Guaranty Association Benefits Company

If you are a manufacturer, retailer or wholesaler, managing your exposure to product liability is an essential part of your plan global risk management. Let's take a look at some of the issues underwriter liability arise when deciding whether or not to provide liability insurance products.

1. How potentially harmful is the product? If only a component, which is the final product? The parts used in aircraft and medical equipment are closely examined.
2. The applicant is a manufacturer retailer or wholesaler product? From the perspective of an insurer, the manufacturer will usually have the highest risk of prosecution and products wholesaler least.
3. How many years of experience The applicant has in the company? Underwriters like to see a history of good experience of loss. A new high exposure parts manufacturer could have coverage in time trouble getting.
4. What the applicant quality control program ? This includes the evaluation of how the product is tested, inspections, record keeping, instructions for use, handling complaints, and examination of the application.
5. Is the applicant handling all different products in the past?
6. is that the new applicant plan products in the future
7. What is the extent of the applicant's market : local, regional, national, or international?

The last point regarding the contract brings an important consideration for companies that have an international clientele. The shape of the coverage of standard products requires that any damage occurring outside the United States, Puerto Rico, or Canada and resulting from the insured's product is covered only if the suit is filed within the States States, Puerto Rico, or Canada. Thus, it may be prudent for those who sell products outside these areas for foreign liability coverage policy. Similarly, insurers often treat distributors of products manufactured overseas manufacturers from a subscription and pricing point of view, because it can be determined that the action against the manufacturer or the foreign supplier is unlikely or that the manufacturer / supplier has no insurance product liability.

manufacturers should also assess their exposure to the withdrawal of the product. Whoever reads Consumer Reports magazine probably noticed its regular list of defective products which are removed. Many carriers offer coverage for expenses incurred by the insured for the withdrawal of their product.

Finally, all business owners with a major exhibition of products should seriously consider purchasing an umbrella policy. This will provide additional protection from disaster great costumes products that could jeopardize the viability of your operation.

Are you comfortable with the exhibition of products for managing your company's responsibility? If you have concerns, please contact your agent for further risk management ideas.

The covers here are described in the most general terms, and subject to the conditions and actual policy exclusions. For the actual wording cover, conditions and exclusions, see the policy or contact your agent.

The official start of the holiday season is just around the corner. Yes, I'm one of those crazy coming out "Black Friday" shopping, and any of you who have ventured on Black Friday know how crazy it can be. At the end of the day shopping, I'm bleary eyes and my legs were about to give me (all in pursuit of a bargain).

I am also one of those who only shops with plastic. I never have money on me, and in the midst of the madness of the day, it can be easy to lose track of your assets - especially your purse (which contains all plastic)! The few times I have left my bag somewhere, I was fortunate to have an honest person back to me or call the store and tell me they found. However, Black Friday, with all the bustle of the day, an unattended bag or purse is an easy target for thieves.

To help protect your plastic, your accounts, and ultimately your identity, Black Friday and the rest of the holiday season, follow these simple rules:

1. Cut the cards . Minimize the number of credit and debit cards you use. carry only one or two at a time.
2. Cancel unused accounts . They are additional targets for identity thieves.
3. Carefully review your accounts , including financial statements, bank statements and credit.
4. Keep a list and / or photocopies of all accounts . Be sure to store this information in a safe place (not in your wallet or purse). Remember to include credit and debit card accounts, bank accounts and investment accounts. account numbers and list phone numbers for customer service and fraud departments so you can contact them quickly if cards are stolen or accounts are abused.
5. Avoid using a debit card PIN for purchases when traveling or in a place where you are not familiar with the staff.
6. with unknown merchants use credit card , which is better protected, or choose to use a non-PIN based transaction. PIN-based transactions are easily "skim", making your account checks vulnerable to theft.
7. Run purchases with a debit card as credit . Never use a card as a debit unless absolutely necessary, for example to the bank or ATM. Why? Because more protections exist for credit cards, and credit card fraud claims are less likely to be decreased.

