Post Date April 29, 2013 – Data gathered from the Pennsylvania Insurance Department, New Jersey Insurance Department, and New York Insurance Department  indicated nearly 95 % of the homeowners Insurance claims from Superstorm Sandy are now closed and resolved.  The data which is updated regularly collects information from all the major homeowners insurance carriers which holds most of the insurance market in areas affected by the storm.  An article in the Insurance Journal states most recent data will show us that there had already been 12000 of claims that are now closed. 303,826 of these claims have been closed with payments, while almost 72,000 were closed without payments. The number of claims consist 95% percent of all Homeowners Insurance claims filed in relation to Superstorm Sandy in PA, NJ and NY. It has been learned that the aftermath of Sandy in the said state had brought a total of over 15000 insurance claims.

Homeowners Insurance claims almost all closed

Personal insurance refers to homeowners and auto insurance.  However, the data does not include insurance claims that concern the National Flood Insurance Program. Of the total number of claims, the report card also showed that there have been 4000 complaints filed against insurers.  Among the insurance companies that provide policies in PA, NJ and NY, Allstate  and State Farm holds the most number of claims and also the most number of closed claims. As per the April 12 data, Allstate had 150,000 of their claims closed with 2100 complaints. It was able to make payments for 140,000 claims. Insurer State Farm which recorded 150,000 closed claims had 700 complaints. On the other hand, Travelers Group was able to resolve 120,000 claims and had 1500 complaints.

-Mike

Michael E. Dortch
President &  Senior Agent
InsureDirect.com
Corporate Home Office
618 South Broad Street
Lansdale, Pennsylvania  19446
(800) 807-0762  ext. 206

Post Date April 26, 2013 – A lawsuit was filed recently against State Auto Insurance Company saying the Homeowners insurance company is charging for phantom Homeowners Insurance Rates to it’s customers.  A Homeowners Insurance customer in Kentucky filed a lawsuit siting that his Homeowners Insurance Company has been illegally raising his homeowners rates.  The Homeowners Insurance Policy owners was surprised to find the $235,000 in  coverage for his home had been increased. After calling his insurance agent, the customer was advised his homeowners insurance policy property limit had been raised by his insurer. The Property limit is the amount his homeowners insurance company will pay if his home in a fire or weather event, excluding a flood. In the complaint; the property coverage limit was raised from $330,000 to $503,000.

Homeowners Insurance Phantom Premium Scam

The scam is called phantom insurance. Any homeowners insurance carrier which has suffered enormous claims will seek to recover from it’s claim losses through raising it’s revenues.  They raise its revenues through increasing the coverage limits and amounts that their consumers will pay for.  The lawsuit also states other clients of the  insurance company have been paying extra for their Homeowners Insurance premiums but are not receiving any benefit from their coverage.  although a customer pays for $500,000 in coverage limits for his home, the insurance carrier will only pay for $240,000 if the house will be destroyed.
The claimant and his lawyer are researching if their case be refiled as a class action law suit with the belief that there are other Homeowners Insurance clients across the country may have been experiencing the same scam.  The biggest problem with the Phantom Premium Scan is, most clients are unaware that their homeowners insurance has increase as some of them use escrow accounts to pay for their coverage.

–Mike

Michael E. Dortch
President &  Senior Agent
InsureDirect.com
Corporate Home Office
618 South Broad Street
Lansdale, Pennsylvania  19446
(800) 807-0762  ext. 206

Post Date April 17, 2013 – A recent study of car accidents in New Jersey show that drivers whom suffer from fatigue causes around 20 percent of car accidents in the Garden State.  The study is contradicts surveys that state drivers whom suffer from driving fatigue cause less than 5% of car accidents in New Jersey. Although drivers of all ages are involved in automobile accidents in NJ;  drivers from ages 18 to 20 years old have been found to have the highest number of fatigue-related car accidents in New Jersey. Adolescent drivers have continuously changing shifting sleeping patterns which have them burning the so-called candle at both ends.  Not only are they staying awake into the early morning hours,  they wake up early due to school or work.  These sleeping patterns cause severe fatigue.   Although the same is observed among older drivers,  mature age groups tend to have coping mechanisms against moderate fatigue.

Car accidents in New Jersey when exhausted happen more during the day than at night

The study also observed drivers behavior prior to a crash. Fatigue causes New Jersey drivers to experience head bobbing, eye squinting and micro-sleep.  Micro sleep is experienced when a driver is sleepy, their eyes will slowly close and then suddenly pop open almost surprising the driver.  The most interesting aspect of the study was the fact that fatigue is more prevalent during  the day time hours and more fatigue-related car accidents in New Jersey happened more during the day than at night. The research involved installing monitors in the cars of drivers being research. The equipment used included sensors, video cameras and radar units.  The study suggested that if drivers will drive while experiencing fatigue will have a risk four times greater of having a crash. Of course any car accident will cause you NJ Auto Insurance to increase.

