SAV-ON Halloween Contest Update

Our original Dopey was out sick, but we had a great stand in...meet Kid's Club Secretary, Donny!



When the Evil Queen found out where Snow White was hiding, she came to drop off an apple.
Careful Snow White!








AND NOW THE RESULTS!

The Des Moines office as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs first place, the "Best Costume" trophy, and pizza next week!

The Kent office won 2nd place, the "Most Original" trophy and will also be enjoying pizza next week.

And Normand in our Lynnwood office gets a consolation prize for his awesome rendition of Jack Sparrow; a McDonald's Big Mac Meal!!


Have a safe and Happy Halloween! For tips on trick or treating, check out our latest newsletter.

Halloween Office Contest!

In the spirit of Halloween, 3 offices compete for the pizza lunch!
Which is your favorite??

Kent Office





Des Moines Office





Lynnwood Office






Bellevue Office
Freeze, POLICE! .... Somebody isn't insured with SAV-ON ...

Ohio Workers' Compensation for Your Home or Business

If you are in the State of Ohio and employ at least one employee to whom you pay $160 or more in a three month period, you are required to carry Ohio Workers’ Compensation. Your employee could be with your business or simply a babysitter or person you hire to mow your grass.
In Ohio you buy Workers’ Compensation from the State’s Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. Their website address is www.ohiobwc.com or you can call them at 1-800-OHIO-BWC.

Unfortunately your Homeowner Policy Personal Liability cannot help you in situations where you are paying the employee more than $160 in a quarter, so we highly recommend that you purchase an Ohio Workers’ Compensation policy if you are in this situation.
Workers’ Compensation pays for injuries to your workers and includes not only medical expenses but loss of income benefits, too.

The website at www.ohiobwc.com is actually very helpful. If you decided you need to buy a policy, you can do it all on-line including paying for the coverage and printing out a temporary policy to show you have the protection.

Please feel free to contact one of our friendly agents if you wish to learn more about workers’ compensation.

Catastrophe Liability Protection

How much liability protection do I need to carry to protect me and my family? Unfortunately there is no simple formula which you can use to calculate how much liability insurance you really need. With your home or a commercial property, there are computer programs which will help determine the construction replacement cost of the building, but there is no such program in the area of third party liability claims. Some insurance companies claim they make you “legal” for less, but in Ohio, for example, that means bodily injury limits of $12,500 per person/$25,000 per accident and property damage limits of $7,500. Any kind of serious accident will wipe out those limits in a heartbeat. As a bare minimum, we recommend no less than $500,000 in Personal Liability and $250,000/500,000/100,000 in Automobile Liability, but higher limits are available and recommended. This is where the Umbrella Liability Policy comes into play. These policies are written in increments of $1,000,000 with $1,000,000 being the lowest limit you can purchase. Limits of $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 are usually available, and higher limits are also available depending on the circumstances. Please contact us, and we will prepare a quotation for your review on this very important catastrophe liability protection.

Homeowners, Time to Winterize!

Conduct a Roof Inspection: A professional roof inspection can identify roof damage while it still costs hundreds, instead of thousands, of dollars to fix. This inspection should also tell you the condition of your attic ventilation, key in preventing the formation of destructive ice dams. If you simply can't come up with the $200-$300 fee, at the very least conduct your own visual inspection to look for signs of wear-and-tear.

Make it Green: The most energy-efficient roof really depends on your location. Metal roofing works best for warmer climates, but an upgrade to roof insulation is universally green and a great idea before winter hits.

Clean your Gutters: Probably the most common and least neglected task of the bunch, don't take your gutter cleaning for granted. Proper cleaning involves more than just throwing easy-to-reach leaves out of the channel. Flush your downspouts and keep an eye out for any signs of gutter deterioration.

Make it Green: Retrofit your gutters to collect rainwater and snow melt next spring and summer to aid your lawn irrigation.

Insulate and Seal Windows: If you don't already have double-pane windows, it's time to jump on the bandwagon. With heating costs, few home improvements pay for themselves as quickly as replacement windows. If you simply can't afford it, use thick plastic covers or blankets to help out in the meantime. And regardless of the number of panes, take a look at your window frame. It may need new sealant.

