Insurance Facts & Info

Flood Insurance

Did you know that your homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage? Insurance against flood must be obtained separately. A flood insurance policy also reimburses you for the work that you and other family members did to sandbag your homes, move furniture and remove debris.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) maps are important when it comes to flood insurance because if they show that your home sits in a 100-year flood plain, you must buy federal flood insurance in order to get a mortgage. If you live outside a high-risk zone, or if you no longer have a mortgage, flood insurance is optional.

What if I don’t have flood insurance and there’s a flood?

Having a flood insurance policy is the way to protect your assets most fully from the cost of flood damages and loss.

Without insurance, relief from floods primarily comes in the form of loans. If your community is declared a disaster area, no-interest or low-interest loans are often made available by the federal government as part of the recovery effort. However, these loans must be paid back, which means you’re still liable for the entire cost of your damages or losses.

Auto Insurance

Auto or car insurance coverage has two parts. The first is the liability section of the policy. It covers your financial responsibility for injuring others. Some liability coverage is required by most states.

The second part of auto insurance covers the car itself: comprehensive coverage reimburses losses from fire, theft or other perils; collision coverage pays to repair losses caused by an accident. Often this coverage is mandated by leasing companies or banks. There are also ancillary medical, car rental and other coverages which vary by state.

Utilizing high deductibles on the physical damage coverages can help reduce premiums. If you carry umbrella insurance, you must be sure that you carry the required amount of basic liability insurance to avoid a gap in coverage for a serious accident.

Commercial Property

Commercial property insurance is a special type of insurance that covers the company building as well as the contents owned by the company. “Property” can include a variety of types: lost income or business interruption, buildings, computers, money, and valuable papers.

Under the liability policy coverage, the building should be protected from damaging events such as fire, burglary and vandalism. It may not be enough to cover just the building; the aftermath of such damage should be covered as well.

Commercial Auto

A commercial auto insurance policy is required under most circumstances when the vehicle is used for business purposes and meets certain other requirements. It is not just the registration that determines the requirement for a business automobile insurance policy. Other requirements are ownership by a corporation, use in hauling goods for hire and gross vehicle weight of the vehicle. Some small trucks can be owned and insured under a personal automobile insurance policy under specific circumstances.

Commercial automobile insurance policies are not regulated in pricing, as are private passenger policies. There is price competition between insurance companies for good commercial automobile insurance.

Life insurance

About sixty percent of all people in the United States were covered by some type of life insurance in 2018, according to LIMRA’s 2018 Insurance Barometer Study. Other findings from the study include:

Among those with life insurance, about 1 in 5 say that they do not have enough.
Half of all adults visited a life company website and/or sought life insurance information online in 2018. Almost 1 in 3 purchased or attempted to purchase life insurance online — about the same as in 2017.
Consumers overestimate the cost of life insurance, especially younger generations; 44 percent of Millennials overestimate the cost at five times the actual amount.
Half of all consumers say they are more likely to purchase life insurance if priced without a physical examination.

Life individual market share by distribution channel, 2010 & 2019

(1) Includes brokers, broker-dealers, personal producing general agents and registered investment advisers. (2) Includes agency building, multiline exclusive and home service agents. (3) No producers are involved. Excludes direct marketing efforts involving agents. Includes internet sales where consumers submit online applications. (4) Includes financial institutions, worksite and other channels. Information Sources: U.S. Individual Life Insurance Sales Trends, Industry Estimates, 1975-2019, LIMRA, 2020. Facts information can be found at https://www.iii.org/ 4C Insurance is not affiliated with, or partnered with any of the mentioned parties. All information found above is public.

Facts