Workers compensation insurance is a necessary evil for most employers.  How you handle on the job injuries and more importantly how you handle the out of work situations that you will face with your employees will go a long way toward impacting your future workers compensation costs.  Read below to see some common mistakes that some employers make in this regard and what you can do as an employer to avoid these mistakes and minimize your future workers compensations costs.

If you have a garage liability insurance policy for your repair shop insurance, or for your used car dealer insurance program, then you know that your policy must be audited each year.  Garage liability insurance audits can be a huge hassle or they can be a quick and easy process.  Some of what determines that is up to you.  Here are a few tips to make your garage policy audits go as smoothly as possible.  Some of this information is based on audit requirements for Auto Owners Insurance Company garage policies and may not necessarily be part of every insurance company’s garage audit process.

Used Car Dealers with large inventory should always carry dealers open lot insurance as a part of their used car dealer insurance program.   This section of the garage policy is designed to protect your inventory from losses such as wind and hail as well as collision.  If you have a large inventory, especially one that fluctuates in value from time to time, then you should consider a twist to the dealers open lot coverage.  The twist is a form called the dealers blanket reporting form.

Painting Company Insurance plans should all include a workers compensation policy for your employees and subs,  unless of course you work alone and have no employees.  And if handled incorrectly,  work comp policies can tear a huge  hole in your cash flow.  For more information on how this can happen, please  read my blog on the audit trap.  So it is important to understand your cash flow process vis-à-vis your payroll.    What if you could time your workers compensation policy to match the slower cash flow and lower payroll times?

Savvy landscaping contractors buy workers compensation insurance as part of their landscapers insurance program.  If you don’t and you are paying someone to work for you, whether you consider them a subcontractor or not, then you shouldn’t go a day more without a policy.  But assuming you already have a workers compensation policy, how exactly do you file a claim?

Most parents out there who have a teen driver are well aware of the additional costs on their auto insurance while their child slowly gains experience behind the wheel.  In NC these extra charges go on for the first 3 years of driving and then suddenly are dropped completely from your policy.  To understand exactly how North Carolina allows the insurance companies to add these inexperienced operator surcharges, click here.   Most parents of course think that they are free and clear of these charges once their child reaches the 3 years of driving experience.  And for the vast majority of them, this is true.  But some companies have a hidden bias against the 19 year old driver and they find other ways to collect extra premium for them.  Knowing the tell tale signs of these techniques can help you avoid these extra charges.

Most of my blog postings here are designed to help you navigate the ins and outs of your restaurant insurance program.  And inherent in that plan is the concept of managing risks.  But there is one risk out there that insurance cannot manage for you and you need to take proactive steps to protect yourself right away.  If done right, this form of risk management can turn a big risk into a huge reward.

The Summer months are a high risk time for teen drivers.  Parents must be more vigilant during this time to insure the safety of their teen aged drivers.  There are several reasons why the Summer months present special challenges for parents of teen drivers.

The NC Insurance Department has finally come to an agreement with the Insurance Companies selling auto insurance in NC  to settle their differences on the 2008 rate changes that applied to auto insurance and motorcycle insurance policies.  There are a few things you should know about who will get a refund and when those checks will be mailed.

The NC House is now considering a tort reform bill that could dramatically increase the amount you spend on your auto insurance policy as well as on your home insurance policy and business insurance policies.  The reason this bill is so bad for your insurance rates is that it aims to change our current law of contributory negligence to one of comparative fault.