“With a little bit of effort, you can save money on car insurance. Installing safety devices and maintaining a clean driving record will help you lower the insurance premiums”, said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company.

LOS ANGELES (PRWEB)
February 22, 2021

Car insurance policies can cost as much as several thousands of dollars per year. It might not look much, but for many families, car insurance can be a burden. Some are even considering dropping coverage.

Drivers who consider dropping coverage should follow the next tips on how to save on car insurance:

• 
  Graduate a defensive driving course. Very young drivers are charged extra on their insurance policies. Insurance providers consider than teens are high-risk drivers because they lack driving experience. Also, statistics show that teen drivers are more likely to be involved in car accidents. Teen drivers can lower their insurance rates by enrolling and graduating a defensive driving course.
• Clean driving record. Drivers who manage to avoid parking tickets, speeding tickets, at-fault accident convictions, DUI incident convictions, and other traffic violation penalties for a period that is between three to five years can get a safe driving discount. However, drivers who got some tickets present in their driving records should talk with a lawyer and check if they can be expunged.
• Install safety devices. Many modern vehicles come equipped with the latest safety devices. Drivers who do not own a modern vehicle can improve the safety of their vehicles by installing aftermarket safety devices. Rear cameras, safer seatbelts, tracking devices, and other devices will help policyholders save money on car insurance. However, policyholders should ask their insurers what safety devices are approved and how much money they can save after installing them.
• Get a low-mileage discount. Drivers who are using their vehicles to commute to work on short distances can qualify for a low-mileage discount.
• Obtain a loyalty discount. Policyholders who are loyal to the same insurance provider for a number of years can get a loyalty discount upon renewing the insurance contract.
• Bundle policies with the same insurer. Policyholders who insure two or more vehicles to the same provider can gain a multi-car policy discount. Also, policyholders can insure their cars policies with different insurance products like homeowner’s insurance, life insurance, health insurance, or even boat insurance. In this case, drivers who insure two or more different insurance products will get a multi-policy discount.

For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit http://compare-autoinsurance.org.

Compare-autoinsurance.org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc.

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LOS ANGELES (PRWEB)
February 22, 2021

Poms & Associates, an independent, full-service commercial insurance brokerage and risk management firm, today announced the hiring of Jo Anne Roque as vice president of risk services, Nikki Evaniuck as senior account manager and Jennifer Harrington as senior client advisor.

“We welcome Jo Anne, Nikki and Jennifer and look forward to their contributions as we work together to achieve excellence in everything we do for our clients,” said David Poms, founder and president of Poms & Associates. “They continue our investment in a diverse team of highly skilled specialists who use their expertise to devise creative approaches to unique problems.”

As vice president, Jo Anne Roque is a key member of the Poms & Associates risk services team that serves the New Mexico Public Schools Insurance Authority, which helps New Mexico’s school system provide unique coverages that are not commercially available. She joined Poms & Associates from Alliant Insurance Services, where she spent more than 15 years in the Public Entity specialty group, working her way up from an account manager to assistant vice president. Jo Anne’s previous work experiences also include Marsh and Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. She resides in the greater Bay Area of northern California.

As senior account manager, Nikki Evaniuck works with Poms & Associates clients in a variety of industries. She previously worked at LBW Insurance & Financial and more than ten years at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. She resides in the Santa Clarita area of California.

As senior client advisor at Poms & Associates, Jennifer Harrington focuses on personal lines of insurance for high net worth individuals. She joined Poms & Associates from Patra Corporation, a provider of technology-enabled outsourcing services for the insurance industry, where she worked from 2016-2020. Jennifer also held previous positions at Austin Asset, an asset and wealth management firm, Wortham Insurance & Risk Management, construction company Tamburri & Associates and Fox Insurance Agency. She is based in Austin, Tex.

Poms & Associates was named a 2020 Top Insurance Workplace by Insurance Business America and a 2020 Company of the Year by Business Intelligence Group; the company was the recipient of a BIG Award for Business for its COVID-19 response that is helping businesses reduce or limit risk exposures and decrease insurance premium costs during the pandemic. The company also was awarded a 2020 International Stevie Award for “Most Valuable Corporate Response to COVID-19” for its ongoing series of 25+ free educational webinars on business insurance, risk management and loss prevention topics related to the pandemic.

For more information about Poms & Associates, visit https://pomsassoc.com/.

