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Dealing with the Person at the Rental Car Counter

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Hey everyone.  Hope all is going well with everyone.  I wanted to write about this topic because it’s a question I get asked by people almost on a daily basis.  It’s one of the most frequently asked questions we get here at our agency.  When you go on a trip, whether it be a vacation, trip for work, etc a lot of you probably rent a car so you can get around easier.  What happens when you get to the rental car counter?  The guy or gal is 100% going to ask you if you want their insurance coverage.  I’ve worked closely with a lot of rental car companies and have a lot of friends that either used to or still work for rental car companies.  Every company’s employees are trained to ask every customer and sometimes it can be pretty confusing.  The choices they give you can be confusing, even for me and I’m in the insurance business!  So what do you do?  Which option do you go with?  Do you even need it??  The quick answer is yes and no.  Maybe you do and maybe you don’t.

Now that you’ve rolled your eyes and are about to close this window, before you do, please just hear me out.  It isn’t as cut and dry as you may think.  It’s largely going to depend on your situation and the auto insurance coverage you have.  Let me spell it out for you.

If you have full coverage on your car insurance, which means you have both comprehensive and collision coverage, then you don’t necessarily need it.  That will transfer over to the car you are renting as long as it is in the United States and Canada.  If you’re in another country GET THEIR COVERAGE.  Your car insurance will only extend in the United States and Canada.  That said, the only downside to not purchasing their coverage is it’ll hit your driving record if something happens and you’ll have to pay your deductible.  Just like you would with your own car.  The other item that isn’t covered is what’s called “down time” or “loss of use.”  Let’s say you get in an accident and the car has to go into the shop for a week.  The rental car company will still charge you for that week as if the car is still being rented by you.  Those are the big things but everything else is covered through your auto insurance if you have full coverage.

If you have liability only, get their coverage.  At least get the collision damage waiver that they offer.  In fact some rental car companies may make you purchase it to protect themselves if you have liability only.  One tip and a little thing you can do to get around it, is call up your insurance company beforehand and put full coverage on your car.  You can always take it off after you’ve gotten back and that could save you some money overall.

When is it a good idea to get the rental car companies coverage?  Well, great question and there are actually a few scenarios where I’d recommend it:

  1. If you’re going on a short trip.  Rental car companies charge you by the day for their coverage.  So if it is a short trip of only 2 or 3 days, it could be worth it so you can just walk away and let them deal with it if something happens.
  2. If you’re in high traffic/congested city where an accident is more likely to happen.  For example, New York City, LA, or where I’m at in the San Francisco Bay Area.  If it’s a place that has a lot of people, a lot of traffic, and can be confusing to navigate/you’re not familiar with it, it could be a good idea just to take their coverage.
  3. Horrible weather.  My wife and I just went to Utah to visit some family and the weather was absolutely horrendous.  I’m talking below 10 degrees with snow falling.  I purchased their coverage because I’m not used to driving in those conditions and figured I’d rather make it the rental car company’s problem if an accident occured.
  4. If you’re traveling for work.  If you’re renting a car for work I’d ask your company how they want to handle this.  It’s a work expense, so I’d recommend just purchasing the rental car company’s coverage since it’s not out of your pocket and that way if something happens it doesn’t have to go as an incident on your personal driving record.

Always remember, the coverage a rental car company offers you means you can just throw them the keys and walk away and make it their problem if something happens.  Hopefully this gives you some direction, but it’s all about what you’re comfortable with.  I typically don’t purchase it because I have full coverage unless it’s with one of the four scenarios I outlined above.  If you have additional questions, ask your insurance professional or shoot us a message.  Thank you all for your continued support and love!

Cheers -Ryan Bravo

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Life Insurance – Why do I need it?

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Hey everyone. Christmas is right around the corner and it’s always a great time of year.  We’ve got the holidays coming up, NFL is heating up, we got the college football bowl season upon us and the NHL and NBA are in full swing.  What a wonderful time of the year!  Not to mention the best part, spending time with loved ones and reflecting on everything you’ve been blessed with.  Something we often take for granted.

