Our Services
We want to develop a Team Effort with you in identifying those exposures that could present a possible loss and determine the most effective method to treat those exposures. We want to work with you in designing a risk management plan that will meet your desires and goals in a cost effective manner.
Our agency team stands ready to meet with you and review your current insurance program. We will make recommendations as to possible changes in coverage while searching our companies in an attempt to provide you with the best price for your situation.
Read below for examples of types of coverage we offer at hbia, inc. or contact us today and let our qualified agents guide you through choosing which coverage best fits your needs.
hbia, inc. specializes in protecting the things that matter to you most. We offer many different types of personal products including Personal autos, homes, rental dwellings, mobile homes, renters insurance, boats, motorcycles, travel trailers, motor homes, personal articles, and umbrellas.
- What makes up the price of my car insurance policy?
There are many factors that influence the price you pay for auto insurance. The average American driver spends about $700 a year.
Your premium may be higher or lower, depending on:
- 1. Your driving record.
The better your record, the lower your premium. If you've had accidents or serious traffic violations, you will pay more than if you have a clean driving record. You may also pay more if you haven't been insured for a number of years.
- 2. The number of miles you drive each year.
The more miles you drive, the more chance for accidents. If you drive a lower than average number of miles per year, less than 10,000, you will pay less. For instance, some companies will give discounts to policyholders who carpool.
- 3. Where you live.
Insurance companies look at local trends, such as the number of accidents, car thefts and lawsuits, as well as the cost of medical care and car repair.
- 4. Your age.
In general, mature drivers have fewer accidents than less experienced drivers, particularly teenagers. So insurers generally charge more if teenagers or young people below age 25 drive your car.
- 5. The car you drive.
Some cars cost more to insure than others. Variables include the likelihood of theft, the cost of the car, the cost of repairs, and the overall safety record of the car.
- 6. The amount of coverage.
Of course, like anything else, the more coverage you have, the more you pay. However, you may qualify for discounts.
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- When should I review my home insurance policy?
There are four events that should trigger a review of your policy:
- 1. When your policy comes up for renewal
Don't just automatically send a check to your insurance company. Take the time to review your coverage and call your agent with any questions or concerns that you may have regarding your homeowners insurance. Ask yourself the following questions:
- 1. Has the company made any changes in coverage since last year?
- 2. Does my policy now include a separate deductible for risks like hurricane or hail?
- 3. Should I raise the deductible to save money?
- 4. Am I taking advantage of all available discounts?
- 5. Do I need to raise the amount of coverage for liability, personal possessions or the structure?
- 6. Should I comparison shop for a cheaper rate?
- 7. Do I need flood, earthquake or an umbrella policy?
- 2. Major purchases or alterations/improvements to your home
If you have made any major purchases, make sure that you have the proper coverage. And, don't forget about gifts. If you have received a diamond engagement ring or if a member of your family has bought you expensive artwork or a computer, talk to your agent about either increasing the amount of insurance you have for your personal possessions or purchasing a floater/endorsement for these items. A floater will give you higher and broader coverage for these items than you have under your homeowners policy.
If you have made major improvements to your home, such as adding a new room, enclosing a porch or expanding a kitchen or bathroom, you risk being underinsured if you don't report the increase in square footage to your insurance company. Don't forget about new structures outside of your home. If you have built a gazebo, a new shed for your tools or installed a pool or hot tub, you need to speak to your agent. Keep receipts and records in case you need to forward copies to your company.
- 3. You have made your home safer
If you have installed a state-of-the art fire/burglar alarm system or upgraded your heating, plumbing or electrical system, make sure that your insurance company knows about these improvements. You may qualify for a discount.
- 4. Major lifestyle changes
Marriage, divorce, or adult children who move back into the family home, can all affect your homeowners insurance. When people move in or move out, they take their belongings with them. And you may need additional coverage if there is a sizable increase in the value of the belongings in your home.
Starting a home-based business can also trigger changes in your coverage. You will need to get additional coverage for business liability and equipment. If the business is your primary source of income, you may need a Businessowners Package Policy (BOP). You may also need professional liability coverage, which is excluded under in-home business and businessowners policies.
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- What exactly is Renter's Insurance?
Renters insurance provides financial protection against the loss or destruction of your possessions when you rent a house or apartment. While your landlord may be sympathetic to a burglary you have experienced or a fire caused by your iron, destruction or loss of your possessions is not usually covered by your landlord's insurance. Because in most cases, renters insurance covers only the value of your belongings, not the physical building, the premium is relatively inexpensive.
