What’s the Value of an Umbrella policy used with my current Texas insurance policy?

Posted on by Jeri McShan

Your dog at your Coppell home bite’s a neighbor’s child… A fire in your Lewisville condo spreads to other units…You missed a stop sign driving in Carrollton, struck and killed a pedestrian…

If any of these scenarios were to happen to you, chances are your current liability limits would not be adequate to protect your assets or future earnings.

An Umbrella policy adds another layer of liability protection when your primary policy does not provide sufficient protection. A $1 million Umbrella policy can be very affordable.

Talk to an agent at The Select Insurance Agency today about protecting yourself with an Umbrella Policy.

Is my employee covered by my commercial auto insurance policy, in Coppell, TX when he uses his own vehicle on the job?

Posted on by AgentInsure

If you own a company in Coppell, Texas, you may already have a business policy. With that policy you are usually covered for theft of equipment and inventory, liability against claims of injury by customers and for the actions of your employees while at work. If you also have business insurance that covers your company-owned vehicle, you will be covered if one of your employees gets into an accident while driving the car or truck for business purposes.

When employees use their personal auto during their lunch break to go out to get a bite to eat or run some personal errands, they are not normally covered by your commercial insurance policy. Even if they are doing company business like dropping off the mail, their personal auto insurance coverage will be the primary coverage against which a claim will be filed.

If your employee gets into an accident while returning from lunch and it results in liability that is in excess of your employee’s personal auto insurance limits, your Texas commercial policy may cover the additional amount of liability above the maximum amount covered by the employee’s policy.

So, for example, if your secretary gets into a horrible accident and kills the other driver and the courts find that she was negligent and awards the family of the decedent $500,000, the first claim would be against your secretary’s personal auto insurer. If her liability coverage topped out at $300,000, your commercial auto policy would then be responsible for the remaining $200,000.

Commercial insurance policies vary greatly in the amount and type of coverage they provide. If you are running any type of business, you should have the right kind of insurance. As your independent agent here in Coppell, we can see to it that you are fully protected against both the small and large things that can go wrong on any given day. Please give us a call and an independent agent will sit down with you and find you an affordable policy to meet your business’s insurance needs.

Why use an Independent Agent for your Coppell insurance?

Posted on by Jeri McShan

Here at the Select Insurance Agency, we have numerous insurance carriers to choose from to find you the best policy at the best rate. Among our carriers is Encompass, Kemper, Travelers, The Hartford, Fidelity and many more! An independent agent is able to shop among many companies, as opposed to only one company for the captive agents.

Call us today and we’ll find you a great policy at an affordable price!

Can I Claim my Insurance Company if I Meet With an Accident on the Job or While Driving my Company Vehicle in Coppell, Texas?

Posted on by AgentInsure

As an employee of a company, you may be asked to drive a commercial vehicle or to run errands for the company in your vehicle. When you drive for business purposes in Coppell, Texas, your personal auto insurance may not provide protection against accidents. Fortunately, you may be covered for the accident when you are driving for the business.

Commercial Plans

Although your personal insurer may not offer coverage while you are driving a company car or when you are driving your vehicle for the business, your employer may have coverage for the car.

Any automobile that is owned by the company should be covered with a commercial plan. That means that any employee who drives the vehicle is covered by the company’s insurance rather than a personal policy. If you cannot make a claim on your policy, then ask your employer for the insurance information associated with the company plan.

Variation between Companies

An employer may have coverage available, but the amount of protection and the details of any policy may vary. In most cases, the employer will pay for the repair costs and property damage through a business policy.

Your medical bills may or may not be covered under the basic auto plan. If that is the case, then you may be able to make a claim on worker’s compensation or a similar plan rather than the auto plan to pay for your medical bills.

Your personal auto insurance is not appropriate when you are involved in an accident while driving a company car. The company is held liable for the accident, even if you were negligent. Contact us to talk to an independent agent to learn more about your auto policy.

