Just Put Your Boat on Your Homeowners Policy Right?
Saturday, April 14th, 2012 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Go ahead and put your new boat on your homeowners policy like that junior insurance agent suggested. That person was trained to secure as much insurance business from you as possible and place with the same company, whether or not the coverage is better for you. And besides, you save $25 for the year by placing it on the home policy…good deal right? Guess again!
At Fortified Insurance Agency in Manchester NH, we take a different approach to placing insurance for your special toys like boats and personal watercraft. Although our automobile and homeowners insurance companies can cover boats along with their auto/homeowners package, we feel that specialized insurance for your boat is the better route. Here’s why:
- Specialized coverage that allows for lake, river, and ocean navigation (ocean navigation not covered on a home policy)
- Replacement Cost for new boats, Agreed Value coverage for boats that have a marine survey (not available on a home policy)
- Pollution liability for fuel spills (not covered on a home policy)
- Wreck removal (not covered on a home policy)
- Uninsured-Boater coverage if another vessel injures your or occupants and does not have insurance (not covered on a home policy)
- Medical Payments coverage applies to injuries sustained by water skiers/tubers pulled behind a boat (not covered on a home policy)
- Trailer Breakdown coverage (not covered on a home policy)
- On-water towing coverage up to $2,500 (not covered on a home policy)
- Specialized coverage for boat equipment and fishing equipment (not covered on a home policy)
- We can offer boat insurance for high performance boats and PWCs not acceptable to home insurance carriers. We’ll over coverage from Progressive, Safeco, Foremost and others.
- We are not required to insure your car or home before we can do insurance for your boat…but offer quotes for them
The agents at Fortified Insurance Agency are professionals that know how to insure your boat whether it’s a $2,500 aluminum fishing boat or a $350,000 cabin cruiser. Call us today for a free quote and coverage analysis.
Keith Beausoleil, CPCU
Keith Beausoleil is an insurance agent at Fortified Insurance Agency. Fortified Insurance Agency in Manchester NH specializes in coverage for auto insurance, automobile insurance, home insurance, homeowners insurance, renters insurance, condo insurance, RV insurance, motorcycle insurance, boat insurance, personal watercraft insurance, PWC insurance, snowmobile insurance, golf cart insurance, business insurance, commercial insurance, surety bonds, rental property insurance, and more. Talk to our professional insurance agents about coverage in New Hampshire (NH) today or refer us to someone who needs an independent insurance agent.
2012 Insurance Outlook; Auto Insurance, Home Insurance, Business Insurance
Wednesday, January 4th, 2012 | Insurance Industry News NH Local | No Comments
Thought I would give a 2012 New Hampshire insurance news update this month and I’ll expand a little more on each subject in the upcoming months. Overall, experts say and we see that carriers are looking to increase their insurance rates; in some areas more than others.
NH Automobile Insurance: We’ve come off some of the most competitive years of auto insurance pricing and some carriers that have very low rates are starting to bring rates up to average levels. Some auto insurance carriers in NH are keeping rates level, others are taking anywhere from a 2% increase to a 10% increase on average. Keep in mind that these rate increases are filed and approved by the State’s insurance department.
NH Homeowners Insurance: Home insurance will see the highest increase in rate in 2012. NH and other New England states have seen some of most extreme weather events in the past several years; October 2011 snowfall, Hurricane Irene, tornadoes, severe wind storms of February 2011 and 2010, and of course the Ice Storm of 2008. All of these weather events have caused severe losses and that ultimately translate in higher rates for home insurance customers. Most carriers are increasing rates from 5% to 10% on average and some outliers looking at 25%. Again, keep in mind that these rate increases are filed and approved by the State’s insurance department.
Commercial Insurance: Most carriers are talking about increasing rates and that the end of the “soft market” is here. That may be the case or it might just be an attempted self-fulfilling-prophecy. Only time will tell as we move further into 2012.
Overall, most carriers are looking for increases as claims are on the rise over the past several years. There are several factors that contribute to these increases. Don’t forget how insurance works; premiums of the many are accepted by insurance carriers, that premium is invested, the premiums of the many are supposed to pay for the losses of the few. You know that the investment market has been less than reliable as of late and insurance carriers cannot make good returns on their investment of premiums so carriers must make an “underwriting profit”. That means, the premiums taken in must exceed the losses they pay out including all of the operating expenses of the insurance company.
The lack of investment return, series of natural disasters, combined with a struggling economy where insurance customers wouldn’t normally file a smaller claim and where the average claim is growing in size has helped push rates up in several areas.
We’ll expand on each line of business as the year progresses and report back on how rates have changed in the various lines of business; auto insurance, home insurance, and business insurance.
Keith Beausoleil, CPCU
An Auto Insurance “Did You Know?”
Thursday, September 8th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
A common client question in the Fortified Insurance Agency office is…”does my auto insurance cover me if I rent a car while on vacation? The rental car agency wants to charge for insurance and I think I already have coverage under my personal automobile insurance policy.”
