It’s very important that before you go travelling to another country, you look into getting the right types of insurance that will cover you (and your possessions) while you’re away. It seems simple at first, but once you start sifting through the hundreds of different insurance plans, it gets complex quickly. Considering there are many types of travellers and a variety of travelling styles, it can be an arduous process to find the right insurance for you. Here are a few of the more important ways you can insure yourself when you are abroad.

Travel Insurance

For the most basic coverage, every traveller should at least get travel insurance. There are an endless variety of insurance packages, and you can easily narrow down your options by knowing what your style of travel will be. Basic packages can be made for backpacking, vacationing, business travel, group travel and adventure travel to name just a few. Some common expenses that are covered with basic travel insurance include missing flights, recovering lost luggage, medical emergencies, flight cancellations, stolen possessions or natural disasters.

Health Insurance

Every travel insurance package has some heath insurance provided, but there are many reasons you might appreciate more comprehensive coverage. You may have a higher risk of developing a complicated medical problem depending on your age, pre-existing health conditions or your family’s medical history. You might also be tempted to get additional health coverage especially if you are visiting a third world country or are planning to do anything dangerous while you are away.

Home and Property Insurance

When you are off on an adventure, it’s easy to forget about what you left behind at home. By getting home and property insurance, you can ensure coverage in the event of a break-in while you are away. Homes that are unoccupied for a long period of time are especially vulnerable, so make sure you have a trustworthy neighbour watching over your house in addition to getting insurance.

Income Protection Insurance

Travelling can increase your risk of having medical problems such as an illness or an injury, especially if you are doing things you wouldn’t normally do. Many people use travelling as an excuse to do something extreme and out of the ordinary, which can turn into regrettable actions if things don’t work out. Large medical issues that happen while you’re abroad can sometimes be more than temporary, inhibiting your ability to return to work and earn your salary. Having income protection insurance will give you time to heal without worrying about paying debts and putting food on the table.

Life Insurance

Whether you are at home or abroad, when your number is up, it’s up, so if you don’t have life insurance yet, it might be a good idea to get it before you go travelling, just in case. It is important that you take steps to ensure that your family will be okay financially if the worst should ever happen to you, so make sure you have everything in place before you go travelling around the world.

Insurance You Need While Travelling Abroad is a post from: Insurance Buyer Blog

Summary: We’ve got a few great tips for saving money on your trip! Book those tickets and buy that travel insurance, because you’re headed to the Gold Coast!

If you’re thinking of heading the Australia’s Gold Coast for a holiday, you’re more than likely looking for a way to make the most of it and get every last bit of enjoyment out of it as possible. In order for this to happen, most of us have to find ways to budget so that our tourist dollar stretches further. If you’re in this situation, never fear! We’ve got a few great tips for saving money on your trip. Book those tickets and buy that travel insurance, because you’re headed to the Gold Coast!

Discount Tickets

One of the most popular tourist pastimes on the Gold Coast is to visit the several theme parks located in the area. There is Wet’nWild, MovieWorld, Dreamworld and Seaworld, and all provide a great day out for the entire family. The cost of tickets to these parks, however, can tend to pile up, and as such it’s recommended that you try to find yourself a discounted package. There are often big savings to be made if you purchase tickets for several parks in one, or if you purchase through your hotel.

Dine Back From The Beach

It sounds like such a small thing, but more and more coastal towns and cities in Australia are catching on to the fact that tourists will pay more to eat with a view of the beach. By all means, have dinner by the waves once or twice, but if you’re planning on eating out a lot, choose restaurants one or two streets back from the beach to save on meal prices. You’ll find that often the quality and range is better a few streets back anyway.

Do Free Things

While a lot of the activities on the Gold Coast cost money, a lot of them are blissfully free. After all, they don’t call it the Gold Coast for nothing, and the golden sands of the many beaches in the area are free for everyone to enjoy. Whether you’re enjoying a picnic lunch, lazing on the sand or having a splash, the beautiful thing about the beaches on the Gold Coast is that they provide days of entertainment simply by being there.

