Over the weekend I took a little break from the exciting life of being an insurance agent. I went up to Mammoth Mountain with a friend and we did a little skiing. 
The conditions were great and even though my legs were feeling pretty sore after two days of skiing it was a total blast.
While I was on the slopes I witnessed an interesting skiing accident. Two men one on a snowboard and one on skies ran into each other at the bottom of a lift. Neither were going very fast, but they were both trying to make their way to the lift and neither saw each other. 
The two collided pretty hard. The skier was able to get his hands up and put both fists into the chest of the snowboarder. The snowboarder went flying backwards and the skier minus skis landed nearby. The snowboarder was on the ground gasping for air because he just took two fists to the chest. It looks like he had the wind knocked out of him. The skier popped up and went back to putting his skies on.
They both ended up being fine and went on their merry ways. But, it made me think about what would happen if someone got more seriously injured. Would either of them have any protection? 
As usual with insurance someone would have to be at fault. If this were to have happened on the mountain and the snowboarder ran into a stopped skier he would be at fault. The person downhill on a mountain has the right of way. Now if the skier was to have been injured that person could sue the snowboarder for injuries, pain and suffering and any medical bills. 
If you have Homeowner's insurance you might be surprised to know that most policies would provide liability protection for you. That means if the snowboarder was to get sued they would defend their insured. They would also pay out for any claims against their policy holder.
Even if you don't own a home you can still get these benefits from Renters Insurance.  

After Christmas I got a really nice belated gift. It was the gift of a stranger running into my car, and removing a third of the front bumper. Seasons greetings and enjoy your newly wrecked car. The decision I had to make was should I go through the person's insurance that hit me or use my own. More on that in a minute. Here's what happened in the accident.
Picture this, you are driving down a road and you see a car coming out of an entrance to a store to your right. You see them, but clearly they don't see you. So, you honk and you keep honking and they keep coming. You are able to get your car to a stop, but the other vehicle never brakes and keeps coming toward you. In slow motion (because accidents always seem to move in slow motion) the car crosses in front of your car. That's when you hear the crunch of metal and plastic. Yes, that's when the reality that you just were in an accident sinks in. Up to that moment you were hoping it would all work out. It didn't. After the car hit it kept rolling away. In a panic you pulled out your phone to get the plate off the other car. Fortunately, the other car pulled over close by and didn't leave the scene.
This was my Christmas greeting. I wanted to be mad but what's the point. The young lady was shaking and clearly upset. I exchanged a hello, and we both asked how we were. Having an accident stinks, there is nothing pleasant about it. 
After the accident I got the girls information. I got her name, her address, her phone number and her auto insurance information. I took photos of my car, the street where the accident happened and I took photos of her car. I also got the name of a witness. After that I ripped the hanging part of my bumper off the car so that I could get home. When I got back to the office I called her company and reported the claim. I waited for a few days to hear back but I didn't. After that I called back again. They still hadn't gotten in touch with their driver to verify the accident.
So, After about a week I decided to call my auto insurance company. The reason I called my company was because I was ready to get the car fixed. I knew that they would repair it regardless of who was at fault. Sorry, I was just tired of driving around in a beat up car! I opened a claim. I told them where I wanted to take the car to get repaired. They gave me a claim number and I then booked an appointment to get it fixed. The accident happened after Christmas it has almost been a month. Since that time the other driver's insurance company has taken responsibility. My deductible has been waived and I won't have to pay anything out of pocket. Actually, there is one thing I might need to get reimbursed for. The rental car. I have on my insurance a limit of 35 dollars a day. I think this rental car is about 39 dollars a day. So, after I get the receipt I'll need to send it into claims and have them cut me a check.
You always have the option to use your insurance if you carry comp and collision on your car. Without those coverage's you would have to go through the other person's insurance. Having the rental car on my insurance also has been a big help because I didn't have to wait for fault to be determined. Check your limits and know what your deductible is. Also, if you haven't put rental car coverage on your policy do so. It makes the process so much easier. If you'd like to review your limits give us a call at 951-395-0754

