In my prior post I discussed state minimum auto insurance limits.

There is one insurance company that unabashedly promotes state minimum limits - Safe Auto.

While I disagree with their mass promoting minimum limits on car insurance, it may have its place with some clients, perhaps those young drivers starting out in life or someone with a DUI who is facing steep premiums.

However, if you sell minimum limits to anyone, anytime I wholeheartedly disagree with that approach.

Most consumers do not fully understand why and how higher limits protect them. If no one explains the need for higher limits, how does a consumer know? If a client owns a home, makes a good income and has investments he/she absolutely needs higher limits.

I am not suggesting Safe Auto does not educate buyers. Perhaps they do. Let's even assume they do. I still object to selling state minimum limits to anyone, anytime.

Remember, if you have low auto insurance limits and cause a serious accident and injuries you can be sued for amounts over and above your car insurance limit. That means someone could potentially win a judgement and garnish future income out of your paycheck.

Be careful when buying car insurance that you do not get caught up in buying on price alone. Ensure your agent is also offering decent limits to protect you, your income and your assets.

Arizona Insurance

P.S. Keep in mind that there is always that once in a lifetime bad accident that can cause a claim to exceed virtually any car insurance limits you buy. How to prepare for that? Buy an Arizona Umbrella Insurance policy. Ask me for details.

        

A young driver asked me for an Arizona auto insurance quote and requested it emailed. As always, we comparison shopped with various carriers and emailed him back the lowest quote we found.

His response was to question why we quoted $50,000/100,000 on bodily injury and $50,000 on property damage instead of the state minimum.

To clarify, the State of Arizona allows a driver to carry a minimum of $15,000 per person on bodily injury and $10,000 on property.

That means if you hit someone with your car, the auto policy will pay to fix that other vehicle up to $10,000 and reimburse the injuries you cause up to $15,000 per person.

In today's society, those numbers are hardly sufficient.

As an insurance agent, I attempt to steer clear of writing those low limits, even though some clients insist on buying it. The reason? If you are ever at-fault in a bad accident where injuries or death occurs and the other vehicle is badly damaged or totalled - you will not be very pleased to know your insurance policy may not cover all the damages. You can (and likely will be) sued. If someone obtains a judgement they could garnish your future income and attach current assets. That does not make a client very happy with their insurance agent.

For the great majority of people carrying at least $50,000 vs $15,000 is a small increase in premium. Matter of fact, moving up to $100,000 in coverage is usually not a huge increase.

Why carry higher limits? The biggest reason,  your assets and income are better protected from being sued if you cause a serious accident.

Ask us to quote the difference between your current low limits and higher limits. You may be surprised!.

        

        

The Arizona Republic on Sunday detailed an incredibly sad story of a plane crash in June 2008 that killed 5 family members, leaving only a daughter (now age 22) as survivor.

In the year since the tragic accident the daughter has had to help organize two funerals (Arizona and Illinois), handle numerous legal and insurance matters and face the unenviable task of what to do with all the family belongings. In the process her home has entered into foreclosure and she must vacate the family home shortly.

This 22 year old girl sounds amazing, her courage inspiring. Her story gives the impression that these parents did an incredible job of raising a smart, happy, bright and well adjusted girl. But apparently the parents had very little life insurance. The surviving daughter has paid bills with the life insurance settlement money but it did not go far.

Please. Please. Please. If you have loved ones in your life that would suffer financially if you passed away, get a quote for life insurance immediately. You never know when your time is up. We owe it to those we love to buy life insurance.

Imagine the grief your loved ones will go through if you pass away. How much worse will it be if you leave them the job of rebuilding their lives without you and little or no money to work with in the process. 
 
Please call or email us or contact your local life insurance agent today!!

Arizona Life Insurance

        

There was a report recently detailing growing mortgage loan scams.

Now there are reports that student loan scams are on the rise. The U.S. Attorney General has charged 65 individuals in a student loan scam estimated at $530,000.