A topic and thought that is absolutely terrifying for a lot of people is the thought of not being here anymore.  Passing away is an awful reality for all of us and none of us know when our number is going to be called.  Although a scary thought and not a comfortable one to think about, it’s always best to be prepared for the unexpected.  Just like you want to be prepared for unexpected things like a car accident, a fire in your home, and so forth, you want to be prepared and set your loved ones up if god forbid you didn’t make it to tomorrow.  Life insurance is the most important thing we offer and the most important insurance policy you can buy.  It will replace your income if god forbid something happens to you so that your family can be financially stable after you’re gone.  It doesn’t make the pain of losing someone go away, but i can tell you from personal experience, that it removes stress when you lose a loved one.  Money is something a lot of people stress about and the last thing you’d want to do when grieving over losing a loved one is have to throw financial stress on top of it.

I’m rambling a little bit about this but I’m just so passionate about this topic.  I’ve seen it go both ways: losing a loved one with and without proper life insurance.  My father passed away unexpectedly at the young age of 59, leaving behind a 58 year old wife and two kids.  He knew the importance of having a plan in place and because of his selflessness and proper planning, my mom never has to worry about money or work again.  She can think about him in the best light and remember the good times and live her life on her terms and however she wants.  Thank you dad for doing that for us and for taking care of us.

I also had a friend lose a loved one who didn’t have life insurance in place.  They had to use a go fund me page to try and just pay for his funeral and there is just so much uncertainty that it’s completely sad and horrible.  All because he was the primary bread winner and now he’s gone.  Do I have to go back to work?  How am I going to make this house payment by myself?  What about my kids and their college tuition?  What about all of my other bills?  These are all questions his widow is asking herself because the unexpected happened.

This isn’t something you often think or even want to think about quite frankly.  The reason I bring it up is well, it’s my job.  That aside, these things DO happen and doing what I do, I see good things happen to the best people on a daily basis.  Having life insurance is the most important thing you can do to protect your loved ones.  Even having some through work is better than having nothing at all.  I do suggest always owning some on your own because life insurance with work is often volatile and can be discontinued at any time by most employers.  Whether it be giving us a call to get a quote and get more information or doing some research and getting some on your own, it’s ALWAYS a must to get life insurance.

I’ll post some future stuff on more life insurance details and the difference between having your own policy vs just having it at work but for now, just know it’s beyond important and give us a call if you have questions or want some help.  Bye for now and thanks for reading!

Cheers!  -Ryan Bravo

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Renters Insurance: What Is It And Do I Need It?

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Hello everyone.

If you’re a renter, say in an apartment or house, you may think that if something happens to the house like a fire that you’d be completely fine.  You don’t own the house so you obviously don’t have to pay to rebuild it right?  Well, yes that’s right.  That’s the responsibility of the landlord/owner of the home.  That’s why the landlord has homeowners insurance (well at least hopefully).

So nothing for you to worry about right?  Well… not exactly.  What about all your stuff?  The things you own like clothes, furniture, laptops, TV’s, etc etc.  The landlord’s home policy will take care of it right?  WRONG!  You’re completely out of luck and your stuff will just be gone.  You get zip, zero, nada for it and you are left having to start over with nothing.

Let’s paint a picture here together.  You’re watching TV one night in your cozy apartment and all of a sudden you hear the smoke alarm go off.  You cruise into the kitchen and find you forgot a frozen pizza in the oven.  Ah, that’s what that smell was.  You have a kitchen fire and it starts expanding and before you know it you just have to get out.  Your apartment catches fire completely along with all of your stuff in it.  Without a renter’s policy, you are completely out of luck.  All of your belongings are now gone, your clothes, your furniture, your sentimental stuff too that’s irreplaceable, just gone.  Renters insurance will cover you for all of that stuff.  And guess what, it’s cheap!!  It’s usually around $200 – $300 for the entire year!!  By the way this story is a true one from one of our clients, crazy how accidents happen.

Renters insurance can be broken down into 5 simple pieces.  It’s really a completely simple and cheap policy.