Self Cater

Eating out for every meal can get expensive, which is why if you’re planning to stay for a while you should consider staying in an apartment. Gold Coast apartments can come either serviced or completely self-catered, but the idea is to choose one that has cooking facilities. This way, you can cook your own meals and save money without having to fritter away your cash on over-priced tourist meals.

Look For Deals

If you’re planning a Gold Coast holiday and are flexible with your dates, why not subscribe to a few travel deals websites and wait until a really good one comes your way? Often group-buying sites and airlines have great deals, especially during low season, so if you’ve got time on your side and don’t mind waiting for a good bargain, this could be the way to go.

How to Save Money on Your Gold Coast Holiday is a post from: Insurance Buyer Blog

Every home owner should have home insurance and both home owners and renters alike should take out contents insurance.  Insurance will cover you in case your home is lost or damaged due to fire, a storm, flood or even an earthquake.  With contents insurance you can be happy nothing that if you lose any of your possessions due to an accident, a natural disaster or even theft, they will be covered.  You will receive a payout from your insurance company to replace the damaged items.  Contents insurance will even cover your belongings will they are in transit if you need to hire removalists.

Fire
House fires can start easily and spread quickly.  A lot of house fires start in the kitchen when people are cooking and leave the stove unattended.  House fires can also start because of faulty electrical wiring, having candles burning that are too close to curtains or furniture and even because of cigarettes being left that have not been put out properly.  Even if a fire can be contained it can still cause a lot of damage and without home and contents insurance you would have to pay for the repairs to your home and replace your furniture.  You should also be wary of fire if you live in a rural area or bushland.  Bush fires destroy homes and without insurance you could be facing having to start over.

Storm
Storms can do a surprising amount of damage.  As well as roofs being blown off and windows being broken, storms can bring down branches and even whole trees, which if they fall across your house, can do an enormous amount of damage.  You home and contents insurance will also cover you against any damage caused by a storm.

Earthquake
Luckily Australia is not prone to large earthquakes, although there are areas that experience tremors and small quakes.  Belongings can get broken, even during tremors, and some damage done to buildings.  It is good to know if anything like this does occur your insurance company will foot the bill.

Flood
As recent experience has shown us floods can do a lot of damage, sweeping away belongings, furniture and even whole homes.  You want to be covered against major flooding and even flash floods, which occur very quickly and unexpectedly.  You should be particularly vigilant about protecting yourself against flood damage if you live in a low lying area near a river or creek.  It is also important to have contents insurance in case you sustain any water damage if things happen, like your washing machine overflows and damages the carpet.

Theft
Your contents insurance will cover you if you lose any of your belongings due to theft.  Items often targeted by thieves include jewellery, computer equipment, televisions and even power tools.  It would be costly to have to pay to replace your possessions, and when it comes to luxury items, like jewellery, you might never find the money to replace them.

Moving home
Your contents insurance will also cover your furniture and belongings if you are moving house.  Usually the only time furniture gets damaged is when it is in transit, even though removalists are careful when the shift furniture and load it on the truck.  It is good to know your insurance will cover anything that gets damaged in a move.

Reasons You Need Home and Contents Insurance is a post from: Insurance Buyer Blog

It is important to have home insurance in case of disasters such as a flood, earthquake or cyclone or even against the threat of losing your home in a fire.  You should also have the contents of your home insured, which will cover things like your furniture and appliances like your Bosch dishwasher.  You should also have car insurance, life insurance and income protection insurance.

Home and Contents Insurance

It is very important if you own your own home that you have home insurance.  If something was to happen, such as losing your home in a fire or because of a natural disaster then your home insurance will cover the cost of the damage. If you were to lose your home you could find it impossible to replace your home if you weren’t covered, and the awful things is you would still have to keep on paying your mortgage even though you no longer have a house to live in.  You would most likely never recover financially.  Contents insurance is also important because it would cost a lot to replace all the items that you have in your home.  Imagine losing everything because of a fire or natural disaster, or even losing your valuables because you are broken in to.  If you don’t have contents insurance it is possible that you might not be able to replace them without insurance.  It is not worth the risk to not be insured.