Make it Green: Truly green windows are more than just double-paned. Different glazes will allow you to use daylighting techniques, and window treatments will allow you to block the heat gain of next summer's mid-afternoon sun.

Seal and Inspect Doors: Some homeowners pay so much attention to their windows that they forget their doors. Take a look at your entry door for air leaks and use weatherstripping to help seal the joints. Take a look at your garage door, too, for both insulation and home security value.

Make it Green: A new wood door for the entry, garage, or both will increase your home's curb appeal and it's insulating R-value simultaneously.

Evaluate the Furnace/Heating System: This one has a ton of upside. Catching problems with your heating system before winter hits almost always saves a bunch of money and will give you some time to plan for a replacement system, if necessary. If nothing else, at least change the filter, no matter the age or condition of your system.

Make it Green: For replacement systems, start with the big ideas first. Get an estimate for geothermal heating and cooling. If that doesn't pan out, take a look at split-system heat pumps or furnaces with an Energy Star label.

Winterize Your Landscaping: Just because you'll be spending most of the winter indoors doesn't mean all your maintenance is on the home itself. Properly close your swimming pool, winterize your sprinkler system, and prepare your garden for next year's planting.

Make it Green: Take the winter to grade your personal landscaping conservation practices. Is it time to start composting? How much water would you save with a fully-automated sprinkler system? Is there a good spot to plant a new tree in the spring?

Miscellaneous and Emergency Preparation: For most homes, winter means the looming possibility of snow and/or ice storms. A back-up generator is a great idea, but still no substitute for an emergency kit, complete with food and water, a reliable radio, and first-aid kit. Investing in a snow blower isn't a bad idea, either, especially for older homeowners who are vulnerable to heart problems.

Make it Green: Don't worry about saving the planet, until you've first saved yourself and your loved ones. Still, a back-up generator will, among other things, help make sure plumbing lines don't freeze and burst. After all, burst pipes harm both your household and your local environment.


Thanks to ServiceMagic.com

As a proud representative of Progressive we want to make sure our Progressive personal auto clients are up to date with the discounts that are available to them. Below are a few ways to capitalize on the discounts that Progressive is offering:

1. Paid in Full: This discount is given if you pay the full six month premium upon renewal. The discount is based on your premium so it differs per client.



2. Electronic Funds Transfer: This is where Progressive withdraws your monthly premium directly out of your checking account. This method of paying is cheaper in fees than paying by check each month.



3. Paperless Option: Progressive offers clients the option of receiving their policy and bills via email instead of through the US Postal Service. A discount will be applied to the client's personal auto policy if they choose this method.

Travelers TV Ad

This is our agencies favorite Travelers TV Ad. It makes us proud to have them as part of our agency. Enjoy!

Cost Savings Ideas

There is constant talk today about cutting costs. Here are two options that might help you save a few dollars on your insurance in this rough economy.

1)Raise your deductibles:

A typical homeowner policy has a deductible of $500 and a typical auto insurance policy has $100 for comprehensive and $250 for collision deductibles. One way to help save a few dollars on your annual insurance bill is to increase your homeowner deductible to $1000 and your comprehensive and collision deductibles on your auto to $500 each. Note that when you do this you bring a little bit of the financial risk back on yourself. A good rule of thumb to help figure out if the deductible change is worth the risk is to take the savings you will get for increasing your deductible and multiply it by three. If that number is larger than the difference between your old deductible and your new deductible in my opinion you are taking on an appropriate amount of risk for the savings.

2) Drop physical damage on your old vehicles.

If a car is 10 years or older it is probably worth researching whether you should have comprehensive and collision coverage on your car (many people know this as "full coverage"). Two ways to help you decide if dropping comprehensive and or collision from your car is worth it are:
1. The Insurance Information Institute says that if your car is worth less than 10 times the amount you pay annually for comprehensive and collision coverage it isn't worth keeping the coverage.
2. Another way to analyze if it is worth keeping the coverage is to take the premium you pay for collision and add it to your deductible amount. That is the total amount that it costs you to insure your car. (i.e. Your annual collision premium is $250 and your collision deductible is $500. If you total your car you will have paid $750 ($250 in premium and $500 in deductible) before you received any money from your insurance company) If in your mind it isn't worth spending that kind of money to save your vehicle if it was totaled than you might want to consider dropping that coverage.