The answer is, that depends on the answers to several other questions. Auto insurance coverage will apply to the short-term rental of a private passenger automobile when a customer has full coverage (liability coverages and physical damage coverage) on their current automobile insurance policy. Coverage will apply if the vehicle is rented in and for the use in the “Coverage Territory” which includes the United States, US Territories and Possessions. Coverage does not apply in Mexico. Additionally, a personal automobile insurance policy will not cover the rental company’s loss of use of their rental car. So if you accidentally crash your rental car, the insurance carrier will pay for the damage, minus your deductible, but will not pay the rental income the rental agency loses while the car is being repaired and cannot be rented. That risk of loss would fall on the shoulders of the person renting the car, not the insurance company.
Thinking about renting the 28 foot Ryder truck to move your household belongings? Generally speaking, personal automobile insurance policies do not cover automobiles which weigh more than 12,000 to 13,000 GVW. If it does not look like a standard private passenger automobile, call the agents at Fortified Insurance Agency so we can review the specific details and speak with our underwriters and offer you advice. We will likely advise that you purchase the truck rental companies insurance as coverage for a such vehicle is rarely if ever, covered under a personal automobile insurance policy.
Keith Beausoleil, CPCU
Keith Beausoleil is an insurance agent at Fortified Insurance Agency. Fortified Insurance Agency in Manchester NH specializes in coverage for auto insurance, automobile insurance, home insurance, homeowners insurance, renters insurance, condo insurance, RV insurance, motorcycle insurance, boat insurance, snowmobile insurance, golf cart insurance, business insurance, commercial insurance, surety bonds, rental property insurance, and more. Talk to our professional insurance agents about coverage in New Hampshire (NH) today or refer us to someone who needs an independent insurance agent.
Where do I buy my insurance?
Friday, July 29th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
When I was a little younger I used to think you could only purchase insurance through national brands that you saw advertised on TV like State Farm, Allstate, or Liberty Mutual for example. And when I was younger those were the kind of companies I used for my own insurance because that’s all I knew. Those aforementioned companies are fine insurance companies, in fact I worked for two of them, one for over 10 years. But now I know better now.
Fortified Insurance Agency is an independent insurance agency that represents a variety of insurance carriers to meet the unique needs of practically anyone. We have top rated carriers that offer discounts when your home and auto insurance is bundled together. We also have the flexibility to write auto insurance with one carrier and home insurance with another. Further, we can insure someone’s motorcycle, boat, RV, or other toys with the same auto and home carrier or place it with a specialty carrier that includes specialized coverage not normally found with bundled insurance programs.
Sometimes, placing all coverage with one carrier is not in your best interest. Wouldn’t it be great to place your insurance with an agent that focuses on your best interest and offers multiple choices and instead of an agent that only offer one choice? I buy my insurance from Fortified Insurance Agency.
Keith Beausoleil , CPCU
Keith Beausoleil is an insurance agent at Fortified Insurance Agency. Fortified Insurance Agency in Manchester NH specializes in coverage for auto insurance, automobile insurance, home insurance, homeowners insurance, renters insurance, condo insurance, RV insurance, motorcycle insurance, boat insurance, snowmobile insurance, golf cart insurance, business insurance, commercial insurance, surety bonds, rental property insurance, and more. Talk to our professional insurance agents about coverage in New Hampshire (NH) today or refer us to someone who needs an independent insurance agent.
Condominium Insurance: Dislike
Monday, July 11th, 2011 | Home Insurance Coverages | No Comments
Yes, condo insurance is not my favorite home insurance coverage, I admit it. It’s the coverage most likely to leave my customers underinsured. Why? Read on…
Condo insurance, when purchased by the condo unit owner requires some effort on the part of the unit owner to review the condo association documents to determine what part of the building/property they should insure. Sometimes owners are required to insure building/property over $1,000 in improvements and sometime they are responsible for wallboard, non-load bearing walls, counters, cabinets, vanities, trim, flooring and more. Every situation is different.
In the insurance business, we call this Coverage A, or building coverage. Knowing what amount to choose for a limit is part science and part educated guess. The science end of it is relatively simple; the condo unit owner tells the insurance agent what type coverage they need. If the condo unit owner is responsible for the entire interior of a unit our insurance agents can use a program to estimate the replacement cost of the interior. The other piece that we add to the science piece is the clean-up cost associated with a loss. How much is that? How much does is cost to clean up a water loss from a leaking pipe? Did it damage all of the flooring and the finished basement? How much does it cost to clean up soot damage from a small fire? These costs can be $1,000 or could be $25,000 or more depending on the severity. And if a unit owner runs out of Coverage A limits the condo unit owner can be left holding the bill.
Condominium unit owners insurance is my least favorite insurance as it requires some effort on the part of our client to review their association documents to determine what their responsibilities. Very few actually take the time to review the association documents and that may leave them underinsured. My suggestion is to review the association agreement with the condominium board of directors if a unit owner does not understand the requirements. Someone on the board should have understanding where the master condo insurance policy leaves off and where condo unit owners personal insurance should pick up.
