Our offices will be be closing at 1 pm on December the 31st and will be closed on Jan 1st for the New Year Holiday. We will reopen on normal business hours Thursday Jan 2nd.
Please remember to celebrate the New Year responsibly and hopefully it is free from insurance related events but if one arises please call us at 410.651.1111 and leave us a detailed message. Also be sure to call your claim in directly to the claims reporting number located on your policy or your insurance card. For a list of most carriers claims lines you can find them by clicking here. You are also able to make payments over the phone or online with most companies by simply calling your company's customer service line or visiting their website as well.
Happy New Year from your friends at Gary Marshall Insurance Agency!
Merry Christmas Insurance Family!
Wishing You and Your Family a Very Merry Christmas!
Our offices will be closed beginning on December 24th at 1 PM for Christmas Eve and will remain closed until December 27th. We will reopen at normal business hours on Friday, December 27th.
Hopefully, your Christmas is free from insurance-related issues. However, in the event of a claim, please call our office and leave a detailed message. Additionally, you may contact the claims line on your ID card or policy.
For a list of most company claims numbers, you can visit our website.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving Insurance Family. Our offices will be closed on November 28th and 29th for the Thanksgiving Holiday. We will reopen at 9 am on Monday December 2nd.
Enjoy our blog for some Thanksgiving day tips. https://mailchi.mp/garymarshallagency/happy-thanksgiving-litzyfm3bb-8329848
Understanding higher insurance costs
Historic billion-dollar weather and climate disasters. Year after year storms seem to be more destructive and more frequent. In the year 2023 the US experienced 28 separate weather and climate disasters each costing at least 1 billion dollars. 2023 also also caused at least 492 direct or indirect fatalities, the most since 1980. Source: NOAA. This information as well as a number of other statistics can be found right here
Building and construction cost have spiraled out of control and has taken a big hit on property insurers as well as the cost to fix and maintain cars has been one of the leading reasons for auto insurance spikes. Here is an excellent news article from CNBC covering this very topic.
Locally we have seen several companies that are non-renewing customers because they have made the decision to exit the business in some states or entirely. This is coming as quite a shock as many of these policyholders have never had a claim and have been with the companies for many years. At our agency we have had a few of our carriers that have made this decision and our teams are doing our very best to find a new company for our customers.. We are also getting calls daily from people who are being non renewed by other companies.
With this increased demand and limited market many companies are being much more strict with their guidelines. We are seeing rising costs in everything and it is translating to higher insurance costs too.
If you or someone you know has gotten a nonrenewal notice we would love to try to help. Please call our office or you can submit a quote request for auto or home on our website.
David Galeone
Happy Labor Day
Happy Labor Day Weekend Insurance Family!
Labor Day signals the end of summer and beginning of another school year. Labor Day is also a long weekend full of shopping and barbecuing too.
Our offices will be closed on Monday September 2nd for Labor Day. If you are traveling please drive safely. Do you know why we celebrate Labor Day? Here is everything you need to know about Labor Day! here
Please enjoy our blog and please forward to anyone that you think may find it helpful. Remember in the event of a claim please call our office and leave a detailed message as well as calling the claims line on your ID card or policy. For a list of most claims lines you can find them by visiting our website @www.garymarshallagency.com/claims-centers
Happy 4th of July!
Our offices will be closed on Thursday the 4th of July. If you are traveling for the holiday please drive safely. For a quick refresher on why we celebrate the 4th take a quick read here: https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/july-4th
Please enjoy our newsletter and please forward to anyone that you think may find it helpful. Remember in the event of a claim please call our office and leave a detailed message as well as calling the claims line on your ID card or policy. For a list of most claims lines you can find them by visiting our website @ www.garymarshallagency.com/claims-centers
Memorial Day 2024
Our offices will be closed on Monday May the 27th in observance of Memorial Day. If you are traveling please drive safely. Please keep in mind all of the men and women who have died while serving our country the real reason for Memorial Day. For a refresher on the history of Memorial Day click here.
Please enjoy our newsletter and please forward to anyone that you think may find it helpful. Remember in the event of a claim please call our office and leave a detailed message as well as calling the claims line on your ID card or policy. For a list of most claims lines you can find them by visiting our website @ www.garymarshallagency.com/claims-centers
Happy Easter Insurance Family!
Happy Easter Insurance Family!
Our offices will be closed on Friday March 29th for Good Friday and the Easter Holiday. Both offices will open on Monday April the 1st at normal office hours. We hope you enjoy your Easter.