  1. Your personal property – all your stuff like I mentioned before.  Guess what, it also includes coverage for your stuff outside of your home or apartment too.  Ever have your car broken into and your laptop, briefcase, backpack stolen?  You’re all set with a renters policy
  2. Additional living expenses.  This is called loss of use.  So you get out of your apartment or house after the fire but what next?  Where are you going to live?  Do you just find the nearest hotel?  Do you have to find somewhere else to rent?  Where is that money going to come from?  Loss of use coverage will take care of those expenses for you.
  3. Liability coverage.  When you think liability think lawsuit.  If someone gets hurt at your place and sues you for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering you have a renters policy that will cover that.  Typical policies range from $100,000 to $500,000 in coverage.  What if you leave the garden hose out and the mailman trips and falls on it and hurts him or herself?  You bet you’re getting the bill for his medical expenses and your liability coverage will help.  THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF COVERAGE FOR A RENTERS POLICY.
  4. Guest medical.  Think something small, like your buddy is helping you cook and cuts himself with a knife and needs stitches.  Things like that are covered up to $5000 with most renters policies.
  5. Lastly, replacement cost for your personal property.  This is something you can usually add on and it is going to give you what you originally paid for your stuff.  Without it, you’ll get a depreciated amount.  Always ask about this when shopping for renters insurance because it can save you a lot of money if something happens.

That’s a renters policy in a nutshell.  Pretty simple right?  Yup that’s right, there isn’t a lot of moving parts and they are pretty straight forward policies.  I recommend this for ANYONE and EVERYONE renting a home or apartment because they are cheap and you will literally have nothing left if something happens like a fire.  Again most policies only cost between $200 to $300 per year depending on how much coverage you get.  We have a great policy so if you’re interested in a quote just reach out on our page.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to read and remember we’re always here to help.

Cheers.

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Understand Your Auto Insurance

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Alright so here we go.  Let’s dive right in with the first, well second, post from the Bravo Team blog and talk about the big thing you think about when it comes to insurance.  That’s your car insurance.  You see and hear the ads all the time on the TV and radio about saving money and helping you with this and that.  You see the advertisements online and you’ve probably shopped for car insurance online too.  It’s something you probably look at every few years and shopped around and it’s probably something you’ve had to use at least once (hopefully not for anything major).  It’s always a pain point when you get the bill in the mail especially if you’ve had no accidents or tickets.  The price has also probably gone up for you over the years too.

So, how much do you REALLY know about your car insurance?  It’s one of those things that you know “a ton” about but probably at the same time know nothing about.  It’s an easy concept yet an enigma that most people don’t know the in’s and out’s of.  Do you know how much liability coverage you have?  Do you know what medical coverage is?  How did you select your limits?  What does full coverage actually mean?  All great stuff to know but you probably don’t know in detail.

What do you know about your car insurance?  Two things probably: how much you’re paying and the deductibles.  That’s pretty common and since a majority of people only use their car insurance for minor things, it’s understandable.  I’m going to dive into the basics of it and chat about a little car insurance 101.  We’ll get into more specifics of it with future blog posts but for now, let’s start with the basics.

Your car insurance comes in three simple parts.  #1: protection for others.  #2: protection for you and your family.  #3: coverage for your car itself.  Parts 1 and 2 make up your “liability coverage.”

Part 1 is protection for other people.  That’s your bodily injury and property damage coverage. In CA, the limits required by law and stupidly low.  It should be a crime to have coverage this low and most people just don’t know what they have when they get the state minimum.  It’s only $15,000 per person and $30,000 per accident.  If you cause an accident, let’s say you rear end someone, this coverage covers you for their medical bills.  Let’s say you have the state minimum at $15,000 per person and $30,000 per accident.  You’re responding to a text on your cell phone and don’t realize the light turned red.  You slam on your brakes and hit the car in front of you.  Sally and Joe are in the car and both of them get out holding their necks.  “Uh oh” you immediately think, this doesn’t look good.  They both go to the doctors and both of them have some neck injuries.  They have to miss some time from work.  They have x-rays, MRI’s, doctors bills add up.  What happens if all of those expenses, that you’re responsible for by the way, exceed $15,000 per person?  What if it exceeds a total of $30,000?  What if they had a child in the car or another passenger?  You’d come out of pocket for ALL OF IT that exceeds those limits.  Hopefully you have that money in savings or Sally and Joe’s attorney is going to start taking a look at your house, investments, savings and even your future paychecks from your job.  That’s right, you can have future wages taken from you for up to 10 years!  That’s a long time to be working and giving your paycheck to someone else.  Talk about alimony on steroids.  You want to make sure you have AT LEAST $250,000 per person and $500,000 per accident.  That’ll at least make sure you can sleep at night if something bad happens.  The other piece of this is property damage coverage.  The state minimum in CA is $5000.  $5000, are you serious?!  Take a look around next time you hit the road and count how many vehicles exceed $5000 on the road.  What happens if you hit a Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, Ferrari?!  Any damage beyond $5000, you guessed it, is coming out of your pocket.  We recommend at least $100,000 and you probably need more.

