Frees Advice

Learn about all things insurance
as well as local news and events.

Speed Kills

2020 was memorable for all sorts of reasons. In a move I have never seen in my 34 years in the insurance business, automobile insurance companies refunded premiums because people were driving less. (They refunded the money without being asked.) So while we all drove less, about 430 billion fewer miles, the number of fatalities increased by about 7% from roughly 36,000 to an estimated 38,680. How could this happen? Increased speed. Impaired driving. Distracted

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How to Obtain Flood Insurance

After Hurricane Ida, local residents now have a better idea of how Noah must have felt. Upwards of eight inches or rain fell in about four hours. That created quite a mess with street, home, and yard flooding. What makes this situation even worse is that most of the people involved did not have flood insurance. Typically, people think of a flood as the overflow of a creek, river, bay, or ocean. By the insurance

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Insuring Aging Cars – Pt. II

Last post, we wrote about the cost of insuring old cars when it comes to the factors that go into repairing an old car if it is damaged. But the collision and other than collision coverage are just part of the premium you pay. The other parts of the policy included liability and uninsured, UM, and underinsured motorist, UIM protection. Liability pays others if you damage their property or injure them. The reason the cost of

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Insuring Aging Cars

One of the most common questions we get is why doesn’t the cost of insuring my aging car ever go down? In order to answer that, we should first make sure everyone understands when a policy pays and how the age of the car impacts the cost of the coverage. In this particular post, we will deal with the part of the insurance that pays to repair the car.  Collision pays to repair your car

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“Sell Only What You Need”

GEICO and Progressive spend a combined $1.5 billion a year on advertising. We have gecko lizards, cavemen, Flo, Jake, and now an emu as the pillars of these ad campaigns. One of the more confusing ones I have heard lately is a carrier that says “We will only sell you what you need.” I wish someone would tell me what that means. Is that like asking the barber if you need a haircut? I have 39

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Life Insurance: Do I Need It?

Life Insurance. Where to begin? At the beginning is probably the best place. Insurance of all kinds is designed to protect you in the event of a loss that you could not otherwise afford. Insurance is where you have a known loss in exchange for an unknown loss. You insure your house in case it gets struck by lightning. You insure your car in case you hit a deer. So, how do you decide whether you

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