Hopefully your Easter is free from insurance related issues but remember in the event of a claim please call our office and leave a detailed message as well as calling the claims line on your ID card or policy. For a list of most claims lines you can find them by visiting our website @www.garymarshallagency.com/claims-centers
Heavy Winds, rain, and flooding
Our home Delmarva is no stranger to storms. The next day or so Delmarva will experience heavily winds, rain and flooding. There is a high possibility of downed trees, powerlines, and power outages.
Here are some things to keep in mind and help prevent claims and what you should do if you have a claim.
Homeowners/Property:
Make sure you have cleared all rain guttering and down spouts are pointed away from your home or property.
Have dead tree limbs, or trees removed.
Have loose shingles replaced as soon as possible.
Secure all lose chairs, trampolines, or other items in your yard that could be blown in the heavy winds.
Keep limbs from overhanging or touching your roof or siding.
Know where your breaker box is and how to reset in the event that you have a power outage and the breakers trip.
Auto:
Do not park under trees or limbs.
Do not park in low lying areas that are known for standing water. Do not drive into standing water.
Keep your window clean and when visibility is bad reduce speed. Stay off the roads if at all possible or slow down or stop to allow heavy rains to pass.
Here are some basic steps to prepare before a storm.
Have charged phones, flashlights, extra batteries.
Know where fire extinguishers are located.
Have some cash on hand.
Have medicine as well as enough food and water for a few days. Have important documents in a safe place including your insurance policies with the claims reporting number.
For more preparation tips see the American Red Cross Preparedness tips.
What to do if you have a claim.
Most importantly stay safe.
Next if you can take steps to prevent further damage. And save any receipts for temporary repairs.
Call power companies or utility companies to report downed lines.
Report the loss directly to the claims reporting number on your ID card or policy as soon as possible. Here is a list of most of our carriers claims reporting lines: CLAIM NUMBERS Apps are available with most companies to report claims on as well.
While now is not the time to make changes or purchase insurance storms serve as a great reminder why having proper insurance in place is so important.
Adding Your Teen Driver!
When adding a newly licensed driver to your car insurance policy many parents face sticker shock. When I get that call I normally start my response with are you sitting down, or can you take a baby aspirin or two. There is no easy way to put it adding a teen driver is expensive, it will and should greatly impact your rates. After all, we are talking about a substantial change in the risk involved with your current policy by adding a new driver to it.
Happy New Year!!
Our offices will be be closed on Monday January the 1st for the New Year Holiday. We will reopen on normal business hours Tuesday January 2rd.
Please remember to celebrate the New Year responsibly and hopefully it is free from insurance related events but if one arises please call us at 410.651.1111 and leave us a detailed message. Also be sure to call your claim in directly to the claims reporting number located on your policy or your insurance card. For a list of most carriers claims lines you can find them by clicking here. You are also able to make payments over the phone or online with most companies by simply calling your company's customer service line or visiting their website as well.
Happy New Year from your friends at Gary Marshall Insurance Agency!
Merry Christmas
Our offices will be closed on Monday December 25th for Christmas. We will reopen at normal business hours on Tuesday December 26th. We hope that you have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy time with family and friends.
Hopefully your Christmas is free from insurance related issues but remember in the event of a claim please call our office and leave a detailed message as well as calling the claims line on your ID card or policy.
For a list of most claims lines you can find them by visiting our website @ www.garymarshallagency.com/claims-centers
Giving Thanks to you. Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving Insurance Family. Our offices will be closed on November 23rd and 24th for the Thanksgiving Holiday. We will reopen at 9 am on Monday November the 27th.
Please enjoy our blog and please forward to anyone that you think may find it helpful. Remember in the event of a claim please call our office and leave a detailed message as well as calling the claims line on your ID card or policy. For a list of most claims lines you can find them by visiting our website @www.garymarshallagency.com/claims-centers
Insurance Market Update:
Why are insurance costs going up? Why is everything going up?
Many people are noticing a rise in their insurance costs. Insurance just like everything else that we tend to purchase today is certainly increasing. And while there are steps you can take to help reduce these higher costs, be sure that you do not sacrifice valuable coverages that may be more important than ever in the event of a claim.
I am going to cover a few of the reasons that insurance costs are going up and some options to help reduce these costs as well.
