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Toll Free: 877.520.2111 / Fax: 608.325.7153 |
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If you cannot find an answer to your question in the frequently asked questions listed below please ask the question and we will get you the answer.
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Q: I keep one auto strictly for business. Do I need a separate policy?
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A: Yes. Whether you have one vehicle or several, you will need a business automobile policy. Such a policy covers any motor vehicle used in your business, including cars, vans, trucks, and trailers pulled by trucks. The policy offers coverage if they are damaged or stolen, and it also covers liability if the business vehicle is in an accident and the driver is at fault. This policy is not for truckers or commercial garages. They have special liabilities and must secure policies that deal with their different needs. Businesses that have a fleet of vehicles will have different needs than a business with one or two. |
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Q: I just signed a three-year lease to open my business. Why does my insurance agent want to see my lease?
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A: Whether the business lease is for a building or for equipment, the agent needs to determine who is responsible for insuring the leased items - you or the lessor. For leased buildings of building space, there are other factors to be considered, such as who is responsible for the plate glass coverage, whether your landlord requires tenants to carry minimum amounts of liability insurance and the extent of a hold harmless agreement. These and other situations covered in the lease affect the amount and kind of insurance you need. |
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Q: My business requires that I store gasoline on the premises. Do I have special insurance?
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A: Yes, if your business transports, stores, or uses toxic materials, you are required by law to have a special environmental liability policy. If these materials should be discharged accidentally into the water or leak onto the ground due to a covered peril like fire, the cost of extraction the pollutant from the business premises is covered up to the dollar amount set forth in the property section of your policy. |
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Q: What about the cars and truck that I have in my business? Is that coverage like what I have on my personal car?
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A: Yes, but in addition to covering the vehicles you own for liability, medical payments, uninsured motorist coverage, comprehensive and collision, it also covers you when you rent a car and when your employees are operating their personal cars for you business. Be sure to review your auto exposures with your agent. |
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Q: What do I do after an automobile accident?
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A: What to do when the accident involves you
The Best way to deal with an accident is to prevent one from happening. As a general rule, leave at least two seconds travelling distance between you and the car ahead. Measure the distance by picking a fixed marker and counting two "mississippi". If you pass the marker before you've finished counting, you're probably travelling too close. In poor weather conditions increase the distance to give yourself more time to stop.
Take charge and make the best of a bad situation. Turn the engine off. Be aware of your environment. Watch for electrical wires, hazardous chemicals, gases, and spilled gasoline that could result in a fire. Protect yourself and others from additional injury, then call the police or 9-1-1 if emergency assistance is necessary.
Look underneath and around cars for victims who might have been thrown during the accident. Don't move an injured person unless they're at risk of drowning or burning. If you are qualified to do so, treat for severe bleeding and unconsciousness. If you're injured - stay put.
If no one is hurt and the vehicles involved are safe to drive, encourage the drivers to move them to the side of the road to avoid disrupting the flow of traffic. Next gather as much of the following information as you can.
Record the date, time and place of the accident. Document your speed and that of the other vehicles involved as well as weather and road conditions. Take down the names, addresses, phone numbers, vehicle license numbers, insurance companies, passenger names, makes, models and year of every vehicle and driver involved in the accident.
Be sure to note the damage done to all vehicles involved. If you have a spare camera ore even a disposable, keep it in the car as a recording tool. Write down the names and addresses of any witnesses and/or injured parties. Don't forget to get the name, badge number and detachment of the investigating officer.
Sketch the accident on a piece of paper complete with street names, traffic signals and any objects which may have been involved in the collision.
Even in situations where there appears to be no visible damage, it's a good idea to take down the driver's name and license number as well as establish that no harm has been done. This will help to protect you from those who may try to file a claim against you a few months later.
Now that you know what to do, here's what not to do. Don't authorize anyone to repair your vehicle. Don't let a tow truck driver take off with your car before negotiating the fee. Towing can be expensive - know the price up front. Finally, never admit liability. You only know what happened to you. Once you've done all of this you've only two calls left to make. Call your family, then contact your insurance agent or broker. |
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Q: Soaring Wisconsin Health Insurance Costs
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A: The Cost of providing health insurance for Wisconsin workers could rise by an average of 30 percent in the coming year, the result of a dizzyingly complex set of factors for which there are no simple solutions or easy answers, according tot he Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Experts say employers will try to absorb most of the added cost but will probably have to pass some of the increase to the workers - even though employers might then risk losing workers to a labor market where unemployment rates continue to hover at historic lows. Hardest hit will be businesses with fewer than 25 employees.
Reasons for the skyrocketing premiums include: escalating prescription costs, fueled by demand for mass-marketed drugs; more people visiting physicians, often unnecessarily; expensive medical technology; an aging work force; and general inflation in health-care prices, the article said.
The average renewal premium for such businesses in Wisconsin it projected to jump 33.6 percent in 2001, according to figures compiled by Frank F. Hack & Associates, a Milwaukee insurance and consulting group. |
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Q: The Life Insurance Agent
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A: "I can think of no more effective agent in advancing our freedom to live as we choose than the insurance sales person. This person knows the economic and human pulse of the country as few people may, for they walk all streets of American life and they sit down and talk with the youth and the mature and the aged. They know their wants. They help them to help themselves in time of need. They build, for they help others to build. They insure the future. They are respected, and they are friends."
~ John F. Kennedy ~
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Q: I can't find the answer to my question in this section
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A: Fill out the form below and we will contact you with the answer.
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