Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Why is HGV Insurance Special and Why is it Important to Understand the Lingo?

By Stanley Headley

HGV insurance, or Heavy Goods Vehicle insurance, or Haulage insurance, has some factors that are generally not known to the common public. A HGV owner or operator should have a clear and thorough understanding of all the terms, conditions and nuances of HGV insurance in order to ensure that they have the right HGV insurance policy.

The significance of HGV insurance arises from the fact that the law requires a hauling vehicle to have an insurance coverage in order to travel on highways and streets.

Why is HGV insurance special?

HGV insurance guarantees that the goods and items of the customer are adequately insured while in transit. Thus, the customer feels secure about untoward incidents that might occur in transit. Moreover, a HGV having a coverage remains protected in matters involving legal complications.

HGV insurance covers various goods being transported that range from highly hazardous and toxic materials to extremely heavy and big objects.

Normally the coverage given to the vehicle does not depend on the premium paid by the insurer. The majority of the insurance providers offer an introductory bonus in the form of a waiver of up to sixty percent for the initial coverage.

The greatest surprise involving HGV insurance lies in the fact that it can be cheap and affordable despite the valuables it covers and the "expensive" tag attached to it.

HGV insurance lingo

If you are planning to purchase a HGV policy for the first time, you do not need to fear. HGV is not rocket science. All one really needs to do is to get a hang of the jargon involved.

One might wonder how knowing the lingo is going to help. One might think that the process of learning the jargon would be too time-consuming. But it is not actually that difficult. Moreover, you will soon find out that the fact that you know the insurance language will cause your premium to go down considerably.

Your apparent experience about any type of insurance will discourage the agents and brokers from their attempts to convince you with unnecessarily expensive packages. They would not have the heart to approach you with extravagant plans, as your mastery over HGV insurance lingo would make them feel that you have sufficient knowledge to nip their efforts at the bud.

If we visit a foreign country and speak their language, we get readily accepted by the locals as they feel comfortable and at ease with us. A similar magic happens with the insurance industry. The moment you speak their language you ensure that you get the best deal, the best treatment and the best services.

Words and phrases like "Public Liability", "No Claims Bonus", "Compulsory Deductible", "Voluntary Excess", "Premium" etc. will act like magical words and phrases as soon as you utter them while conversing with HGV insurance companies or brokers. The Internet will play a valuable role if you sincerely want to get a hang of HGV insurance lingo.

Thus, a little bit of special attention to HGV will make sure that you get an affordable and perfect HGV deal.


Staveley Head are a fast growing independently owned insurance broker based in the UK and offers HGV Insurance with huge savings being passed onto the customer.

The Underestimated Value of Insurance

By Sarah Martin

Insurance as an issue in business-the worth of insurance is typically greatly underestimated. This is partially the consequence of assuming a very tapered view of the insurance industry for, in assessing the value of any commerce enterprise, we must mull over not only the basic and obvious benefits which are the outcome from its behavior but also its more distant penalties (upon close examination it will be clear (1) that insurance executes a wide variety of functions for the business individual and the population which are frequently acknowledged without notice or approval and (2) that the abundant forms of insurance have in basic form very much the identical elements in sight.

Insurance brings out security in business activities-a service which is ordinary to all forms of insurance-life insurance, homeowner insurance, credit insurance, bonding, title insurance, etc., and is to alternate for big and uncertain losses a minute but definite payment. By this it means that the business individual enters into a contract to disburse a relatively diminutive premium at fixed intervals, in exchange for the insurance company's agreement to presume the risk of particular bigger losses which may or may not happen.

For example, while an individual may be aware that fires are consistently ruining business property and stocks of goods he is unable to determine how quickly his property will be affected, if ever. If he could forecast his fire damages with any precision he could make provision prior to damages without the necessity of insurance, provided there was appropriate time; but since the occasion and its consequences are vague he has no guarantee that his most solemn efforts to provide for the future might be cut short by an unfortunate calamity.

But what is most vague with consideration to an individual may be directly calculated for a crowd. A revision of fire insurance statistics would demonstrate that on bakeries, for example, a particular percentage of loss due to fire may be predictable in a given time period. If such statistics were more reasonable in disposition it would be feasible even to find the statistical results in regards to specific kinds of bakeries in specific edifices.