By purchasing renters insurance, your possessions are covered against losses from fire or smoke, lightning, vandalism, theft, explosion, windstorm and water damage (not including floods). Like homeowners insurance, renters insurance also covers your responsibility to other people injured at your home or elsewhere by you, a family member or your pet and pays legal defense costs if you are taken to court.
Renters insurance covers your additional living expenses if you are unable to live in your apartment because of a fire or other covered peril. Most policies will reimburse you the difference between your additional living expenses and your normal living expenses but still may set limits as to the amount they will pay.
There are two types of renters insurance policies you may purchase:
- 1. Actual Cash Value
Pays to replace your home or possessions minus a deduction for depreciation up to the limit of your policy
- 2. Replacement Cost
Pays the actual cost of replacing your home or possessions (no deduction for depreciation) up to the limit of your policy
With either policy, you may want to consider purchasing a floater. A standard renters policy offers only limited coverage for items such as jewelry, silver, furs, etc. If you own property that exceeds these limits, it is recommended that you supplement your policy with a floater. A floater is a separate policy that provides additional insurance for your valuables and covers them for perils not included in your policy such as accidental loss.
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Our commercial department stands ready to provide a Commercial Risk Management Review where we meet with you to review your current insurance program. Your expertise will aid us in learning about your business and together we decide the exposures that need to be protected. We approach the market with your desires on how to treat those exposures.
- Do I need Commercial Automobile Insurance?
As a businessowner, you need the same kinds of insurance coverages for the car you use in your business as you do for a car used for personal travel -- liability, collision and comprehensive, medical payments (known as personal injury protection in some states) and coverage for uninsured motorists. In fact, many business people use the same vehicle for both business and pleasure. If the vehicle is owned by the business, make sure the name of the business appears on the policy as the "principal insured" rather than your name. This will avoid possible confusion in the event that you need to file a claim or a claim is filed against you.
Whether you need to buy a business auto insurance policy will depend on the kind of driving you do. A good insurance agent will ask you many details about how you use vehicles in your business, who will be driving them and whether employees, if you have them, are likely to be driving their own cars for your business.
While the major coverages are the same, a business auto policy differs from a personal auto policy in many technical respects. Ask your insurance agent to explain all the differences and options.
If you have a personal umbrella liability policy, there's generally an exclusion for business-related liability. Make sure you have sufficient auto liability coverage.
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- What does a Business Owner's policy cover?
Insurance companies selling business insurance offer policies that combine protection from all major property and liability risks in one package. (They also sell coverage separately.) One package purchased by small and mid-sized businesses is the business owners policy (BOP). Package policies are created for businesses that generally face the same kind and degree of risk. Larger companies might purchase a commercial package policy or customize their policies to meet the special risks they face.
BOP's include:
- 1. Property insurance for buildings and contents owned by the company
There are two different forms, standard and special, which provides more comprehensive coverage.
- 2. Business interruption insurance, which covers the loss of income resulting from a fire or other catastrophe that disrupts the operation of the business.
It can also include the extra expense of operating out of a temporary location.
- 3. Liability protection, which covers your company's legal responsibility for the harm it may cause to others.
This harm is a result of things that you and your employees do or fail to do in your business operations that may cause bodily injury or property damage due to defective products, faulty installations and errors in services provided.
BOPs do NOT cover professional liability, auto insurance, worker's compensation or health and disability insurance. You'll need separate insurance policies to cover professional services, vehicles and your employees.
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- Are there disasters my Business Property policy will not cover?
Protection against flood damage.
Property insurance policies usually exclude coverage for flood damage. Find out from your local government office or your commercial bank whether your business is located in a flood zone. Also ask around to find out whether your location has been flooded in the past. Government projects to map flood zones may be slow to keep up with new developments.
If you need to buy a flood insurance policy, contact your insurance agent. The federal government requires buildings in flood zones that don't conform to flood plain building codes to be torn down if damage exceeds 50 percent of the market value. Consider purchasing "ordinance or law" coverage to help pay for the extra costs of tearing down the structure and rebuilding it. If your policy contains a coinsurance clause, make sure your property is sufficiently insured to comply with the clause.
Protection against earthquake damage.
