Renters Insurance - Find Out How Renters Insurance Can Protect You.

For sure, renters insurance protects your belongings in the event of a fire, theft, or other unforeseen events. It covers damages to your possessions when you rent rather than own your home. Renters insurance typically provides coverage, up to the limits you select, for specified items and situations, including, personal properties like furniture, electronics, computer equipment, clothing, etc. It will also protect you from incidents that occur while you're at home, such as a microwave catching on fire or a friend slipping and falling while visiting you.

However, renters insurance can be tricky because it is relatively a new concept. There are different kinds of renters insurance contracts, such as the well known industry contract called an HO-4 form. If you rent an apartment, house or even a dorm room, you need renters insurance to protect you and your renters property. Apartment renters insurance also protects you if an accident happens at your home. Without renters insurance, you've got no coverage for personal property loss or damage. Too often, people think they don't have enough property to make a renters insurance policy worthwhile.

But then, building fires and damage can happen anytime, anywhere, but with proper renters insurance, your personal property inside your apartment will generally be covered if it's affected by any of the followings, fire, smoke damage, theft, collapse of the building due to weather, water leakage, freezing of plumbing and more. Before you shop for this kind of insurance coverage, take an inventory of what you own to decide what level of coverage makes you comfortable. The most important thing to get when you move into a rented house or an apartment is a renters insurance policy. This way, if the renter does damage to the property such as damage to windows, walls, or carpeting, the renters insurance policy will pay the landlord for the damages.

Nevertheless, to get started with a renters insurance policy, you simply need to make a list of the property that you want insured, along with serial numbers and any purchase receipts that you have. An estimated 70% of renters do not have renters insurance coverage. Landlords and complexes are now requiring renters insurance as a condition to rent. If your home is made unlivable by one of these perils, renters insurance will pay for the associated expenses like cost of a temporary residence, meals eaten out etc.

In addition, renters insurance can protect you in the event that a liability lawsuit is brought against you. For example, if you injure someone or damage someones property, your renters insurance can protect you, even if the incident occurred outside of your residence. In fact, many renters insurance liability policies now include a medical payments coverage, which will pay for non residents medical expenses. When obtaining a renters insurance quote, take note of some of the special options you can choose from such as endorsements and special coverages.

These are add-ons to your standard renters insurance policy that provide more protection for high value items and other types of fraud. You can make sure that you get the best coverage and the best deals on your renters insurance by considering the following.

a) Be sure to get your renters insurance from the same company that insures your vehicle. b) Do get business renters insurance for properties that you rent for office space.

c) Know what types of damage your renters insurance covers. Make sure to ask your auto insurance provider about extending coverage. Cheap renters insurance is often available from your auto insurance provider if they also offer renters insurance. I do recommend, you ask the company that provides insurance for your vehicle if they also offer renters insurance for better apartment interest rates, and if you can receive a discount for extending your existing coverage.

d) Moreover, know your coverage from renters insurance. Depending on your coverage, your renters insurance may or may not cover flood damage, fire, or other natural disasters. Depending on your area's geography, you may be able to add flood insurance to your renters insurance coverage, though it's not typical. Be proactive in safeguarding your possessions even with renters insurance. However, to make sure that your possessions stay protected, document all of your possessions with a video or photos, and keep documents in a fireproof safe.

Also, even after setting up renters insurance, it's a good idea for your home or business to protect valuable or important documents with a fireproof and flood proof safe. Be aware that renters insurance is a unique type of home insurance in that it does not cover damage to the actual structure of the building. With the large number of individuals and families who rent a home or business facility, it's no surprise that many insurance providers consider including renters insurance in their services.

Finally, whether you are an independent agent or broker, there are specific guidelines required in order to sell renters insurance for business or apartment tenants. Because every state has its own renters insurance education and training requirements, it's very important for you to understand and meet those specifications.

by Obinna Heche is an acknowledged expert in his field and resides in California USA. For more details visit his site at http://www.autoinsurancelow.com

Tags: Renters Insurance, building, insurance

Make Your Life Insurance Sales Career… 'Recession Proof Part III

As we discussed in the previous two articles, if you want to… Make Your Life Insurance Sales Career… 'Recession Proof' you must become adept at, and focused on, helping people to solve their immediate financial problems… And, you must have a marketing program that is attracting the 'Right' prospects to you! The final, and most critical step is getting '9 out of 10' of those prospects to take action, right now, on your recommendations. And, it's a lot easier than you think.

You can have the best ideas in the world on how to really help people! You can have a great marketing campaign to attract the right people to you! But, you'll still struggle if you can't get a high percentage of those people to take immediate action.

How To Sell '9 Out Of 10 Prospects' You Meet With! Unfortunately, one of the least taught and least practiced sales skills today, is the ability to conduct a good, thorough fact-finding interview. A good, thorough fact-find is much more than asking some simple questions to identify a few pertinent facts and concerns, so that you can make a quick sale. It's asking the tough emotional questions to guide your prospect to self-discovery of their own financial concerns and problems. It's helping your prospect to get emotionally involved in the entire sales process. It's helping them feel the real pain of their current situation, so they want to do something about it, right now, to alleviate that pain.

Consider, people don't always do or buy what they need. Logically, we may know we need to lose weight, quit smoking, save for retirement or pay off our credit cards. But, do we do it? NO! We put it off until we have no other choice, because it's causing us unbearable pain. Only when the pain becomes too great to live with, will we decide to do something about it.

