Rich or poor, umbrella coverage is there to protect your finances.

You buy insurance to protect yourself if you ever have an accident; that and it’s required. But, required or not, it is there to protect you financially. With the rising cost of medical bills and court settlements, it is prudent to purchase a high level of insurance.

This may mean purchasing more than what is offered under a normal car insurance policy.

What Is Umbrella Coverage?

Umbrella coverage is an extension of your car insurance policy. It provides you with liability coverage up to limits that are not available on a normal car insurance policy. We are talking limits of 1 to 5 million dollars.

Umbrella coverage is for liability coverage only. It does not cover any damages done to your car. It also does not cover any medical bills or other expenses that you or any of your passengers might have after an accident.

It also only kicks in after you have exhausted the coverage from your regular car insurance policy. In other words, your umbrella coverage is just like an insurance policy for your insurance policy. You will only use it if your primary insurance policy isn’t enough to cover all of the monetary damages from the accident you are found at-fault for.

Who Needs Umbrella Coverage?

Umbrella coverage is for anyone that wants that extra protection from anything that can go wrong in a car accident claim. Especially those that have a lot to lose; such as drivers that have property, investments, and a lot of money put away in bank accounts. These types of assets can be at risk of being lost in the event that you cause a serious accident where the medical bills and the settlement amount is more than what you have in insurance coverage. If the claim ends up in court, you could lose even more.

Even if you don’t have these assets, you will still owe the money to the insurance company or the other party if you don’t have enough liability coverage. You could be paying on this for the rest of your life if the amount is substantial. If you had umbrella coverage though, it would take care of the expense for you.

How Do You Buy Umbrella Coverage?

Umbrella coverage is actually sold as a completely separate policy that is attached to your car insurance policy. You need to purchase umbrella coverage from the same insurance company or agency that currently holds your car insurance policy.

To qualify for an umbrella policy, your car insurance policy limits must be at the maximum allowed limits. As an example, if the most your insurance company sells in liability coverage is 250/500/250; that is the amount of liability insurance you must purchase before you could buy umbrella coverage.

It’s not the insurance company trying to cheat you out of your money, the reasoning is behind it is rather simple. If you only have liability coverage for 25/50/25, why would they want to sell you additional liability coverage of 1-5 million dollars? There is a huge gap in what your normal car insurance policy would cover up to and when your umbrella coverage would kick in.

New Hampshire welcomes you to the state without mandatory insurance

New Hampshire car insurance is a mixed bag of requirements. First of all, it doesn’t actually require that its residents carry liability insurance. Second, if a resident does decide to purchase insurance, New Hampshire car insurance requires that almost a whole policy be purchased. In fact, the only major things missing from the minimum New Hampshire car insurance policy is the comprehensive and collision coverage.

New Hampshire Car Insurance Not Required

Like a handful of other states, New Hampshire does not require that you carry liability insurance on your vehicle. Actually, you don’t have to carry any insurance at all on your vehicle if you don’t want to.

Wait! Don’t get too excite yet!

They do however require that you still comply with the New Hampshire Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Requirements. This means that you have to be able to prove that you have sufficient funds to meet these requirements.

Sufficient funds are assets that can be sold in the event of an accident. These funds have to be easily accessed so they can be used to fully pay for any damages or injuries that you may cause.

If you can’t provide proof that you have sufficient funds and you have no insurance coverage you are looking at penalties that include your driver’s license being suspended. Since most people don’t have these sufficient funds, they just opt to buy the required New Hampshire Car insurance.

What Is Required if You Do Opt For New Hampshire Car Insurance

The New Hampshire car insurance requirements are the equivalent to almost a whole policy. Not only do they require that you carry the usual bodily injury and property damage liability coverage, they also require medical payments coverage and uninsured motorist coverage.

New Hampshire car insurance requirements for liability coverage, currently stands at 25/50/25. Meaning $25,000 for a single person’s injuries, $50,000 of coverage for the total injuries of the other party combined, and finally $25,000 in coverage for damage you do to the other person’s property.

Medical payments coverage pays for your medical payments that you or your passengers may obtain during to an accident. The state requires that a minimum of $1,000 in coverage is purchased on a New Hampshire car insurance policy. If you don’t have personal health insurance, you may want to purchase more than the minimum $1000.