Today kids, we are going to talk about death. Yes, this is a topic that I have steered clear of in the past. It doesn't seem to fit the fun insurance blog that I was trying to write. Oddly, it still doesn't fit the fun blog.  But, today I will cover the topic of Death Insurance!
This isn't a post about Life Insurance. That will be for another day. This is a post about what happens to you if you die in other manners. I was motivated by the Sunday's edition of the San Diego Union Tribune. When I turned to their Crime, Fire and Public Safety section almost all the headlines involved the death of someone in an accident. 
Here are the headlines from January 5, 2020. Happy New Year! "Teen Dead, 6 Others Hurt When Truck Overturns", "One Person Found Dead After Fire at Home in Encintas", "Male Driver, 36, Dies after Car Hits Light Pole in Solo Crash", "Man, 33, Killed When Car Slams into Parked Semi-Truck", "3 Struck, Injured by Car That Flees;, Driver Later Arrested".
The first headline is followed by a short story explained that a teenage driver took a turn too fast and rolled the truck over with five kids in the back. One of the five kids in the bed of the truck was thrown out and died. The other teens riding in the back were injured too. This is a classic scene from the 1980's and the reason laws were passed about carrying people in the bed of a truck. I think there are also limits on how many people teen drivers should carry in a car. 
Let's talk about the auto insurance implications for an accident like this. The Bodily Injury limits on his Auto Policy will be the primary focus in this claim. We are going to assume the driver who took the turn too fast was at fault. Let's say he had middle of the road coverage and had 100/300 for bodily injury. Here's how those limits would play out. The deceased teen would get $100,000. Pretty much any time there is a mortality the insurance company will max out the coverage. When you have 100/300 that means the accident will pay max per person of 100 thousand and max per accident 300 thousand. That means we now have $200,000 left to divide between the surviving teens. Per the report the remaining four kids suffered minor to moderate injuries. I wouldn't be surprised if the balance was divided equally with each kid getting about 50,000. The claims adjuster could also base the payout amounts from most injured to least injured. None of the injured teens would get more than the 100,000 and if the injuries were minor they could receive nothing. It really is the discretion of the adjuster.
The headline about a house fire and one person dies has less information. It states that one person in the home was found dead. But, it doesn't say who that person was. If for example the person was a guest staying at the home they could file a claim under the person's home liability insurance. If it was the owner or a family member of the owner there would be no claim against the home insurance. Part of the Home Insurance declaration pages state that you can't sue yourself. Your immediate family also can't sue you. 
The man who hit a light pole is probably out of luck in collecting any insurance coverage. Your Bodily Injury coverage is for other people, not for yourself. Hopefully, he has life insurance. 
The other man who died when his car hit the back of a truck is also probably out of luck. The truck he hit was parked so we can't blame the truck driver. Hopefully, this driver also had a life insurance policy in place.
The final headline where a car hit three people and took off had a happier ending. No one died in the accident. All three middle aged people were transported to a local hospital and were treated for moderate to more severe injuries. The best part was that the driver was later arrested for possible drunk driving and hit and run. Now, this driver's Bodily Injury limits would also pay out for the peoples injuries. Once again depending on what the insured's limits were would depend on how much the injured people could collect.
That's my wrap up of the headlines of death. I hope that you enjoyed this edition. Let me know if the gloomy side of insurance appeals to you. Call me for any insurance quotes at 951-395-0754.

What is the California FAIR Plan and why do they always capitalize the FAIR? After doing some research I have the answers to your most requested questions. Actually, no one has been asking any questions about the FAIR plan so I made up my own. And then I answered them. Enjoy!
First off, What is the California FAIR plan? The FAIR plan was established in 1968 after several large brush fires and riots that hit the state. There was a need to help people who couldn't get insurance after these events. The state enacted a law to establish the plan. Surprisingly it is not funded at all by tax payers.  The FAIR plan is described best as an "insurance placement facility".  That means it doesn't hold onto the business itself. It works with all the companies that write insurance in California. It places the policies with these existing companies and pays out profits to the companies that carry the most policies. All the losses covered on the policies are then supported by existing home insurance companies.
Why is it called the FAIR Plan? FAIR is actually an acronym for Fair Access to Insurance Requirements.  Basically, someone probably thought it was good to call it fair and they worked backwards to put words to each letter. You know what I'm saying? 
The FAIR plan has worked nicely for the last 50 years. It filled a large void in the insurance industry. If there were homes with numerous claims or homes that were in areas that insurance companies would not cover they provided a product option. So, why are they talking about making changes to the policy? After the fires in 2018 the landscape dramatically changed. Just as in 1968 when the plan was brought into existence California saw a huge change from the private insurance industry.  Homes that in a prior years would have dozens of companies competing now had none. Insurance companies that were willing to take on medium to high risk were now only looking for low risk properties.
What are the proposed changes for 2020? Starting next month the FAIR plan will start taking credit cards. This is a huge change because the down payments can be very large for the FAIR plan. And in order to bind the coverage they require a payment. You aren't able to bill a mortgage company to start the policy. Higher dwelling coverage. The FAIR plan is proposing increasing the dwelling limit from 1.5 million to 3 million. That may not seem like a big deal but the policy doesn't offer any extended limits for insurance. So, bigger custom homes would not always be able to have enough coverage to replace their homes if something were to happen. The last big proposed change that may happen this summer is adding additional coverage options to the policy. Currently, the policy doesn't offer any liability coverage and they don't cover any water or theft coverage. With those two additions the policy would work more like a standard HO3 policy you can buy from other carriers.
So, that's the quick 411 on the California FAIR plan. If you need to get a quote give us a call at 951-395-0754

