We are proud to receive this award from the BBB. It is given to those businesses that have not had a complaint in a three year period. We strive to provide excellent customer service and work hard to satisfy all our customers.
This affirms our commitment to you, our customers, to give you the best product, at the best price with exemplary customer service. Thank you for working with us. We look forward to working with all of you in the future.
This season of wildfires has caused us to revisit the needs of homeowners to review their home replacement cost coverage.
The main reason for home insurance is to replace your home in the event of a fire or tornado. You need full replacement cost for your home if there is a fire and it destroys everything. You expect to be assured that you can rebuild to the same quality AND replace your possessions. But what you need to understand is that replacement costs are not the same to every insurance company. Several major companies sell “replacement cost” and then limit their total exposure on the dwelling coverage to 25% or 50% over what limits you select. Might this create a problem in the event of a total loss like we have seen recently in Colorado?
There are many reasons you might be tempted to be under insured. Several factors may contribute to this dilemma at the very start of your home purchase. The builder has a reduced cost of both materials and labor by building many homes at once. They are under no time constraints to get a new buyer in, making their labor decisions more financially efficient. The construction industry gets better prices on materials because they buy in bulk. While they may state a cost of $125 to $135 a square foot to rebuild, you might be shocked to find that when you ask a builder to rebuild on your schedule, on a single property, and in competition with others now out of their homes, the cost on that same home might be $155 to $175 a square foot.
Other players in your transaction to buy a house can exert pressure to lower your insurance costs. The mortgage company demands you purchase insurance, but they also want you to qualify, so a well meaning loan officer might steer a person to a less expensive product, but not be concerned about eventual replacement. We find that some insurance people, wanting to win the new client, will also understate the cost of construction to quote a lower yearly insurance rate. If they then ask you to rely upon a “replacement cost” endorsement that is not truly replacement cost, one might take issue with these sales tactics.
It is your home and your insurance, you need to verify and understand what replacement costs means for you and whether or not to insure to value. You are the one in the cross hairs if your insurance is not true replacement cost. Understand that replacement costs may not be the market value, or even the taxable valuation. That does not include upgrades you have done or how costs have inflated.
The best thing to do is sit with your insurance agent and understand the cost benefit ratios of insuring replacement costs.
At Colorado Insurance Professionals, Inc., we have companies that sell “True Replacement Guarantee”, an unlimited coverage! Call us today if you would like to look at your policy. 303-578-4294 and ask for Mary Beth.
What is People House? People House is a non- sectarian, non-profit, spiritual and personal growth center that has been helping people for 35 years in the community. Their goal is to help people through educational programs that provide personal and spiritual growth for individuals needing education, healing and growth in a variety of areas. They provide an affordable sliding scale of services for their clientele. Their professional counseling staff is available to assist people through holistic process to aid in the successful treatment of relationship, work and family issues. Each individual counts and is treated by high caliber professionals to assist in the process.
People House is focused in Aurora on two programs:
Affordable counseling for the uninsured fee structure ranges from 15 – 40 per session and is based on current income. People who find this useful are students, those working without health insurance, folks who are unemployed and anyone needing help and having a hard time finding someone to lend a hand.
The other focus is the Veterans Re-integration program. These are trained mentors and coaches who specialize in helping veterans with both long term and short term issues of reintegrating in the community, find suitable employment, dealing with past trauma and working with their families. Often these veterans are referred to the Affordable counseling program as well, and often the fees are covered on their behalf.
Who are you? Colorado Insurance Professionals, Inc. is dedicated to helping the community in a variety of aspects from Rotary Club to People House.
Why did you support People House? It is a 35 year organization that does positive things for those in need in the community. We believe that the service they offer is something the community wants and needs. We also have a real feeling to support veterans who have fought for us and now need our help.
When is this entire move taking place? The new facility is opening in May.
Where is the new location of People House? The new facility, opening in May, is located at 13693 E. Iliff Ave., Suite 112, in Aurora – just East of Heather Gardens Golf Club. It is built to our specifications with space for up to 6 practitioners, interns and veteran mentors.
Construction is progressing on the People House Facility, new doorway being installed.
Notice I am getting a little stronger in my voice concerning this issue. I have got good news….my insurance policy with Auto Owners Insurance covers the demand from Getty for 900.00 plus dollars for the use of a picture they own. But here are some sites that discuss in no uncertain terms that Getty is..shall we say…..less than ethical about this? You make up your own mind.
http://www.ripoffreport.com/directory/getty-images.aspx
http://www.zyra.info/getstu.htm
http://womeninbusiness.about.com/b/2011/08/23/getty-image-settlement-demand-letter-scam-or-for-real.htm
For those of you who are in the dark: Even though I used an internet service to build our present website, they seem to have an issue with a picture they used. They claim they had the right from a free website, Getty Images bought that website and “Book of Pictures” and now wants us to pay.
The best update: We are covered under our business liability policy for copyright infringement, even on the web. Should we pay? I think not at this point. My insurance company is researching their options now. First they want to know if the internet company has anything to prove they had rights to the image (unlikely). Next will the marketing company stand behind their insistence to “don’t do anything, it’s a scam”. Will they agree to indemnify us if it blows up?
Stay tuned for more exciting news……
There are many ways to earn a Colorado Workers Compensation discount. Among them is a formal, yet simple, safety program recognized by the State of Colorado, Division of Workers Compensation. You must have this Program in place one year to earn the Certificate. Then you get a discount like us. The discounts range from 2%-10% with an average of 5%. We earned a 10% discount. Click Here to see the Certificate
Small business can protect their assets with an easy, but formal program, to stop workplace injuries. We offer “one to one” assistance to you with this in mind. In addition, our Business Insurance assistance program can qualify you for more than just Workers Compensation; it can result in liability discounts as well.