Car Insurance

You would be crazy to not have car insurance.  You are much more likely to be involved in a car accident than you are to suffer from a house fire or other natural disaster.  You will find that when owning a car it is important to have the correct insurance to cover it.  Your car insurance will not only cover you against any accidents that you might have but it will also cover you against any damage that you might do to another person’s car or property.  Even if your car isn’t worth much the problem is any damage that you could potentially cause to another person’s more expensive car as well as any damage you could do to property, which could end up being millions of dollars worth of damage.

Life Insurance

If you have a family that you are supporting financially then you should consider taking out life insurance.  Some companies are a lot easier to obtain life insurance than others and don’t require you to take a blood test.  Shop around to find the best insurance to suit you and your budget.   It helps give you piece of mind that if something was to happen to you and you were to die due to injury or illness then your family would receive financial help.

Income Insurance

Another good insurance to have is income insurance.  If you are unable to work due to illness or injury you will receive payments to help you survive financially until you are able to get back to work.  It is a good insurance to have if your family has only one income.

Why Insurance is Important – Policies You Should Have is a post from: Insurance Buyer Blog

You need auto insurance, but insurance policies can look like a jumble of jargon and figures if you don’t know what you’re looking for.  Finding the right insurance policy requires attention to the finer points of detail in order to ensure that you get all the coverage you need without paying too much for it.  Read on to demystify the process of learning about and purchasing an auto insurance policy that’s right for YOU.

There are several different types of insurance available, and they each come with different scopes of coverage and price tags to match.  Full coverage auto insurance typically refers to insurance policies that include some combination of collision insurance, comprehensive insurance and liability insurance.  Full coverage is the best option when you want to make sure that you have the most protection possible for your vehicle, your own body, and the health and property of others should you be held “at fault” in an auto accident.  Full coverage insurance will compensate you for damage to your vehicle (minus your deductible, which is paid by you and varies in amount according to your policy), injury to yourself and others, and damage to someone else’s vehicle.

Full coverage auto insurance is the insurance of choice for those who want the greatest possible peace of mind.  Unfortunately, full coverage auto insurance policies are also usually the most expensive.  If you’re an insurance buyer on a budget, it pays to break down your insurance into components and figure out which of those policies you definitely need or may not need.

Collision insurance covers your vehicle in the event of a collision, i.e. if your vehicle collides with an inanimate object (such as a tree or a fence post) or someone else’s auto .  Collision insurance is important so you don’t have continue making payments on a car that gets damaged or totaled in an accident.  If you have newer, more expensive and/or financed vehicle, you’re definitely going to want collision insurance.

Not all accidents happen when you are driving; for those, comprehensive insurance protects your car, truck or SUV in the event of any non-collision accident.  These may include such instances as instance vandalism, theft, natural disaster or fire.  You may decide that, because you live in a safe neighborhood that doesn’t tend to flood or experience hurricanes, you might not need comprehensive insurance.  Still, it is a risk worth considering.

Liability insurance is one of the most important types of insurance — so important that it is mandatory in some states.  Liability insurance is for those situations when your negligence as a driver results in an injury to someone else (bodily injury) and/or damage to their vehicle (property damage).  There are various “limits” to liability insurance payouts, and lowering your limits is one thing you can do when you’re trying to lower your insurance bill.

Whether you choose full coverage, collision, comprehensive or liability insurance, make sure you always carry your proof of insurance with you in your vehicle.