There are several additional important coverages that condo unit owners should review with their agent in addition to Coverage A and all should be discussed with a licensed agent. Getting cheap condo insurance may sound like a good idea, but what would you rather have? Cheap condo insurance or condo insurance that costs a few dollars more each month and having your loss covered?
Keith Beausoleil is an insurance agent at Fortified Insurance Agency. Fortified Insurance Agency in Manchester NH specializes in coverage for renters insurance, condo insurance, and home insurance. Talk to our professional insurance agents about coverage in New Hampshire (NH) today or refer us to someone who needs condo insurance.
Why Don’t You Have Renters Insurance?
Saturday, April 9th, 2011 | Home Insurance Coverages | No Comments
Statistics tell us that about 33% of Americans rent a house, condo, or apartment. Of those 33%, or 35 million Americans, only somewhere between 20% and 30% have renters insurance. Why? Keith Beausoleil, owner of Fortified Insurance Agency in Manchester NH suggests the following reasons:
1. Renters don’t believe they have enough personal property to insure
2. Renters underestimate the value of their personal property and, therefore, don’t think insurance coverage is needed
3. Renters think renters insurance is too expensive
4. Renters think the landlord has the responsibility to pay for any losses
Renters insurance can be written to cover as little as $25,000 in personal property to as much as $200,000 in personal property. Think $25,000 is too much? Add up your clothing for the family (winter, spring, summer, fall clothing), include shoes and coats, sporting gear, furniture, bed sets, TVs, stereo equipment, cds and dvds…you get the picture…it adds up fast!
The most common reason renters call our office for insurance is because they’ve just made a major purchase such as new furniture or a big-screen TV. Once they’ve explained their initial reason for the call, we talk about the importance of being able to replace the family’s clothing (aside from the new furniture and TV) and being able to pay for a hotel room so that life gets back to normal as quick as possible. All of these things are covered by renters insurance and for as little as $125 to $150 a year. Ask anyone who has been through an apartment fire and they would have gladly paid $125 to $150 to have insured their apartment.
And if you think your landlord is responsible, think again. Check your lease for details, but generally speaking, your landlord is not responsible for your personal property whether loss is from theft, fire, or some kind of water loss. Additionally, a landlord is not responsible for putting you up in a hotel while the apartment is being repaired.
Renters insurance is an “insurance bargain” as it’s relatively inexpensive and takes a lot of worry about what happens after a devastating loss. And, when combined with an auto insurance policy, reduces the price of both the renters insurance and the auto insurance coverage. In some cases, the auto insurance coverage credit is high enough to cover the whole premium for the renters insurance making the auto and renters package an outstanding value.
Fortified Insurance Agency specializes in coverage for renters insurance, condo insurance, and home insurance. Talk to our professional insurance agents about coverage in New Hampshire (NH) today or refer us to someone who needs renters insurance.
Great motorcycle insurance versus not so great…what do you have?
Friday, April 1st, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
It may not seem like it today, but motorcycle season is upon us and that means reviewing your current motorcycle insurance or getting a new policy. So what does that really mean? Go out and get the cheapest motorcycle insurance policy available? Just pay the bill for last year’s policy without checking coverage? For many people, that is the first thing that comes to mind. Well good luck with that!
Check your Bodily Injury and Property Damage liability limits…are they high enough to help protect your assets? Did you buy State Minimum coverage? What is your Medical Payment coverage? If you don’t have health insurance or have health insurance with a high deductible, ensure that your Medical Payment limits are high enough to help pay for an injury or your deductibles, co-payments, and co-insurance. It really doesn’t cost that much more to have proper coverage…ask one of our professionals for advice.
A few of our carriers offer New Motorcycle Replacement coverage for brand new motorcycles and trikes. That coverage allows for full replacement without depreciation when you purchase your motorcycle brand-new. Another coverage that our carriers include for free is coverage of $3,000 for custom-parts and accessories added onto your bike. That coverage also includes items like helmets, jackets, gloves, and boots. If you have more custom-parts and accessories you can purchase more coverage all the way up to $30,000 in custom-parts and accessories coverage. That’s a lot of chrome!!!
Talk to the agents at Fortified Insurance Agency about your motorcycle insurance. You always decide what coverage will end up on your policy, but we can help you with each coverage decision so you know what coverage is available what coverage ends up on your policy. Either way, you’ll know what you’ve got when we’re finished. Do you know what you have?
Fortified Insurance Agency specializes in coverage for any make motorcycle, scooter, ATV, trike, dual-sport, or dirt bike. Talk to our professional insurance agents about coverage in New Hampshire (NH) and Maine (ME). We ride just like you!
Fortified Insurance Agency Blog
Saturday, March 26th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
It’s time to talk about insurance! Fortified Insurance Agency is going to use this blog to talk about relevant day-to-day insurance information that anyone can use. We’ll talk about customer questions and solutions to everyday insurance needs. That may include auto or home insurance, motorcycle insurance, business insurance, life insurance, even golf-cart insurance! Who knew!
We welcome your feedback on our blogs and even debate over various topics…wouldn’t that be fun?
Keith Beausoleil – Fortified Insurance Agency, Manchester NH