Bizarre- Allstate “study” suggests that zodiac signs show differences in accident rates. From an article in Insurance Networking News, individuals born under the sign of Virgo are 700% more likely to have an accident than those born under the sign of Scorpio. WHAT???

I can’t help but be appalled by this announcement from Allstate. I hope that the article from Insurance Networking News is just wrong. http://www.insurancenetworking.com/news/claims_zodiac_auto_insurance_underwriting_Ophiuchus_Allstate-27005-1.html

As an example, of what is being alleged:

• “…Allstate decided to compare its claims data against the revised zodiac calendar, and came to a few conclusions.  Virgos, known to be critical, meticulous and reserved, are also more likely to get into a car accident, while Scorpios are least likely. Over the past year, Virgos were nearly 700% more likely to be in a car accident when compared to the determined and aware Scorpio, the best drivers in the study.”

Jaw-drops.

I still cannot find the study or even a mention of the study directly from Allstate, but these same comments were all over the news media last week.  

And now I find followup to the above referenced article where Allstate allegedly clarifies their findings. First, it says that Allstate has removed the study from their website.  Secondly, 

• “Astrological signs have absolutely no role in how we base coverage and set rates. Rating by astrology would not be actuarially sound.” http://www.insurancenetworking.com/news/underwriting_claims_allstate_auto_insurance_zodiac_signs-27015-1.html?ET=insurancenetworking:e1626:63839a:&st=email

Yet the article linked above doesn’t even begin to suggest that they made an error in their analysis, or that the analysis was a joke. 

All I can say is that we love Virgo’s at Al Bourdeau Insurance Agency. We love Scorpio’s too. Now you see why it is really important to shop your insurance!

Being a “member” can have a major downside. If you are a member of a homeowner association or a condominium association, you could find yourself on the hook for expenses for which you were totally unprepared. I’m talking about Loss Assessment. Your home/condo association might own and maintain shared spaces used by all members: a pool, a lake, a road, a recreation center. Losses connected with these shared spaces might be charged back to you. Make sure that your PERSONAL insurance policy is designed to protect you from such losses.

Loss Assessment refers to the situation where a home or condo owner is billed for certain unexpected expenses incurred by their association. All condo owners are members of their condo association. Home owners are often members of a Home Owners Association. These associations are typically the entities that own and maintain shared spaces that are used by all members: a pool, a lake, a road, a recreation center. Let’s suppose that a playground owned by the association was severely damaged. One would hope that the Association would have an insurance policy in place to cover this loss. What if it doesn’t? What if the loss exceeds the limit of the policy? What if the loss is not covered by the policy? What if the association is sued for injuries on the playground equipment?

The bottom line is this. Such associations can easily incur costs not covered by the Association’s insurance policy. When this happens, the Association will typically assess its members to cover the cost. Maybe the Association carries a $500,000 liability policy, and is sued for $750,000. That’s $250,000 not covered by insurance. If there are 50 condos/homes in the association, each could be billed for $5,000 to pay their portion of the expense. 

If you, the home/condo owner is assessed for losses, then where are you going to find that money to pay the assessment? You savings account? Your child’s college fund? A better place to look is in your personal homeowner or condominium owner insurance policy.

Most homeowner and condominium owner insurance policies have a small built-in amount to cover loss assessment, and it would normally appear as a line item on your insurance policy declaration page. The built-in amount varies from company to company, often between $1,000 and $2,500.

How much do you think you should have? That’s not a question we can answer but you should consider what kinds of community resources are maintained by your association, how dangerous those resources might be, and you might even want to ask what is covered by your association’s insurance policy.

But consider this. I just peeked at the cost of $50,000 of Loss Assessment coverage on one of our homeowner policies. The cost of $50,000 of protection was $13. That’s a tremendous protection for very little money. 

Read a little more about some other examples of the value of this neat little coverage in the article below!

The Value of Loss Assessment Coverage

By Joel W. Meskin, Esq

http://njcooperator.com/articles/271/1/The-Value-of-Loss-Assessment-Coverage/Page1.html

It appears that on 12/16/2010 a new law went into effect that allows for you to take a driver improvement class to have a moving violation kept off your driving record! It doesn’t look like you can erase old tickets, but a new (minor) violation might be fixable. Read more on the blog for some of the details from the new law and a link so you can read it yourself!

Here’s what appears to be the crux of the law:

• Sec. 320d.    ….    the secretary of state shall not enter the points corresponding to a moving violation committed by an individual …  on the individual’s driving record or make information concerning that violation available to any insurance company if the individual attends and successfully completes a basic driver improvement course ….  within 60 days ….

Now those dot-dot-dots up there create all kinds of “exceptions” and “conditions” to when this can all happen. For one, the violation has to be minor, like 3 pts or less.  You have to have a relatively clean driving record.  It was the only ticket received for that incident. You’ve never done the driver improvement course before. Etc. When you add it all up all the conditions, it might look like your chances of benefiting from the law are small or that it’s too complicated.

Well here’s some food for thought.

First, the law seems to require that Secretary of State to advise you that you are eligible to get the ticket erased. So it doesn’t look like you have to worry about all these conditions.

Second, the insurance cost associated with getting a ticket can be STEEP. If you do have the chance to erase one, it is going to be worth it. Tickets add cost to you insurance for 3-5 years!

Lastly, young drivers tend to be the worst drivers and are therefore the most expensive to insure. If you are or have a young driver, and that young driver is ticketed, cross your fingers that you get a chance to erase it under this law.

I’m not sure how much of an impact this law will have in the end, but knowing about it might prompt you to act when this bad news comes to you.  And in the end, a little extra drivers education can only help. It’s really about safety when it all comes down to it.

Read the actual law at the link below:

http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2009-2010/publicact/pdf/2010-PA-0289.pdf