-Mike

Michael E. Dortch
President &  Senior Agent
InsureDirect.com
Corporate Home Office
618 South Broad Street
Lansdale, Pennsylvania  19446
(800) 807-0762  ext. 206

Post Date  April 13, 2013 – The New Jersey Banking and Insurance Commission just praised the mortgage lending community in the state New Jersey.   The Insurance Commission has included community banks, national banks and mortgage service companies. The reason for the high praise is the unusually fast release of  NJ Homeowners insurance proceeds from the banks the homeowners insurance carriers released for storm damage.   The proceeds were for those New Jersey Homeowners whom were affected by Superstorm Sandy that hit the East Coast on late October last year.

NJ Homeowners Insurance damage checks issued faster than expected

The financial institutions which were commended for quickly distributed the NJ  Homeowners Insurance Payments included JP Morgan, Chase, Citi Mortgage, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo.  The banks paid out over $600 million in NJ Homeowners insurance claims received from both Homeowner and Auto Insurance Companies. The  claim payouts covered  approximately 80 percent of the covered NJ Homeowners Insurance claims damage in the state.  One of the biggest NJ homeowners insurance policy concerns was the mortgage companies would be slow in paying out proceeds directly.  In the situation where a home is mortgaged through a Bank or any other lending institution, The NJ Homeowners Insurance Company would be required to issue the claims payment check in two names.  Of course the check would be issued to the homeowner and would need to be endorsed by the bank which funded the loan.  Since this was the case throughout the state of New Jersey, homeowners insurance claims checks being issued jointly to the policyholder and the policyholder’s bank.  The concern was any jointly issued checks sent to the mortgage companies would take even longer to find it’s way to the insured to pay damage.  Even in this case, payments were received in a reasonable amount of time.

-Mike

Michael E. Dortch
President &  Senior Agent
InsureDirect.com
Corporate Home Office
618 South Broad Street
Lansdale, Pennsylvania  19446
(800) 807-0762  ext. 206

Post Date April 11, 2013 – As all Pennsylvania Homeowners are aware of, you may purchase your Renters or Homeowners Insurance two different ways.  You can either call a Homeowners Insurance Company direct or you my contact an Independent Agent or Broker. Although the Direct Homeowner Insurance Companies claim their rates are cheaper, that never seems to matter once the homeowner needs to file a claim. When you need to file a Homeowners Insurance Claim and you don’t have an agent or broker – who do you talk too if you have a problem or don’t understand complex insurance claims issues.

Homeowners Insurance buyers have a better claims experience when policy is purchased  from an agent

A  2013 Homeowners Insurance Property Claims Satisfaction Study from the J.D. Power and Associates shows policyholders who filed a homeowners insurance claim through an independent agents were much happier than those whom purchased their policy direct writer like GEICO, Liberty Mutual and Amica.  This is no surprise to this agent whom have been told the very same thing for the last 10 years.  The JD Powers study also shows overall agency represented  homeowners insurance companies are getting  high marks from consumers on claims handling despite the amount of claims these last two years.

The study measured satisfaction levels among insurance buyers as they experience claims for the damages that are covered by their homeowners insurance policies. The study indicated five factors which are the financial settlement, estimation process, notice of loss, service interaction, and the overall repair process. The study also shows how diligent homeowners insurance companies are in responding to the needs of their policyholders. In addition, nearly 70% of homeowners are filing their claims through direct channels or directly to the insurance carrier.  The remaining 30 percent file their homeowners insurance claims through their independent agent.  Most important,  72 percent of those who filed claims through agents said that the agents were helpful. 56 % of those filed claims directly said that the carriers call center representatives were helpful but they wish they had a local advocate to help them with their claim.

-Mike 

Michael E. Dortch
President &  Senior Agent
InsureDirect.com
Corporate Home Office
618 South Broad Street
Lansdale, Pennsylvania  19446
(800) 807-0762  ext. 206

Post Date April 7, 2013 – Drivers all over the United States may need car insurance quotes once they see their upcoming auto insurance renewal rate.   Auto Insurance insiders have been aware for many years that car insurance buyers have enjoyed very low rates.  This is commonly known as a soft car insurance, truck insurance or motorcycle insurance market.  What does this mean?   There are two types of insurance markets; both soft and hard.  In a nut shell, when car insurance rates are low and consumers are happy – this is known as a soft market.  Most drivers may not need car insurance quotes since they feel the auto insurance rate they have is affordable.  This may not be the case in the very near future as the Hard Market drives up car insurance rates.

If you are paying too much, you need car insurance quotes

Drivers in South Carolina will see an increase in their auto insurance rates very soon. This will happen as a new bill is now finding its way within the General Assembly that seeks to increase the South Carolina State Minimum limits on Uninsured Motorists (UM), a coverage which is required within the state.  The last time that South Carolina had a change in their state mandated minimum limits was on 2006. That change was for the State Minimum liability limits.  However, that  limits increase did not include the mandatory Uninsured Motorists. The current minimum limit for UM is set at $10,000. The new law would increase the Uninsured Motorist Limit to $25,000..  Since all car insurance companies file their rates differently, many will need car insurance quotes as the increase will not be acceptable.

