Roses are Red, Violets are Blue. What is the one thing that says, “I REALLY care for you?”

Nothing says love like life insurance!

Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us at AccuQuote!

These suggestions were put forth by the Insurance Information Institute, an industry funded organization that nonetheless produces some quality consumer information.

1. Comparison shop.
Many state Departments of Insurance provide consumer guides that record the number of complaints against various auto insurers filed with the agency. It’s not a bad resource. The internet also reduces comparison shopping to an afternoon at the computer.

2. Ask for higher deductibles.
Higher deductibles have come to mean substantially lower premiums. According to the III, increasing your deductible from $200 to $500 on collision coverage could reduce your cost by as much as 30 percent.

3. Drop collision and/or comprehensive coverage on older cars.
Their rule of thumb is that if you own a car worth less than $1,000, you’ll spend more on premiums than you would get back if you totaled the car. Many think that a car worth three or four times that amount may not be worthy of collision coverage either.

4. Buy a “low-profile” car.
High theft rates play a role in insurance costs, as do high performance ratings for a new car. Also, some cars are substantially more expensive to repair than others.

5. Take advantage of low-mileage discounts.
Some insurance companies offer discounts to drivers who put less than a predetermined number of miles on their vehicles each year.

6. Consider insurance cost when making a move.
This is a radical suggestion, but location does make a difference.

7. Find out about discounts for automatic seatbelts, air bags and antilock brakes.
Most policies give discounts for air bags and automatic seatbelts. Many insurance agents forget to mention them. Some states require insurers to give discounts for cars with antilock brakes. Some insurance companies give the discount no matter where you live.

8. Ask about other discounts.
Those might include for insuring more than one car, taking out other policies with the same insurer, having no accidents in three years, being a driver over 50, having antitheft devices.

The LIFE Foundation has a good Q&A. Here’s a good answer to this question:

If you miss a premium payment, you typically have a 30- or 31-day grace period during which you can pay the premium with no interest charged. If you own a term policy and fail to pay your premium within the grace period, your insurance company will typically terminate the policy. If you own a permanent policy and fail to pay your premium within the grace period, your insurance company, with your authorization, can draw from your policy’s cash value to keep the policy in force. In some flexible-premium policies, premiums may be reduced or skipped as long as sufficient cash values remain in the policy. However, this will result in lower cash values and a shortened coverage period.

There is growing recognition that car-deer collisions are on the rise across the nation due to fast-growing suburbs or rural subdivisions that have invaded the countryside where deer once roamed.

While there are no national statistics are compiled on car-deer crashes, most industry experts agree that the increase in accidents is due not only to sprawling development but also with fall mating and hunting seasons that historically make October through December the most dangerous time of the year.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an industry-funded research group, estimates 1.5 million car-deer crashes occur every year in the U.S. They claim the annual carnage causes more than 150 deaths and $1.1 billion in property damage.

The nation’s largest auto insurer, State Farm, reports that Pennsylvania has topped their deer accident list every year, followed by Michigan and Illinois. They also noted that repair costs aren’t cheap, with the average claim hovering in the neighborhood of $2,800.

In Illinois, which has tracked car-deer crashes since 1989, accidents dropped 8 percent in 2005. But the state recorded 11 deaths, nearly double the previous high of six. Eight of those fatalities were motorcycle riders. Motorcycle crashes are increasing overall simply because more bikes are on the road; motorcycle registration in the state is up 51 percent from ten years ago.

Officials say car-deer accidents can occur almost anywhere, and urban areas aren’t immune. Cook County topped Illinois with nearly 1,000 crashes in 2005, almost double the 572 recorded in rural Pike County, highly regarded by hunters for its share of the state’s estimated 800,000 deer. Cook County’s principal city is Chicago.

There was a good story written last year by a reporter from the Wall Street Journal. Here’s a little excerpt from it:

“As more Americans travel to remote parts of the world for both business and pleasure, more and more life insurance companies are denying customers life insurance because of their foreign-travel plans.

Many life insurers, including Allstate Corp., MetLife Inc., New York Life Insurance Co. and Prudential Financial Inc., use customers’ overseas-travel plans as a factor in making underwriting decisions, and some may deny a policy or increase premiums to customers going to countries deemed dangerous.

Insurers look at a host of criteria, including the purpose of travel and length of stay — so you might not automatically be denied coverage just because you plan to embark on, say, a weeklong honeymoon in a place that’s deemed unsafe.

When permitted by state law, most major life insurers’ applications will ask about overseas travel plans, but the period they look at can range from six months to two years from the time of application. Some insurers may ask about previous travel in order to establish a risk pattern. Insurers may also seek more details in follow-up interviews or questionnaires, such as the duration and purpose of a trip, or whether you are traveling with a tour group.

If you are a frequent foreign traveler or have a trip planned to a risky country, there are some things you can do to increase your chances of getting life insurance. For starters, it’s smart to shop around. Companies’ policies vary.”

In the insurance game, there’s a hustle for every weakness – perceived or otherwise. Below is a list of insurance opportunities that can fairly be considered dubious.