That's why a good, thorough fact-finding, is so critical to your success. And, it goes far beyond just asking questions to guide your prospect to self-discovery of their own financial concerns. It's being genuinely engaged in asking - and listening beyond a sale motive - to take the conversation, and the relationship, to another place. You become their partner in solving their problems, because you cared enough to ask questions beyond the obvious. You cared enough to ask, and did not assume that financial security means the same for everyone. You cared enough to ask what's r-e-a-l-l-y important to them. Rather than do what everybody does - push product, price and investment returns. A good, thorough fact-finding interview helps you build rapport and trust, which enables you to close more sales, close larger sales, generate repeat sales and gather referrals, even in a struggling economy!

You must conduct a good, thorough fact-find with everyone you meet with. And, it doesn't matter how, or why you get an appointment. The appointment could be for something as simple as discussing mortgage insurance, Medicare supplements, or final expense policies. Or, maybe they agreed to meet with you after they've attended one of your seminars. No matter why they agreed to see you… you must conduct a good, thorough fact-finding interview, if you want to sell 9 out of 10 people you meet with.

How Do You Make The Transition To The Fact-Finding Interview? You're in their home, or they've come to your office, and they're expecting you to discuss and give them a quote for mortgage insurance, Medicare supplements, health insurance, final expense policies or whatever. How do you make a smooth transition to the fact-finding interview?

You start by asking something like… "Before we get started, is there anything in particular you wanted to talk about?"

They'll say something like… "I thought you were here to talk about _____ and give me a quote?"

No matter what they say, you'll say… "Yes, I came fully prepared to talk about ____. But, if I may, I'd like to explain a little bit about how I do business, because I work a little differently from the other people you may talk to"

"First you can put your check book away, because I'm not going to ask you to buy anything today!" Is that Ok?"

"What I'd like to do is ask you some questions, so I can fully understand your situation and I can tailor a plan to meet your exact needs! Does that make sense?"

"Good then let's get started?"

Now you've asked permission to ask them questions, and you are in the fact-finding interview. From here you ask questions to gather the pertinent facts and then use the Who, What Where, When, How and Why questions to get your prospects to talk about their feelings, concerns and problems.

"People Buy Based On Their Emotions… And Then Justify Their Decision Based On Logic"

The Typical Questions… "If you don't mind me asking…" "Have you thought about when you'd like to retire?" "How much money are you currently putting away for retirement?" "How much have you already saved for retirement… etc?" The Emotional Questions… "How much income will you need in retirement?" "How did you come up with that figure?" "How much money would you need to have saved in order to generate that income?" "What would you like to be able to do in retirement?" "Where would you like to go?" "When would you like to go?" "Who would you like to see?" "Why is that important to you?"

"How do you feel about what you've saved so far?" "Has anyone taken the time to figure our exactly how much you'll need to retire?" "What would you like to see happen?" "How does that make you feel?" "Would you like to know how much income you'll need for retirement?" "Would you like to know how much money you'll need to have to generate that income?"

"When you retire, what's more important the amount of money you've accumulated or the amount of money you get to spend?"

"Do you think social security will be there when you retire?" "Even if it's there, do you think it will provide as much for retirees as it provides today?" "If Social Security isn't there what will happen?" "How do you feel about that?"

Your prospect says: "I'll never retire!"… Advisor: "Why do you say that?" "Is that how you really feel?" "Is that because you feel you'll never save enough for retirement?" "If I could show you how to have the retirement you want without sacrificing your current life style would you like to know how?"

Summary The ability to conduct a good, thorough fact-finding interview is what enables the Top Life Insurance Producers to consistently earn $250,000, $500,000 or more each year. It's why they are able to… Sell '9 Out Of 10 Prospects' They Meet With! It's why they consistently close larger sales, and consistently generate more repeat business. It's why they are able to work with fewer prospects. And, it's why they get more referrals and spend less time and money prospecting!

Claim your free Report "How to Attract & Sell Your Perfect Prospects" at http://www.FastInsuranceSales.com Where you'll learn how to make 6-figures a year in insurance.

How to Make an Insurance Claim

Buildings and contents insurance is designed to protect you from all sorts of dangers and unanticipated events. If you have suffered a theft, damage or vandalism, it can be an extremely distressing experience, and many people will want to get their money back immediately. Your first point of call, however, should not be your insurance company but rather to the police. This will ensure that the theft or vandalism has been officially noted and may help with your claim.

Another thing you must do, from the outset of getting your policy, is know exactly what it covers. If there is anything missing from your policy you should contact your insurance company and make sure that you have the protection that you require. You may have several different types of insurance: buildings, contents, or home insurance and you should be clear as to which items, and what eventualities, are covered by which policy.

If you are not sure which policy to claim under you should contact your insurers as they will be best placed to help you. Many insurers have emergency telephone numbers for policyholders, and will also be able to find you good tradesman in case you need immediate repairs. It may prove easier to use one of these insurance company tradesmen if it comes to having work that you will later claim for.

Your insurance company can provide you with a claim form when it comes to making your claim, complete it as soon as possible, and where possible return it with estimates for the cost of the repair, or the specific items that you have lost, with any proof of their value if you have it. If you are unable to value estimates - in case you have suffered extensive damage -make sure that the claim form is sent in as soon as possible and tell the company that you will give them the estimates as soon as you can.

If you have items that have been damaged by vandalism, fire, or flood for example, you should make sure that you keep them, whether it be in the house or your garage, because the insurance company may wish to make an assessment themselves.

Once the insurance company gets your estimates it will either immediately pay your claim, or if there is any doubt, arrange for a claims inspector to call on you. The claims inspector will arrange with you the basis on which your claim will be settled. Another option might be to send a loss adjuster who will handle the whole claim for you. Loss adjusters are independent experts, and are more likely to be sent in specialised cases. There is no need to appoint anyone to act on your behalf, and if you do you will have to pay the fees yourself.

For most people their home is the most valuable item that they own and it is important to make sure that it has proper protection.

by Ramond Verde is author of this article on house insurance.

Tags: Make, Insurance, Claim, money