North Carolina Teen Drivers will face a new, and stiffer, law when it comes to how law enforcement officials deal with speeding.
Effective January 1st, 2012 drivers under the age of 18 (and all with provisional drivers licenses) who are caught speeding in excess of 15 miles per hour over the speed limit and/or driving in excess of 80 miles per hour can be arrested and taken to court. At that point in time, a judge will decide whether the NC Teen Driver will have his/her license revokes for 30 days.
As any parent of a current Teen Driver will surely attest, adding a Teen (or new driver) to a North Carolina Auto Insurance Policy is anything but cheap. As a general rule of thumb, parents of newly licensed drivers can expect a premium increase of anywhere between 1.5 to 3 times their current annual insurance premium. If that newly licensed driver were to get a ticket…your insurance premium will SKYROCKET even further.
Insurance has been around for centuries. We all think of insurance as protecting one’s asset(s) from loss due to a certain peril (i.e. fire, wind, theft, etc).
Over the past 3 years or so, many of Americans have watched perhaps their biggest and most valuable asset diminish. The sad part is that there wasn’t a thing they could do about. The “free market” has seen the need, and it appears at least one company has decided to try and address that need.
I must confess that I really don’t know a lot about this new insurance, the concept seems to be worth looking into. Granted, I have not done much due diligence, but currently this product is only available in OH.
Last weekend I was fortunate enough to have the two little ones all to myself for the day. As those of you with children know, children are wonderful for classic “lines”.
As we were driving around the Costco parking lot, Cooper saw a GEICO Car. He said, “man! that would be cool if we had an auto insurance car”. I quickly replied, “buddy, we don’t like GEICO. GEICO tries to take toys away from you and your sister. That’s why daddy has to beat them all the time!” It took a little more back and forth before both Cooper and Peyton realized that GEICO was not cool.
Flash forward to today. We are watching college football when a GEICO commercial came on. This commercial made some statement about going online or visiting a local agency. Peyton turned to me a said, “you should go down to that office and punch GEICO in the face!”
That really puts things into perspective.
On a side note! Cooper was talking to Melinda this week and the topic of car insurance & the president came up. Melinda pointed out to Cooper that I was the President of ALLCHOICE. To which Cooper extrapolated, “Daddy is the president of car insurance”.
Today much of North Carolina was greeted by, literally, an earth rattling event. That’s right! North Carolina experienced shocks from the Earthquake in Virginia. Granted, our country men and women on the Left Coast giggle and snicker at how we react to such an event, the truth is most Tarheels don’t remember the last “quake”.
Much like the quake around 2003 or 2004, this event got this Insurance Guy thinking. If I were to take a poll around 10 AM this morning about insurance coverage for earthquakes, my guess is that 80% – 90% of those polled would assume that they have coverage under their Homeowner’s Policy. However, once the quake hit and people let the hysteria take over, questions surely came about whether or not that would be true.
The fact is, damage caused by Earthquake is not a standard coverage under North Carolina’s Homeowner’s Forms. The common NC Homeowner’s Form (HO-3 & HE-7) is what the insurance industry calls a “Special Form Policy”. Basically, that means that things (the industry calls “perils”) are covered under the policy unless SPECIFICALLY EXCLUDED. If you were to whip out your homeowner’s policy right now (if you can actually find it), you will see numerous exclusions, and yes, you would find the Earthquake Exclusion.
The last time Greensboro, NC felt the effects of an earthquake I can remember feverioushly drafting a letter to all of my clients letting them know that they didn’t have coverage for damage caused by an Earthquake. After getting that letter out, I received a number of phone calls inquiring about this fact. After those many calls, one client decided add Earthquake coverage to their Homeowner’s Policy.
Times have changed! Today, I don’t need to draft a letter like that again. I can simply put the word, much like I am doing right now.
What hasn’t changed during that time is the fact that YOU DO NOT HAVE EARTHQUAKE COVERAGE! The other thing that hasn’t changed is that you can add this endorsement to your homeowner’s policy. The price of the endorsement varies depending on the amount of coverage you have on your dwelling as well as the construction type (Frame or Brick).
I suggest contacting your agent as soon as possible to inquire about this coverage. Remember, NC sits on a major Fault Line. By now, you have probably even heard that the East Coast actually has the propensity to have farther reaching effects of an Earthquake as our “rocks” are millions of years older than the “rocks” of our brothers & sisters on the Left Coast.
Whether you purchase the Earthquake Endorsement or not, you would be well served to at least take a moment to learn a little more.
ALLCHOICE Insurance is proud to announce that it will be the School Sponsor for both the Football & Cheerleading teams of NW Guilford High School.
The sponsorship is in conjunction with Newbridge Bank’s 2011 Football & Cheerleading Jamboree.
When asked about the sponsorship, Jack Wingate (Founder & President of ALLCHOICE Insurance) stated, “As the leading provider of Home, Auto, Business, and Life Insurance in NW Guilford County, we feel that it is vital to give back to the NW Guilford County community. The fact is, NW Guilford County has shown its support to ALLCHOICE since the beginning, this sponsorship is but a small token of our appreciation. On a personal note, as a former football player and all around sports junky…it is also really cool to get All Access Passes to the Jamboree!”
