Where you live can have numerous effects on your auto insurance premium. Insurance rates vary by state, city, or even neighborhood. Some states have higher premiums than others due to requirements for minimum coverage, while others demand less for minimum coverage and therefore have lower premiums.

Other factors that can affect your auto insurance premium include:

• Your city or town’s population density
• Weather, e.g., higher chance of flooding, earthquakes, etc.
• High crime rates
• Road conditions
• Building distance and density
• Age of area and home, e.g., heritage and/or un-renovated buildings, heating, etc.
• Emergency (fire, medical, and police) services
• Traffic conditions
• State and city laws on claims and insurance

While Schield Insurance specializes in Colorado insurance laws, we can give you a fee quote for your auto insurance.

Exclusions cover incidents that are not covered by your insurance policy. Among the most common exclusions are:

• Natural disasters and hostile acts/war
• Intentional cause of damage
• Ordinance or law exclusion
• Extra cost incurred by building codes
• Neglect or maintenance issues, e.g., snow buildup, mold, water damage, etc.

If you need help assessing a policy for possible exclusions, book us for a free consultation.

The simple answer is yes, coverage can vary per business. Industries may have different requirements, and the size of the business can affect what policies you can avail.

Think about it: you wouldn’t expect a veterinary clinic to have the same considerations as a brewery, nor a small business with 35 employees compared to a medium-sized business of 300.

Small businesses in particular normally opt for a package policy called Business Owner’s Policy (BOP). The particulars may change per business, but it generally protects owners from liabilities such as:

• Fire
• Theft
• Property damage
• Bodily harm/injury
• Business interruption

You may also opt in for specialized coverage, such as spoilage of merchandise, data breach, flood protection, and more as endorsements. These can also be purchased as separate Difference in Conditions policies.

One thing you should remember is your credit-based insurance score is different from your credit score. Your credit score is used to determine your likelihood or capacity to repay loans. Meanwhile, your credit-based insurance score is used to gauge your premium by evaluating your odds of filing a claim.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) broke down credit scoring company FICO’s evaluation criteria for a credit-based insurance score as:

• Payment history (40%)
• Outstanding debt (30%)
• Credit history length (15%)
• Pursuit of new credit (10%)
• Credit mix (5%)

Some states don’t legally allow the use of credit-based insurance scores as the sole basis for underwriting. In Colorado, your credit-based insurance score can help reduce your premium—but a poor score can increase it by as much as 76%.

If you need help figuring out how much your score can affect your premium, send us an email or give us a call.