My Tree, Their Vehicle... Whose Insurance?

About a year ago I received a call from my neighbor. He sounded as if something was wrong; “Where are you” he asked? I informed him that I was away from home at the moment but was there something I could help him with. “Yeah, you can come get your huge tree limb off my SUV!” I immediately turned around and headed home. Once I got there I saw what is pictured here in this blog post. Because of heavy winds my huge front yard tree had dropped a limb and totally smashed the top of my neighbor’s vehicle. He and I spent the whole next day cutting away at the tree limb so that we could eventually tow his car to a body shop.

Now my neighbor lives next door to an insurance man so he was already well versed in whose insurance takes care of the damages to his SUV but for those of you that are not as privileged to live next to an insurance man I thought I would explain. Even though it was my tree that caused the damage my homeowner policy would not be involved in paying for the damages. In order for me to be responsible I would have to be negligent in some way but since it was an “act of God” (wind) negligence could not be pointed at me. Therefore, the coverage for the damage to his vehicle would fall under his personal auto policy. More specifically it would be his comprehensive or “other than collision” coverage. Since this coverage usually has a deductible (the amount the policy holder has to pay out of pocket before the insurance company takes care of the rest) I offered to help pay the amount he would have to pay out of pocket. I was not required to do this but since I like my neighbor and it was my tree, I felt it was the right thing to do.

There is, however, one situation that could have made the tree limb fall my fault. If for some reason my neighbor felt that my tree was unhealthy and dangerous he could compose a letter and “send receipt” a letter to me (meaning upon delivery I would have to sign a document stating I had received the letter). In the letter he would have to state that he felt my tree was in danger of falling and causing damage to his property. If that had been the case and my neighbor had sent me the letter he could have had grounds that I was negligent. This in turn would cause my homeowner policy to pay out for his damages and not his personal auto policy.

By the way, my tree is very healthy so there is no need for my neighbor to write a letter.

Fey Insurance Announces New Blog

The ways of communication are constantly changing. Mail has been largely replaced by email and in some cases email has been pushed aside by tweets or Facebook postings. Since we here at Fey Insurance Services are dedicated to communicating with our customers in the fashion they most prefer we have decided to step into the blogging world. We hope to use this blog as a way to broadcast insurance information and advice to our customers and to the public as a whole. In our firm's mission statement we state that "Fey Insurance Services is an independent insurance agency dedicated to consulting, protecting and servicing our clients...". This blog will assist us in the "consulting" side of our mission statement.

Our posts will consist of: insurance news that individuals and businesses would find useful, news about the insurance companies that we represent, insurance coverage advice, insurance trends and hopefully a few fun facts or thoughts.

We hope you all find this blog of use and please come back and visit often.

Flood Insurance, Time is Running Out!

For people that wait too long for a flood insurance policy, you may be in for a rude awakening when companies stop offering it!

With the high volume of policies being issued, companies are starting to see that they could be in for some catastrophic financial losses.



Attention homeowners, renters, & mobile owners! Flood is not included in your regular policy. Flood works a little differently and we're always here to explain how flood coverage, exclusions, and deductibles work.



It's also VERY important to remember that there is a 30 day waiting period for flood policies. Which essentially means that if you take out your policy on 10/20/09, your policy will not go into effect until 11/20/09. Any flood occurring before that date will not be covered.



So just call us or e-mail us for a quote TODAY! You will be surprised at how inexpensive flood coverage can be.



For Flood Quotes & Questions

E-mail: info@sav-on.com or call 1-888-867-2866

Career Changes & Children Likely to Prompt Women to Purchase a Car

For women, purchasing a car can often be triggered by major life events, particularly changes in employment and family, according to a recent survey conducted for CarMax, Inc. (NYSE: KMX), the nation’s largest retailer of used cars.