About Poms & Associates

Poms & Associates is a leading independent, full-service commercial insurance brokerage and risk management firm with a proven track record of providing innovative and customized solutions to businesses in high-risk industries. Founded in 1991, the company was built on the premise that knowledge is the best insurance – that is, the best way to help businesses and organizations is to serve not only as an insurance broker but also as an educator about best practices in how to reduce risk and prevent loss before an incident occurs. Poms & Associates today offers a wide range of products and services, including property and casualty insurance for commercial organizations and public entities, risk control, human resources and employee benefits and private services for high net-worth individuals. Among the top 50 independent brokerage firms in the U.S., Poms & Associates is headquartered in Woodland Hills, Calf. It maintains branch offices in Los Angeles, Sacramento, Calif., the San Francisco Bay Area, Albuquerque, N.M. and Dayton, Ohio. For more information, visit https://pomsassoc.com/.

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New Home Sales Grew 28.1% YOY In January As The Spring Selling Season Starts Early According To Zonda

COSTA MESA, Calif. (PRWEB)
February 22, 2021

Today, the experts at Zonda, the housing industry’s foremost advisors, released the New Home Pending Sales Index (PSI) for January 2021. The New Home PSI shows pending sales decreased month-over-month but increased year-over-year across the United States. The index is a leading residential real estate indicator based on the number of new home sales contracts signed across the country.

The New Home PSI came in at 156.6 for January, representing a 28.1% increase from January 2020. On a month-over-month basis, new home sales fell by 4.2% from December.

“The spring selling season waited for no one this year as many people were still working from home and reevaluating their living situation, mortgage rates were still seriously low, and available homes for sale were still limited, said Ali Wolf, Zonda’s chief economist. “The demand environment is about as good as it gets in the housing market.”

Pending new home sales trended above January 2020 levels in 16 of our select 20 top markets. The best new home markets in January were Jacksonville, Austin, and Raleigh. These markets have been consistently among the top performers in the country driven by migration trends, relative affordability, and a desirable quality of life.

This month, we are introducing an additional layer of detail. The New Home PSI is made up of two components: new home orders and the average sales rate per community. New home orders look at total sales and will fall based purely on limited supply. The average sales rate per community captures how well builders are selling at the open communities and strips out the supply side. Both, however, can be negatively impacted by builders intentionally capping sales. The included table shows the year-over-year change for the two components and is sorted by the spread to quickly identify the markets where supply is impacting sales the most. Note that the PSI calculation includes weights and seasonal adjustments. The year-over-year changes in the table removes both and are just looking at the raw index values.

As seen, the spread between the index value for new home orders and the average sales rate per community is particularly large in two types of markets: 1. Places like Jacksonville, Denver, and Tampa, the migration winners throughout 2020 and early-2021 and 2. Big cities like Washington, DC and Philadelphia where developable land is harder to find, impacting the total market potential. Salt Lake City and Las Vegas are the only two of our select metros to post a year-over-year drop in the average sales rate per community. Both are markets that have be inundated with newcomers from out of state and, as such, builders have needed to cap their average sales rate per community in order to better balance contract sales with deliveries.

“Builders have repeatedly raised their prices in an attempt to temper the insatiable demand, but the power of mortgage rates has allowed many buyers to meet the higher price points,” explains Wolf. “Demand is so hot right now that campouts are back at select communities and some builders have reported hitting the best weeks and/or months in the history of their companies.”

New home data is susceptible to outsized swings in contract activity based on shifts in the number of actively selling communities. As a result, Zonda normalizes the data to ensure consistency across the index. The New Home PSI blends the cumulative sales of active or recently sold-out projects with the average sales rate per community, which adjusts for fluctuations in supply. Furthermore, the New Home PSI is seasonally adjusted based on each markets’ specific seasonality and removes outliers. The index is baselined to 100 for June 2016. Today’s national New Home PSI is 57% above the base level.

The next Zonda New Home PSI press release, featuring February 2021 data, will be issued on Monday, March 19, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. ET.

Methodology

The Zonda New Home Pending Sales Index (PSI) is built on proprietary, industry-leading data that covers 60% of the production new home market across the United States. Reported number of new home pending contracts are gathered and analyzed each month. Released on the 15th business day of each month, the New Home PSI is a leading indicator of housing demand compared to closings because it is based on the number of signed contracts at a new home community. Zonda monitors 18,000 active communities in the country and the homes tracked can be in any stage of construction.

