Online Insurance Guide

When you first learned to drive, you may have envisioned your future self driving an expensive sports car. Instead, many families find that a minivan suits their needs much better than any sports car could. Don’t be disappointed! Drivers of minivans pay less money for auto insurance.

Every year, Insure.com releases a ranking of vehicles. The vehicles are ranked based on how much it would cost for a driver of this type of car to insure it. Consumers can use the list to get a good idea about how much car insurance will cost for drivers of different kinds of vehicles.

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If your assets are in the form of properties, you need to safeguard them by buying buildings insurance. Finalizing and then buying a good property insurance policy is akin to providing protection to your source of income. Stretching a safety net in the form of insurance is a good idea so as to be prepared for the worst should there be a mishap or natural calamity to destroy any of your assets. As your properties bring regular income for you, you need to spend a bit on them like one does in the form of employees in a business.

Buildings insurance is like home insurance in that it works like an umbrella for your properties. Full Post…

A temporary pool of funds should be created to subsidise the rising costs of flood insurance to consumers, according to the actuaries’ lobby group.

Actuaries Institute CEO Melinda Howes has called for a pool “to subsidise the high insurance premiums of people living in disaster-prone areas”.

“A national pool could also help those people who are not in flood areas but have seen premium increases,” she said.

The institute does not favour direct government subsidies to policyholders because it results in the money going straight to insurers, “providing no incentive for households or local councils to manage their own risk exposure”, Ms Howes said.

“It’s vital that any subsidies provided from the pool are conditional on policyholders and local councils taking action to reduce the risk of damage from flooding, such as carrying out the appropriate property renovations and building levees in high-risk areas.”

The actuaries’ call for a pool is in direct contrast to the stance by the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA), which says short-term direct government subsidies are the best mechanism.

ICA CEO Rob Whelan says a flood pool would only create another layer of government bureaucracy.

In a statement last week he reiterated the basis of ICA’s July submission to the Natural Disaster Insurance Review, proposing direct subsidies to owners of high-risk properties that would taper off after several years.

“We believe the first homebuyer’s grant scheme is an appropriate guide,” Mr Whelan said. “Policyholders and taxpayers

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Michigan recently passed a law that prevents public entities from providing health insurance for the same-sex domestic partners of employees. The ACLU is fighting this law on behalf of school teachers and city and county workers whose domestic partners will lose their health insurance coverage as a result of this law.

It has become a controversial topic. Should employees of public institutions, (such as teachers, postal workers, and other city or county workers), be allowed to have their domestic partners covered under the employee’s health insurance?

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The business outlook is for more gloom next year, judging by reports from trade credit insurers who point to rising insolvencies here and the ongoing crisis in Europe as indicators of a tough year ahead.

Atradius MD David Huey says there is still pressure on rates, and he feels there is a disconnect between “what we read in the papers and the perception of risk in our market”. 

“It is almost as if we feel a bit divorced from what is happening in Europe and the US,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

National Credit Insurance (Brokers) MD Kirk Cheesman says claims have been steady in the last quarter, although he notes the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has reported an 18% rise in insolvencies in the September quarter.

Trade credit insurers expect to see more claims in the April-June period, from businesses that have struggled to maintain cashflow over the summer holiday period.

Mr Huey says retail continues to struggle but construction seems to be recovering. Atradius

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