What happens if there is a fire and I don’t have an inventory?

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Even in beautiful Laurel, MD, incidents can happen such as fires or burglaries that could cause you to suffer great losses. When you get a homeowners policy through  Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial, you never really think anything bad will happen. 

That is one of the reasons so many people never make the suggested inventory of their belongings. It seems like a lot of work, and if you’re lucky, you will never need it.

Tracking Your Belongings 

Most of the insurance policy is covering the property itself, and unless you have extra coverage for particularly valuable items, your personal belongings will be insured for a much smaller amount. 

When you make an inventory, you have a list that you can provide if you suffer a loss. With a burglary, the list helps the police too, because they can look for the items if they are being sold by the thieves. 

When you don’t have the list, with the serial numbers and details of the items, and don’t have a really good idea of what was missing or destroyed. You may not recover your losses because you simply don’t remember what you had. 

Making an Inventory Isn’t So Bad 

There are some helpful tips for people making an inventory. First, you obviously want to keep the list somewhere safe so you can still access it in a disaster. 

Another great tip is to make a video where you list your belongings, room by room. That way you can break the job down into easier steps.

If you live in Laurel, MD, don’t wait to do an inventory until it’s too late. If you need any help or want to talk about your homeowner’s policy, please feel free to call Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial today. 

What Are The Different Types Of Auto Insurance?

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The world of auto insurance can seem like a confusing one.  There are many different options and types of insurance to investigate.  For the uninitiated, this can seem a bit overwhelming at first.  Laws and minimum insurance requirements vary from state to state, but they’re all pretty similar.  No matter if you live in Laurel Canyon, CA or Laurel, MD; all of these types of insurance are offered everywhere.

Collision insurance is usually the first thing offered in an insurance policy.  There are a few different kinds of collision insurance available.  Bodily Injury To Others (BITO) covers what that implies, with different limits or caps on what the insurance provider pays out.  Personal liability (PL) is damage to someone else’s property (eg: crashing into someone’s house or mailbox) with similar limits on coverage put in.  

Personal Injury Protection (PIP) covers yourself and your own medical bills due to injury in an accident.  The last facet of collision insurance is Bodily Injury caused by an uninsured car.  This covers you in case you end up in an accident with an uninsured motorist.  It’s illegal to drive on the road without insurance, but there are motorists who still do this out there and it’s always smart to be covered in this case.

The next word that usually sits by "Collision" in the insurance policy is "Comprehensive".  Comprehensive insurance covers your car for everything else that your collision insurance doesn’t cover.  For instance, a heavy thunderstorm strikes your area and it produces baseball-sized hail.  That hail damage (dents, scratches) to your paintwork and bodywork of your car would be covered under your comprehensive insurance.

You can find out all about these options and more at Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial located in Laurel, MD.

 

 

Insurance for Your Entire Life

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There are different types of insurance to help protect the many different areas of our life. Auto insurance for our busy and mobile lives to protect our rides and trusted motorized steeds. Home insurance is another level of protection around our castles, like moats, only more effective. Of course, there is fire insurance for such unfortunate events or when dragons attempt to scorch the fortress walls of your castle. But life insurance is the one thing we do for ourselves and for those we love, it is the insurance to protect our lives.

The Right Life Insurance

From universal and whole to term structured insurance, finding the right policy to meet your needs will depend on you and your life. Our loved ones, our family, our children – this is what and who we leave behind, this is the essence of our lives. Protecting that and those who make our lives what they are is one of the most important things we will ever do. At Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial, we offer our Laurel, MD customers plans and policies designed to fit their lives and meet their needs.

Insurance for Real Life Concerns

Although our aforementioned fire-breathing dragons aren’t a real concern.  Protecting what and who we love is and life insurance is a step we can take to protect who we love from the real threats of life when we no longer can. We know this isn’t always an easy conversation but it is a vital and important one. Our team is here to help our friends and neighbors in Laurel, MD have that conversation and to get the right insurance plan for their lives.

Contact an agent today because, at Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial, we won’t build you a moat but we can build the right plan and policy for your needs. 

How Business Interruption Coverage Can Protect You in the Event of a Catastrophe

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Business owners in today’s competitive marketplace understand the importance of a healthy cash flow. If you are a business owner who counts on a robust cash flow each month to maintain your business it’s important to consider business interruption coverage. Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial provides the knowledge and expertise you need to adequately protect your Laurel, MD area business.

