The Bender Personal Lines Team is dedicated to finding the right solutions for your personal insurance needs. From the affluent to first-time homeowners, we work diligently to find the right protection for all of your personal insurance needs.
Since 1938, Bender Insurance Solutions has provided tailored and sound offerings to our diverse clientele. As Independent Agents and Brokers, we are proud of our ability to provide choice, depth and dependability to our clients.
We help you ask, and answer, the important questions, such as:
Bodily Injury Liability (BI) – pays for the medical expenses of people injured in a crash in which you’re at fault. You’ll often see the coverage limit described as a “20/50” policy or a “100/300” policy. These numbers describe the maximum dollar amount the policy will pay for a single person’s injuries and the maximum for all the injuries sustained by all the occupants of the other car. For example, a 100/500 policy will pay a maximum of $100,000 for a single person’s injuries, and up to $500,000 total for the injuries of everyone in the car you hit.
Property Damage Liability – pays for damage done to the other car if you’re at fault in an accident. Property liability is often referred to alongside BI as a third number, so a 200/500/100 liability package will cover up to $100,000 for damages to the other car.
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage – helps cover costs if you are hit by someone without insurance, or minimal coverage. This coverage should typically match your Bodily Injury liability limit.
Collision – covers repairs to your car after an accident.
Comprehensive – covers costs if your car is stolen or damaged outside of an accident. For example > a cracked windshield.
*California requires car owners to carry liability auto insurance. If you don’t carry insurance, the state could impound your vehicle.
A good rule of thumb: Make sure you’re covered for an amount equal to the total value of your assets (Add up the dollar values of your house, your car, savings and investments).
Collision and comprehensive coverage
Collision and comprehensive coverage is worth having if you would want to repair or replace your car after an accident. These policies have a deductible (the amount you have to pay out-of-pocket before coverage kicks in), and they pay out based on the current value of your car, not what you paid for it.
Liability Coverage
Your liability coverage pays for bodily injury and property damage that you cause in accidents. Don’t get caught short by reducing your liability limits to the state minimums. Buying more coverage might seem like an odd way to save, but the benefit comes if you have a costly claim, which can put your personal assets at risk.
Vehicle damage is the biggest cost component for auto insurers. Your premiums will vary by auto model. When comparing models, ask your car dealer to show you the “Relative Collision Insurance Cost Information Booklet,” produced annually by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The Highway Loss Data Institute also posts data on collision, bodily injury and property-damage liability, and other types of losses by vehicle model at hldi.org/research/hldi/composite_intro.html. Or ask your insurer for premium quotes on the different models under consideration.
While homeowners insurance is not as price-competitive as auto insurance, you can still save hundreds a year in premium. While shopping for insurance, consider buying your homeowners and auto coverage from the same company for as much as a 30 percent savings.
You can save by avoiding out-of-pocket costs arising from coverage that’s inadequate to begin with. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that your coverage limits will automatically adjust to your home’s rising or falling market price. The fact of the matter is, replacement value, or the cost of labor and materials required to rebuild, is what you need to consider when insuring your home. That’s often significantly higher than the market price your home can fetch, and it rises annually (5% last year alone). Consequently, 61% of homes in the U.S.–80 million– are underinsured, according to Marshall & Swift/Boeckh, a Los Angeles company that tracks rebuilding costs for insurers. The average shortfall: 18%.
Ask us for a customized estimate of your home’s replacement cost, which will take into account its unique features, construction details, age, and any costs of meeting new local building-code requirements.
Even if your coverage level is correct, a standard homeowner’s policy can still leave you insufficiently protected. If you want to protect against the surge in material and labor prices that often follows a natural disaster, as well as much more, you need to have endorsements, which can add up an extra 30-100% to your replacement-value limit. You’ll also need hurricane/wind, hail, flood, and earthquake insurance if you’re exposed to those risks.
Liability protection for visitors injured in your home or for damage that you, your children, or your pets cause to others is also standard. The more assets you own, the more advisable it is for you to purchase an umbrella or excess-liability policy with coverage of $1 million or more.
Renters insurance can be a valuable commodity especially when you consider what you own. A computer, television, entertainment system may be the common belongings as well as clothing. And what if you are photographer with valuable equipment or a musician with a variety of instruments. You may even have antiques and jewelry that cannot be replaced but don’t even know it. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that renters are 50 percent more likely to experience theft than those who own their homes. A recent study point outs many people are willing to pay a couple hundred dollars a month on clothes, but aren’t willing to shell out anything to protect themselves from the risk of theft, fire, and other catastrophes. Too bad since renters insurance is one of the smartest investments renters can make.
Like they do for homeowners, most insurance companies offer discounts to a rental policyholder to lower the cost of premiums. They may offer discounts for smoke detectors, dead bolts, etc.
The best renters insurance policies will cover emergency living expenses. This means that if you have to vacate the property due to damage, the insurance company will pay for you to live somewhere else.
Make sure that the policy has liability coverage. The best renters insurance policies will also include liability coverage for medical and legal costs if someone gets hurt in your residence.
If you share an apartment with a friend or multiple roommates not related, insurance coverage can be more complicated. Most insurance companies recommend that each tenant have a separate policy but you need to ask that question when looking to make an insurance purchase.
Rules and policies differ from complex to complex, so be sure to talk to your Homeowners Association and ask questions to make sure you get the right coverage for your condo. Find out what they cover and what you need to insure yourself.
It all comes down to ownership. With a condo, you only own the unit from the drywall inward, which essentially is all you are insuring, along with the possessions inside. As a rule the Homeowners Association policy covers the exterior walls and roof. This is because your Homeowner’s Association is the entity that owns the outer building. You, the condo owner, own only your unit and share the exterior protection of the building with the other people who live within it.
You need a policy to cover stuff the Homeowner’s Association won’t cover if a big event occurs, like a fire or the destruction of the building, etc. You need to cover structural elements within your condo including things like appliances, flooring, etc. (these things are typically covered under the dwelling limit part of a homeowner’s insurance policy), it is important to make sure you have a large amount of claim coverage here.
Condo owners also need to even think about the Common Areas of where they live. When you buy a condo, you become part of a Homeowner’s Association. That usually involves paying dues to the association. Those dues cover a variety of things including paying for the association’s insurance policy. Sometimes, though, the insurance policy won’t completely cover or pay for something.
For example, if a severe amount of damaged is caused in a common area of the building (a lounge, for example), the association insurance policy might not completely cover the cost of repairs. The remainder of that cost is then usually divided up between the residents of the building who have to pay for it in whatever manner the association decides is best. Yes, this is on top of your Homeowner’s Association dues. Condo Insurance policies will often have a section called “Loss Assessment,” and it can be used to cover these types of bills and fees.
Remember . . . . every condo insurance policy, homeowner’s insurance policy, and Homeowner’s Association policy is different. Insurance policies are unique. Make sure you work with your agent and your Homeowner’s Association if you decide to buy a condo to ensure all of your assets are properly covered.