways to purchase cheaper life insurance rates you need to consider the reason your bought life insurance to begin with. If you’re still young enough where your children are in grade school or even high school and your spouse isn’t working then perhaps a cheaper life insurance policy isn’t the right thing for you. After all in the event of your untimely death the insurance proceeds will need to help your remaining family survivors live a decent life until such time as they can provide for themselves. Additionally the life insurance proceeds may be needed to pay off any unpaid debts you may have left behind.
On the other hand if your children are all grown up and moved out of the house and your spouse is working and capable of taking care of themselves then perhaps you should re-evaluate your current life insurance policy and see if there is a way to trim any unnecessary coverage amounts thereby lowering your total out of pocket cost and allowing you to have cheap life insurance.
Sometimes as your evaluating your estate and other monetary assets you may find that your life insurance policy can act as a hedge against any estate tax that will result in your passing on. In that case cheaper life insurance may not be the right answer since the proceeds will be needed to pay for the estate tax. In fact you may find that you’ll actually need to add additional life insurance in order to cover the estate tax involved with your possessions. This is especially true in cases where the estate is worth more then $500,000.
When considering cheap life insurance you must take into account the many functions that life insurance can assist your survivors with. For instance, it can be used to pay off a home mortgage or create a college fund for your children or grandchildren. It can be used as was previously mentioned to pay for any estate taxes and it can serve as a means of providing income for a surviving spouse and providing an inheritance for your children and grandchildren.
If your current situation does warrant or present you with the opportunity to purchase cheap life insurance then as you fill out the application needed to qualify for your lowered insurance rate make sure you answer the questions asked truthfully and accurately. Make sure to do your research with the Better Business Bureau in order to find out the claims history of your insurance company and if there are any prior customer complaints filed against the insurance provider. Remember you’re looking for cheaper life insurance not a cheap insurance provider.
As you do your research you will find that there are plenty of pros and cons for any insurance company you think about purchasing cheap life insurance from. There is no one single insurance policy that will cover all of your needs. Just remember the best type of insurance provider is the company that honors your insurance policy and pays the proceeds to your survivors when they are needed. Cheap life insurance or not, that’s the most important fact.
Timothy Gorman is a successful Webmaster and publisher of Best-Free-Insurance-Quotes.com. He provides more life insurance advice to include ways to find a cheap life insurance policy, that you can research in your pajamas on his website.
[tags]cheap life insurance policy, provider, rates, premiums, life, insurance, coverage, survivors, family[/tags]
Guide to RIB Insurance
If you require insurance for your RIB, but have been presented with a number of alternative policy wordings from a variety of companies, Noble Marine’s Guide to RIB Insurance may help you decide the sort of policy you require. Full details of the cover provided and an interactive quotation form, providing quotations at any time of day or night, can be found by clicking the RIB Insurance link on Noble Marine’s website.
Both the cover provided by different RIB insurance companies and the service they offer, can vary greatly. Bear in mind that a cheaper policy may end up costing you more, if you have to make a claim and you should always check what cover is being offered before signing up.
Q. What should I look out for?
A. Everyone’s needs are different, and only you can decide if wider cover is important to you. It is essential though, to understand what is being offered to you, before being able to make an informed decision.
Comprehensive Cover - will provide cover for your boat against accidental damage, theft, fire and vandalism.
Third Party Liability - You should not consider going afloat without liability insurance, which will cover you if you cause damage to another boat or worse still cause injury.
Racing Risks - Most insurers will exclude cover if you are racing your boat.
New-For-Old cover - This will replace damaged items with new, however age limits may apply.
Policy Excess - You will be required to pay the first
Motor Boat Insurance Basics
Sailing off into the blue yonder, has the salutary effect of blowing cares and stresses away with the winds. However, before you sail away in your new boat, consider the merits of these questions. Do you have boat insurance? Moreover, are your insurance needs fully met?
Marine insurance defines vessels according certain measurements. A boat is defined as one measured between 16 feet and 25 feet, 11 inches in length. If that’s the length and width of your seaworthy vessel, then you have a boat.
Here are the pertinent components your boat insurance policy should have:
Physical Damage Coverage
The insurer pays you for the repair or replacement of your boat, under the following circumstances: Theft, vandalism, lightning, fire, tornadoes, or hurricanes. Included in this coverage is the boat itself, outboard motors, engines, and your boat trailer.
Excluded from the coverage are the following items, which are not, considered a part of your boat’s operations: camera or video equipment, clothing, fashion accessories, or jewelries, food or beverages, cell phones, stereo equipment, portable television, personal computers or scuba gear. Alternatively, you can ask for separate coverage for these items.
Tip. Read the fine print and so that you know what restrictions could apply to your coverage. Can your boat be stored at your place of residence? Alternatively, should the boat be at your vacation spot? Where does the coverage begin? Some policies specifically limit the uses of your boat and list the exceptions.
Liability Coverage
You’ll find this coverage quite useful. You may also wish you’d paid a bigger premium, when there’s an accident and your boat is liable for damaging another boat, property, or injury.
Uninsured Boat Coverage
This is the marine insurance equivalent of the road vehicle’s uninsured motorist coverage. In this case, your boat’s repairs are covered, in the event the owner of the property your boat collided with has expired insurance or worse, doesn’t have it.
Passenger Medical Coverage
This coverage pays for the medical expenses incurred by people on your boat. This is a must-have clause and the limit can be inexpensive, from $450.00 to $10,000.00, is quite common.
Towing & Assistance Coverage
With this coverage, you’ll get reimbursement for the costs you’ve incurred for availing of emergency services. Examples of these, your vessel breaks down, and a commercial outfit tows your vessel to the port, you’ve paid for delivery to replace your fuel, oil, or engine parts, or for someone to repair your engine.
The bottom line to all this? Be pro-active and arm yourself with knowledge, which among the different policies possible, your boat insurance should have.
Then, you’ll sail confidently into the sun, because your insurance policy will cover you where it’s most necessary.
Mansi Gupta recommends that you visit motor boat insurance
[tags]motor boat insurance,insurance[/tags]