Homeowners insurance/ Property Insurance: A good amount of the increase that you see in a typical homeowners insurance policy can be contributed to the increased coverage or additional coverage that would be required to build your home back. Over the past few years building costs have increased/ labor costs have increased and to put your home back the way it was before certainly will cost more than it would have 10 years ago. A lot more. Most homeowners insurance policies are written to be at replacement value and therefore your coverage has to be in line with what it would cost to put the home back. And if you have a mortgage they will require the policy to be written this way.
This problem is two fold since when you have a claim the insurance company is paying to replace the property that was damaged in the covered loss. All of these claims are costing significantly more than they did in the past as well as the turnaround time is much longer. Which again creates additional costs since the insurance policy will pay for you to live somewhere while you can not reside in your home due to the covered loss. And claims and catastrophe losses have been on the rise as well.
A simple solution would be to look at increasing your all peril deductible and raising that to lower your premium. Also look over your policy for additional discounts. Some companies offer large discounts for renovations. We constantly ask our insurance family in our policy reviews if they have made any renovations to the roof, hvac, electric, or plumbing. Did you install an Alarm or a smart sensor of some kind? Again these new devices can offer some additional savings. Chances are these changes alone may not knock out the entire increase however it could drop the cost you pay substantially.
There are often several other discounts that can be found doing a policy review and we often hear I didn’t know that would make a difference! And that is exactly why we ask these questions when we are reviewing a policy.
Auto insurance: What is causing the rise in Auto Costs? You guessed it, the same thing. According to AM BEST the US private passenger auto sector had an underwriting loss of more than $30 billion last year. And so far this year isn’t looking much better. The cost to repair cars has skyrocketed. So has the value of cars. Newer electric cars cost on average 52% more to repair than combustion engines according to Best’s review October 23 article.. And even though you do not drive one your policy will have to pay to put one back if you hit it. And so many of these newer cars are totaled today when they seem to be involved in a somewhat minor accident. In the same article by Best’s review the share that a Hyundai EV that damaged the underneath after blowing a tire had to be totaled. A blown tire caused a total loss. The price of most cars and not just electric cars have gone up as well. The parts are not as readily available and this leads to longer repair times and longer rental times. Rental car costs have also increased substantially (if you have not increased your daily dollar amount on rental you will want to do that too).
What can you do to help reduce the cost on your auto insurance? Start with again your deductibles. If you have $500, consider $1000. Yes that is a lot more money that you will have to pay but stop and think what you could have bought with $500 10 years ago vs. today. So that is why you might want to start there. Do you have multiple cars? If you have 3 cars and only two drivers you might want to remove collision from the one that sits in the yard more than it is driven. Do you have a rental on all three? Maybe you want to consider removing that. Good student, maybe a company car, or recently retired all of these things can be addressed while doing a quick review with your agent.
There are new telematic devices and pay per mile auto types of policies that claim to offer substantial savings. And in some cases some people can save a good amount of money but more often than not we find that people switch and find that they are paying even more money at the end of the day. This is especially true for people that only have one car. Many times we discover not only are they paying more but they actually have far less coverage than they had before.
So why not just find another company? What are some reasons that you would want to try to reduce the costs of your current policy and not just try to find another company to begin with? Well I will start with all of my personal and business policies and they have all increased a good amount from where they were last year. And even though I have multiple companies I can consider, I didn't even think about trying to move my policies from the current company they are with right now. There are some companies that have taken 3 rate increases in the past year and have plans to take additional ones. And out of every company that I have appointments I am not aware of one that hasn’t taken a increase. And that goes for just about every company that I am aware of anywhere. I have read numerous articles about this subject and it isn’t one company it is the industry. They are suffering the worst underwriting losses in history. But the biggest reason you shouldn’t just jump ship as they say is simple: you might not be able to get the old policy back and the grass may not be greener on the other side. Even if we can find a lower priced policy. How much longer will it be lower? Has that company already announced a future rate increase? Will they require an inspection? Do you have the same deductibles?
We have also seen much stricter underwriting which could cause a newly written policy to be canceled. Some companies that used to offer auto will not even allow us to quote it. Many have removed annual auto policies. More and more companies are non renewing business, many are not willing to reinstate business or make any type of exceptions.. There are new down payment requirements to include some companies requiring 50% down payments to start a new policy.
I am not saying that you shouldn’t switch companies but in today's market I have reviewed and spoken to more people than I have in the past 20 years and told them they should keep what they have. This is true when looking at not just our clients but people from other companies as well. I have also been bluntly honest with people and said yes I know it has gone up and so has everything else unfortunately. I know that doesn’t make it easier but if everything else is going up your insurance should and will go up too.