Do I need renters insurance for my Coppell apartment?

Posted on by Jeri McShan

Whether you rent a home or an apartment in Coppell, Lewisville or Irving, it is necessary to purchase your own renters insurance policy. A typical insurance policy owned by the landlord of your home or building does NOT cover the personal belongings of the tenant(s). You must obtain your own policy to cover all of your personal property inside of the apartment or home. Contact an agent here at The Select Insurance Agency in Coppell, to be sure all of your belongings are well covered in the event of a fire or other disaster to the home or apartment.

I Was Injured as a Passenger in a Car and my Medical Bills are Piling up in Coppell, Texas. What Should I do?

Posted on by AgentInsure

When a passenger is injured in a vehicle in Coppell, Texas, it may be possible to obtain compensation to help pay for medical bills from an auto insurance claim. Although your insurance may or may not offer a solution, any individual who is insured will have personal injury protection for passengers in a vehicle.

Make a Claim

Contact the individual who caused the accident or the driver of the car and ask for their insurance information. As a passenger who did not cause the accident, you are not held responsible and your insurance policy may not pay for your medical bills. However, the insurer of the driver of the vehicle or the third party driver who caused the accident can be held responsible for your medical bills and injuries.

File a claim with the other individual’s insurer. Provide any required details, such as a police report about the accident and documentation that you were injured and have medical bills.

Ask Your Insurer

If you discover that the driver was underinsured, then you may be able to make a claim on your own insurance plan. Underinsured coverage means that you can make a claim on your own policy if you cannot afford to pay for the full cost of medical bills from the amount that you are provided by the driver’s insurer. Talk to your insurer about your options and find out if you have underinsured driver coverage on your plan.

It is hard when your bills are piling up, but solutions are available. You can ask for compensation from the driver who caused the accident or the driver who was operating the vehicle that you were in at the time of the accident. Contact us to talk to an independent agent to learn more details.

Do I need my automobile and homeowner policies, in spite of having an umbrella policy in Coppell, Texas?

Posted on by AgentInsure

It’s excellent that you have an umbrella policy because it helps to protect you above your basic homeowners, renters and auto coverage against catastrophic accidents and losses that might happen if you end up being sued.

As your independent agent, it’s always something that we recommend, but this is no way replaces the need for auto or homeowners insurance in Coppell, Texas or any other state. An umbrella policy can be an add on as a separate policy, but the insurance company will require proof that you already have basic existing liability coverage in the form of homeowners or renters insurance, and auto insurance.

The Importance of Umbrella Coverage

In your basic policies you have limits on your coverage, but with the addition of an umbrella policy you have added coverage that will cover any part of a claim that is in excess of your basic liability insurance policy, and for losses that are excluded.

Why you shouldn’t wait with this decision

We live in a society where it’s not at all unusual to hear of lawsuits and judgments in the millions if a person is injured in your home, on your property, or with in a serious automobile accident. Without an existing umbrella liability policy years prior to, or when the accident happens, any amount that exceeds the limits of your existing insurance policies will be your personal responsibility.

Circumstances such as these can present major financial and emotional problems that you don’t need to deal with if you take the time to explore and purchase an umbrella policy.

With an average ULP, these advantages apply:

* Protection for claims of bodily injury or property damage claims due to hazards on your property, or as a result of actions by you, or your family members
* Coverage for personal liability incidents that happen on or off your property
* Added protection for auto-related liabilities over and above your existing auto policy

These are just some of the advantages with this coverage. Contact us so we can discuss this with you in even greater detail.

What if the repair shop finds additional damage that wasn’t covered in the first estimate of my car in Coppell, Texas?

Posted on by AgentInsure

After you get into a car accident in Dallas or the greater DFW area of Texas, you will need to call your auto insurance company to begin the claim process. You will be assigned a claims representative to handle your case and he or she will arrange to have someone come out to your Coppell home and give you an estimate of the damage.