Sixty percent of women surveyed indicated that a change in their career, whether it was a new job (37 percent) or retirement (23 percent), would be most likely to initiate the purchase of a vehicle. However, for women between the ages of 18 and 34, forty-one percent responded more likely to purchase a car when they become pregnant or welcomed another child into the family, a similar percentage as those surveyed who chose “new job” in the same age group.

“Many personal factors affect women shopping for a car,” said Donna Wassel, Southwest region vice president of CarMax. “Changes in family and employment create an opportunity to evaluate your current driving situation. If a car purchase is right for you, shopping at a no-hassle, no-haggle car retailer such as CarMax can make the experience a fun and enjoyable one.”

The following are the results of the recent poll that asked women: Of the following life events, which is most likely to prompt you to purchase a car?




The survey was conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs on behalf of CarMax. The national sample consisted of more than 500 U.S. women, aged 18 and older who were interviewed online August 17 through August 19, 2009.

Holiday Hosts Need a Personal Umbrella

Nearly 29 million American s will plan to host a party between Halloween and the Super Bowl. More importantly, over 21 million of those party hosts do not have Personal Umbrella Insurance, leaving them open to lawsuits and potential financial ruin.

If a party guest drinks, drives and causes an accident, the hosts can be held responsible. The high dollar value of jury awards combined with skyrocketing health care costs means one lawsuit can easily exceed the liability limits provided by the average homeowner policy.

SAV-ON has multiple companies which offer Personal Umbrella policies to cover you in the event of such a claim.


Call us today at 1-888-867-2866, e-mail info@sav-on.com, or request a Quik Quote!
For only 50 cents a day, you won't regret it!

Thank you to Mutual Insurance Company!

Energy Efficiency Improvements Tax Incentive

The $8,000 New Home Buyer Tax Credit (along with the Cash-for-Clunkers) may have dominated the headlines recently, but some energy efficiency Tax Credits offered by the federal government could be even more useful for the average homeowner. You may be eligible for a tax credit equal to 30 percent of the cost of materials (up to $1,500) for certain products purchased between January 1, 2009 and December 31st, 2010.

Click below for the rating specifications for eligible energy efficiency products or request the document from us: info@sav-on.com.


Thanks to Prudential

PEMCO news release offers water-damage tips

PEMCO Insurance issued a news release October 1, that reveals Washington residents’ perceptions of the most-frequent causes of homeowner claims. The PEMCO Insurance Northwest Poll, conducted by FBK Research, shows that only 14% of people correctly identified water leaks as the leading cause of homeowner claims, while more than one-fourth incorrectly believe bad weather causes most claims. The news release also offers tips on how to prevent common leaks, such as with ice-makers, dishwashers, washing-machine hoses, and outdoor faucets.

CarMax Advises How to Avoid Flood-Damaged Cars

In the wake of recent flooding, CarMax, Inc., (NYSE: KMX), the nation’s largest retailer of used cars, is advising consumers on how to avoid purchasing flood-damaged vehicles.

"Consumers should be aware that some businesses and individuals may try to sell salvaged and flood-damaged cars without revealing the vehicle history," said Jason Day, Atlanta region vice president of purchasing for CarMax.
Flood-damaged cars that are not structurally or mechanically sound could be repaired, re-titled, and sold to unsuspecting buyers."

CarMax’s purchasing team offers these ten tips for identifying a vehicle with possible flood damage. If any of these signs are identified, ask further questions to determine if flood damage occurred:

Check for a moldy smell inside the car and feel the carpet for dampness

Be suspicious of an older car with a brand new interior or carpeting

Check for rust under the brake or gas pedals

Look for dirt or rust under the dashboard and floor mats

Inspect the bolts and screws under the seats for evidence of rust

Check the undercarriage for excessive rust

Check inside the trunk under the carpet and in the spare tire well area for rust, dirt or sand

Look for corrosion, water marks, or a thin brown line on the exterior of the vehicle

Check to see if the electrical system works

Check the VIN number with AutoCheck or Carfax to see whether a flood claim has been filed or a salvage title has been issued on the vehicle