Q.
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Who
do I call when I have a question? |
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Real
live people will handle your call during our business hours of 8 AM
to 5 PM, Monday through Friday or leave a voice mail at: 408-947-7111 |
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Q.
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What
is Business Insurance? |
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Property,
Liability, Workers' Compensation, Professional & Cyberspace Liability,
Crime, Bonds, Fiduciary, Business Auto, Marine, Aviation, etc. insurance
for your business |
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Q.
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What
is Employee Benefit Insurance? |
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Group
Health, Life, Dental, Vision, Travel Accident and 401K coverage for
you and your employees. |
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Q.
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When
do I need Business Insurance coverage? |
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As
soon as you have decided to be a business. There are many details
from signing a business lease, leasing equipment, providing Workers'
Compensation coverage for your first employee, insuring your products
- to Errors and Omissions coverage for your Directors and Officers
- Call VALLEY GLOBAL and we will help guide you through the intricacies
of insurance for your new business - or call us to ascertain the best
level of business insurance for your already established Company. |
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Q.
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When
do I need Workers' Compensation coverage? |
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In
California, as soon as you hire your first employee. |
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Q.
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When
do I need Professional/Cyberspace liability coverage? |
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If
your company provides professional advice or services to others there
is always a chance of an unintentional error or omission being made
by you or one of your employees. Professional Liability provides coverage
for economic loss (as opposed to General Liability coverage which
covers Bodily Injury or Property damage to third parties) and usually
includes defense costs coverage as well. |
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Q.
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How
does an insurance broker/agent obtain insurance quotations on my company's
behalf? |
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Your
broker or agent receives permission from you to send out specifications
of insurance to various insurance carriers. These specifications describe
your business and your exposures to loss. The underwriter from the
insurance carrier and your agent negotiates coverage and cost for
your business insurance needs. Your broker/agent proposes coverage
and cost based upon the negotiated terms, conditions and pricing to
you, for a final decision. |
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Q.
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How
do I obtain a quotation on my Personal Automobile and Homeowners insurance? |
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We
provide personal insurance coverage through various carriers. If you
are interested in quotes, please fill out
the forms and fax them back to us. We can usually turn indication
around in 48 hours. |
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Q.
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How
do I know if my broker or agent is doing his/her job? |
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Service
is the fist clue - and the most important aspect. Claims handling
is also important, not to mention favorable terms and conditions in
your insurance contract, comparison shopping of your renewal coverage
and pricing. |
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Q.
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When
should I change my brokers or agent? |
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When
you are unhappy with the service or expertise provided, or not provided,
by your existing broker or agent. |
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Q.
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Should
I have more than one broker or agent? |
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Generally
start-up companies have one to three business insurance brokers because:
1) they don't understand how the process works, or 2) insurance isn't
a priority until the costs start increasing, or 3) one of the investors
has a friend who is an insurance broker. As the level of a Company's
sophistication rises they realize the inadequacies of this type of
system and generally have one broker for Business Insurance and possibly
one other broker for Employee Benefit insurance. This enhances the
buying power and ability of each broker to negotiate favorable terms
and conditions for your two insurance programs. |
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Q.
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What
does assigning markets mean? |
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If
you decide to have more than one broker or agent obtain quotations
on your behalf it is wise to assign each one, the specific insurance
markets they may approach. Generally the top three or four choices
made by the broker/agent are assigned to the agent or broker that
chooses them, if there is no conflict with the other brokers or agents. |
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Q.
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Should
I buy an insurance program based on lowest cost? |
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Not
necessarily. Bottom line costs up front are not always an accurate
reflection of total costs over the policy term. 1. For instance, poor
claims handling can substantially increase your indirect costs this
year and your indirect costs over the next four years under a Workers'
Compensation policy. 2. Another factor might be an auditable policy
based on sales or receipts which increases your total costs far beyond
expectations by the end of the year. |
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Q.
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How
do I know if the insurance carrier quoting my insurance is financially
stable and responsive to claims submitted? |
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In
order to determine financial stability and claims paying history of
a property/casualty insurance company you can look them up on www.ambest.com
and look under - Rating Information - Rating Search - by insurance
company name. This rating gives you a good idea of the insurance company's
ability to pay claims in the event of a covered loss, and a good indication
of their financials for future stability and claims paying ability.
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Q.
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What
limits of insurance do I need to carry? |
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Minimum
Limits of Liability for a start-up organization should be at least
$1,000,000 and preferably $5,000,000. As a start-up - you don't want
to go out of business before you really get started - which could
happen in the event of a loss. 1) As your organization grows larger
and becomes more successful the possibilities of loss become greater
because the organization usually has more clients/customers and therefore
usually more exposure. It is not unusual for mid-sized organizations
to insure their liability for limits in excess of $50 Million. 2)
At a given point - as the organization begins to see the cost of insurance
as a large expense item, they start taking measures to better control
their losses, hire an insurance risk manager and perhaps even look
into self-insurance. |
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Q.
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What
is Professional Liability? |
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Covers
economic loss and is designed to protect your company against actual
or alleged breach of duty, negligent act, error or omission committed
in rendering, or the failure to render, professional services as identified
in the application and the policy. |
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Q.
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What
is Cyber Liability? |
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Covers
errors and omissions in providing internet related services, as well
as for claims of copyright for content or trademark infringement,
computer virus and unauthorized access. |
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Q.
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What
is Loss Control? |
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Loss
control services provided by your insurance carrier and or your broker
reduces your company's exposure to loss. The services vary by coverage,
risk and carrier and can sometimes be unbundled meaning bought separately. |
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Q.
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What
is an Additional Insured and who requires them? |
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An
Additional Insured (AI) is just that, and is usually required by the
lessors, lenders, loss payables, clients, customers and contractors
that have an interest in the insureds business. 1) Insurance carriers
may charge an additional fee in order to name a party as an additional
insured on the insurance contract. 2) In addition, many of the Additional
Insureds require other terms and conditions that are not acceptable
to the insurance carrier. It is best to check with your agent or broker
to see if the insurance carrier will extend the coverage to the AI,
before obligating your company to the provisions requested. |
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