If you receive a notification or loan offer that appears too good to be true, it may be. Contact your local Better Business Bureau or Attorney General's office is you suspect a potential scam is being perpetrated.

There are many legitimate, hardworking mortgage brokers in this valley. We know several. If you are considering purchasing a home please call our office or click the following link for a referral. We can direct you to an Arizona mortgage broker to assist.

        

It's good to an independent insurance broker! As an independent insurance broker we can shop auto, home and life insurance with numerous carriers for our clients to search for good deals on car insurance.

There are a number of insurance companies in Arizona raising rates. The following carriers have increased their Arizona car insurance premiums.

Colorado Casualty Insurance - 30%
Garrison Property & Casualty Insurance 30%
Encompass Insurance 19.5%
Houston General Insurance 13.7%
USAA Insurance Company 10.8%

We DO NOT actively sell insurance for any of these carriers. If you currently have insurance with any of these companies, please contact us for a quote today!

Call (480) 659-0229 for a quote or click here: Arizona Car Insurance

        

Are you thinking about the joining the growing group of investors buying up some of the juicy commercial or residential property on sale around Arizona?

There are a few websites that can help your search.

www.investorloft.com
www.loopnet.com
www.smartzip.com

These sites may provide some information for free but usually you have to pay to have complete access.

The average consumer is at a disavantage when shopping for property. In 2008 real estate professionals accounted for 1 out of every 5 homes bought. These professionals know the market and are better prepared to quickly jump onto real bargains. The above websites may help the novice in his or her search.

Good Luck!

        

I have known Pat and Amy Monahan for several years. They are real estate agents with West USA Realty.

Pat and Amy Monahan enjoy helping people find their new home.  They have worked with many  different types of buyers including first time home buyers, parents buying homes for their college students to live in while in school, families trading up to a bigger home, and purchasers of second homes in Arizona.  They have both been awarded the prestigious Certified Residential Specialist (CRS) Designation.  Realtors who receive the CRS Designation have completed advanced courses and have demonstrated professional expertise in the field of residential real estate.

Visit their websites below:

http://www.realtysecrets.net/

http://www.livingintheeastvalley.com/

        

This seems to be one of those topics where the majority of people are clearly on one side of the aisle, not wavering in the middle. Personally I am opposed to the idea of a government run health care system. One thing I have seen proponents do is champion the Canadian health system.

I have clients who live in Canada. They buy homes in Arizona for vacation purposes. I have made it a habit to ask many of these clients their opinion on the Canadian health system. All but one thought it a disaster.

One client said that he was diagnosed with cancer and was told it would be at least six months before treatment could begin. He headed to the United States and began treatment, paying out of pocket instead until his Canada plan began. Why would a country that provides "free" health care for its residents want to wait six months to begin treatment? In six months the client would likely be in a situation where his cancer was irreversable by that time. And certainly that is precisely the point. The moment his cancer would be deemed too far to reverse the Canadian system would simply let him die. Why? Because a huge cost in a person's health care comes in the final six months of life. That is a major drain on resources. Forget about the human-life factor. It just comes down to dollars and cents at that point when the government is in charge.

Another Canadian client said that it is a marvelous health system.....as long as you are healthy. He too suggested that if you have serious health issues their system stinks. Another complained about the massive taxes Canada imposes to pay for their health care.

A friend of mine recently suggested that one reason private health insurance is expensive here in the U.S. is because hospitals get shortchanged by the U.S. government on payments made for medicare patients. So they make it up by overcharging private insurance. Reminds me of the Fannie Mae situation where the government caused the problem and then tells us they need to fix it. That's like the wolf, upon hearing that someone has been devouring the sheep, asking to be in charge of sheep security.

Let's suppose for a moment that national health care becomes a reality in the U.S. How many people are going to give up their $400 per month private plan for a (so called)  "free" national plan. You got it. Alot. And who could blame them. Almost everyone in our country is riding on a very tight budget these days. An extra four hundred bucks matters greatly to most of us.