Payments (Full or Partial) of Lost Revenue and Profit

When you have the right business interruption policy, you can be protected in the event of loss or damage to your business that affects its ability to continue operating. If you experience a catastrophe such as a fire, burglary, or another covered event, you may be eligible to receive payments to bridge the gap in revenue while you get your company back up and running. Meeting with a professional insurance agent is the first step in finding the right policy for your needs. Don’t let a catastrophic event ruin everything that you have worked so hard to achieve!

Funding to Keep Your Business Functioning

Even if your business is down due to loss or damage, your bills will continue to arrive and your employees will still need to be paid. Now is the right time to learn more about the options that are available to you through a comprehensive business interruption policy. From payroll, to utilities, and vendor invoices, you can be protected and able to meet these obligations even when your business is not fully operational.

Interested in learning more about how business interruption coverage can help you protect your business from catastrophe? Contact the team at Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial today to set up a consultation. Now is the time to protect your Laurel, MD area business from catastrophe!

Driving Tips to Avoid Auto Insurance Claims

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No one wants to have an accident in Laurel, MD and have to file a claim with his or her insurance at Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial, but accidents do happen. With these tips you can avoid common insurance claims.

Don’t Follow Too Closely: One of the easiest ways to avoid a rear end crash, one of the most common accidents on the road, is to not follow too closely.

Avoid In-Car Distractions: Texting and driving is bad, but distracted driving doesn’t always mean texting. Be sure to always use hands-free mode if you need to take a call while driving. If you have children in the car, they need to understand that you are driving and need to focus. Be prepared with toys so that they don’t bother you. If something does come up, such as a disagreement, then consider pulling over. Make it a habit to not drive when things are emotionally distracting you.

The Driver Should Be in Good Condition: It’s important for your car to be in driving condition, but also for you to be. Eye exams should be up to date and keeping healthy is important. Those in good health can think better and react faster. Be sure you aren’t on any medications that could cause drowsiness and get plenty of sleep before doing any long driving.

Be a Defensive Driver: You may have heard about defensive driving classes, but this is a reminder to keep an eye out for what others are doing.

Give Yourself Plenty of Time in Bad Weather: Snow and rain can cause a lot of delays and so you want to give yourself more time so you are less tempted to speed. Slow down when approaching shaded spots or bridges where there could be icy patches hiding.

Contact Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial, serving Laurel, MD, to get a quote on auto insurance. 

Why Do I Need to Have Home Insurance?

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If you are an owner of a home, there are many important things that you will need to do to keep it properly protected. One of the most important things that you will need to do when you own home has home insurance. There are several reasons why you need to have home insurance.

Protects Against Loss

A primary reason to have insurance for your home is that it can protect against losses. If your home is damaged by a fire, bad weather, or vandalism, it can be extremely expensive to make the necessary repairs. Fortunately, when you have home insurance in place, you can have financial protection against these losses. Your insurance company can also give you the support you need to start the repair process.

Gives Liability Protection

If you own a property, you are also running the risk that you could be found liable for injuries that someone suffers at your home. Since this is a risk that never goes away, you need to make sure that you continue to have this coverage. In the rare situation that you are sued for liability, you will have the support you need to either settle or fight the claim.

Often Required

You also need to have home insurance because it is often required under certain agreements. If you have a mortgage or live in a condo association, the associated agreements will likely require that you carry insurance at all times. 

When you are considering your home insurance needs to cover your Laurel, MD area property, you should contact Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial. The Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial team is skilled at helping their customers to better understand their home insurance needs. They can then help you get into a policy that will give you the right coverage. 

Life Insurance in an Era of Expanding Longevity

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The world of life insurance has undergone substantial changes over the centuries of its practice, but one recent trend has had truly unexpected effects upon the industry.  This is the expanding lifespan of the modern human being.  People are living longer than they used to, and not just by a little bit. Life expectancy is decades higher for people living today and it was for their grandparents, and the future holds the promise of even greater length of time. This is wonderful news for humanity, but it does leave the art of life insurance. in a bit of a quandary.  After all, life insurance is meant to pay benefits to people who live for a certain amount of time. This time is well defined and predicted by actuarial tables of great specificity.  When that amount of time is increasing, and in many cases by greater than ten percent, then an enormous amount of change moves through the industry. Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial has been using this wonderful fact to create more options for customers in the Laurel, MD area. 

For example, it is now possible to buy a life insurance policy on a 95-year-old individual. 95 years old would have been too late for life insurance policies of previous eras to even mature, but now someone of that advanced age has excellent prospects of living another 10 years and reasonable prospects of living another 20.  The health of the customer has also improved. A 65-year-old in reasonable health can obtain monthly life insurance premiums that would previously have been available only to someone under the age of 45.  These are not extrapolations based on current data; this is the way that things stand at this exact moment. Extrapolations show that human beings might live even longer. Serious medical professionals believe that there are children born today who may live to see the age of a hundred and fifty.  Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial is working hard to secure the economic futures of these and all other citizens of the Laurel, MD area. 

