Flor & Associates Insurance Agency

El Paso Texas Insurance Agent Flor & Associates Insurance

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Physical Damage Coverage Can Save Your Wallet

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Buying or leasing a truck is a huge undertaking and usually an even bigger investment, this means for many truckers that their truck is more than just a means to haul cargo—it’s essential to their livelihood! Most truckers that I have talked to put up most, if not all of what they own for their truck, so it makes sense to want to have the best coverage for every situation!

Physical Damage coverage is used to repair or replace any type of damage to your truck or trailer, so things like collision, fire, hail, natural disasters, and even theft are covered through this coverage! Another sweet part of the deal is how if you are broken down, or need to have your truck in storage while it waits to get repaired it will be covered!

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Say for instance you are heading west from the Cumberland Gap to Johnson City, Tennessee and you run into some motor trouble, if you don’t have Physical Damage coverage you can be paying out of pocket upwards of $15,000+ on some of these newer tractor trailers! Instead of suffering through a huge hit to the wallet like that, look into getting Physical Damage coverage! You’ll thank yourself later!

Finding The Right Truck Driver

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Finding the right driver is pretty hard, but it isn’t rocket science—there are ways to make it easier on yourself so you can find the right driver quickly! You may have to spend a little money to find one with a hiring agency, but there are ways around this as well!

If you already have a current driver you should utilize them as a tool during the interview process, during interviews have them ask each candidate questions and see if they feel they could handle the job since they know it firsthand, this will help weed out some of the ones that shouldn’t be there in the first place!

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After they have passed the first interview have them demonstrate basic skills for you and your driver, see if they can handle the truck correctly—backing up, turning, going through each of the gears. Also see if they know how to do the normal day-to-day tasks such as connecting air lines, and hooking and unhooking a trailer without issue!

Then if they have passed on to the next stage, you will need to run their CSA profile (Compliance, Safety, and Accountability, when you are able to do so legally) in order to see if they have been a safe driver throughout their career—if they have gone through this process with flying colors, I think you might have a quality driver on your hands!

CSA Score and What It Means

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If you are in the trucking industry at all, you definitely know that your CSA score is extremely important to the trucking company and to their drivers as well. CSA is short for Compliance, Safety, and Accountability, and these publicly published scores are used to identify motor carriers that are ‘high-risk’. These scores play a huge role in your insurance rates since all insurance companies use this score when drafting up a new insurance plan, so it helps to know what goes towards your score!

The lower the score the lower your premium, the higher the score the higher your premium is a good way to think about your score. Actions such as unsafe driving, amount of crashes, vehicle maintenance, driving under the influence, driver fitness, as well as unsafe driving with hazardous materials all influence and raise your score! If you practice safe and defensive driving, and keep your truck in good shape your score will go lower over time! 

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Another way to improve your score is to have regular inspections both in-house to makesure your fleet is up to snuff, and by not failing government inspections, whether it be for tires, leaks in brake lines, and the biggest violator: broken lights, which makes up over a quarter of all violations! Most violations are issued during roadside inspections when the officer is looking over mileage logs—so be sure those are accurate too!

Life Insurance For Different Parts of Your Life

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When you are young, you get married, and begin raising a family. Money may be tight—but if you don’t want to leave your loved ones with nothing financially if you were to pass, you can get Term Life Insurance. This type of insurance has lower premiums than other types of life insurance, but only lasts for a set period of time.

Once you start establishing yourself in your career and earning more, you can elect to get Straight Life Insurance, and with these types of plans you never lose coverage for your entire life as long as you pay your premiums! These plans can be expensive, but can be worth it in the long run!

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When you are older, you may have a fear that you and your spouse may not have enough income to sustain yourselves, if this is the case you can get Variable Life Insurance to help provide income, cash growth, and peace of mind in both life and death. 

In all stages, Life Insurance is important, to you and those you love. Don’t regret not having it!

Reasons for Life Insurance

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When buying life insurance people are usually doing it for the benefit of those that they love. When doing so they look at things their loved ones will need in the future if themselves were to die, common reasons would be: 

“My family relies on my income”, 

“My loved ones don’t have the money to cover my final expenses or to cover the taxes on my estate.”, 

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“My spouse couldn’t do it all.”, 

“My kids will be going to college.”,

“My spouse will be devastated. There’s no way they’ll be able to work right away.”

Reasons for getting life insurance can be far-reaching, but they all usually end up in the
same place: for the benefit of those that you love. Just always make sure that you have coverage that fits you and your loved ones needs! 

Life Insurance is Love Insurance

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People usually buy themselves life insurance for the benefit of people that they love and want to provide a secure future for, it’s like writing a love letter from beyond the grave for someone you love—the ultimate love letter. 

When you love someone, you want to move mountains for them while you’re alive, and it makes sense that you would still want to move mountains for your loved ones when you have passed on to the other side, Life Insurance can help do that. Life Insurance can provide security for those that you love so that if anything happens, you can rest assured that money is the last of their concerns when dealing with your death. It isn’t ever an easy subject to think about, but it’s a necessity to do so when it comes to those closest to your heart.  

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You never want to leave those you love having to pay your left behind debts, or picking up the pieces if you were their only provider, so you should always ensure that those that you love are covered if something were to happen to you with Life Insurance!

Life Insurance For Those You Love

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Purchasing Life Insurance is a great way to ensure that your loved ones have a great, fruitful, and secure future if you were to pass. In a 2016 study by the Life Insurance Management Research Association, they found that over 1/3rd of Americans wished their spouse had life insurance, 1 out of 3 is a huge amount! IF someone you loved felt that way, wouldn’t you go get life insurance for them?

People usually overlook Life Insurance when they are thinking of ways to provide, and it’s understandable. But once you realize how important it can be, you’ll know that it’s never really too late to start coverage! Keep in mind that the longer you wait, the higher the premium. So if price of premiums will be an issue, remember that the early bird gets the worm, so start early in life! 

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Life Insurance is a great way to say “I love you” to friends, to family, and to your spouse, and those words will continue to echo in their hearts long after you have passed on!

How Can I Lower My Car Insurance Premium?

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Driving safe does not include texting at the wheel!

This is a common question that we all have had when looking at how much we have to pay on our car insurance statements. Thankfully, there are quite a few things that you can do to lower your premiums that you can do on your own!

The first and foremost has to be: drive safe! By driving safe you are reducing the risk of getting a ticket (Which usually raises your premiums), and better yet reducing the risk of getting yourself into an accident! By keeping a clean driving record you will qualify for lower rates, and companies will be more willing to insure you!

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Another way to lower your rate would be to share a policy with someone you live with, for instance if you live with a spouse who has a stellar driving record then sharing a policy would most likely lower the overall rate! But like all other things, always do the math and find out if this is the best route for you to take!

You can lower your rate by always maintaining your coverage, with absolutely no lapse in policies (This means not even for a day!), and by paying the premium in full at the beginning of your policy. Doing this shows your insurer that you are reliable, and this goes a long way with saving you money with your premiums!