Lastly, uninsured motorist coverage is also required. This coverage protects you in the event that you are hit by a person that has no insurance or not enough insurance. The amount of coverage you are required to have for your uninsured motorist coverage has to match what you have for your liability coverage.

For example if you chose to have the state minimums of 25/50/25 for your bodily injury coverage, you have to carry the same for your uninsured motorist coverage on your New Hampshire car insurance policy.

Summary

Commercial opens to the Geico dramatic Spokesperson.

Spokesperson: Could switching to GEICO really save you 15% or more on car insurance? Did the little piggy cry “wee! wee! wee!” all the way home?

Scene switched to a little piggy hanging out a car window with two pinwheels blowing in the air.

Little Piggy: Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Wee! Wee! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Scene switches to the driver of the vehicle and it looks like she is developing a headache. Scene changes back to little piggy.

Little Piggy: Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

We then see a child in the back seat of the car with little piggy, like the driver, the child is looking annoyed as well.

Little Piggy: Weeeeeeeeee! Weeeeeeeeee!

The SUV pulls up in front of a house and stops.

Driver: Max.

Little Piggy: Wee! Weee! Weeeeeee!

Driver: Maxwell!

Little Piggy: Yeah.

Driver: Your home.

Little Piggy: Oh, cool. Thanks Mrs. A.

Driver: Yeah.

GEICO Logo and website address pop onto screen

Announcer: GEICO, 15 minutes could save you 15% or more.

Point of the Commercial

GEICO’s point in this commercial is simple (so simple a caveman can understand, right?). That in GEICO’s world a little piggy does indeed go “Wee! Wee! Wee!” all the way home. Because they do, I guess GEICO can save you 15% or more on your car insurance. Well in GEICO’s world anyway.

What They Want you to Do

First, they want you to laugh. Once all those good feeling chemicals have been released in your body, maybe you will start to think that GEICO just might be able to save you money.

Finally, they want you to visit their website. This is the only point of contact that they offered in their commercial so this is where they want you to go. Besides, it is cheaper for them if you get a quote online than if you talk to an actual person.

My Opinion

My 12-year-old son talked me into reviewing this one because he loved it; which is great, because I didn’t. Yes, the commercial was funny, but I felt like the mom that was driving in the commercial and felt myself getting annoyed. It ended up being the perfect example that not all commercials are viewed by people the same way.

Whether a person likes the commercial or not depends on where they are in life and their background. This makes it hard for a company to please everyone and is why they create certain commercials to be targeted at specific audiences. It also makes it that much more impressive when a company creates a commercial that is liked across the demographics.

For the Geico piggy commercial I give it a thumbs down, but my 7th grader gives it a thumbs up.

Florida is tryingto pass laws to stop fake accident injury doctors at the beginning, instead of arresting them later.

Insurance fraud is rampant. Where ever criminals can find a way to make money in the insurance industry, they do. Making insurance fraud even worse is the tolerance that people have for it.

People have the view that the criminals stealing from an insurance company is okay because there is no physical victim, just a faceless corporation. They don’t realize that they are the physical victim. The insurance company isn’t going to eat the costs of the fraud; they are going to instead pass it on to their clients (you) in the form of increased premiums.

While all states are actively working and trying to prevent insurance fraud, Florida is trying to take an interesting and drastic step in combating it.

Florida’s Accident Injuries

The state of Florida requires that all their drivers carry personal injury protection (PIP) insurance to cover accident injuries. PIP kicks in regardless of who is at fault for an accident and covers only the people in your own vehicle.

The stars in the Alaskan sky aren't the only thiings elevated in the state.

Alaska is our nation’s last untamed state. You have a greater chance of running in to a large wild animal here instead of a person, than in any other state. This makes the rules of survival different here, which in turn carries over to their laws as well.

Alaska is the only state in the nation that makes insurance optional in certain parts. For the parts that are required to have insurance, the limits are high and the penalties for not complying are steep

Alaska Car Insurance is Not Required

Alaska has certain parts of their state where they do not require insurance to be purchased on vehicles. These areas that do not require insurance are the same ones that do not require the vehicles being used to have a vehicle registration either. There is a very long list of all the areas that are exempt from registration and insurance.

You can find the full list of exempt areas on the Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles website.

