While you give information about your earnings and the number of people in your household, be careful not to give away your identity. Identity theft and fraud run rampant this time of year and it’s important to keep your personal information secure. The good news is there is protection available by adding an inexpensive endorsement to your homeowners insurance policy.

The Census Bureau has posted the exact questions that will be mailed to you on their Web site. If you are asked anything other than these questions, don’t answer. Census workers are required to come to your household if you have not submitted census information by the April 1 deadline.

Here are some tips from the Census Bureau Web site to distinguish a legitimate census worker apart from the fakes:

• Every legitimate census worker wears a government badge that has his or her name in red and a color picture. The badge will be headed “U.S. Department of Commerce” and will also reference the U.S. Census Bureau and will show an expiration date. Do not provide any information until you see the badge. If you still feel uncomfortable, ask for a second form of ID to compare.
• Census workers will never ask to enter your home, nor ask you to submit information on the Internet.

Filing your taxes: prepare and protect

Giving out personal information is more difficult to avoid when filing your taxes than filling out the Census. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will not communicate with you through e-mail either.

Increase your safety by following these helpful hints offered by the IRS:

• Be wary of digital photocopiers. Their disk drives are used to remember and reproduce documents, so avoid copying your tax returns. Also, shred any unsecured documents containing personal information used in preparing your taxes.
• If you’re e-filing, consider having a tax preparer from the IRS Web site assist you.
• If you e-file on your own, make sure your Internet connection is secure and don’t e-file if you have a file sharing program like LimeWire or share an Internet connection over Wi-Fi.
• Do not save your password for a bank account or credit card in any Web browser to avoid it from leaking or being hacked into.
• Encrypt your files for further security. After getting a PDF copy of your return, go to My Documents, right click on file name and select Encrypt.
• If you’re mailing your taxes, only do so from a post office or a U.S. Postal Service collection box. Avoid letting it sit overnight in the box because it could be stolen.

Just to be sure our carriers offer Identity Recovery Coverage. That can be added to your homeowners insurance policy.  For a low annual fee, the coverage will help you recoup fraudulent charges and, more importantly, ease the stress of restoring your identity after theft occurs.

Insurance agency office

1. License plate frames can no longer cover the state name or registration sticker.  Initially drivers will get warnings through Nov. of 2010 then you may be subject to a fine.
2. Insured car owners now have a three day grace period after their registration expires to register the vehicle and obtain the required safety inspection.
3. Its now illegal to send text messages, e-mails and use the Internet while driving.  This law applies even when the car is stopped at a traffic light.  The penalty is a $100 fine.
4. Reptiles must be in secured containers while in transport.  If the animal escapes and attacks someone, the owner can be charged with a misdemeanor.
5. Instead of the old safety inspection sticker in the window to remind you its time for another inspection the inspection is based on your registration renewal date.  When you complete the inspection at a certified inspection station the information is loaded into a statewide database. Your registration cannot be renewed unless the inspection has been completed.

Gary Sides

Marshall Insurance

That will soon be illegal in NC. 

Gov. Bev Perdue has signed a bill to prohibit the use of cell phones for texting while driving.  The measure is set to go into effect Dec. 1 of this year.

Proponents claim that texting while driving diminishes  your reaction time as much as being under the influence of alcohol.  I think we all agree that is certainly can be a  distraction.

Drivers caught texting would be subject to a $100 fine but no insurance points.  Just about everyone agrees enforcement will be difficult.

Gary Sides

gary@marshallinsurance.com

Created as an insurer of last resort, the Beach Plan was morphing into something it was never intended to be, and should not be — the coastal property insurer of choice. And no wonder. For various reasons, as insurers were denied the rates they claimed they needed to compensate for the increased risk of coastal exposure, many private insurers simply stopped writing coastal policies. In the place of a properly priced private market, the Beach Plan offered coverage at below-market rates.