Coverage for earthquake damage is excluded in most property insurance policies, including homeowners and business owners package policies. If you live in an earthquake-prone area, you'll need a special earthquake insurance policy or commercial property earthquake endorsement.
Earthquake policies have a different kind of deductible -- a percentage of coverage rather than a straight dollar amount. If the building is insured for $100,000, with a 5% deductible, for example, in the event of an earthquake, your business would be responsible for the first $5,000 in damage.
Remember that business interruption insurance, which reimburses you for lost income during a shutdown, applies only to causes of damage covered under your business property insurance policy. If your business premises are shut down due to earthquake damage, you'll need to have earthquake coverage to make a claim under a business interruption policy.
Protection against terrorist attack losses.
Under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002, only businesses that purchase optional terrorism coverage are covered for losses arising from terrorist acts. The exception is workers compensation, which covers injuries and deaths due to acts of terrorism.
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Are you doing everything you can to protect and prepare for your future? Our agency offers a wide range of life insurance, individual and group health insurance, Medicare supplements, disability, cancer insurance, accident coverage, group dental, and annuities. We would love to meet with you to discuss your needs, so contact us today!
- Why should I buy Life Insurance?
Many financial experts consider life insurance to be the cornerstone of sound financial planning. It can be an important tool in the following situations:
- 1. Replace income for dependents
If people depend on your income, life insurance can replace that income for them if you die. The most commonly recognized case of this is parents with young children. However, it can also apply to couples in which the survivor would be financially stricken by the income lost through the death of a partner, and to dependent adults, such as parents, siblings or adult children who continue to rely on you financially. Insurance to replace your income can be especially useful if the government- or employer-sponsored benefits of your surviving spouse or domestic partner will be reduced after your death.
- 2. Pay final expenses
Life insurance can pay your funeral and burial costs, probate and other estate administration costs, debts and medical expenses not covered by health insurance.
- 3. Create an inheritance for your heirs
Even if you have no other assets to pass to your heirs, you can create an inheritance by buying a life insurance policy and naming them as beneficiaries.
- 4. Pay federal "death" taxes and state "death" taxes
Life insurance benefits can pay estate taxes so that your heirs will not have to liquidate other assets or take a smaller inheritance. Changes in the federal "death" tax rules between now and January 1, 2011 will likely lessen the impact of this tax on some people, but some states are offsetting those federal decreases with increases in their state-level "death" taxes.
- 5. Make significant charitable contributions
By making a charity the beneficiary of your life insurance, you can make a much larger contribution than if you donated the cash equivalent of the policy's premiums.
- 6. Create a source of savings
Some types of life insurance create a cash value that, if not paid out as a death benefit, can be borrowed or withdrawn on the owner's request. Since most people make paying their life insurance policy premiums a high priority, buying a cash-value type policy can create a kind of "forced" savings plan. Furthermore, the interest credited is tax deferred (and tax exempt if the money is paid as a death claim).
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- What are the types of Health Insurance?
There are essentially two kinds of heath insurance: Fee-for-Service and Managed Care. Although these plans differ, they both cover an array of medical, surgical and hospital expenses. Most cover prescription drugs and some also offer dental coverage.
- 1. Fee-for-Service
These plans generally assume that the medical professional will be paid a fee for each service provided to the patient. Patients are seen by a doctor of their choice and the claim is filed by either the medical provider or the patient.
- 2. Managed Care
More than half of all Americans have some kind of managed-care plan. Various plans work differently and can include: health maintenance organizations (HM0s), preferred provider organizations (PPOs) and point-of-service (POS) plans. These plans provide comprehensive health services to their members and offer financial incentives to patients who use the providers in the plan.
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- If I change jobs, can the coverage go with me?
If you switch employers, you have the right to carry your group health insurance coverage with you to a new job for up to 18 months under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA).
You must pay the full premium, but at group rates that are far cheaper than the individual rates you would pay for similar coverage. Health insurance under COBRA is available if you are in the following situations:
- 1. You leave a company and become unemployed or self-employed for up to 18 months.
- 2. You are a widow or widower or child of an employee who dies while working for the same company for three years or more.
- 3. You are the divorced spouse or child of an employee who has left the company he or she was employed at for at least three years.
- 4. You are the child of an employee who left a job and have not yet reached age 23.
NOTE:
If you need COBRA benefits, you must fill out the appropriate forms from your employer's benefits department within 60 days of leaving your job. If you do not act within that time, you may be denied coverage.
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