You’re probably reading what I’m recommending and saying to yourself, Ryan… I get it, we need to be covered but I can’t afford those limits!  That has to be crazy expensive and I’m already concerned with how much I’m paying!  In reality, it isn’t that much more expensive. Most insurance companies use the “Costco pricing method.”  You know when you go to Costco and buy in bulk basically anything it seems to get cheaper?  That’s how liability limits work.  The more you buy per $1000 in coverage, the cheaper it gets per $1000 in liability coverage. Increasing those limits from 15/30/5 to 250/500/100 can sometimes be only an additional $10 to $20 per month.  Worth it right?!

Part 2 of your auto insurance covers you and your family.  This is called “uninsured motorist” and “medical coverage.”  Did you know 1 in 5 drivers in CA doesn’t have insurance at all?  Even though it’s required by law.  Insane right??  They should be thrown in jail in my opinion.  This is going to make sure if you’re hit by someone without insurance, or if they have those stupid state minimum limits at 15/30, and it’s not enough to take care of your medical bills, that your policy steps in and covers it.  We recommend 250/500 for that as well.  “Medical coverage” covers your medical expenses after an accident.  We usually recommend setting the limit to whatever your health insurance deductible is, usually $5000 or $10,000.  That way it’ll fill in the out of pocket gaps from your health insurance.  These two parts of auto insurance are the MOST important and make up the liability portion of your auto insurance policy.

Part 3 is for your car itself.  This is where your deductibles come into play.  You have two deductibles, comprehensive and collision.

Comprehensive covers you for damage to your car other than from an accident of some sort.  It includes fire, theft, hail, vandalism, and when weird stuff happens.  Let’s say your neighbor’s Dennis the Menace son fires a baseball into your window or the neighborhood hoodlums key your car.  You pay the deductible and insurance covers the rest up to the value of your car. This would also include if you have a fire and your car is in the garage and destroyed.  You may think your home policy would cover the car, nope.  The car insurance covers it under comprehensive.  Comprehensive coverage has no effect on your rates either.  Stuff happens, file as many of those claims as you want.

Collision covers you for damage to your car after an accident of some sort.  Let’s say you hit someone else’s car, or drive your car into a light pole.  Whatever the case may be, you pay the collision deductible and the insurance kicks in after up to the value of your car.  The higher your deductibles, the less you pay and vice versa.  $1000 deductibles is usually a good middle ground.  I’m personally a fan of higher deductibles because there’s never the guarantee you’ll use it.  I’d rather pay out of pocket for the things that ruin your day and have the best limits available for the things that could potentially ruin your life.  Minor fender benders aren’t what auto insurance was designed for.  It’s designed to take care of the major accidents that could be life altering.  Part 3 also includes the bell and whistle optional coverages usually like towing, rental car reimbursement, and auto loan gap coverage.  More on those things later or check with your insurance professional about details for those.

So that’s your car insurance in a nutshell.  Hopefully now you’re a little bit smarter than you were a few paragraphs ago.  One thing I want you to think about, is what was the last major/crazy accident that you saw on the road?  I’m sure it was something nasty and it’s burned into your mind.  You see them on the news every day.  Think about this… if that happens to you, do you want the focus to be on your insurance company, or on those things you’ve worked SO hard for throughout your life like your house, investments, savings, and future paychecks. Insurance is not meant for the things that could ruin your day, but the things that could ruin your life.  Why pay for something that isn’t going to do anything for you when something catastrophic happens?  Educate yourself and pay for something that is going to protect you in the event that major accident happens to you.