How could it do this? Easy — with other people’s money. In the event of any catastrophe beyond the so-called “50-year storm,” the Beach Plan would simply pass onto property insurers anywhere in the state an “assessment” — the obligation to make up the difference! If insurers didn’t like this, well, they could leave the state.

Last summer, Farmers Insurance finally called the Beach Plan’s bluff, decamping entirely from the North Carolina property insurance market, leaving 40,000 policyholders from all over the state in need of replacement policies. The departure of Farmers Insurance also raised the exposure of the state’s remaining property insurers to the Beach Plan’s fantasy financing. It doesn’t take a genius to imagine what might happen if things didn’t change. Other insurers have announced rate increases and new underwriting restrictions.

Earlier this year the state Department of Insurance recognized this necessity by approving an increase in the premiums paid by those owning property at the coast, as well as approving a higher deductible (the amount of loss an insured absorbs before insurance proceeds kick in).

This made terrific sense. North Carolina had one of the lowest coastal deductibles of any southeastern state, dis-incentivizing our coastal property owners from taking cost-effective mitigation measures that could strengthen their homes and reduce the amount of wind losses caused by storms in the first place.

A study committee also recommended several reforms to the Beach Plan and these recommendations were introduced in the NC House as HB 1305.  The bill raises the Beach Plan’s financial capacity to satisfy wind-damage losses by incorporating a variety of interconnected reforms: coastal rates are raised, a modest but crucial increased deductible is imposed, coverage is limited to residential properties valued at $750,000 or less, (currently the plan offered coverage up to $1,500,000) and, in the event of a true catastrophe slamming into the coast, it can obligate all of the state’s ratepayers to surcharges that cannot exceed, in any one year, more than a 10 percent increase (approximately $65/yearly to the average $650 property tax premium).

HB 1305 , has been approved in the NC House (after which it goes on to the Senate), does not give reformers everything they should demand. But it’s also far better than the status quo.

Personally, I fear if this legislation is defeated by special interest we will see serious homeowners rate increases, even tighter underwriting restrictions and more insurance companies leaving the NC homeowners market.

A 2006 National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration study found that almost 80% of crashes and 65% of near crashes involved driver distraction i.e. the driver was distracted by their use of the cell phone.

A national insurance company conducted a study and found that 73% of drivers talk on their cellphones while behind the wheel.  Even more shocking the study found 19% text while driving.

In North Carolina cell phone use by bus drivers and drivers under the age of 18 are currently prohibited with the exception of emergency situations.

As with any other accidents parents and employers could be held liable for accident caused by children or employees of the company in a company vehicle  that are involved in accidents.  So its not just the drivers that are at risk in these situations.

A study was conducted by the UNC center and the  Institute for Highway Safety.  Researchers parked outside of 25 high schools discovered over 11% of teens were talking on cell phones while driving away from school.

Another study found 64% of teens were aware of the law forbidding cell phone use but only 39% of parents were aware of the ban.

Experts liken the use of cell phone while driving to have the same effects as being under the influence of alcohol.

The NC Rate Bureau, which represents 144 auto insurers that operate in the state, had asked for its largest rate increase in 14 years–12.9%. Insurance Commissioner Jim Long turned the tables, instead ordering a 16 percent cut.

Long ruled that the insurers submitted data to back their positions that didn’t justify the increase they sought. The Insurance Department also argued that the companies skewed their depiction of NC’s market by including claims from riskier drivers who are inexperienced or who rack up insurance points against their license and other decisions. Those drivers are assigned to the NC Reinsurance Facility.

Insurers revamped their requested rate increase in their appeal to the state Court of Appeals and are now seeking 9.4%.

Under state law, insurers can charge the higher rate beginning Jan .1, but any amount collected above the 16% cut ordered by Long must be placed into escrow accounts. If insurers win their appeal, they can keep the money. If they lose, they will have to refund the money to policyholders, plus pay interest at the prime rate plus 3 percent.

A court hearing on the appeal has not been scheduled.