Despite your best efforts, it is still possible that an attacker could discover your private information. What should you do if you suspect someone has hijacked your identity stolen or your credit or debit accounts?

1. Submit a detailed report with local law enforcement.
2. Place a fraud alert on your credit file with any of the three major credit bureaus. A warning signal to potential creditors that you might be a victim of identity theft.
3. Carefully review your credit report for unusual activity.
4. Consider placing a security freeze on your credit report. A freeze locks access to your credit, so no one will be able to open a new account in your name. When you apply for credit, you can lift the freeze temporarily.
5. existing creditors Contact your bank and corporate credit cards to tell them that you have been victim of identity theft.
6. debit card fraud victims must do two things:
   1. notify their financial institution immediately. The deadline for contest fraud debit card is narrower than for credit card fraud.
   2. Stop the card and request a new one. This will prevent future fraud committed on the same account.

Identity theft can happen to anyone. Click on the above video link to hear a victim of real life and how it has resolved the situation. To learn more about identity theft and how to protect yourself, visit our Knowledge Center or the "Protect yourself against identity theft" of our website.

I wish you a shopping season safe holiday season!

Looking to buy an expensive piece of jewelry for your loved Christmas? Some earrings diamond earrings, a Rolex watch, or even the long-awaited engagement ring? When you wrap this valuable gift, make sure you wrap it in the right insurance coverage as well!

The policy standard owners may not have the right amount of coverage for these types of high value items, which could leave you on the hook for much of the cost of replacing them. While the policy owner will cover your belongings if they are damaged or destroyed by a covered loss, there are cases where coverage is limited to a certain limit, leaving you to pay out of pocket for everything above that amount. For example, many home insurance policies cap theft of jewelry coverage (among others) a certain amount to help ensure honesty, but can also work against you if you are not careful.

There are ways to ensure high value items that will prevent this type of situation. Jewelry, fine arts, musical instruments, and much more can be "programmed" on a policy of personal property, to extend the coverage of these elements as part of the policy of a typical owner. When you schedule an object, you make it a measured amount or the amount of the sales invoice. This schedule is attached to your house policy. Then, if one of the scheduled items is stolen or damaged, instead of the carrier to pay you for the loss up to a certain limit, you would have a competition to cover the amount for this article. Not only programming elements eliminate caps on your coverage, but it broadens the coverage beyond a homeowners policy cover.

For example, if a diamond ever crack, or did you misplace it, you can file a claim to have the product repaired or replaced. for a covered loss the carrier will pay up to the limit shown in the schedule of the policy for missing or damaged.

Many carriers require an assessment for any item over a certain value so that it is covered on a personal ownership policy provided. These assessments should be updated every three years or more to ensure that the values ​​indicated on the policy are maintained. Contact your agent for more information about this type of coverage.

The benefits described here are in the most general terms and are subject to conditions and actual policy exclusions. In the language of the actual cover, conditions and exclusions, please refer to the policy or contact your agent.

We have them on our phones and our computers. Some of us have them beautifully displayed in albums, while most of the rest of us have shoeboxes full of old cliches that we will go and organize ... one day.

Why do we keep those boxes around? Because each snapshot captures a particular moment in time - a memory -. And this snapshot allows everyone to take a leap in time and revisit those moments

I take "snapshots" at work every day. They are the best part of my job in the customer service. I manage about 10,000 incoming calls per year and every conversation and interaction gives a spirit of imagination the opportunity to take a quick glimpse of the person on the other end of the line. My clients are a load of fun! They are funny, honest, funny, real people, and I hope you enjoy the experience we visit online together.

Today I want to introduce you to a lady named Florida. Yes, honestly and truly, that is his name. I liked him immediately. She has a great sense of humor. I met her through a post-it stuck to that invoice. (Yes, here in Central, a human eye, not an electronic system gives on each incoming invoice and check. So if ever you wondered if someone reads the little comments you doodle on your bill ... yes!)