However, even if you live in one of these exempt areas you can still be required to carry insurance if you have been a bad driver. Bad drivers in Alaska are defined as those that have had a violation or ticket in the last 5 years that was worth 6 points or more.

The High Limits of Alaska Car Insurance

For those that are required to carry Alaska car insurance on their vehicle, Alaska has some of the highest requirements in the nation. They require that $50,000 in bodily injury liability insurance be carried for a single person that you may injure in an accident. The total amount of bodily injury liability coverage for all persons that you may injure is $100,000 and no less.

Even though the requirements for the bodily injury are high compared to other states, the property damage liability sits at $25,000. While this is very high compared to the states that only require $5,000, it feels on the low side of what you may need if you were to damage someone else’s property. Remember, you always have the option of purchasing more Alaska car insurance than what is required to provide yourself with adequate coverage.

Penalties for No Alaska Car Insurance

If you are caught without Alaska car insurance, you will not be driving for a while. First, your license will be suspended. This suspension can be for as little as 90 days and up to a year depending on other violations on your record. A suspension also extends to even being able to obtain your license if you do not have one.

You can apply for a limited license with the Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles. This license will allow you to drive to work only, during your suspension period.

If you are pulled over and cannot provide proof of Alaska car insurance to the office that pulls you over, you will also be finding a new way to get home. Being caught without Alaska car insurance automatically gets your car impounded on-sight.

Summary

Commercial opens to whistling music and a guy talking on a cell phone. A woman walks up behind the guy and gives him a wedgie. It is the same guy through the whole commercial and we see him next in a hardware store. A contractor walks up behind him and gives him another wedgie.

At the coffee shop a woman walks up behind him while he is waiting for his coffee and gives him another wedgie. A random guy walking down the street gives him a wedgie while he is reading a newspaper.

Announcer: Is this what happens when you get caught driving without car insurance? No, but considering the fines and penalties it sure feels that way.

Waitress gives him a wedgie after she shows him to his table.

Announcer: 1-800-SAFEAUTO, state minimum coverage, maximum savings.

Screen goes to the SafeAuto Logo and contact information. Screen changes to the final screen where we see a guy closing the door to a room and the wedgie guy is hanging on a hook by his underwear.

Point of the Commercial

SafeAuto Insurance is making the point that the penalties and fines that you get from the state for not carrying insurance is going to be just like getting a wedgie. It is going to catch you by surprise, feel extremely uncomfortable and ultimately hurt.

In order to avoid this legal wedgie, purchase at least the state minimum required insurance. SafeAuto Insurance would prefer if you bought it from them also.

What They Want you to Do

SafeAuto Insurance makes no mention of agents or any other way to contact them other than their 800 number. With their phrase “state minimum coverage, maximum savings” it makes you wonder if they sell nothing other than the state minimum coverage for the states they write in.

My Opinion

This commercial is wrong in so many ways. I knew that I wasn’t the target audience for this commercial as soon as I saw the heading, but I’m not sure if this hit with the younger target audience they were aiming for either.

I understand the comparison that SafeAuto Insurance was making with the penalties for no insurance being as uncomfortable as a wedgie. I just think they could have come up with something better. Something like people slamming down his laptop screen onto his fingers.

For this SafeAuto Insurance wedgie commercial, I give it a thumbs down.

Depending on your state and insurance company your new premium changes may leave you happy or sad.

The world may or may not end this year (I personally am leaning to the may not). Which will really be funny because then the next generation of humans that are still babies right now, are going to have a lot of questions about the movie 2012. One thing that you can be sure about in 2012 though, is that a lot of people are going to be seeing premium changes to their car insurance policies.

These premium changes are going to come in the form the insurance companies increasing premiums for coverage. There are also going to be changes to the discounts that are given on some insurance policies.

Premium Changes from Premium Increases

It seems like it happens every time you open the renewal for your car insurance, there are premium changes. Usually not in your benefit either, because it is an increase in premium more often than a decrease. You haven’t had any accidents or made any changes to your policy, so why did you premium increase?

There are two reasons behind your premium increases. One, insurance companies lost money over the last year due to an increase in claims being paid. This last year, 2011, was a bad year for hurricanes, winter weather and especially tornadoes. Most of the news coverage for these disasters focused on the damages to the homes in the areas that were affected, but there were cars destroyed as well.