The new home market represents roughly 10% of all transactions, allowing little movements in supply to cause outsized swings in market activity. As a result, the New Home PSI blends the cumulative sales of activity recently sold out projects with the average sales rate per community, which adjusts for fluctuations in supply. Furthermore, the New Home PSI is seasonally adjusted based on each markets’ specific seasonality, removes outliers, and uses June 2016 as the base month. The foundation of the index is a monthly survey conducted by Zonda. It is necessary to monitor both new and existing home sales to establish an accurate picture of the relative health of the residential real estate market.

About Zonda

Zonda provides data-driven housing market solutions to the homebuilding and multifamily industries. From builders to building product manufacturers, mortgage clients, and multifamily executives, we work hand-in-hand with our customers to streamline access to housing data to empower smarter decisions. As a leading brand in residential construction, our mission is to advance the home building industry, because we believe better homes mean better lives and stronger communities. Together, we are building the future of housing.

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As more and more of their clients turn to digital solutions, insurance companies must do the same if they want to be successful.

Over the past year, digital adoption in the industry grew by 20% and a TransUnion survey found that almost 40% of respondents who filed a claim last year did so through the use of a mobile app, website portal or email.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (PRWEB)
February 22, 2021

COVID-19 has upended and affected every type of industry across the globe causing most to scramble to adjust to a new normal. The insurance industry is no exception as the pandemic has shined a spotlight on the antiquated methods many providers relied on to determine policies and procedures. However many are using the lessons they’ve learned to lead to positive changes.(1) “Normally it takes three weeks to get a life insurance policy,” said Paul Ford, co-founder and CEO of Traffk, “When COVID shut everything down and people could not get a physical exam, the backlog went up to three months but companies that used digital health data were not affected.”

In addition to bringing forth the downsides to the insurance industry’s lagging adoption of high-tech solutions, the coronavirus has emphasized how outdated the mortuary tables are that most companies use to determine their policies.(2) Consumers are also being left behind as their policy holders may try to withhold payment for COVID-related illnesses or deaths by claiming it is an “act of God.”(3)

Life insurance companies cannot change the language for active policies, but the legalized style of writing can mean that most don’t read every word and may find some unpleasant surprises about their policy as they file claims. Some insurers have stopped selling policies to customers older than a certain age; possible long-term side effects could cause insurers to update their underwriting standards and the threat of a recurring COVID-19 season might mean higher costs in life insurance.(4)

Insurance technology can help companies assess their risk and better serve their customers. Digitization in the insurance industry has had to accelerate this year and the companies that embrace new technologies have boosted their bottom line and benefited their customers.(5) Over the past year, digital adoption in the industry grew by 20% and a TransUnion survey found that almost 40% of respondents who filed a claim last year did so through the use of a mobile app, website portal or email and that 32% said they preferred to communicate with an insurance provider primarily via e-mail.(6)

As more and more of their clients turn to digital solutions, insurance companies must do the same if they want to be successful. InsurTech solutions can offer cloud-based infrastructure to both owned and partnered distribution and can help a company rapidly design, develop and distribute bespoke insurance products. Risk management services including proprietary alternative data sets, streamlining portfolio management and digital risk experience monitoring can also help improve efficiency, profitability and growth for carriers, reinsurers, underwriters and distributors.

This change to a more digitized platform also benefits the insurance agent in many ways. Digitization means agents can sell insurance online, telephonically, over Zoom calls, in new ways. Also, gathering the information on potential customers will be faster and easier—not to mention more accurate. It helps agents better assess risk, which could impact the company’s profitability. Agents will also have at the touch of a button the latest information and thus break their reliance on obsolete and antiquated actuarial tables. Plus, it will help break the existing backlog of cases caused by the pandemic. According to Ford, adopting technology avoids the usual bureaucratic impediments that have always existed, which have stifled innovation.

“With the right technology, potential policyholders don’t have to visit the doctor or answer the same questions over and over to get insurance,” said Ford. “We use deeper levels of data, more than 4,000 robust data points, to calculate risk and can use digital data from previous doctors’ appointments and medical records to create technology-enabled insurance products that protect consumers and insurers.”

