Flor & Associates Insurance Agency

El Paso Texas Insurance Agent Flor & Associates Insurance

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What is Gap Insurance?

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As the old adage goes: You lose 10% of value the moment you drive your new car off the lot. This drop in value creates a “gap” that is hard to cover for most people if an accident occurs on a financed car, and this is where Gap Insurance comes into play!

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Gap Insurance pays the difference between the balance of a loan on a vehicle and what your insurance company pays if it is stolen or totaled in an accident. If you are looking to insure a financed car, this will be a coverage that you would use to cover what you owe on the car in full if it is totaled or stolen and the car insurance payout is too low!

Unless you are buying rare exotic sports cars, your car will depreciate in value relatively quickly and you may end up with a lower payout than what you owe if you have an accident. It’s best to be prepared for all scenarios, and this is always a good type of coverage to consider!\

What is Comprehensive Coverage?

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You have probably have heard someone say, “I have full coverage” and just nodded your head not really knowing what it really means—I have before, and I think we all have at one point! Full Coverage in the insurance world is usually referred to as Comprehensive Coverage since it means you are covered through just about any type of incident you could run into!

Comprehensive Coverage includes the normal ‘collision coverage’ which covers damage caused by a car accident no matter who is at fault, but it also includes other events such as hail, fire, flooding, and even theft! It is a good idea to have this type of coverage on a car that is new or expensive to repair since prices can get pretty high when repairing damages!

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Comprehensive Coverage can be expensive, but the premium amounts usually depend on the driver and the car that they are driving. Compared to a 18 year old in a V8 coupe with 3 tickets to their name already, a 35 year old driving a truck with a solid driving record will have a much lower premium!

In sum, Comprehensive coverage can be a great way to mitigate the damage to your checkbook after an accident, as well as helping repair your car!

What Is Liability Car Insurance?

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Every car on the road has auto insurance (Or at least should!) and with something so common in every driver’s life it becomes necessary to know about car insurance and the different types of coverages that exist out there!

In some states, you can have what is called “liability insurance”, and with this your insurance company should cover the repairs to the other person’s car if you are at fault, but in this scenario you will have to pay for your own repairs. Keep in mind these coverage plans do have liability coverage limits, so there is a limit as to how much can be paid to the other driver!

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Liability car insurance is usually the cheapest option to have (Still can be expensive ifyou have a less than stellar driving record!), but there are some cases that you cannot have this type of coverage and will have to elect for more expensive coverage. For instance, if you have a new car that is financed through a bank you will not be able to have this type of insurance since the bank wants the car to be repaired even if you are at fault! But if you own your car outright, are a safe driver, and want to save some money this might be the option for you!

Shopping Around Always Saves Money, Let Your Agent Do That For You

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It’s always nice to have someone help you save money, especially when it’s in their best interest to do so. Independent agents are there to help you, and usually they can do this by giving you the best coverage for the least amount of money! They want to keep your business for when you have to renew, due to this it is not in their interests to push insurance products that are of no use to you or your checkbook.

Outside of just price, independent agents have a vast understanding of the way different companies work, so they can lend insight to the claim process with each company. This might be an important factor for some and this can be a valuable tool in your search as well!

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A captive agent may steer you towards a certain product knowing that you will probably come back if you are exhibiting that level of loyalty to go with a single company in the first place! Avoid that conflict of interest and go with an independent agent in order to be good to yourself, your assets, and your wallet!

Independent Agents Can Provide a Variety and Security

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Going back to the candy shop analogy, what if a candy shop sells only one kind of candy? Now there aren’t many places that I can think of that sells only one kind of candy, but the idea doesn’t sound very appealing to me. I want to be able to pick and choose, and if I want something different I want to be able to have it! This same concept can be applied to many different things, but it really rings true with choosing insurance. 

Story time: Once I had a couple of windows broken from a storm and had a claim filed to get them replaced (Double paned windows are very pricey!), and a couple of weeks later my car was damaged by hail, and naturally I did another claim—a week later I received a nice letter from my insurance provider telling me that my coverage was going to stop forever upon my coverage end date!

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Hail is not fun

And yes, I was using a captive agent to get my coverage at the time; being with a captive agent was not fun since I was not able to go back to her and had to find someone new, so I really learned my lesson with that experience and went with an independent agent!

What is an Independent Agent?

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An independent agent is someone who is representing several insurance companies and can shop around while remaining in-house when making a pricing decision for a customer. Due to this independence, an agent in this capacity is able to make objective decisions when it comes to which policy to choose for their client.

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All those choices!

With this choice to choose, the best interest for the client is usually always taken, so for example if your rates go up and you have an independent agent you can shop around for a better rate with many different companies if you want to keep the same amount of coverage. There’s a huge upside to this in if you have a great relationship with your agent, but not with your insurance company due to a botched claim. If that happens you can just get coverage with another company through your trusted agent!

Like a candy shop there’s many different options, shouldn’t you be able to choose what you want and who makes it?

What Is A Captive Agent?

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An insurance agent that only works for one insurance company is a Captive Agent, but they are not literally held captive as their name would imply! They can work for only one of the many insurance companies out there, and will offer plans under their label. Much like a cook from Taco Cabana cannot work at Taco Bell!

Different taco places don’t share cooks!

Captive agents usually have a very deep understanding of their company’s product offerings, but there’s a downside to this as they cannot help people that do not qualify for their product offerings since they are limited to only what their company offers and their thresholds. But there is an upside to this though, if there is a rate pricing concern a captive agent will be able to work with the customer on price rather than just reducing coverages to achieve this.

They sometimes have quotas!

Captive agents will also sell products that their company asks them to sell over others, so they do have quotas and due to this it causes them to push certain products only to meet their numbers—not just because it was in your best interest. So it becomes a question as to if this staying with one provider is an important factor to you, and if you accept both sides of that coin!

Save Time When It Isn’t Time You Want To Waste

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christmas-tree-1856343_960_720A couple of holiday seasons ago, I had a neighbor who loved to cut down a tree on a plot of land he owned in New Mexico and bring it back to decorate with his family. When he was backing up his truck near the front of his house, he gave it a little too much gas and ended up knocking down a brick wall and badly damaging his truck!

He had a good laugh about it and brought his tree inside for his kids to decorate. I remember that the very next day, him having an agent come out and look at both his house and truck—and within a 2 week span he had everything fixed without a hitch. He thankfully had his insurance bundled, and was able to just take care of everything in one afternoon!

Since this was the time between November and December, he was able to be done with it house-2595330_960_720before the upcoming holiday and without wasting any undue stress on the whole situation! Now, not all accidents happen around the holiday season, but if it does it might be possible to save time and money with a bundle! Don’t waste the time you could have with your family!