Two, insurance companies want to make more money. Simply put, insurance is a business. These companies did not begin because someone wanted to be benevolent and help people; they wanted to make money. Every now and then, they feel that they are not making enough money, and you are the one that gets pay more because they want more.

Premium Changes from Discount Changes

Every year different states tackle new insurance laws that will create premium changes for the residents in their state. For 2012, it is no different. States like California are currently working on passing legislation that will provide a longevity discount for drivers that insure their vehicle continuously for 5 years or longer.

Massachusetts is trying to end insurance companies being able to use your credit score as a factor when determining your premium. While this act is not an actual discount, it could potentially decrease the premium of people who have bad credit if it does pass. South Carolina has their hands full in trying to make insurance companies offer equal discounts across all age groups in that state.

When Could I Expect to See Any Premium Changes?

If you will be seeing an increase in your premium or any new discounts in your state for your insurance, it will show up on the declarations page for your next renewal. Insurance companies are not allowed to increase your premium in the middle of a term, unless you make changes to your policy.

If you do see a sudden spike in your insurance before your renewal, you need to contact your insurance company or agency and demand to know why there were premium changes.

Welcome to Oklahoma! Now, where's your proof of car insurance?

While researching the information for this article the words from the musical Oklahoma kept running through my head over and over. Sadly, I only know parts of the first sentence of the main theme song by memory, so it got a little annoying after a bit.

I am sure that the residents of Oklahoma have a love/hate relationship with that musical just like they have with their required Oklahoma car insurance. They hate the fact that it is there and are tired of hearing about it, but understand that it ultimately is a good thing.

Comparative Oklahoma Car Insurance

Around the nation, the different states have chosen how they determine who is at fault for an accident. Some states have determined that the driver carrying the majority of the fault for the accident happening is the one that is to pay for the damages.

Other states, such as Oklahoma, determine fault and financial responsibility down to a certain percentage. This is called comparative negligence.

With comparative negligence states, first the amount of fault is assigned to the drivers in the accident. For example, one driver could be determined to be 80% at-fault and the other driver is determined to be 20% at-fault. This split percentage of fault means that both drivers contributed at least partially for the accident happening in the first place.

When it comes times for the insurance companies to pay out for damages and other expenses, the insurance company whose driver was 80% at-fault will pay for 80% of the other driver’s damages. The other driver’s insurance will pay for 20% of the 80% at-fault driver’s damages.

Oklahoma Car Insurance Penalties

Failure to carry Oklahoma car insurance on your vehicle results in stiff penalties. Not as stiff as they used to be, but still pretty bad. Previously, if you were caught without Oklahoma car insurance, your vehicle was towed away immediately and you were walking home.

The state has recently revised the penalties and instead you could be facing:

• 30 days in jail

• A $250 fine

• Suspension of your driver’s license

• Suspension of your vehicle registration

The extent of your penalties, depends on how you were caught without insurance (pulled over vs. were in an accident) and also how the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety views your case.

Oklahoma Car Insurance Requirements

Oklahoma directly advises consumers to purchase limits that are much higher that what the state requirements are. They actually recommend 100/300/100 limits instead of the 25/50/25 that is required in order for you to drive legally.

The first 25 represents $25,000 worth of medical liability coverage to pay for the medical expenses of a single person in the other vehicle. The 50 is for $50,000 of medical liability coverage combined for all parties in the other vehicle.

The final 25 in the 25/50/25 is for $25,000 of property damage liability coverage. This pays for the damages that you do to the other person’s property through your Oklahoma car insurance policy.

Summary

Commercial opens on a white screen with the red Travelers Insurance umbrella flying into the next scene (music playing). We see a broke soapbox car resting next to a dog house. The dog is lying outside of the doghouse and has a flashback to all of the good times that he and his boy had with that soapbox before it was damaged.

We see the dog pushing the boy in the soapbox car down the street, running next to him as the car is rolling down a hill, supervising as the car is being washed and finally surveying the damage of an accident with a tree.

Flashback ends and we are back to the dog in current time, we hear a kiddie horn honking and the dog perks up. Dog runs around the house and there is the soapbox car all fixed up and under a Travelers Insurance umbrella.

Announcer: When your car is more than just a car to you, the right insurance matters. Are you getting the coverage options that you need and the discounts that you deserve? For an agent or quote call 800-MY-COVERAGE or visit Travelers.com.

