Page 18 - Alabama 811 Magazine 2018 Issue 2

know you Expect your insurance agent to get you the best policy tor
the money, and he really wants to do that, too. sometimes, however,
the agent is stuck in the old patterns, and writes everyone the way
he always used lo—but it's your livelihood, your equipment, your
property. lts not about him, it's about you
e n Double check for ymu'self—make sure your liability is at least :51 million
per occurrence, $1 million aggregate. Yuu can get lower limits for less money,
oywrgw. Relsmes but why? its a business expense, and you rleiinitely neerl a minimum of $1
The Plzllcycemer, lac million. The courts are iull of liability lawsuits; legal bills are skyrocketing
imam M5 Ask your agent it Legal Defense is inside policy limitkor outside. You want
outside because that leaves the entire million to pay the ludgment if you
\ lose. lhate to say it, but lhave recently seen policies with liability limits of
. $300,000 per occurrence and sontmno aggregate. l don't know how much L3:
\ insured saverl—but it sure wasn't $700,000! 1 agree it's not otten you need
r_ , iull million—but suppose you do ..
’ " Does your policy contain EBL (Employee laeneiits Llability)? You know what
_- . ' that m2ans—you hire someone and your bookkeeper neglects to add him
9,51‘, I to the insurance at the right time. BANG! He has a heart attack or cancer
i ‘- 1 ' . and is now uninsurable. but he wn~'n'I iininsurable before the heart attack
» — back when your bookkeeper forgot to add }lim—gue.~'s w}lD’s llabl27 You
'7 are, because by law you have to include everyone, and that's what EBL—
contained within your liability policy, covers. Employee laeneiits Liability,
1.’-_:_ you need it it's not a bit expensive.
fa __ Now here's a good one admitted vs non-arlmitted company your coverage
_ V .,_’.t 7 _— is placed with. Depending on what jabs you are doing, every company won’!
"I )1’ ’,r;\' write every lab category A lot ui companies are non-renewing rooiers, far
I - xv, Q example. when this happens, agents often have to go through brokers to
V get coverage for you. You'll know because there will be fees and taxes as
part of your premium Most state insurance commissions require that you
must try admitted carriers nrst—betore you go to the broker / non-admitted
companies. since mm-admmed companies do not contiibute to vaiious
states" cuaranty Fund (which is to pay claiiris IF the speciiic company goes
, ' under), your non-admitted can-ier's policy must be stamped stating there
3.; ; is no cuaranty Fund in case your company goes bankrupt Sulutlolfi ANY
‘- coinpany rated "A” by AMBe.~1 is not, repeat not, likely to go unrler
‘ Auto Coveragkask your agent how this is written. Does it cover what is

known as ”any 2lutu"7 or does it only cover "scheduled Autos”? Yes‘, it is
possible to have a newly purchaserl vehicle covered without ever telling your
agent — at least until renewal in fact, there is more than one way...one, of
course, is "substitute vehicle," like tor when yours is in the shop or otherwise
not on the road. The other is either written "Any Auto" or Eleet Aulumntic.
TH’ — its never a good idea to not tell your agent, and make sure you back it
up with a paper trail. lt your agent gets kidnapped to Mars, you have proot
you notiiieol. case closed.

l>roperty—unless there is some good reason, the buildings should have

t e est, most com ete covera e. at ou want to see on our o ic v is

hhill pl gwhy y ply‘

, "special", ”RC” (not "Acv"), 90% If you see words like ’‘basic’’ or ”bmnd,”

_ ask why These two coverage types only cover certain Ihings—wl1icl1 is OK
it your building is old, neerls repairs, etc. it's all you can get tor a building
like that But NOT if it's either new or in good repair. And its never OK if

‘ your building is near enough to a road where someone could accidentally

s, 3 lump the curb and stnke it—because it won't be covered Repairs will have to
- . ,A__' come out of your pocket. so there really w2l~'n'I any savings after all.
" " I know your agent is a good guy_and I hope he's a good agent, not stuck in
" old pattems and attitudes. but it he is, try to bring him around to the nght
way of thinking... .
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