Over the weekend a Ferrari ran into the front of Lisa Vanderpump's Restaurant Pump. It seems like something written up for a "reality series", is it possible one is filmed at the exact location where the incident happened? Why yes there is a said realty TV show called Vanderpump Rules. 
Can't you imagine Jax standing behind the bar when the Ferrari careens into the the restaurant? The martini he was shaking for some overly hot human goes flying splashing on his designer shirt. In a panic he has to call his wife Brittany crying barely able to get the words out. On the other end of the line Brittany is overly concerned. "Jax, honey please tell me that you are okay". He then spends the rest of the day getting drunk and re-evaluating life. Jax decides in that moment that he and Brittany should in fact try to have a kid because he now realizes that life could end at any moment. The episode ends with Jax walking around topless in a towel and Brittany relaxing on the couch with her legs in the air and a knowing smile.
So, maybe the skeptic in me doesn't actually think all things on "realty" TV are actually real. I didn't see any film crew from the show Vanderpump Rules filming the scene. I guess it is possible for someone to just randomly drive down Santa Monica Boulevard in a Ferrari and just happen to crash into the front of the famous restaurant. It could happen. A single car accident that caused only enough damage for the restaurant to close for a few hours.
Let's say this is a real accident. How would the drivers auto insurance handle the situation? From the report I viewed on TMZ (my source for breaking news) the driver lost control of the car trying to avoid another car. Good job avoiding the other car, but in doing so he will now probably be found at fault in the accident. When you drive your car off the road for whatever reason insurance companies will almost always find you at fault. See, there is no one else to blame. If he had stayed in his lane and taken the hit he would probably not have been found at fault. He would have another driver and vehicle to blame for the accident.
Now his auto insurance will cover damage to his car under Collision coverage. He will pay his deductible and the insurance company will either pay to fix the car or total it out. From what I've see it could go either way. The coolant squirting out the front of his car doesn't look great. But, his hood isn't bent up and the damage seems mostly bumper oriented. But, since it is an exotic sports car there could be just enough damage that would lead the car to be totaled out. The reason for that is the cost to repair a Ferrari, and the parts are expensive. 
As for Pump the restaurant. It looks like they got someone out there to clean up the mess of shattered glass. They will also need to replace the glass wall that was shattered. There doesn't appear to be any structural damage and the building must have been deemed safe to reopen because they served dinner there that night.
The Ferrari driver will be on the hook to repair the damage to the restaurant. Who knows how much that will run. The damage he caused would be paid out under his Property Damage coverage. The insurance company would cover up to his policy limits.
Let's hope that Mr. Ferrari has good coverage for his sweet ride. If you are driving an expensive car you would assume he does have great coverage. That is no guarantee however. If you are like Mr. Ferrari make sure you have high liability limits. Driving into a Restaurant can get expensive and you don't want to be paying out of pocket. Call today to make sure your Ferrari is covered properly. 951-395-0754 And, let's wish Brittany and Jax the best for their future.

The start of a new year always is a great opportunity to set goals for the new year. Pulling out your existing home and auto insurance should be on the list of things to do. Every year changes and so do your insurance needs. 
What should you review on your home insurance? The most important part of your home insurance is the rebuild estimate. Every renewal will come with a rebuild calculator. Take a few minutes to review how your home insurance company is rating your home. Make sure all the bathrooms are accounted for. Make sure if you did any major improvements on the home in the last year they are added. If you put in a pool make sure you let your company know. If you replaced the kitchen with custom cabinets, "builder grade" coverage may no longer be appropriate. It only takes a few minutes to review these limits. You should also review your liability coverage. Make sure your limits aren't sitting at the minimum. For about 40 dollars a year you can increase your liability coverage significantly. 
The same thing applies to your Auto Insurance. Pull out the declaration page (that's the one with the coverage's).  Review what your deductibles are and what your liability limits are. If you have a home you probably have significantly more equity in the house since last year. Make sure your limits are high enough to protect those assets. For a few hundred dollars you can significantly increase those limits.
Umbrella insurance and Life insurance are also important pieces to your financial planning. Umbrella policies are an amazing way to protect your assets at very affordable rates. Life Insurance not only can protect your family it is a great way to protect your home. Having enough life insurance in place to pay off your home if something happened to either spouse is very important. It is a way to remove a huge burden if something were to happen.
It's 2020 and it is time to take a few minutes and make sure your finances are in order. An important part of that equation are your insurance policies. If you would like to review your existing limits give us a call and talk with an expert. 951-395-0754.