Finding the Right Auto Insurance for YOU is a post from: Insurance Buyer Blog

Companies that have trucks or other vehicles to insure may be able to lower their premiums by fitting them with vehicle trackers. Insurance companies love the GPS tracking systems because a stolen vehicle fitted with a tracker is easy to find, so they can recover it quickly. Stolen vehicle claims are costly for insurance companies if they cannot find the vehicles, so when owners make use of an effective method of tracking and recovering them, the companies are usually willing to offer discounted rates for their insurance premiums.
GPS tracking systems offer many other benefits in addition to cheaper insurance. They can encourage safe and efficient driving habits by monitoring how often a driver speeds, brakes hard, accelerates fast or idles the engine excessively. This behaviour can not only be unsafe, but it wastes fuel as well. Companies can also save fuel by tracking the routes their employees drive to reach their destinations. When their trips take longer than necessary, the system can devise more efficient routes to save time as well as fuel. 

Businesses can use tracking systems to ensure that their employees drive company vehicles for business and not for personal use and employees cannot submit inaccurate time sheets or say they went to certain locations if they did not actually go to those sites when the tracking systems in their vehicles prove otherwise. Productivity typically increases when employees are aware that the company is monitoring their activities. Companies can also use the systems’ records to acknowledge their employees who are productive and efficient workers and reward them for their extra efforts. In addition, customer service improves if the company knows when traffic has delayed a vehicle, so they can send another employee to the customer taking an alternate route.

GPS vehicle tracking systems provide a measure of safety for employees as well as for the vehicles they drive. Company owners can keep track of their drivers with vehicle trackers and be aware of their locations at all times. This is especially valuable when a driver works alone. If the employee has a problem, the company will be aware of it and know exactly where to send help, and both driver and owner will be grateful for the device. 

Vehicle trackers can pay for themselves in just a few years and their use can potentially result in lower costs for insurance premiums, fuel savings and increased productivity. Cheaper insurance along with all the other benefits the tracking systems provide make them a good value and a cost effective measure that buys peace of mind not only for insurance companies, but also for the owners of the vehicles to which they are fitted.

Save Money On Vehicle Insurance With Vehicle Trackers is a post from: Insurance Buyer Blog

Understanding auto insurance coverage (what you have and what you may need) can be a confusing and frustrating process.  This is the first in a series of articles which  explains some basic facts about the different types of auto insurance, including: what the

coverage is called; how the coverage protects you; what is covered; and what the policy limits mean (how much coverage you have).

Every TSC>Direct auto insurance policy includes a “declaration page” which lists the types of insurance and coverage amounts (limits) that the policy provides.  This article discusses the first coverage listed on the declaration page, “bodily injury liability” coverage (“BI” for short).

BI coverage pays damages (money, up to the policy limit) for bodily injury for which an insured is legally responsible because of an automobile accident.  Sounds nice, but what does this mean?  An example may help.

Mr. Smith, a TSC>Direct insured, has an auto accident and Ms. Jones, the driver of the other car, is injured.  If Smith is found to be responsible (all or in part) for the accident, Jones may recover damages (money award) for her “pain and suffering” and other damages.  The BI coverage of Smith’s auto policy would pay those damages, up to the policy limit stated on his declaration page.  If Jones sues Smith due to the car accident, Smith’s BI coverage would also pay for a lawyer (chosen by  TSC>Direct) to defend him in the lawsuit, and would also pay for court costs and lawsuit expenses.  In short, Smith’s BI liability coverage protects him against the car accident related injury claims or lawsuits of other people.

New York law requires that every car owner have BI insurance with policy limits of at least $25,000/$50,000.  Higher policy limits (for example, $100,000/$300,000) are optional.  While higher limits provide more protection, they are more expensive.  What do these “policy limits” numbers mean?

The policy BI coverage limit is listed on the declaration page as a single dollar amount (for example, $300,000) or as two separate dollar amounts (for example, $25,000/$50,000 or $100,000/$300,000).

If a single amount is listed, that is the maximum amount available for all (whether one or more) bodily injury claims or lawsuits which arise from any one auto accident.

If two separate amounts are listed, these are the “per person” (first number) and “per accident” (second number) policy BI limits for any one accident.  If a policy includes $25,000/$50,000 BI limits, and an accident occurs, the maximum BI coverage available is $25,000 for each injured person and $50,000 total for the accident.  If one person claims injury in the accident, the $25,000 policy limit applies.  If two or more people claim injury in the accident, the $50,000 policy limit applies (still subject to the $25,000 limit for each person).