You can then take the written estimate to a body shop in Fort Worth, Dallas or any other convenient location and have your vehicle repaired. Before any work is actually done on your car, the repair shop will look at the estimate and decide if they are able to do the necessary repair work for the amount of money approved by the insurance company.

Your insurance policy will pay for any required parts and repairs to restore your vehicle to the same condition it was in before the accident occurred up to the limit of your collision coverage. They will cut a check for the approved amount of the repair less any deductible you have on the policy.

If, while working on your car, the mechanic or body repair specialist discovers that there is some additional damage that was not part of the original estimate, they will contact the insurance carrier and either get additional funds or the insurance company will send out an appraiser to do a second estimate.

While a professional estimator is usually right on target when making an estimate, occasionally, when the fender or other parts of a car are disassembled, hidden damage is revealed. As long as the damage is related to the accident, your insurance company should pay the extra cost to properly repair your vehicle.

If you are having trouble getting your car repaired, give us a call. An independent agent can help explain the process and you will be driving around the DFW area in your fully repaired auto in no time at all.

If my vehicle is repaired with aftermarket parts, will those parts void my auto insurance warranty in Coppell, Texas?

Posted on by AgentInsure

When you read through your Coppell, Texas auto insurance policy provisions, you will come across a clause related to the type of repair parts that will be used when your vehicle needs to be prepared. Most standard car policies that you can buy in Dallas, Fort Worth or the greater DFW area, do not say that all of the parts used to fix your car must be OEM or the exact same manufactured parts when your car came off the assembly line.

Instead, the clause will read something like the parts must be of like and kind quality of that they are functionally equivalent to the old parts. Some insurance companies will pay for the more expensive OEM parts and others will only pay for less-expensive aftermarket parts. You should check your specific policy to see what is allowed when your car needs to be repaired. You can always choose either type of part when getting your car repaired, but you may have to pay extra if you want OEM parts.

You will not void your auto insurance warranty by using an aftermarket part. The manufacturer’s warranty will cover you if the part fails within the warranty period. Every reputable repair shop that accepts payment from a customer’s car insurance company, will also guarantee their work. You should not worry that you will be stuck with an inferior part if it is not an OEM part.

As your independent agent, we represent a wide number of insurance companies who all have slightly different standards about how repairs are done. Most have a large list of approved shops where you can bring your car to get repaired. Both the insurance company and the repair shop stand behind the quality of the work that is done. If you have any questions about whether your policy covers OEM parts, give us a call and an independent agent can answer that question.

My Car isn’t Listed in Coppell, Texas. Can I Still Get a Quote?

Posted on by AgentInsure

When you are looking for auto insurance in Coppell, your car must be identifiable to the insurance company. You cannot request a policy without having the appropriate information for the company. Depending on the situation, you might be able to obtain a quote in Coppell, Texas if your vehicle is not yet listed in the area, but only if you meet certain circumstances.

Moving

If you are moving to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, then you will be able to obtain a quote from an insurance company before the move. Inform the company that you are moving to the area and your vehicle is not yet listed in Coppell.

You will need to provide the VIN number on your vehicle and all of the details related to your car before you are able to obtain a quote. Although you will not receive coverage on your vehicle until after you’ve moved and obtained Texas plates through the local DMV’s office, many companies will give you an estimate on the coverage you want for your vehicle.

Other Factors

Although moving will provide a legitimate and obvious reason that your car is not yet listed, you might not be able to obtain a quote on an unlisted car until after you have listed it with the DMV’s office. The only way to determine whether it is possible to obtain an estimate on your vehicle’s insurance coverage is talking an independent agent about the circumstances that are preventing you from listing your vehicle.

The situation will ultimately dictate the ability to obtain a quote. As your independent agent, we can help you obtain a quote that is appropriate for your circumstances and the vehicle you want to cover. Contact us today to talk to an agent for more details.

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