About Traffk

Traffk is an innovative insurance underwriting and distribution platform designed to build and launch modern insurance products and brands that scale. With more than 25 years combined leadership in insurance and AI, Paul Ford and Glen Hibler co-founded Traffk as a solution to the problems of inefficient, assumption-based underwriting and slow processing in the insurance industry. Traffk’s goal from the start has been to comprehend the risks and modernize the insurance underwriting process by leveraging modern-day tools. Traffk enables risk bearers to leverage the underwriting process with its data-enrichment technology and integrates and analyzes data to glean insights pertinent to insurance. Traffk works with agents as partners, providing them with the digital tools to work with an efficient sales process and engage consumers with a fast, accurate process for insurance policies, changing the insurance landscape for the better, forever. Visit https://www.traffk.com/

1.    Farrell, Mark, “How is the coronavirus affecting the insurance industry?” | 15 October 2020; Economics Observatory, economicsobservatory.com/how-coronavirus-affecting-insurance-industry.

2.    “Growing Number of Lawsuits Claim ‘Old’ Mortality Tables Deprive Participants of Benefits – An Update.” | 6 June 2019; Groom Benefits Brief; groom.com/resources/growing-number-of-lawsuits-claim-old-mortality-tables-deprive-participants-of-benefits-an-update

3.    Barton, Sian, “Insurers urged to pay claims quickly following BI ruling.” | 15 January 2021; Insurance Age; insuranceage.co.uk/insurer/7538521/insurers-urged-to-pay-up-to-ps18bn-in-claims-quickly-following-bi-ruling.

4.    Price, Sterling, “How is Coronavirus (COVID-19) Affecting Life Insurance? An FAQ.” | 15 January 2021; Value Penguin; valuepenguin.com/life-insurance-coronavirus-faq#harder.

5.    Sagalow, Zoe, “Pandemic spurs technology growth in insurance industry.” | 14 January 2021; Roll Call; rollcall.com/2021/01/14/pandemic-spurs-technology-growth-in-insurance-industry.

6.    “3 Ways COVID-19 Will Continue to Impact Insurance Industry in 2021.” | 5 February 2021; Insurance Journal; insurancejournal.com/news/national/2021/02/05/600219.htm.

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AssuredPartners logo

“We are excited to have found a new partner with Kainos as they join our mission of expanding through our growing footprint. We welcome the team and their clients to AssuredPartners,” said AssuredPartners CEO, Tom Riley.

LAKE MARY, Fla. (PRWEB)
February 19, 2021

AssuredPartners, Inc. is proud to announce that Kainos Partners, Inc. (Kainos) of Jersey Village, TX has joined AssuredPartners. The team of 7 will remain under the leadership of Gary Jurney, President of Kainos. The agency currently reports $2 million in annualized revenues.

Gary Jurney said, “Our team is committed to our vision of providing excellent service, integrity and leadership in employee benefits and personal financial services. Choosing to partner with AssuredPartners is an exciting opportunity which allows us to spread our operations into a national platform.”

“At AssuredPartners, we focus on partnering with agencies that demonstrate a dedication to growth and partners who value building lasting relationships. Because of this, we are more than pleased to have the team from Kainos join our operations,” said AssuredPartners Regional President, Randy Russell.

“We are excited to have found a new partner with Kainos as they join our mission of expanding through our growing footprint. We welcome the team and their clients to AssuredPartners,” said AssuredPartners CEO, Tom Riley.

For more information on Kainos, please visit: https://kainos-partners.com/

ABOUT ASSUREDPARTNERS, INC

Headquartered in Lake Mary, Florida, AssuredPartners is a full-service insurance broker providing commercial insurance, risk management, employee benefits through consulting and services. With over 7,500 employees located in offices throughout North America, London, Belgium and Scotland, AssuredPartners is in the business of building relationships. While cementing powerful, lasting relationships built on trust earned from working openly and honestly with our partners. That’s what we call, Power through Partnership. For more information, call 513-624-1779, email jamie.reinert@assuredpartners.com or visit http://www.assuredpartners.com.

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“Even though the price of car insurance is constantly rising, there are many methods that can help families save money on car insurance”, said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company.

LOS ANGELES (PRWEB)
February 18, 2021

Car insurance is a major investment for any family. However, many families are struggling to pay for ever-increasing insurance premiums. Dropping coverage is not an option, because many are using their vehicles to do their daily routines. Nevertheless, there are some methods that can help anyone save money on insurance.