Hopefully, this short explanation of bodily injury liability helps clarify how this insurance coverage protects you.  This column is not intended as legal advice.  If you have any other questions about BI coverage, please contact the TSC>Direct customer service department.

Understanding Automobile Insurance, Part 1: Bodily Injury (BI) Liability Coverage is a post from: Insurance Buyer Blog

Jericho, NY – August 19, 2011 – TSC>Direct, a New York auto insurance company completed a customer satisfaction survey of 1,418 of its policyholders in July of 2011.

The survey found that 96.3% of TSC>Direct policyholders answered, “yes” to the question, “would you recommend TSC>Direct to others?” Customers were also asked to rate their satisfaction with their communications with TSC>Direct customer service department. Over 52% found communication to be “excellent,” while only 2% answered “unsatisfactory” or “poor.”

“The idea behind conducting the survey was to connect with our policyholders and get a feel of where we stand in terms of service, interaction and efficiency,” says Parik Majumder, Operations Manager for TSC>Direct, “We are proud of the positive response and also taking this opportunity to address concerns and make positive changes aimed at improving the ease of doing business with TSC>Direct.”

At the end of the survey, policyholders were given the chance to provide anonymous comments. Among these comments were, “It has been my pleasure to be a customer. Everything I have ever needed was taken of in the most prompt manner. The customer service reps are exceptional, friendly and most helpful,” and “TSC Direct has one of the lowest rates in New York. They are great with communicating with their customers. They also respond on a timely fashion. Would like TSC Direct to expand their coverage to other states so they can benefit from the great savings.”

You can see the unedited survey responses here:
http://svy.mk/TSC-Direct-Policyholders-2011

When reviewing survey questions #5 and #7, click the “Show Replies” link to see dozens of specific comments (both good and bad) from TSC>Direct’s policyholders.

TSC>Direct Auto Insurance Reviews is a post from: Insurance Buyer Blog

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Commercial Truck Insurance Guide is a post from: Insurance Buyer Blog

Between driving, cleaning, and maintenance, we spend more time with our cars than some family members. Because of this, it’s no surprise that tender feelings may develop there, and it’s only natural to protect what you care about. However, car insurance can take a huge bite out of your monthly budget. Luckily, there are tons of small measures you can take that will not only protect your automotive baby, but save you some money while you’re at it. One of the easiest (and often overlooked) methods is VIN etching.

Before we get into that, let’s cover some basics. Every car has a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) that is used to track that vehicle in a number of ways: ownership, sale, registration, and so on. This VIN is stamped onto different parts of the car, most commonly the dash or door. Stolen cars are primarily identified by their VIN; changing licence plates is trivial.

Thieves must alter or remove the VIN on a car if they want to drive or sell it. VIN etching subtly inscribes the VIN number on every window of a car, meaning that the thief now has to remove every window of the car in addition to the original VIN. If you’ve ever had a cracked window, you know how expensive that proposition can be. Now, imagine you’re a car thief, and you see two cars side by side. One has VIN etching, and the other does not. Which would you go for?

It doesn’t take a stretch of the imagination to see that VIN etching is a huge deterrent to car thieves. In fact, thieves target VIN etched cars 64% less than normal cars, and even if they do make off with the vehicle, etched cars have an 85% higher chance of being recovered. These numbers translate to direct savings in car insurance. Since VIN etching makes your car a safer bet, most auto insurance companies will offer a 2-5% discount off your premium with that safety feature in place.

Here’s the best part — VIN etching kits only cost $15-$30, which means it’ll more than pay for itself in under a year. You’re looking at a feature that will not only increase the safety of your car, but also save you money almost immediately. To make the deal even sweeter, most car insurance companies offer discounts like this already, so odds are your company already does. If not, you may want to consider shopping around to find the best deal.

How Vin Etching Can Save You Money On Your Car Insurance is a post from: Insurance Buyer Blog