There is no solid data that can show how many drivers in South Carolina will have an increase in their rates.  One thing is for sure, the $25,000 increase on their Uninsured Motorists limits will provide an increase to the auto insurance rates which many will not be happy with.  This auto insurance coverage in South Carolina will pay for policyholder’s injuries or damages to his or her vehicle when hit by a driver who does not have insurance coverage, or by a hit-and-run driver. The required minimum liability limits today is 25/50/25, $25,000 per person for bodily injury and $50,000 for bodily injury of all persons in one accident, and $25,000 for property damage. The increase on Uninsured Motorist to 25,000 will be considered level to the minimum state required limits.

-Mike

Michael E. Dortch
President &  Senior Agent
InsureDirect.com
Corporate Home Office
618 South Broad Street
Lansdale, Pennsylvania  19446
(800) 807-0762  ext. 206

Post Date April 5, 2013 – Four Massachusetts auto insurance carriers were recently served with law suits.   The car insurance carriers were sued for overcharging their customers through their legally mandated surcharges.  Those with accidents, tickets and violations even DUI”s were effected.  The Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, whom recently ran for the United States Senate in a statement disclosed that settlements were filed last month with four auto insurance companies;  Massachusetts Home Insurance Company, Premier Insurance Company of Massachusetts, Pilgrim Insurance Company, and Plymouth Rock Assurance Corporation. The settlement terms with the auto insurance companies the said insurers will impose an audit on their insurance policies in order to determine how much will be refunded to consumers. The payment will be collectively given by the Massachusetts auto insurance companies through out the state. Aside from the refund to it’s car insurance company customers, interest will be paid to all the victims.

Auto insurance companies to return over-payments…..

There may be a number of extra payments paid to the over charged customers.  The Attorney General’s Office will be conducting audits to insure all the misappropriated funds.  Coakley said they began investigating the surcharges after they received a complaint from a customer whose surcharge were already overturned by the Board of Appeal in 2010. The complaint was against Metlife Property & Casualty. The outcome of the investigation showed that in 2012, the Met and other auto insurance companies  did not refund the consumers of  $700 in car insurance overpayments. The case resulted to a settlement in January this year.

When investigating other insurers, the attorney general found that the four car insurance carriers mentioned above are still charging the surcharges. The Board of Appeals in Massachusetts is very much like the Department of Insurance in the State of Pennsylvania.  Both organizations are independent bodies tasked to review the fairness of how auto insurance companies set rates, determine surcharges and resolve issues for insurance customers.  In the past ten years, the Board had already vacated more than 40,000 surcharges and the refunds were imposed through settlement with auto insurance providers. Coakley’s office is still evaluating other Massachusetts auto insurance companies and their surcharge practices.

-Mike 

Michael E. Dortch
President &  Senior Agent
InsureDirect.com
Corporate Home Office
618 South Broad Street
Lansdale, Pennsylvania  19446
(800) 807-0762  ext. 206

Post Date April 1, 2013 – For the first time in history, there are more women drivers than ever in the past.  Women drivers have now surpassed the number of men drivers in the United States. A recent study which covered a 15 years period showed there are now more women who have United States Driver’s Licenses compared to men.  Based on the information contained in the study,  it would be reasonable t0 say more car insurance is now devoted to women.  Although the study was prepared covering gender trends on driver’s licenses from the year 1995 to 2010,  it could as well have been a study was prepared to compare more low cost car insurance sold to women than men.

More Car Insurance is being sold to women than in anytime in the past………………

The report showed a reversal of the more than century-old truth which proved men ruled the roads since the introduction of the automobile.  Even 50 years later, women still need to cope with the fact they were still far behind their male counterparts when it came to driving and car insurance trends.  Although in the past more high risk car insurance was sold to men, today more car insurance policies are sold to women drivers than ever before. Little did anyone realize,  the gap between men and women who have driver’s licenses and whom bought more  car insurance was gradually closing by 1995.  The men only slightly outnumbered the women, 89.2 million to 87.4 million. But in 2010, there were only 104.3 million men who have driver’s licenses compared to women who already numbered 105.7 million.

By 2010, women drivers already outnumbered men from 25-29 years old, and the 45 years old and older. There is more discount car insurance sold to older women compared to older men.  Though there are more boys being born today in the United States, women outnumbers the men as the former have been living longer. Women live an average of 80 years while men just live for about 75 years.

-Mike

Michael E. Dortch
President &  Senior Agent
InsureDirect.com
Corporate Home Office
618 South Broad Street
Lansdale, Pennsylvania  19446
(800) 807-0762  ext. 206