 
 

Does Your Home Repair Style Business Need Commercial Insurance

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Businesses that perform services in residential homes often operate out of industrial or residential space with little to no foot traffic from customers. This includes businesses like home repair, HVAC, plumbing, and carpet cleaning. Almost all custom contact happens at the customer’s resident or place of business. If a business doesn’t have customers walking onto its property then they have one less category of liability to worry about. So how does this situation affect a business’s insurance needs?

How Commercial Insurance Protects Non-Retail Businesses

Even if a business doesn’t have a retail location, commercial insurance is still necessary, especially when a business’s main focus is performing work on people’s homes. Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial serving Laurel, MD understands the needs of non-retail service businesses. Commercial insurance protects against claims of damage, negligence, or shoddy workmanship.

A home repair and construction business can be held responsible for any damage done while repairs or build-outs are taking place. A business owner may face a situation where a small repair ended in a burst pipe or damaged drywall. The business performing the work is liable for plumbing or other repairs that the business does not or cannot perform itself.

Working on someone’s home opens up the service provider to a potentially costly and emotional claim. People care a great deal about their homes. Protecting the customer’s home should be the goal of all businesses that perform home-related services.

Commercial insurance protects a business against things like:
– Damage to a customer’s property
– An injury caused to a customer or guest by the presence of performance of work.
– Claims of poor or shoddy workmanship
– Claims of injury due to chemicals in products used in performing work.

Businesses in Laurel, MD who want to protect their assets, equipment, capital, and property have found the right insurance for their type of business with Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial. Contact us today to discuss how we can save you money and protect your business.

 

Insurance Should Fit You and Your Home

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"How much Insurance coverage should I have and how much do I need?"

It is one of the oldest questions asked by clients in the insurance industry. The bad news is there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all answer. The good news is you have the answers to those question.

Getting Answers

Is your household expecting a new addition? Are you about to send a child to college or is one finally leaving the nest?  Is the property value in your community on the rise or is it declining? Do you live in a region with concerns like flooding? 

These are just a few of the questions that will determine what and how much coverage you may need. Of course, you aren’t expected to have all the insights and knowledge pertaining to insurance coverage and policies. Getting answers to such questions will require finding an experienced, caring and professional agent.

Getting the Right Answers

Servicing our friends and family in the Laurel, MD region is what the folks at the Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial agency are all about. That means taking the time and putting forth the effort to learn about you, your family, your home and your needs.

No two people, families or homes are alike. The right insurance and coverage is the one that will fit you and your home. If you are looking for insurance or looking to compare your current policy, Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial is here to help.

Get insurance made to fit you and your life and rest easy knowing you are covered. The right insurance policy for you is one that works within your budget, meets your needs and that offers you peace of mind.

Contact us to discuss your insurance needs and to find coverage that fits you, your home and your life.

Should You Make Your Teen Pay For Their Own Auto Insurance?

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Handing over the car keys to your teenager for the first time can be terrifying. If they’re responsible enough to drive a car, are they responsible enough to pay for their own car insurance? Here at Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial, we’re not going to actually tell you what to do, but we are going to give you some things to think about when it comes to footing the bill for your teenager’s auto insurance.

Why they should pay for their insurance

Teenagers are inherently inexperienced drivers, making their premiums higher. Making teens pay for their own insurance can help teach them responsibility, which can lead to them being safer on the road, whether they’re driving close to home near Laurel MD or embarking on their first road trip. Also, if teens are aware that the price they are paying could go up if they get in an accident, they will be even more likely to drive safely. Making teens pay for insurance also helps them understand how insurance works so they’re not clueless when they get out into the real world.

Why they shouldn’t pay for their insurance:

Some argue that you should let kids be kids, and let teens be teens. They’ll be paying for things for the rest of their lives, so give them a few years to be more carefree. Another advantage to paying for your teen’s auto insurance is that it gives you more leverage to take away driving privileges as a punishment or consequence of irresponsible behavior.

Clearly, there are advantages for both sides of the coin. Ultimately, you need to think about what will work best for your family and for your teen. Maybe a mixture works for you, or maybe you let your teen know that they will need to start paying for their insurance if they do get in an accident that raises their rates. No matter what you choose, Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial can help you get the coverage you need for your brand new teen driver. We serve Laurel, MD, and the surrounding areas.