How this might be performed can be shown with fire insurance rates. It is thus possible to create provision on a numerical basis for a group which is not probable for an individual. The constituent of confidence or guarantee is a fundamental one in every industry and to every individual and insurance supplies a means in which such confidence can be introduced where it likely did not previously exist.

Nor do other types of insurance fluctuate from fire insurance in this esteem, except in scale. Any person who is familiar with the evidence of the past experience of life insurance companies can assure anyone with the maximum amount of ease that out of 100,000 individuals at the age of 20, 3,891 will perish before they reach 25. Nonetheless with regard to an individual we can forecast nothing and one who tries to offer against bereavement by reduction may or may not be victorious.

In marine insurance we can also discover individuals and companies who, depending upon their familiarity of conditions and the understanding of the past, are prepared for a minute consideration to suppose the risks incident to conveyance of a vessel or a cargo over the ocean. It is factual that here the elements affecting the risk are diverse and so assorted that the dilemma of calculating an accurate premium is more complex, but the standard involved is identical.


Sarah Martin is a freelance marketing writer based out of San Diego, CA. She specializes in finance, business, and different types of insurance. For great deals on homeowner's insurance, please visit http://cheap-insurance-rates.com/.

The First Stock Market Crash

By Sarah Martin

Frederick H. Ecker became President of the Metropolitan on March 26, 1929, and associated with him as Vice Presidents were Robert L. Cox and Leroy A. Lincoln. Mr. Cox died in January of the following year, and Mr. Lincoln immediately assumed the position of second in command. He succeeded to the Presidency in March 1936, when Mr. Ecker became Chairman of the Board. When the new administration took office in 1929, the country was enjoying what appeared to be great prosperity.

Many men in business and in public life believed that we had attained a depression less economy. Corporate earnings were at a high level. There was frenzied activity in the stock market and in the flotation of new securities. Prices of common stocks reached dizzy peaks. Credit was easy to obtain. The growth of the Metropolitan and of other life insurance companies reflected the optimistic spirit of the times. All prospered as a result of the great business activity and the high rate of employment at good wages then prevalent throughout the country.

The first hundred billion dollars of life insurance rates in force had been attained; predictions were being confidently made that within another 10 years the second hundred billion would be added. But in October 1929 came the first manifestation of a series of cataclysms which shook the country and the world. The first stock market crash came almost out of a clear sky. The full significance of this indication of economic distress was little understood at the time. Many people suffered immediate losses. Many held on to their securities while prices were dropping sharply, only to sell them at even lower figures at a later date, or to be closed out for lack of margin.

Nevertheless, there were many in high places that refused to believe that this was more than a temporary financial setback. Although the national income fell in 1930 and 1931, it was still at a fairly high level. Because of the low prices to which common stocks had fallen, various recommendations were made in the late autumn of 1929 urging the life insurance companies to make such purchases in anticipation of rapid economic recovery.

The State laws governing life insurance investments specifically forbade such venturing. Undoubtedly great havoc would have been wrought in the financial structures of many companies and great losses suffered by policy holders if such advice could have been taken. The market quotations as they dropped from month to month thoroughly confirmed the prophetic warnings of Mr. Ecker, and justified his insistence that the law limiting the character of the investment portfolio of Life insurance companies should remain essentially unchanged.

The life insurance companies stood firm. Because of the character of their portfolios, they were not seriously affected by the declining values. In some respects, the very nature of the upset at the close of 1929 reacted favorably upon the companies. Many individuals who had lost heavily in the stock market felt called upon to increase their Life insurance in order to make good the losses to the estates which they had hoped to build up for their families.

Thus, in the years immediately following the first stock market crash, ordinary insurance made unparalleled gains and was becoming closer and closer to offering term life insurance without exam. In 1930 the Metropolitan issued, exclusive of business revived or increased, close to $1,400,000,000 of ordinary insurance, the highest annual figure in the history of this department up to that time. But even this figure was exceeded by a considerable margin the following year, when a total of more than $1,460,000,000 was achieved. In fact, 1931 has remained the banner year for the writing of ordinary insurance in the Metropolitan.

