There is some talk amongst the insurance carriers that rates are going to be rising. Chubb has announced rate increases and other carriers have filings in with the insurance departments. What this means for you is that a complete insurance review is a good idea to spot areas were coverages can be changed. Cheap is not the best and we have added many clients that are actually paying more than before. Why, because it gave them the right protection. Cheap is only good until you have a claim. If the coverage isn't there or there isn't enough, the cheap price defeated the purpose of the insurance. Take the time to let us do a complete review and make sure the money you spend will do the job you need. We do not like the increasing cost of insurance and will do everything in our power to make sure your money is spent for the maximum protection. Give us a call at 805-238-1818

The end of the week, Tax day has passed and we are almost a third of the way through the year. Sometimes things just jump out at you and you have a thought that might be helpful to pass on. Do you just hate having a claim? I certainly have never had a insurance claim that made me happy. It always means that something has happened that has cost you, upset you and in general made your day not so nice. I deal with a good group of adjusters for the companies I work with, sure there are those days when it doesn't go as well as you would like. I try to put myself in their place. I know that they are trying to find a way to pay the claim because it is more work for them to deny a claim than pay it. When they say no, they have to prove it is not covered and then send out all the documentation on why. It is much easier to send a check. The reason I bring this up is having friends in the adjusting corp I hear how their conversations go. They know that your call means something bad has happened to you, but for them it c ...

 I have known Jeff now for several years. Jeff is our realtor of the Month for April. Jeff grew up in a small town in Wisconsin and Moved to Long Beach in 1977. He went to Cal State Long Beach and became a realtor in 1979. He was looking to regain the small town feel and moved to Paso Robles in 1999. He has been active in the real estate market and does an excellent job. Jeff likes to scuba dive, play tennis and is into marine aquariums and gardening. If you are looking for a realtor call Jeff at his office 805-237-7400. Jeff thank you for the referrals and we appreciate the business.

We have been meeting with the realtors of Paso Robles Areas and have been thanking them for the referrals they send our way.  The First realtor to be rewarded in our blog is Jim Claassen. He was the leading referrer for the month of March. Jim is a native of Paso Robles having been born here and lived he much of his life. Jim was very active in agriculture, growing hay, grain and raising cattle. Jim and his wife Melodee live in rural Paso Robles and he is making it possible for others to buy in this beautiful area. Jim is still active in agriculture sitting on the board of Farm Supply. Jim, Thank you for the referral pas and present.

You can call Jim at 805- 471-2389.

Realtors from outside the area will included in our thank you program. We ask who sent our clients seeking information and if they tell us you sent them. We will send you a thank you.

Horse insurance, farm insurance,homeowners insurance. What do these have in common. Maybe they have nothing in common. Did you know that some insurance policies exclude equine activities off premises and specifically name parades. Not all policies exclude parades but if you are going to ride in a parade please check it out. Find out what the parade rules are and check with your agent to verify you have the coverage you need. I could offer some tips about preparing your horse for a parade, but I am not a real horse person. That would be my wife and she would tell you to expose your horse to situations that would simulate the activity around a parade. An educated horse is a safer horse. Parades now require walkers with horse drawn units to prevent accidents and horses running amuck along a parade route. Myself, I have had the pleasure of being the walker several times. It is nice to know that horses are still able to be part of our parades and that there steps being taken to protect parade goers as well as part ...

For those wine grape growers that selected contract price for their insurance program, It is time to turn in those contracts. Copies of the contract must be submitted by the end of the month to keep contract price. You will get the government set price if contracts are not submitted but you lose the extra coverage the contract price endorsement offers. We have already processed contracts for those with evergreen contracts. As the deadline approaches we just want to make sure that no benefits are lost. Here is to a great wine grape harvest this year. Remember its better to have the coverage and not use than wish you had it in place.

There has been a lot of discussions on health insurance lately. Calls to the office about the new rate hikes and every other question that you can imagine Do I like paying for health insurance? Of course not but it is another one of those things. When you need it, you really need it. It has been reported that 4 to 5 percent of the people covered by health insurance use up most of the money paid out by health carriers. With the  new laws that require the insurers to pay out at least 80% of the premiums taken in, there is plenty of money being paid to doctors, hospitals and other providers. I probably mentioned my stay in the hospital before, but here is an interesting fact. Those five days used up every dollar of health insurance premiums I had paid in my lifetime. Being a number nut I checked it out. That was 8 years ago and I hope the money I have put into the system does not get used by me. The moral of the story is, If I did not have the coverage, I would most likely still be paying on that bill. Ever ...

Are you a collector? Would American Pickers like to come to your place? Well most of us have a collection of something. Mine is stamps started by my grandfather when I was 8. Did you know that homeowners insurance may not be the best way to insure your collectibles. A collectibles policy can remove the deductible, cover your collection for flood, earthquake,accidental breakage and may not require an appraisal. This is better coverage than a homeowners policy usually offers. You may ask what are collectibles in the insurance companies eyes. From what I have read it is the same as we are thinking. Here is a partial list; books and maps,coins and bullion, collector quilts, comic books ( wish I still had my old ones ), guns, stamps, trading card, and wine. You might figure those to be standard but what about these. Action figures,Advertising memorabilia, animation art,collector plates,die cast toys,dolls, figurines, jukeboxes, military ( uniforms and such ) model trains, Christmas ornaments, pottery, sports memor ...

Well they do if you haven't taken a look at your policy deductibles lately. Your home deductible can be anywhere from $100 to $5000. A change from a $100 deductible to a $250 deductible will usually save enough money to pay for any claim that happens in the year. We look at deductibles in two ways. The first is the premium savings. If the money saved is enough to offset the increased deductible in a year or two and your history shows you don't often have claims, it is not much of a risk. Why pay $100 to save $150 on the deductible. Second major item is your personality. I have clients that will not turn in a claim unless it is real big. For them having a small deductible is a waste of time. They are not going to turn in a claim unless it is in the thousands and usually multiple thousands. They usually fix it themselves or can get it handled on their own. Deductibles should be looked at on every policy you own. They can make health insurance more affordable, auto insurance less expensive and money in your pock ...

Auto Insurance and car buying what is the risk? What I am talking about today is parents and kids going car shopping. They look at several different makes and models. The car salesman has them set to go with the paperwork. No comes the potential mistake, the risk. We don't have the cash to buy the car and mom and dad have much better credit than the kid. Well we want the best finance rate don't we. Sure we will co sign the note. We can build juniors credit and save some finance charges. Seems safe, right?  Well here is the risk, by co-signing the loan mom and dads name are put on the title to the car. That means that where ever the car is driven mom and dads assets go with it. We have run into situations where the kid is insuring the car themselves and chose lower limits of liability to keep the costs down and only find out upon looking at the registration that some one else has assets at risk. The fix to this situation is to make sure the car has the same limit of liability as all the rest of the family ...