Insurance Premiums

The cost of personal home and auto insurance is on the rise.  For the past several years, many insurance companies have collected less money from the insurance premiums being paid by clients than they have paid out in client claims.

Insurance premium rates are a function of both the individual and group costs and claims environment.

A portion of the insurance premiums collected by an insurance company are set aside and invested.   When a claim is incurred by an insured, monies are removed from the pool to pay the claim.  If an insurance company incurs more claims than the insurance premium funds it has collected and invested, it will be forced to raise the rates it charges for its insurance.

Of course, insurance premium increases must be approved in advance by the state regulatory body overseeing insurance companies.   But, in the past few years (2010-2012), many national insurance companies have incurred losses in excess of their set aside, invested premium funds.  Hence, many insurance companies are asking their state regulatory body for increased insurance premiums.

If you have experienced an increase in insurance premiums, please do call 515/232-5240 and ask for Andrea Shearer, Tessa Everman, or Burton Heginger at Triplett Companies for advice and help reducing your current premium.

Being Truthful About Vehicle Issues

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal entitled “Hubby say car ding wasn’t his bad?  Don’t believe him” suggested that spouses are often not truthful about traffic violation tickets they may receive, paying the vehicle insurance bill, putting a scratch or “ding” in the car, etc.

The actual statistics for such non truthful items follow.

1.  The percent of spouses who reported they did put a “ding’ in the car, yet did not report that fact to their spouse, but blamed it on someone else was 35 per cent!

2.  One fourth (24 per cent) of those surveyed reported that they did not report a traffic violation ticket to their spouses.

3.  Almost one fourth (24 per cent)of those surveyed confirmed that they did not report an accident to their spouses.

4.  Almost one fifth (19 per cent) of those surveyed admitted they did not tell their spouse when they forgot to pay a vehicle insurance bill.

5.  Almost one fifth (19 per cent) of those surveyed revealed they had knowingly driven a vehicle without a valid driver’s license but not shared that information with their spouses.

These above results were determined from a survey of 1,000 married couples completed by an insurance shopping and information site found at  >Insure.com<.        

Contact Andrea Shearer, Burton Heginger, Tessa Everman, or Ryan Edgington at Triplett Companies  (515/232-5240) for your insurance needs!  However, be sure to tell your spouse!