Even in the industrial department there was an issue of $1,110,000,000 in 1930, only 8% less than in its peak year of 1929. In 1931 the industrial insurance issued still exceeded $1,000,000,000. In both the ordinary and the industrial departments, the total insurance in force continued to increase without interruption through the year 1931. Apparently, the economic situation up to that time had not yet seriously affected the ability of the American people to purchase or maintain life insurance.


Sarah Martin is a freelance marketing writer based out of San Diego, CA. She specializes in finance, business, and different types of insurance. For a free term life insurance quote, please visit http://www.equote.com/.

Similarities in All Fields of Insurance

By Sarah Martin

Similar depictions are found in all fields of insurance. No property owner is completely certain that his title is strong and no one would be willing to put forth a single prediction about it when it comes to personal judgment, however correct, could be wrong. But given an adequately large collection of risks underwriters are eager to transform uncertainty into certainty by conceding protection in return for a predetermined premium.

No merchant is aware for sure when a particular debtor's account might need to be written off as a "bad debt," or how much he stands lose on a personal debtor, but in many areas of business the standard loss through bad debts is about completely certain. When an assortment of risks thus increases the firmness of the future it becomes feasible for the manufacturer to take away his doubts by the acquisition of a credit insurance policy.

The law of most States holds a business responsible for payment to hurt employees, usually specifying precisely the amount to which the individual employee is allowed; but even in the major plants it is complex to guess the entire amount which will be compensated in any given year.

But by accounting for, for instance, all steel plants in America, we can come to a much more precise finale and through compensation private health insurance can wipe away this element of possibility from the employer's company. Generally most business men would confess that nothing is more vague than the law, and yet they suppose a legal liability when they authorize a salesman to go into their premises, when they dangle a sign over the path, operate an industrial unit with windows opening on the lane, and perform many other acts without a consideration of the component of risk thereby brought up.

A public liability policy would turn many of these reservations. So we might go on to exemplify the element of doubt in the operation of a vehicle, in an operation executed by a doctor, in the function of an elevator, in the presence of a plate glass window, the operation of a steam boiler, and the mailing of a package by parcel station, in all of which the doubt, or at least a significant part thereof, may be completely erased by the introduction of insurance.

It is the failure entirely to welcome this principle that causes people so often to insure their possessions but to overlook their life insurance, to enlighten themselves of their liability under reimbursement acts, yet take no notice of their liability to the public. Plenty has been said, nevertheless, to show the outcomes in the elimination of risk made accessible to the individual and the business owner. If all ambiguity could be removed from business, profits would be definite; insurance removes much insecurity and to that degree is profitable.

Insurance improves business competence-the natural result of the removal of risk and ambiguity is an increase in business effectiveness. Every producer knows that if it were feasible for him to lessen the uncertainties of his industry by 50% his efficiency as a commerce unit would be at the very least trebled. The cost of goods is often used as an index to the competence of their production and allocation, and it is well known that the slighter the risk involved, the lesser the price it is achievable to charge.

The most doubtful businesses are in the foremost the most incompetent ones; for the exis¬tence of the huge element of doubt minimizes the significance of the countless small factors which make up the summation total of effectiveness. With a few bigger risks out of the way the business owner is able to dedicate his concentration to those minor perfections which award him an advantage over his competitors. This makes the idea of cheap auto insurance that much more relevant.

For example, suppose that a young individual has gathered a small amount of wealth and is given an opportunity to invest this amount of capital in an exporting commerce. He may be very certain of the achievement of this industry and would be prepared to risk his opportunity in it without thinking twice. But he considers the danger accompanying ocean transportation and the hazards of inferno and fraudulence.

His investment symbolizes a growth acquired by reduction and tough labor, and when he ponders the likelihood of flames, of shipwreck, of harm to the goods by the sea, etc., he becomes reluctant to put his capital in jeopardy unless insurance is introduced as a kind of protection. With this guarantee he is a resourceful business individual, without it he is a risky gambler heckled by uncertainty and indecision.


Sarah Martin is a freelance marketing writer based out of San Diego, CA. She specializes in finance, business, and different types of insurance. For great health insurance and auto insurance rates, please visit http://cheap-insurance-rates.com/.

Business Still Booms Within Proposed Limits

By Kyle Y Widner

The scene for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company began to shift around 1905-a year of great import in American life insurance history. For some time it had been clear to leaders of public opinion that all was not well with the practice of life insurance as it had been conducted by some of the larger companies. In that year the New York Legislature appointed a joint committee, with Senator William W. Armstrong as Chairman, to make a sweeping inquiry into every phase of the industry.