Anyway, Florida is the kind of woman who felt like she needed to explain why the check has not been received on time. His note read: ". Sorry, this delay Bill was lost in my foolproof filing system!" You just have to smile with someone who can push a little fun at themselves, do you? And we Fess up. Florida is not the only one of us with a ranking system "foolproof"! Been there, done that for sure!

These days, boys and girls in the technology departments of most companies have developed a pretty slick solution to those of us who, like Florida, some organizationally challenged! I call it the electronic workbook, better known as Computer! These days, you can choose to receive your bills and your policy itself online. No paperwork to get eaten by Rover or accidentally thrown away by our useful spouse while they were "cleaning". No more frantic searching through piles of paper when you need to know if you have coverage for towing. No more visits to the kennel for my client Guadalupe, who made the mistake of misplacing the bill when his wife Margarita went to find it! If you can find your computer, you can find your invoice and / or your policy information with a single user ID and password. Here is! The ranking system foolproof lives!

Watch our video to learn more about how to receive your policy via E-policy can fool proof your filing system.

Right about now you're probably thinking about a snapshot of one of your customers, suppliers, or anyone you treat via the telephone. I'd love to meet them! Feel free to drop me a line, right?

Charitable giving is something that many associate with the holiday season, but as the holidays grow smaller in the rearview mirror, we get more caught up in our daily lives. It is admirable that many people in this current share the little they have economic climate, but after the holiday gift slows to a trickle, despite the fact that many people and the needs of the last organizations throughout the 'year. This blog is written in the hope that this will remind all of us to try to keep that giving spirit alive a little longer.

There are many ways to give back. Maybe you let your pennies to register for someone who can be no change necessary. You can send an additional check to your favorite charity, or maybe go down to your local heating fuel provider and put some money into the bill past due to a stranger. It would be a great relief for them to not have to worry about their heat cut or wonder how they will manage to pay for the next barrel of oil to keep their families warm. It was a cold winter for most countries, and the frost has not prevented the holidays. And perhaps those who run charities could bend the rules once more beyond the holiday season.

Charitable donations need not be large sums of money, or even be financial at all. Sending a small additional donation to the charity of your choice is grea, t and your money could certainly be put to good use, but there are other, smaller ways to give as well. For example, you might catch the person behind you in line at the coffee shop and pay for their morning coffee. A coffee with two dollars may not mean much to your bottom line, but more than likely just made the recipient's day. It goes beyond the moment. They will surely tell their colleagues about your generosity and perhaps even post them on the gesture on their Facebook page. Your two dollars only brought somebody a little extra joy in what was a very dreary winter, a difficult day, or even a negative moment which could have their day in another direction. This small gesture can even arouse their spirit of generosity and they can pay before.

Other ways you can give back without giving financially include a donation of old clothes or to volunteer at a pantry or soup food cuisine. It costs nothing but a little time and would go a long way to help those in need. There are many such facilities across the country that are understaffed and would benefit greatly from a few hours of your time. One day it may be you who needs this coffee mug, tote bag for a pantry or even coins at checkout. Believe me, pay back is something you will never regret.

The holidays are themselves not the reason we feel charitable. It is what we give during the holidays that brings about that sentiment. Do some additional donations beyond the holidays can simply bring a touch of that good feeling back in our hearts for a little longer.

- Recently my friends and I took a girls trip to our alma mater. After a day of memories on campus, we returned to our hotel room. First item on our list: make a mad dash to the nearest electrical outlet. Do not plug in our hair straightening or blow-dryers ... but to charge our phones! We all complain that our cell phone batteries were 100 percent when we left our homes in the morning and now our batteries were all about to die. It was probably because we listened to music on our drive up there, Texted all day, checked Facebook at least six times and took too many selfies. As a result, we ended up sharing some tips we have heard, you can save the battery of your cell phone ...

Set brightness. Most phones have an automatic adjustment of the brightness of your screen. Usually the phone by default this setting, but if not, select it and adjust the display according to the lightning.

Turn your location based services. According to the settings in your phone, it is an option to disable your "location services" or "location access".