* Mortgage Insurance
Many new home owners will receive an offer for mortgage insurance right after the ink dries on the closing papers. This is a different policy than the PMI or personal mortgage insurance required by the lender if you have a low down payment. The offers say a certain loan amount will be protected “in case of an unexpected tragedy.” It’s essentially a life insurance policy that pays the mortgage if you die, so the insurance value drops as you continue to make payments.

* Credit Life and Disability
When you buy or lease a car, the dealership will try to sell you this needless policy to make a few extra bucks. Again, this is basically a life insurance policy that will pay off your monthly car loan if you die or become disabled. If you look at the cost, you’d be better off buying a regular disability policy.

* Accidental Death and Dismemberment
These policies, which are typically offered by banks when you open an account and might cost only $10 to $20 a year, pay only if you die a certain way, such as in an accident, or lose a limb. “Anything that gives conditions on how you die is useless,” says one estate planner.

* Life Insurance for Young Children
Parents do not need to insure against a revenue loss when your children don’t make any money, Moran says. You can usually attach a rider to your life insurance policy to cover your kids, but don’t purchase it separately.

* Cancer or Other Disease
It’s important to have a comprehensive general health insurance plan, rather than one that covers medical expenses to treat one disease. If your health plan excludes a certain condition or disease and you believe you’re at risk, shop around for another policy. Single purpose insurance like this is just preying on consumer fears.

According to the Insurance Information Institute, the TOP TWENTY U.S. LIFE/HEALTH INSURANCE GROUPS AND COMPANIES BY REVENUES, 2005 ($ millions) are:

1 MetLife (revenue) $46,983 – (assets) $481,645
2 Prudential Financial – 31,708 – 417,776
3 New York Life Insurance 28,051 153,952
4 TIAA-CREF 25,917 399,161
5 MassMutual Life Insurance 22,799 138,365
6 Northwestern Mutual 19,221 133,057
7 AFLAC 14,363 56,361
8 UnumProvident 10,437 51,867
9 Guardian Life of America 9,377 36,880
10 Principal Financial 9,010 127,035
11 Assurant 7,498 25,366
12 Thrivent Financial for Lutherans 6,190 54,932
13 Lincoln National 5,488 124,788
14 Pacific Life 4,840 86,977
15 Conseco 4,327 31,557
16 Western & Southern Financial 4,314 29,021
17 Jefferson-Pilot 4,220 36,078
18 Mutual of Omaha Insurance 4,051 16,441
19 Torchmark 3,126 14,769
20 Unitrin 3,048 9,198

Title insurance is one of those slightly alien-sounding cost items that is incorporated into ‘closing costs’ when you are biting your nails and signing for a mortgage. Supposedly, it guarantees that the home you’re buying with that mortgage is free and clear, thus protecting the lender (first) and you (second) from legal exposure. In all cases, it’s the buyer’s cost and from any perspective other than a mortgage closing, it’s a substantial cost.

In early November an assistant New York attorney general urged the state to step up regulation of the title insurance industry yesterday, arguing that insurance agents were receiving what amount to illegal kickbacks and that New York home buyers were overpaying.

Testifying at a New York Insurance Department hearing, the attorney said that in many cases, only 3 cents of the average dollar paid for title insurance is ever returned to policy holders in claims, while an estimated 75 cents are kept by agents who serve as intermediaries between home buyers and underwriters.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said earlier this year that a two-year investigation of the nation’s largest title insurance companies had revealed illegal payments to agents, real estate developers and favored customers.

As a result, Fidelity National Financial of Florida and the First American Corporation of California each paid a $2 million fine and agreed to a temporary 15 percent reduction on policies for homes worth $1 million or less. In another action the two companies, along with the LandAmerica Financial Group of Virginia, paid $37.8 million in 2005 to settle kickback claims raised by California regulators.

I found this information to be really interesting. Many people always ask me how life insurance got started and Answers.com had a great explanation. Here it is:

Life insurance companies in the can be traced back to 1759, when “The Corporation for Relief of Poor and Distressed Presbyterian Ministers and of the Poor and Distressed Widows and Children of Presbyterian Ministers” was founded by the Synod of the Presbyterian Church. The oldest insurance company in the world, the firm is still fully operational as the Presbyterian Ministers’ Fund. The industry began to take on a more formal, mathematics-based foundation when, in 1789, Professor Edward Wigglesworth at Harvard prepared a modified table of mortality. This was the first crude attempt to scientifically predict the probability of risk, or to compute premiums and reserves on a scientific basis. Comparing the probability of risk to revenues generated from policy sales and the size of claim settlements has been the formula the industry has relied on to establish itself as a viable business.

According to the latest statistics, about 7-10% of life insurance is sold over the Internet through brokerage firms such as AccuQuote.

You can now get instant quotes, apply for, and even purchase policies online. To make sure you get the right amount and type of insurance, the better sites won’t allow you to complete the purchasing process until you’ve spoken with a qualified insurance agent. These agents act similar to your local agent by providing you with personalized service to help you determine which policy is right for you.

Determining how much and what kind of insurance to buy is one of the most important financial decisions you’ll ever make, but it’s also one of the most complicated. A qualified agent will conduct a comprehensive financial needs analysis, and walk you through the multitude of questions you need to consider to determine how much and what kind of insurance is right for you.