Thanks so much for reading.  Drive safely and remember we’re always here to help!

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Who We Are

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Hey everyone, and welcome to The Bravo Team’s page!  We really appreciate you taking the time to check us out and give us a read.

I’m going to keep this real simple and sweet and get right to the point.  Who are we?  What do we do?  What’s in it for me to read this??  Well, all good questions…  Insurance is the answer. Insurance?!  You’re probably saying, not something I want to read about.  Not something I’m fond of and it’s just another GIANT bill to pay and a big pain in the butt.

Well, you’re not wrong.  Insurance is a giant bill to pay.  In fact, most people spend more on insurance then all other services combined in their lives.  It’s a fact, and most states (especially CA where we are located) require that you have it, at least auto insurance.  If you own a home, your lender requires it.  Now the US government requires you have health insurance.  It’s just one of those things you must have and pay.

But… and a big but… when are we glad we have it?  When we need it right?!  When that bad thing happens that we didn’t anticipate and you ask ahhh why did this happen to me??  That’s when you want your insurance company to come in like a knight in shining armor and ease your pain, calm your mind and help you from financial devastation.  That’s when it’s time for the insurance company to put their money where their mouth is and make sure you’re protected and help you out.  I’m not talking about the things that happen that are minor like a parking lot fender bender at 2 mph.  Those things may ruin your day, but tomorrow you’ll forget about it and move on.  I’m talking about the things that happen that ruin lives.  Like hitting a child in a parking lot, having your house burn down to the ground, losing a loved one unexpectedly.  That’s when you need your insurance to do what you pay it to do, help you at your darkest hour.

So, that’s great and all.  What’s the point of all this?  Are we just another blue suede shoes group of insurance people trying to get you to buy from us?  Definitely not.  Who are we then? We are a family owned agency that’s been in business since 1979.  We represent Farmers

Insurance who is celebrating their 90th anniversary this year.  Our agency was started by Ralph Bravo in 1979 and is recognized as one of the top insurance agencies in the country.  Ralph was also the very first inductee into the Farmers Insurance Hall of Fame (yes there is such a thing).  Now we’re owned and operated by Ryan Bravo (the guy typing all of this) and my brother Michael Bravo.  We’ve got team members who you can read about on our site who have been here helping families for decades.  We’re one of the tops and not because we sell so many of x and a whole bunch of y, it’s because we do one thing extremely well and that’s the point of this blog… we educate.  We teach people what you’re actually buying and why it makes sense to get this, drop that, do this etc.

When you go online to buy insurance you basically randomly pick from a whole bunch of different things and if you’re like most people, you ask yourself, what in the hell am I actually buying?  Then you go with the cheapest option.  The online companies of the world have turned insurance into a commodity and that’s dangerous.  It’s dangerous because unless you’re a professional, you’re not going to know what you’re buying and you could be seriously in financial trouble if something major happens.  I’ve seen it so many times and it’s sickening.  Even if you do all of your homework, know it inside and out, make an educated buying decision, are you going to remember all of it 5 years down the road?  Probably not, because the industry is constantly changing.  We need to legally do continuing education on a constant basis so we can keep up with it all, and this is what we do every day!  How are you going to do the same when you have bills to pay, a family to feed, and your own career to work on?  That’s why having an agent is valuable and that’s why we’re doing this blog.  We are going to do at least one post a week on a variety of topics ranging from a wide spectrum of insurance items.  From auto insurance, to life insurance, to business insurance, to long term care, you get the idea.  We’re here to help you know the skinny on insurance and to help you make informed decisions.  Of course, reach out to us if you want more detail on anything or have specific questions, we have a team here to set up appointments with you and help with anything you need.  Just cruise around our site and reach out via phone, email, text, fax, carrier pigeon, whatever works for you! We also love getting out from behind our desks and meeting new people so you’re always welcome to swing on by too!

For now, a huge thank you for checking out the site and blog.  I hope you enjoy and get something out of it.  We’re here to protect what you’ve worked so hard for and always here to help!

Cheers,

-Ryan Bravo