Bundling, and other red herrings

Most of the insurance advertising budget is spent on things that don’t do anything to help you get what you need.  Pricing tool.  Accident forgiveness (which is basically just you paying for your accident ahead of time, thank you very much).  New vehicle replacement (again, they’re not doing this for free).  Bundling.  Do you know if any of these good for you?

Next time you see or hear an insurance commercial, ask if it relates to helping you select what’s best for you or whether it addresses their agenda of mass producing insurance policies at prices and with coverages they’ve already figured are good for them.

I’d immediately fall in love with an insurance company who’d say something like “Did you know our insurance policy puts a restriction on how much you can recover for theft of your jewelry, and that it doesn’t cover jewelry at all if you lose it?  We’ll help you decide if that’s okay for your situation, or whether you need to add a special schedule of coverage.”

darrenmcgraw

Just one small example of why people fear insurance policies

Which of these kind of policies do you have?

  • Replacement cost?
  • Guaranteed replacement?
  • Functional replacement?
  • Extended replacement?

And oh yeah, any of those subject to a co-insurance penalty?

Insurance policies are contracts of adhesion, which means you don’t get to pick what parts of the contract you want to keep and what parts you want tossed out.  You’re stuck with what’s written.  But you DO get to choose which contract you want when you buy your insurance and despite common misconception, there are differences between what’s offered by Company A vs. Company B.

Maybe you don’t want to become an expert at reading insurance policies and understanding the differences between the above (and many other clauses), but you might want to be sure to choose an agent who’s done all that already and can recommend which is best for you.

darrenmcgraw