GPS Clarifies Home Insurance Rates

When your home is located near a hydrant or fire station, the overall risk of fire damage affecting your property is reduced simply due to proximity to those measures and individuals who help stop fires. In the past, an insurance agent was responsible for disclosing to the insurance company an estimate of how close a proposed insured’s home was to a fire department. This distance, along with some other factors, would then be calculated into determining the individual’s rate.

Now with the technology and information introduced by global positioning systems, or GPS, your insurance company can determine exactly how close you are to a fire station and can set your rates accordingly.

What’s Factored in Fire and Rates?

Your home’s distance from a fire department is not the only factor involved in determining your insurance rates as far as fire hazards are concerned. In fact in some cases, being close to a fire department may not offer you the kind of discount you would like. Some fire departments, especially those in rural areas, may have older or less effective equipment and fewer employees. While this isn’t necessarily a real indicator of the department’s success at putting out blazes, it can have a reduced affect on insurance discounts. But a home located near a brand new fire department with up-to-date equipment might benefit from more substantial discounts.

Proximity to a fire department or hydrant isn’t the only way you can reduce your home insurance rates. Having smoke detectors and fire extinguishers throughout your home and investing in an indoor sprinkler system will also help to drop your insurance premiums while keeping your family and property safer.

Every insurance company has its own way of creating policy rates based on a number of factors. Give us a call at Heritage Insurance and allow us to help you compare insurance companies and find the one that best suits your budget and Moose Jaw home insurance needs.

Reconsider Making a Funeral Home Your Beneficiary

When choosing a beneficiary for your life insurance policy, if you purchased the policy for the purpose of final expense planning then you may be tempted to name a local funeral home as your policy’s beneficiary. It's possible however, that naming the funeral home as your beneficiary is a mistake.

Death Benefit versus Actual Costs

If your funeral expenses end up being less than the amount of your policy, it can be difficult for your family to get back the difference. They may need to wait until the funeral is over before the company mails the estate a refund check, and then because it is paid to the estate, it could be subject to estate taxes.

When giving the entire sum to the funeral home it can also make it more difficult for your family to manage the expenses that they're being charged. It’s possible that a funeral home that’s privy to the amount of your death benefit proceeds will not understand that your estate needs any unused amounts for other expenses and will attempt to up-sell your funeral organizers.

Flexibility and Liquidity

When you give a funeral home control over your death benefit proceeds, you take that control and the benefits it creates, away from your heirs. So instead of having the ability to choose a funeral home that is easier or more convenient for them to work with, they are forced to work with the one you named beneficiary. In addition, if the estate should have any bills that need to be paid, your family will not have the benefit of your life insurance policy proceeds to assist in paying them, as the entire benefit will go to the funeral home first.

An Easier Solution

None of this means that you can't name the funeral home has your insurance policy’s beneficiary, just that you should reconsider how you want to do that. You can always name more than one beneficiary and assign a certain percentage of the death benefits to each. If you assign a small percentage of your death benefit to a funeral home, you can help your other beneficiaries by basically creating a down payment for your final expenses without tying your family’ hands completely.


If you have questions about your Regina life insurance policy, your beneficiaries, and what expenses you should consider when choosing a death benefit give us a call at Heritage Insurance.

Why Getting Healthy in 2012 Matters

It's no secret that getting healthy and staying in shape is the key to living a longer, happier life. But did you know that getting healthy in 2012 can also save you money on your life and health insurance?

Get Healthy and Reduce Insurance Rates

Life and health insurance rates are based on many factors including your current health and indications of what your future health might look like. If you get healthy in 2012, you stand to qualify for reduced life and health insurance rates on new policies. If you already have a life insurance policy, you may be able to send a doctor’s note to the insurance company after you quit smoking for 24 months or longer or have made other significant health improvements and get them to re-underwrite your policy and make premium adjustments.

When it comes time for health insurance renewals, the better your health is the fewer claims you will have had and the more likely that your health insurance company will renew your policy and will give you a rate you can easily afford.

Secure Insurance Rates before You Age

The younger you are when you secure your life insurance policy, the lower the insurance premium will be. When you're young and in good health you can secure a whole life insurance rate that is affordable for your entire life.

Reduce out-of-pocket expenses

Barring an unforeseen accident or illness, your good health will likely result in fewer emergency room visits, doctor’s visits, medications and treatment expenses. If you have a high deductible health insurance plan that means you will spend less money on healthcare costs each year. With an HMO, you will see significantly less paid out in copayments.

Give us a call and allow the agents at Heritage Insurance to help you find the most affordable Regina Life insurance rates in 2012. Also, get tips about how you can reduce your life and health insurance costs over the years.

Updating Your Business Insurance for 2012

As you complete your 2012 insurance review for your business, consider some of the following points.

• Have you invested in any new equipment? As the value of your business’ property grows, so too should your contents limits.
• Are you renting or leasing any office supplies? If you rent or lease large office supplies and equipment, it’s important you factor in the value to the lender in your coverage limits.
• How much of your merchandise do you generally have in-office? Supplies and merchandise that you have in the office but not out on display still need to be valued so you can maintain adequate coverage.
• Have you changed the type of merchandise you offer? Is it more expensive? If you now stock merchandise that is more expensive than the merchandise you offered in the past, then you may need higher policy limits. Even if you have the same merchandise but its cost has gone up, new coverage limits may be necessary.
• How much risk do your services entail? If your employees and/ or you provide a service that introduces risk to your clients or your company, you may want a commercial umbrella policy to provide additional liability coverage.
• Have you used your personal vehicle for any company errands? Have your employees used their vehicles? Commercial auto insurance is important even if your company doesn’t own your vehicle and you or your employees simply use a personal vehicle for company errands.
• Are your liability limits sufficient and are you covered for all your activities? From product liability insurance to employment practices liability insurance to professional liability coverage, there are many specialized liability policies that can offer specific protection for your business’ needs. This year, make sure you get all those that apply.
• Have you hired more employees? If you have, you may need worker’s compensation coverage, if you don’t already have it. With worker’s compensation, your injured employees can get the payments they deserve while you protect yourself from their claims.
• Do you have any key employees?  Key employees can hurt your business when they pass away. If you have a key employee whose passing would negatively impact your income, invest in key person life insurance.
• Is your buy/sell agreement still valued correctly? If you and your partner have a buy/sell agreement, you need to occasionally review your company’s value to make sure the buy/ sell life benefits are adequate.
• What speciality insurance could you use? Depending on your industry, there may be many specialty insurance coverages you can invest in to give yourself a full range of protection. This can include equipment coverage, crop coverage, business interruption insurance and more.

It can be overwhelming to consider all the different types of insurance policies a business needs. At Heritage Insurance, we’re here to help you sort through all your options and get the right Moose Jaw business insurance policiy for your company and risk exposure.