Insurance Articles

Many people are unsure of what umbrella insurance really is. They see insurance companies using umbrella logos and pictures and they assume that this means the insurer is covering us on a rainy day or during a time of need or that they cover you for every eventuality.

The idea of dying and leaving our loved ones behind is not a pleasant thought. No one likes to think about their own death. Unfortunately it is part of life and as such it needs to be planned and provided for. The following guidelines will help you make the right choices when choosing your life insurance.

Taking out an insurance policy is an act of trust and you may be worried that when the time to claim comes around, your claim might be disputed, delayed or even rejected. Insurance companies are capitalist enterprises based on the need for profits, so expecting them to be charitable and pay out all claims is a little naive.

As the old saying goes ‘prevention is better than cure’. There are several things you can do to deter would be car thieves from making off with your beloved vehicle. Using common sense is definitely your first line of defense. Lock your doors and do not leave your keys in the ignition or in the vehicle. This will already deter opportunistic thieves.

Insurance companies partly use profiles of their clients to determine their risk. These profiles are based on how we have lived our lives. It therefore makes sense that important events in our lives will change our profiles and as a consequence change our potential risk.

Pets have become as important in our lives as our children and for some people, their pets are their children. Thanks to dietary and veterinary advances, pets, like people, are living for significantly longer and as such are seeing more veterinary care.

Most people are either underinsured or over insured. There can be many different reasons for this, but at the end of the day the onus is on us to make sure we have adequate cover.

Keeping your mileage low can save you a lot of money per year. Travelling by public transport or carpooling reduces your risk profile and as such will lower your monthly premium.

When finding your insurance rates, car insurance companies try to stamp car drivers according to age, sex and the type of vehicle driven. If you are a provisional driver driving a red sport car, you are seen as a higher risk even if you've never been booked for traveling above the speed limit Another element that insurance companies use to guess your risk is your profession.

Since insurance is based on the sharing of risk, your home's history could very well play a significant part in determining your insurance premium as it could increase the home's risk profile.