Save money on your Workers Compensation plan today. Or if you have other insurance question, contact me: Jay Oliver 303-755-8600
Sounds strange, but the Insurance you need as a landscaper is to protect you from preventable accidents. Given the risks of your industry, it is imperative that you have vehicle insurance, Workers Compensation, and you need quick copies of your Certificates of Liability. Some even need to have fleet insurance.
Colorado Insurance Professionals has the lowest cost carriers for your landscape business. In order to assist you to more cost savings, we have safety programs and claims management practices that maximize your discounts to save you money. WE ARE EXPERTS in the area Landscape Insurance.
Did you know that a driver that takes their eyes off the road for 2 seconds or more is distracted? You can help prevent accidents by educating your staff about distractions and following too closely. These are the two most prevalent reasons for accidents with landscape crews. The other area is the repetitive bending over; there is a right way and a wrong way. You can save money by educating your staff on the appropriate way to move things.
We offer a comprehensive insurance package for landscapers, like you, with discounts and savings for the right packages. We also offer training to assist you in the Workers Compensation package. Call us today and ask for Jay Oliver at 303-755-8600.
Avoid having to file claims on your homeowners insurance by doing the right things before you leave town.
If you’re going on a vacation it is important not to announce to the world that you are leaving. Don’t post it on Facebook. People are tracking things and it is public. Remember to cancel the paper, another give away that your gone is a pile of papers sitting in your yard. Have someone come by periodically to check the house. Leave lights on or put some on a timer to give the home that lived in look. If you are gone an extended time, consider hiring someone to cut the lawn.
Here is a link to a video explaining posting on Facebook: http://goo.gl/bNvbP
Make sure you have locked every window, door and think about unplugging your garage door opener. Don’t leave “the hidden key” outside, burglars are wise to that.
Unplug and disconnect things that can cause damage, like the DVR you’re not going to be using, along with eating up energy costs it does build up and heat and that can cause a fire, so any appliance that has that potential, unplug. Turn the water off to the clothes washer; those lines are known to break open under pressure.
Last but not least consider getting travel insurance, in today’s world you never know if a flight is cancelled or other issues can impact your trip. http://goo.gl/USmdM
We are also available to go through your homeowner’s insurance policy to make sure you are getting all the discounts you deserve.
Imagine my shock Monday morning when I opened my mail and found a demand from Getty Images for $ 986.00. They sent a copy of a website that we had contracted for from a national vendor. Apparently the vendor did not have the right to use an image that Getty documented on our site. So I did the math: 500 users’ times $ 1,000.00 equals $ 500,000. Holy Cow! Does this vendor have the cash or media insurance to cover this glitch? It is clear that this kind of event could threaten to existence of our website vendor. What happens to our files if they go broke? How much would it cost to start over…..in addition to the fact that I found we are responsible for what is published under our name if our vendor does not step up. This bill could be ours! I asked the vendor if they carried Media Liability Insurance when I signed up, but did not get a certificate of their Errors and Omissions liability coverage. Now asking after the fact, they have not yet produced proof of coverage. We are in limbo on this one at this point.
Checking into our own policy I find we have an endorsement to cover copyright infringement. Is there exclusion for internet? Stayed tuned as we walk through this together and find out how coverage for this will apply to our vendor and our own coverage for Media Liability Insurance.
A question for you: does your insurance cover you for this event? Call you agent and find out! If they cannot tell you about Errors and Omissions coverage for this or other Media Liability Insurance issues, call us we’ll be glad to help.
I wanted to let the world know we have one of the best underwriters I have ever worked with at Swett and Crawford here in Denver. He brings a large knowledge base from the company side of things and has moved into a marketing slot now. His drive and care for the client coupled with his knowledge of coverages and his broad understanding of the Executive Risk Insurance industry has allowed us to dodge a few problems already in working with him. Our clients are better off because of the care he brings to his work. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that price is the most important thing in Professional Liability Insurance. We have seen what happens when agents and companies take their eye off the ball and clients get hurt.
Kudos to Gerrit Vandekamp at Swett and Crawford!
If you are interested in Professional Liability, Error and Omissions, Directors and Officers, Privacy Liability, Employment Practices Liability, callus and we will hook you up with Gerrit!
We have seen this before over our 30 years in business. When insurance companies lose money in hail storms they will recover it over the next few years in 2 ways: Higher premiums for everyone, and second, tighter underwriting. Homeowners who have had two claims in a 3 year period are at risk of cancellation from many companies.
“Smart Money” has indicated that according to the Insurance Information Institute, insurance rates are going up about 5% for homeowners this year. This is based on the money that insurance companies had to expend for claims this past year with catastrophic loses. From 2000 to 2010 losses averaged $23.8 billion; in 2011 it totaled $39.9 billion.
This comes at a time when homeowners are facing falling home prices and climbing maintenance costs. Homeowners can adjust their policies with higher deductibles to save costs.
…and if you are one of the ones affected by an underwriting action on the part of your company (often removal of discounts based on history), we have found that you might even save money by letting us shop insurance for your Home, Auto and Umbrella insurance together.
It is a good time to consider a policy review and determine if there are ways to save money and check to make sure that your house is covered under the appropriate replacement costs. Give us a call for that review.