Watch your push notifications. Push notifications alert you to new messages or events without having to open the application. You can configure push notifications for applications such as Facebook and my favorite, Instagram. Under your zone settings and notifications, you can disable these to help your battery last longer. But do not worry! When you connect to your applications, you will still be able to see all notifications.

Turn off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Some other wasteful battery are Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. When you are not using Bluetooth, make sure you off. So when you are not in an area where you use a Wi-Fi connection, disable this feature. Both can be turned back when you need them.

Download an application of the battery-management. There are several applications available to help you extend your battery life battery-management. Popular applications include JuiceDefender for Android and iPhone Battery Life Pro. You can also use the Active Manager App that is available on all Android devices by default. rapid application shutdown is possible both on Android and iPhone by double clicking the home button.

Do not vibrate or haptic feedback. Having your phone vibrated using more power than playing a ringtone, because it takes a lot more power to your entire phone shake. If you insist on keeping your telephone to vibrate, consider turning down the intensity or duration.

Disable GPS. There is no need to have your active GPS so just turn on when you need them. Phones have the ability to detect your location using Wi-Fi. If an application needs a GPS, it will tell you.

Switch to airplane mode. If you know you will be in an area with low or unreliable connection, switch to airplane mode. Airplane mode is a setting for most mobile devices that prevents the device from sending or receiving calls and text messages and disables the use of Wi-Fi, GPS, services based on location, and Bluetooth . This feature can easily be turned on and off.

Hopefully these tips will help you avoid the panic that sets in when "Low Battery" appears on your phone! Please share tips or tricks to help you use the battery of your cell phone last longer additional.

One of the hardest things that can happen during the day of a claims representative is to receive a "new" file an incident that happened months and perhaps years earlier, especially if it is a liability file.

When there is a small loss of property, we can understand why it would take so long to file the claim. You thought that missing piece of jewelry turn up (they often do). Or maybe you were not at home when a storm took place and did not realize he had praised until a neighbor told you a few months later when you asked why there was a new roof put on the house. Then there's the time you turned on the AC for the first time this season and he has acted, but believe you just need a little maintenance ... until your repairer you says he was struck by lightning. In such case, the statement not usually late hinder our ability to investigate, assess and pay the claim.

But there are other times. Since the accident in which you were not at fault, but there were serious injuries involved. Another insurance company has contacted you and paid for the damage to your vehicle. Fortunately, you were not hurt. Your passenger went to an emergency room, and despite being a little sore was not seriously injured. You may feel particularly lucky because one of the passengers of the car that hit you was taken from the scene by helicopter and admitted to hospital in serious condition. But in your case, you see no reason to declare the accident to your insurance company. Everything is in order. Or so you think ...

Six months later, you receive a letter from a lawyer representing that critically injured party of the other vehicle. They allege that you are partly responsible for the accident and urge you to have your insurance company contact them! In a panic, you call your company or agent to report the claim. At present, the company's investigation could be hampered because of the passage of time. Police markings made on the street at the time of the accident will probably not be visible. Details of the accident are no longer fresh in the minds of all the witnesses, and other parties can now be represented by lawyers who do not allow their customers to make statements. An injured party may be influenced by knowledge of the limits available to the responsible party and be grasped any possibility of recovery from another source. Your passenger, who was unable to solve his little damage claim with the other company is frustrated and uncooperative when your company asks him to help them in their investigation.

Although it may seem there was no reason to declare the claim in the accident, keep in mind that your insurance policy describes your rights in the event of a loss . Common provisions include under these functions (often first) something like "Give prompt notice to us or our agent." Failure to comply with notice requirements of your policy, especially if the failure impedes or impairs the investigation the company could jeopardize coverage that would otherwise have been available.

Although we would all immediately reported losses for us, regardless of size, we understand that there may be legitimate reasons for a delay, as mentioned at the beginning of the job. But whenever you are involved in an accident, even if it seems there is no way that someone might believe that the accident was your fault, it's best to let your insurance company know as soon as possible. you can save yourself a lot of grief on the road by doing.

Have you ever had to report a loss well after the loss occurred and how the process works for you?