Commercial ends with a gray screen, the Travelers Logo, and contact information.

Point of the Commercial

Travelers Insurance has been big on using emotion to evoke action on the part of the viewer. This particular commercial has two situations that will evoke emotion. First, the relationship between a boy and his dog and how much that dog loves to play with the soapbox car with his human friend.

Second, when was the last time you saw a soapbox car randomly being used by a kid? Probably, not since you were a child. This nostalgia creates that warm, fuzzy feeling that you are now going to associate with Travelers Insurance whenever you see their logo.

Travelers Insurance further solidifies this connection with them and that soapbox, with the Travelers Insurance umbrella strategically placed on the front of the soapbox car.

On the surface though, there is a really simple connection that the damaged soapbox is a stand in for your own vehicle. It brings the point home that Travelers Insurance would be there to fix your car if you were insured with them.

What They Want you to Do

The first thing that Travelers Insurance asks you to do is to call them, it is also the first option that is listed on the left of the screen. As we are a country that reads from left to right, it is the first thing that you read. They also follow up with the option of visiting their website, but this is not the primary method of contact that they prefer that you make.

Contacting a Travelers Insurance agent is noticeably missing (well, maybe just to me) and is only mentioned once in the entire commercial. This makes me wonder if Travelers is trying to control how you are getting your quote and possibly what agent they send you to.

My Opinion

With nostalgic commercials like this, it either ends up really campy or really good. Travelers Insurance fell on the good side with this particular commercial. It was well written and created just enough emotion to make you feel good.

As much as I like digging in to the underlying message of a commercial, I also appreciate simplicity. The main point of this commercial makes it easy for anyone to understand what Travelers is saying by using the story of the dog and the damaged soapbox.

Giving this Travelers Insurance commercial a thumbs up.

Keep on top of your state's new 2012 driving laws.

Across the nation new driving laws are put into place every New Year’s Day that can end up affecting your insurance if you don’t abide by them. Just like insurance though, driving laws vary from one state to another. To find out what new 2012 driving laws you may have in your state, contact your local Department of Motor Vehicles.

Here is just a very small sample of some of the laws put in place on January 1st of this year. You may have similar laws already in your state or you may be seeing them soon; depending on how well they work in the states that are putting them into place this year.

New 2012 Laws for Seat Belts

Seatbelts save lives. I know that there are many out there that would strongly disagree with this statement, but the facts and the personal experiences speak for themselves. The state of California, however, took it one step further this New Year. They enacted a law that not only requires seatbelts, but also that children age 6-8 must still use a booster seat. The child must continue to us their booster seat until they reach age 8 or the height of 4’9” tall (whichever is first).

New 2012 Laws for Drunk Driving

A number of states put stricter drunk driving laws into place on January 1st, including California, Nebraska, Arizona and New Mexico. In Nebraska, violators now have the option of either just having their driver’s license taken away or agreeing to have an ignition interlock device installed on their vehicle. Offenders will still be able to drive to work and school with the lock, as long as they are doing so sober.

New 2012 Laws for Electronic Distractions

Many states already have cell phone laws in place that make it illegal to talk or text on your phone while driving. There are some holdouts, like Idaho, that still refuse to make a decision one way or another on the topic. Still more and more states are following the ones that have put laws like this in place and for 2012 Oregon is following suit.

Yes, Oregon has a law that already bans cell phone use in the car. The new law this year adds to it, and also makes it illegal to text or use any other hand-held device while driving. The other hand-held device can be a Kindle, an iPhone, a notebook, etc.

How These New 2012 Driving Laws Affect Your Insurance

As with any other driving laws, the new 2012 driving laws will directly affect your insurance premiums if you are ticketed. Violations for these new laws are as varied as the states that enacted them. The violations and can range from a warning ticket and required attendance in a traffic school class to a huge fine and a point in your driving record for each infraction in one stop (California puts one point on your record for every child not buckled in properly).

If you don’t keep up with these new laws and you end up having points added to your record due to a violation, you will see your insurance rates go up. The size of the increase will depend on the how serious the violation is. As an example, getting a ticket for not having you child in a booster seat is not going to cause the ridiculously high rate increase that getting a DUI will.

To keep your insurance rates down, do you best to keep up with your states new 2012 driving laws to avoid any tickets.