Auto insurance
Liability, comprehensive and collision on one policy, with uninsured motorist written to match your bodily injury limits.
- BI / PD limits
- 100/300/50
- Comp / coll deduct.
- $500 / $500
- UM / UIM
- 100/300
$1,284 / yrSample. Not a quote.
Questions, answered in the language of the policy
No analogies about umbrellas in rainstorms. These are the terms that appear on your declarations page and what each one actually does.
Limits and deductibles
What does 100/300/50 actually mean?
Three separate limits on an auto policy, written in thousands. 100 is the most we pay for bodily injury to any one person in an at-fault accident. 300 is the most we pay for bodily injury across everyone hurt in that one accident. 50 is the most we pay for damage to other people’s property. Ohio requires 25/50/25. A single overnight stay in a trauma unit can exceed that, and the balance is yours.
Is a deductible the same as an excess?
It is the same idea under a different name. In the United States the word is deductible: the amount subtracted from a covered loss before we pay. A $1,000 deductible on a $9,400 hail claim means we issue $8,400. Raising the deductible lowers the premium, which is only a good trade if you can produce the higher figure on the day of the loss.
Why does my home policy have two deductibles?
Most homeowners policies in the Great Lakes region carry a flat all-other-peril deductible plus a separate wind and hail deductible written as a percentage of Coverage A. On a home insured for $340,000, a 2 percent wind and hail deductible is $6,800, not $1,000. We print both figures on the quote instead of burying the percentage in the form.
Coverage forms
What is the difference between an HO-3 and an HO-5?
An HO-3 covers the structure against open perils and your belongings against a named list. An HO-5 covers both on an open perils basis. In practice that means an HO-3 asks you to prove your loss was caused by something on the list, while an HO-5 asks us to prove it was caused by something excluded. An HO-4 is the renters version, an HO-6 is the condo version.
Replacement cost or actual cash value, and does it matter?
It matters most on old things. Actual cash value pays what the item was worth the moment before the loss, with depreciation subtracted. Replacement cost pays what an equivalent new item costs today. On a twenty-two year old roof, actual cash value can settle at less than a third of the replacement figure, and the difference comes out of your pocket.
Liability, comprehensive and collision are not the same thing?
They are three different coverages that happen to live on one auto policy. Liability pays other people when you are at fault, and it is the only part your state requires. Collision pays for your own vehicle when it hits something. Comprehensive pays for your own vehicle when something happens to it that is not a collision: hail, theft, a deer, a fallen limb.
Umbrella and bundling
When does an umbrella policy actually pay?
Only after the underlying policy is exhausted. If you carry 250/500/100 auto liability and a judgment lands at $700,000 for one injured person, the auto policy pays its $250,000 and the umbrella picks up the next $450,000. That attachment structure is why an umbrella is inexpensive, and why we require specific underlying limits before we will write one.
What is a single deductible event?
When one storm damages your house and your car, two policies would normally each take a deductible. On our IM-2 and IM-3 bundles, one event means one deductible: we apply the higher of the two and waive the other. It is the practical reason most of our policyholders end up with everything on one carrier.
Do I have to bundle to get a policy?
No. We write monoline auto, home, renters and business owner policies. Bundling earns a multi-line credit of 8 to 22 percent depending on the tier and produces one renewal date, one agent and one claim number, but it is a choice, not a condition.
Claims, filings and licensing
How fast does an adjuster contact me?
Claims intake is staffed 24 hours a day. An adjuster is assigned within one business day, and for a total loss or a habitability issue we assign the same day. You get the adjuster’s direct line, not a queue, and the claim number is issued at the end of the first call.
Can you file an SR-22 for me?
Yes, in every state where we are licensed for personal auto. An SR-22 is not insurance, it is a certificate we file with your state confirming you carry at least the minimum required liability. We file it electronically, usually the same business day, and we notify the state if the policy ever lapses, which is why the policy must stay in force for the full period the court set.
How do I check whether a carrier is any good before I buy?
Two public sources, neither of them us. The NAIC Consumer Information Source publishes a complaint index for every carrier, where 1.00 is the industry median and lower is better. AM Best publishes a financial strength rating that estimates the carrier’s ability to pay claims. Look both up for any carrier you are considering, including this one, before you sign anything.
Which states do you write in?
Fourteen: Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, West Virginia, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas and Tennessee. Not every line is available in every state, and forms, endorsements and rates vary by state filing. The licensing page lists the line availability and license number for each.
Still not sure what you are buying?
That is the correct reaction to most insurance documents. An agent will read your current declarations page with you, line by line, whether or not you end up moving to us.