So who should consider switching companies right now? I just recently saved someone a few thousand dollars on a policy. That one was a no-brainer: it cut the premiums down by over half and much better coverage for them as well. That type of savings isn’t typical but there are several policies that haven’t been reviewed in years. I almost needed a baby aspirin when I saw how much they were paying.
So what is the magic number, the special amount of savings that it would be worth switching? I guess if I had to put a number on it I would look for savings of 20% or more to even consider switching as long as the coverages and deductibles are the same. Why 20% because if it isn’t saving you at least that much there is a good chance your new policy may go up at least that much in a year..
When your insurance policy renews it will probably go up and it should be expected with what is going on today. No one wants to have any bill increase. I don’t like it when my electric bill, or water bill, or any other bill goes up. Most of those places do not offer any type of solution at all to address the higher costs. While I have covered a few things that you can do to help reduce some of the cost on your insurance policies, the absolute best thing you can do is speak to your insurance agent to make sure you understand your policy and that way you know what you are comparing to begin with. But make sure you are dealing with a local agent, not someone on the end of a 800 number that you will never talk to again after they sell you a policy.
David Galeone
Happy Labor Day 2023
Happy Labor Day Weekend Insurance Family!
Labor Day signals the end of summer and beginning of another school year. Labor Day is also a long weekend full of shopping and barbecuing too.
Our offices will be closed on Monday September 4th for Labor Day. If you are traveling please drive safely. Do you know why we celebrate Labor Day? Here is everything you need to know about Labor Day! here
Please enjoy our blog and please forward to anyone that you think may find it helpful. Remember in the event of a claim please call our office and leave a detailed message as well as calling the claims line on your ID card or policy. For a list of most claims lines you can find them by visiting our website @www.garymarshallagency.com/claims-centers
Happy 4th of July!
Memorial Day 2023
Our offices will be closed on Monday May the 29th in observance of Memorial Day. If you are traveling please drive safely. Please keep in mind all of the men and women who have died while serving our country the real reason for Memorial Day. For a refresher on the history of Memorial Day click here.
Please enjoy our newsletter and please forward to anyone that you think may find it helpful. Remember in the event of a claim please call our office and leave a detailed message as well as calling the claims line on your ID card or policy. For a list of most claims lines you can find them by visiting our website @ www.garymarshallagency.com/claims-centers
Happy Easter 2023!
Happy Easter Insurance Family!
Our offices will be closed on Friday April 7th for Good Friday and the Easter Holiday. Both offices will open on Monday the 10th at normal office hours. We hope you enjoy your Easter.
Hopefully your Easter is free from insurance related issues but remember in the event of a claim please call our office and leave a detailed message as well as calling the claims line on your ID card or policy. For a list of most claims lines you can find them by visiting our website @www.garymarshallagency.com/claims-centers
Happy New Year 2023!!
Our offices will be closing on Friday at 1:00 and be closed on Monday the 2nd for the New Year Holiday. We will reopen on normal business hours Tuesday January 3rd.
Please remember to celebrate the New Year responsibly and hopefully it is free from insurance related events but if one arises please call us at 410.651.1111 and leave us a detailed message. Also be sure to call your claim in directly to the claims reporting number located on your policy or your insurance card. For a list of most carriers claims lines you can find them by clicking here. You are also able to make payments over the phone or online with most companies by simply calling your company's customer service line or visiting their website as well.
Happy New Year from your friends at Gary Marshall Insurance Agency!
Merry Christmas
Wishing You and Your Family a Very Merry Christmas!
Our offices will be close at 1:00 on Friday December 23rd and Monday December 26th for Christmas. We will reopen at normal business hours on Tuesday December 27th. We hope that you have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy time with family and friends.
Hopefully your Christmas is free from insurance related issues but remember in the event of a claim please call our office and leave a detailed message as well as calling the claims line on your ID card or policy.
For a list of most claims lines you can find them by visiting our website @ www.garymarshallagency.com/claims-centers
Did you bake Santa one of his favorite Christmas Cookies? Do you want to know what Delmarva's favorite Christmas Cookies are? Take a look at our Shop Local Delmarva Poll to see!!
And Delmarva's favorite Christmas Movie once again this year to no surprise was National Lampoon's Vacation but what other Christmas Movies made the top 5? Shop Local Delmarva Poll
For a free PDF on Christmas Tree Safety https://snip.ly/v4gwxo
Click here
for our Christmas Forecast