The inquiry concentrated upon the alleged mismanagement of the companies, their vast accumulations of wealth, their treatment of policyholders, their cost of operation and administration, the methods and character of their investments, their legislative activities, and practice of contributions to political parties.

The investigation was conducted by distinguished counsel headed by Charles Evans Hughes, later Governor of the State of New York and Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Much that was unsavory was disclosed in the activities of some, though not all, of the larger companies. The report of the investigation was followed by drastic legislation which cleansed the business of questionable practices which had sprung up during the years.

Two decades later the business had earned from Mr. Hughes, in an address before the Association of Life Insurance Presidents, the commendation: "1 believe that there is no safer or better managed business in our country than yours." In so far as the Metropolitan itself was concerned, the Armstrong investigation and the legislation which ensued were, with exceptions mentioned below, a happy vindication of the practices which the company had previously established. Tontine, or deferred dividend insurance, which Mr. Fiske had proscribed when the Ordinary Department was reestablished in 1892, was outlawed. Expenses in the acquisition of new business were definitely limited.

When other companies argued that the restriction of expenses imposed a hardship upon them, the Legislative Committee cited the Metropolitan as an example that business could be done within the proposed limits. As regards industrial life insurance, the committee referred to what were called "serious evils which have been disclosed by this inquiry," but stated that it was not prepared to make recommendations with reference to that business. This was regarded by Mr. Fiske as a personal triumph.

He had impressed the committee with his views as to the importance of industrial life insurance as an institution and with the value of the service which it rendered, and he had urged that the companies be permitted to seek remedies of the features criticized, without legislative interference.

The only applicable changes in the law were to put the reserve liabilities on the basis of Metropolitan Industrial mortality, and to provide paid-up values to lapsed policies after three instead of after five years. The result of the investigation as a whole was to add to the prestige of the company, a fact evidenced by the sharp increase in its business in the years that followed.


This author is a freelance marketing writer based out of San Diego, CA. She specializes in the history of life insurance, business, and finance.

Online Insurance Policies

By Jon Elton

With the verdant use of computers and internet global networking online facilities, nowadays people would like to do business with online stores and websites. Whatever you want to lead a comfortable or luxurious life, everything is available online. This is true in the case of insurance policies as well. There are many advantages for online insurance policies.

There are varieties of insurance policies. They are life insurance policies, auto insurance policies, accidental insurance policies, health insurance policies and home insurance policies. All these policies are essentially required for any citizen. These insurance policies help the people to live without ant stress on future. If you have a valid life insurance cover, you can forget about the financial difficulties which can be faced by your dependents in case of an eventuality of the death. Without the insurance cover the lives of your loving ones will be in shatters. Similar is the case with auto insurance. Auto insurance is in any case important, as it is an essential deal required to get the necessary permit and license to drive the vehicle. Auto insurance will safeguard from you and third parties in case of any damages to the vehicle or an accident. You need not worry about the financial burden due to auto related issue if you have already insured your vehicle.

The present lifestyle, polluted environments and fast paced life have become the source for many physical and mental ailments. Thanks to the advancements in the medical field and technological fields. The diagnosis and after treatments are nowadays are easy with modern techno savvy equipments, laboratory tests and also with the advanced highly effective medicines. Almost all the diseases are curable and the rest are controllable enabling the patient to lead a worthy life. But...? The expenses associated with the medical diagnosis and treatments are very high making it very difficult for millions to afford. Here health insurance comes as the savior. With a minimal payment of monthly installments, you can cover all your medical needs without any difficulties. Group health insurance schemes and family health insurance schemes extends this health insurance facilities to your family and the groups like workers in a company.

Home insurance and home content insurance are the other types of insurance schemes which are widely in use. These insurances schemes make you free of worrying about the loss or damage of your dream homes and its contents. If you have availed a mortgage loan for the home, the insurance policies for home is very essential. Accidental insurance policies are a sort of Life insurance policy without any life coverage on natural death. If the death or permanent disability occurs due to an accident, then this insurance cover comes into effect.