It seems like only yesterday when I opened the doors to ALLCHOICE Insurance. Now, in a little over a month ALLCHOICE will be celebrating its 7th Birthday. Just like any successful business, ALLCHOICE can only attribute its success to YOU! That’s right! We do understand that there would not have been a 1st Birthday (much less a 7th) without the faith and support that our customers have placed in us.
As a way to say thank you, ALLCHOICE is will be giving away a NEW Apple IPAD 2 to one deserving customer!
As I write this “article”, “tidbit”, “diddy” or whatever you want to call it, I am sitting on my back deck.
Let me set the scene! Currently it is approx 90 Degrees, the sun is on its descent, and there is little – to no breeze. The tiki torches are lit, along with some citronella candles. In case you can’t tell the “skeeters” are out in a big way. Peyton (the middle child – 6 years old) is hanging upside down on the monkey bars. Cooper (the youngest – 4 years old) is inside the house aggravating Artemis (9 month old Bullmastiff). Caylee (the oldest 11years old) is at the beach. Melinda (the best wife and mother a man could ask for) is in the kitchen attempting to understand the new stove that was purchased last weekend so she gets the tater-tots just right.
So you know what everyone else is doing, I guess I should probably give you some details on what I am up to. Today marks the end of another jammed packed week in the life of this “Insurance Guy”. The insurance business is funny. Every day offers new challenges and opportunities. This week our agency achieved the highest Tier possible in Erie Insurance’s “Commercial Blitz” (with over a week left until the contest ends). For those who aren’t insurance geeks, basically we have written a ton of new commercial insurance policies. Most seem to be in the construction arena. Maybe we could take that as a good sign that the economy could be turning around?!?!?!
Today was definitely hectic for this guy! Starting the day off I knew I was going to have to leave the office early (we’ll get into that later). Anytime, I know my day will be short, it seems that things just don’t seem to run as smooth as I would like them to. Honestly, nothing horrible took place. I actually got the majority of the stuff that was cluttering my desk taken care of.
Unfortunately, I don’t think Trish’s (ALLCHOICE’s Customer Protection Specialist) day went quite as well. Again, nothing too much out of the ordinary. However, Trish & I had an impromptu conversation about how we could increase our organizational efficiency. She did say something very odd to me. She said that she always gives me ideas about how to improve things but that I never listen to her. I find it amazing that both my wives (my marital wife and my work wife) seem to make the same story up about me. I think they both need professional help!
Enough of that! Now down to the real action. I had to leave the office at 2:30 so I could make it to Winston Salem by 3:20. Peyton has been in theater camp all week and today was the conclusion of said camp. The camp culminates with a Theatrical performance of Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs. Peyton had the role of “Dopey”. I must say that all the kids did a great job. They were all exceptionally adorable.
After the performance I started to head for “Mi Casa”. While driving, I thought that it would be a good idea for me to go ahead and get dinner figured out. You see, in the Wingate House 99% of the marital tension can be traced back to one thing….”What’s for dinner?”! I went ahead and headed for Harris Teeter. When I called my wife to ask her idea for dinner, she only offered up that Shrimp sounded good. Well, in my book, Shrimp does not make a full meal in themselves. I typically like to couple grilled shrimp with some form of beef.
My first thought was to find a nice looking Flank Steak to join the shrimp with. To my horror, Harris Teeter had no flank steak. Always quick on my feet, I pivoted from the original plan and grabbed some burgers and brats. I thought, we could do burgers and brats tonight. Then I could grab a nice flank steak from Costco tomorrow and we could have our shrimp and flank tomorrow night. BOOM! I had just taken care of dinner for two nights.
As I sit here enjoying the deck, I am grilling hamburgers and shrimp! Bet you didn’t see that one coming! I know I didn’t. So much for having dinner taken care of for two nights! No points for me!
Well! I think that about wraps it up.
From the back porch, this is just my perspective on things!
PS – I am pumped about last nights return of Burn Notice
ALLCHOICE is pleased to welcome announce we have helped another local Dry Cleaner save money on insurance!
Located in Kernersville, NC this Dry Cleaner has a long family history in the Dry Cleaning business. Before joining the ALLCHOICE Family, the business had been insured with Nationwide Insurance.
In reviewing the business’s Risk Management Program (or lack there of) ALLCHOICE uncovered the need for a Commercial Umbrella Policy. The Commercial Umbrella Policy is a little used Rick Management strategy in most small businesses. In dealing with the Protection Programs of countless small businesses, the overwhelming reason for a lack of adoption when it comes to Commercial Umbrella Policies comes down to two factors:
1st – Small Business Owners assume Umbrella’s are too expensive
2nd – Most Small Business Insurance Agents do not take the time to explain and OFFER this important protection!
Once ALLCHOICE explained “why” the Umbrella was important showed this Small Business Owner how much an Umbrella actually cost (more importantly what it doesn’t cost), this savy business owner was eager to add this protection to his Risk Management Program.
Of course, just like every Small Business Owner, at the end of the day, he/she wants to have the very best protection(s) at the very best value. In the case of this Dry Cleaner, ALLCHOICE was able to save him over $1,500 a year (approx 22%) over what he had been paying with Nationwide!
ALLCHOICE covers insurance for
all companies, including technology, manufacturing, property management, contractors, small business and non-profit organizations.
ALLCHOICE provides Health Insurance for individuals, families and small businesses. We offer Co-Pay Plans, HSA's, Medicare Supplements, and Dental Insurance.