Drivers who want to save money on insurance can follow the next tips:

• 
  Shop around for better insurance deals. Shopping around using a brokerage website is one of the best methods used to save money on car insurance. Certain events like moving to another area, getting divorced, or getting a job to a place that is far away from home can make car insurance to be more expensive. In these cases, drivers will be required to find better insurance deals to save money. After completing an online form, brokerage websites will display multiple insurance offers from multiple insurers. Drivers only need to pick one insurance offer that can satisfy their needs.
• Ask for the available discounts. Insurance companies are offering discounts for various reasons. Drivers who got married, who moved to a better neighborhood, or graduated a defensive driving course can pay lower insurance rates.
• Check the low mileage discount. Some policyholders are driving fewer miles than usual for various reasons. These drivers should contact their insurers to find out if they are eligible for the low-mileage discount.
• Keep a good credit score. In most states, insurance companies are allowed to determine the premiums using the credit score. Drivers with a poor credit score are considered to be less responsible and are more likely to file a claim. For these reasons, insurers will charge extra on their premiums. On the other hand, drivers with a good or excellent credit score are seen as more responsible and are less likely to file a claim., and for these reasons, they will pay lower insurance rates.
• Park the car in a garage. A well-monitored garage is an ideal place to keep a vehicle. The garage can protect the vehicle against severe weather events and can lower the chances for car theft to happen.

For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit http://compare-autoinsurance.org.

Compare-autoinsurance.org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc.

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We are on the cusp of truly incredible advances in the near future; it’s finally the time for homeowners to fully embrace these protective technologies to keep their homes safer. Ultimately, the big winner of these programs is the customer.

PALO ALTO, Calif. (PRWEB)
February 18, 2021

Hippo, the home insurance group leading a new standard of care and protection for homeowners, today announced the appointment of Dave Wechsler, formerly the lead of Comcast Xfinity’s smart home and Internet of Things (IoT) strategy in emerging markets, as Vice President of Growth Initiatives. As the company pursues its mission to create better outcomes for homeowners, Dave will oversee the growth and development of Hippo’s industry-defining smart home program, including driving key initiatives that will create deeper levels of protection and smart home discounts for customers.

Hippo has the most widely adopted smart home program in the U.S. homeowners insurance sector,* providing homeowners with smart devices that equip them with the information to better protect their homes and access premium discounts on their home insurance policies. The company’s innovative home insurance model is rooted in its vision to create a product that drives better outcomes for homeowners through the proactive use of technology and connected sensors. When small problems arise, Hippo’s smart home program enables homeowners to identify and solve them before they become big issues.

“Hippo is peerless when it comes to helping homeowners identify potential problems. With more than 500,000 smart sensors shipped to customers we are eons ahead of others in this space,” Dave Wechsler, VP of Growth Initiatives, said. “I have been working as a partner of the Hippo team for several years and have been impressed by the company’s use of smart home technology to transform the overall insurance ecosystem. Hippo was one of the first to advocate for the pairing of smart devices with a home insurance policy, which has proved critical for detecting events that cause the costliest home damages such as water and fire. We are on the cusp of truly incredible advances in the near future; it’s finally the time for homeowners to fully embrace these protective technologies to keep their homes safer. Ultimately, the big winner of these programs is the customer.”

Dave has more than two decades of experience on the frontlines of smart home technology, most recently leading Comcast, the nation’s largest internet provider, with bringing the technology to emerging markets. In 2018, Dave led Comcast’s official move into “smart home” insurance offerings — following a strategic and ongoing partnership with Hippo.

“Dave has the unique expertise and proven track record that will drive our next stage of growth as we double-down on smart home innovation and the opportunities that lie ahead,” said Daniel Blanaru, Chief Growth Officer at Hippo. “As we utilize smart home insights gathered over the last three years, we’re in a prime position with Dave at the helm to build new offerings that give customers more flexibility and education to protect themselves, and take Hippo’s smart home program to the next level.”

More than 70 percent of Hippo customers opt-in to Hippo’s smart home program. To date, the company has delivered more than 500,000 smart sensors to customers that detect potential issues like water leaks, smoke alarms, open doors and windows, and drastic temperature changes. To learn more about Hippo’s Smart Home Program, visit http://www.hippo.com/smart-home.

*Statement attributed to Matteo Carbone, founder of the IoT Insurance Observatory

About Hippo

Hippo is on a mission to transform home insurance for the modern household. The company brings homeowners closer to a modern home insurance experience with an efficient online purchase experience using trusted data sources, a smart home device kit included with eligible policies and more available coverage for possessions like appliances, electronics and home offices. Hippo Insurance Services is part of Hippo’s family of companies that brings together home wellness and home insurance for today’s homeowners. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with insurance products available to over 70 percent of homeowners in the U.S., Hippo Insurance Services is a licensed property casualty insurance agent with products underwritten by various insurance companies. For more information, including licensing information, visit http://www.hippo.com.

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