All the above described various kinds of policies are now available in online. You have to log on to your internet and search for the good options foe each one of the above. Getting the proper awareness on all these insurance schemes is necessary for selecting the proper and best insurance deals.


Jon Elton owns and operates a Car Home Life Insurance Quotes website to help while making decision about insurance. He also operates a Cheap Car Auto Insurance site to help taking decision about auto Insurance.

Nicholas Barbon, Insurance Pioneer

By Geoff Ficke

For most of history natural and man made disasters were treated as simple "Acts of God". After the event, the effected populations were left to fend for themselves. They rebuilt their lives as best they could but there was no agency or provider that could be approached for assistance. Charity was virtually unknown in any organized way. Governments were distant and not in the business of administering relief funds.

Thus, a commercial opportunity was noticed, addressed and successfully harvested. In 1670 there was a massive fire in London. It was the largest fire in history until that time. The city was, at that time the largest, most densely populated in the world. Almost all of the buildings in London were constructed of wood and were built closely together, At that time, as now, London was a very horizontally designed metropolis (New York City and Hong Kong in contrast, are much more vertically built). The fire fed upon itself and raged widely, consuming all in its path.

After the fire burnt itself out, the city of London and it's population were decimated. A prescient resident named Nicholas Barbon observed first hand the total destruction of his the metropolis. Barbon was a German trained physician. He assisted by caring for the injured but felt that something more could be done to assist people in rebuilding their physical, financial and emotional lives.

His brilliant, elegantly simple idea was to create an assurance product that could be sold in mass, at affordable rates and cover the possibility of loss by fire. Nicholas Barbon met with accountants and financiers and developed some of the earliest actuarial tables to assess and price risk. London Assurance was incorporated and was the first known entity to sell fire insurance to individuals and businesses.

In America, Benjamin Franklin started the first fire insurance company in Philadelphia in the 1760's. Franklin was an entrepreneur with a wide range of business and philanthropic interests. He was probably one of America's richest men of that era. He started the first fire department in Philadelphia at the same time. Imagine selling fire insurance for profit, and assembling a professional fire department to mitigate losses from fires. Bright fellow, no?

The great Chicago fire and the San Francisco fire of 1906 would have left these modern, beautiful metropolises with much sadder futures if the use of fire insurance had not been widely incorporated by the time they burned. Chicago is now known as "The 2nd City", not because it is secondary to New York, but because the modern city we enjoy was rebuilt on top of the burned out husk of old Chicago.

Today the use of fire insurance is ubiquitous. We must have fire insurance to secure a home loan. Cities around the world have crafted building codes to minimize fire hazards among other reasons. The assessment of fire insurance risk is an actuarial craft. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are existent because of the fire and casualty industry that Nicholas Barbon pioneered.

The genius of Nicholas Barbon in assembling the elements that successfully commercialized the fire insurance business benefit us to this day. His vision allows millions of families and businesses around the world to survive disasters and re-assemble their lives.

Everyday, in locations all over the world, entrepreneurs are working to create new products, techniques and services that can improve our lives. Ben Franklin, Thomas Edison, Bill Gates and other famous inventors are paid homage for their contributions and genius. They are worthy role models for people seeking to create new opportunities. Men like Nicholas Barbon are less obvious. And yet, the seemingly mundane creation of fire insurance is a wonderful template for us to consider as we seek to craft exciting, new innovations.


Geoff Ficke has been a serial entrepreneur for almost 50 years. As a small boy, earning his spending money doing odd jobs in the neighborhood, he learned the value of selling himself, offering service and value for money.

After putting himself through the University of Kentucky (B.A. Broadcast Journalism, 1969) and serving in the United States Marine Corp, Mr. Ficke commenced a career in the cosmetic industry. After rising to National Sales Manager for Vidal Sassoon Hair Care at age 28, he then launched a number of ventures, including Rubigo Cosmetics, Parfums Pierre Wulff Paris, Le Bain Couture and Fashion Fragrance.

Geoff Ficke and his consulting firm, Duquesa Marketing, Inc. (http://www.duquesamarketing.com) has assisted businesses large and small, domestic and international, entrepreneurs, inventors and students in new product development, capital formation, licensing, marketing, sales and business plans and successful implementation of his customized strategies. He is a Senior Fellow at the Page Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Business School, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

 

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