What will happen to those private plans when a great many of their customers jump ship? Correct again. Those private companies likely would have to shut down, or maybe merge together to survive. Likely, over time, they will simply fade away never to be seen again. You cannot offer a "free" plan supported by our taxes to compete with private plans that provide jobs, pays taxes, complies with burdensome government regulations, pays overhead, payroll, and strives to make a profit (which is not bad, no matter what you read in the newspapers).

What's one inherent danger in that scenario?

What if the national health system is an unmitigated failure? What if taxes are raised so high people clamor for a private system once again? What if care in a national plan becomes so poor, so slow, and health care decisions are determined by government bureacrats instead of doctors based on whether they think they can afford to give you treatment or whether you "deserve" it?

Those private plans will likely be gone. Your choice is gone. It will be the national plan or nothing.

Now imagine you are in your golden years. What happens during that time in our lives? Health issues - at some point, because we all die. In a government run plan, it is very likely that you will not receive the gentle, loving and ongoing care you want, need and deserve. After all, you are at the end of your life. A government run plan will not place as much value (or any) on you once you reach a certain age. The end result? They will prefer you to go away in peace than spend money on someone who is not working and paying taxes at that stage of their life.

Another friend suggested that this national health care needs to be pushed through Congress by October because these politicians will be campaigning for reelection. Which begs the question? If national health care is so good and the best thing for our citizens, why set a deadline simply because of reelections? If it truly is the right thing and the right path it will succeed on its own after the elections are over, right?

Why is it that the worse things get in this nation the more government takes over. Then things get even worse and the government takes over a little more. It gets worse yet again and the government takes charge even more. Anyone else see a bad pattern here?

At some point some American generation may finally realize that bigger government is less efficient, less effective and largely wasteful. Remember, government does not create jobs or create wealth. It takes working tax payers to support government. It takes some hard working man or woman to start a business, work hard and hire people to support this nation. How much will YOUR taxes need to go up to support a massive, national (so called) "free" health care plan? At some point your taxes will go up to pay for our government's decision to bail out the banks, mortgage companies and auto industry. That income tax increase will likely pale in comparison to the money it will take to pay for "free" health care.

The wolf is crying once again that something needs to be done with health insurance. And we are in the process of giving the wolf complete control. Are we stupid?

Ronald Reagan was right. Government is not the solution to our problems. Government is the problem. 

        

I attended my first greyhound race at Phoenix Greyhound Park in the early 1980's. The stands were completely full and excitement filled the air. It was very entertaining and an enjoyable experience watching those dogs run and compete.

That was a long time ago. I have not attended a Phoenix Greyhound Park race in well over a decade.

I do recall reading articles during that time suggesting some dogs were being mistreated by their owners before and after races, particularly when they performed poorly. That took some luster off attending the park. Greyhound owners today admit to problems back then and say the industry is doing a much better job of policing itself and caring for the dogs.

Today, the popularity of greyhound racing has diminished greatly, whether due to the economy or competition from casinos and/or other sporting events around town. In addition, animal rights groups such as Grey2K USA are posing challeges to greyhound racing. One of their issues are the injuries that occur to the dogs. Some injuries are severe enough to cause the owners to put their animals to sleep.

To survive, Phoenix Greyhound Park is hoping the Arizona legislature will allow gambling. As part of their argument, they offer that they provide jobs and the city/state receives various taxes from the park. Grey2K USA hopes to shut them down.

It's easy to see both sides of this argument.

It does seem to be the nature of greyhound dogs to compete, run and race. It would be like expecting an Alaskan Husky to not want to pull a sled or a thoroughbred horse to not run around a race track as hard as it can.

The key is to ensure the safety and health of the greyhound dogs.

What is your opinion?


Arizona Auto Insurance