Antique and Collectible car insurance

Anyone who collects classic cars realizes there’s a big difference between the vehicles they collect and the ones they drive every day. Yet not all collectors insure their collectibles and everyday vehicles differently, which could potentially leave them at risk if they have a claim. Antique and classic cars have special needs that differ from traditional vehicles. Unlike regular-use vehicles that are on the road every day, antique and classic cars typically are used for limited pleasure driving, car shows and club events.

Special vehicles, special coverage
From classics to modifieds, including muscle cars, exotics, replicars, woodies, kit cars and other types of collectibles, Farmers offers collectible auto insurance packages designed to meet your special needs.

• Multi-vehicle discount — You may be eligible for a discount when you insure more than one collectible car.
• ‘Agreed Value’ Coverage — Prior to issuing your policy, we’ll discuss the coverage you want and decide on an “agreed value” for your vehicle. In the event that there is a total loss to your vehicle, the “agreed value” is the amount you will receive without subtracting a deductible.
• No ‘attendance’ clause — Unlike some other collectible auto insurers, we don’t have an attendance requirement. That means you can bring your car to a classic car show and not have to worry about a loss while you’re away from your collectible enjoying the show.

Other specialty coverage
You’ll want to learn all you can about your special car and be certain you understand its potential value so you can be sure you have the type of coverage you want. I can also provide information on other types of specialty insurance, such as policies for boats, RVs, motorcycles and snowmobiles.

Not all products and discounts are available in every state and may vary by state. The Wertzberger Agency can be reached at 913-383-3276.

Incident Forgiveness - Farmers Insurance

BIG NEWS!

For existing auto insurance customers of Farmers in Kansas and Missouri, you are now being given additional benefits.....FREE OF CHARGE!

There are a few additional benefits being rolled out, but one of them is Incident Forgiveness.

After the policy has been in effect for six months, the premium will not be increased due to a new minor traffic violation, such as speeding or improper turn/passing....without limit!

What this means to our clients is if they were to get the occasional traffic ticket, no longer is there a need to pay double or obtain an attorney to keep it off your record. Your rates will not be effected!



If there is a moving violation on your record upon coming to Farmers, the factor that ticket will play will go down as it approaches three years old. There will be no other tickets accounted for or charged for. This benefit is one that new clients can achieve as well.

For information on other benefits included in Farmers auto insurance, call The Wertzberger Agency at 913-383-3276

Ready or not, here come the holidays

For many people, the winter holidays can be one of the happiest times of the year. But the busy holiday season also can leave others feeling overwhelmed and tired. If you fall into the second group, here are some suggestions to help you rein in holiday stress:

• Create a budget. Plan your gift giving and establish a budget in advance.
• Don’t worry about finding the perfect gift. Ask people what they want instead of searching for the perfect gift. Try to shop early and stick to your budget.
• Plan family get-togethers. Consider buying some prepared foods — this way you don’t have to cook for everyone yourself. Ask others to bring their favorite dishes and lighten your load.
• Schedule time with family and friends. Allow time for yourself to do things that you enjoy. Give yourself time to relax and recover after extended visits.
• Manage your time. Set priorities and write them down. Don’t set impossible goals and don’t over commit yourself. Listen to your body: if you are feeling overwhelmed rest when your body tells you to.

The holiday blues
While an enjoyable time of year for many, for some the holidays can be a time of sadness. Feelings of loneliness and anger can intensify when contrasted with the joyful expectations of the holidays. Here are some tips to help you deal with holiday blues:¹

• Find support. Seek help from a partner, family member, friend, counselor or doctor. Talking about your feelings can often lighten the burden you may feel.
• Connect socially. Try not to isolate yourself. Take a vacation with a family member or friend; spend time with people who care about you; volunteer your time to help others. Spending time with those in need helps them while making you feel less isolated.
• Take care of yourself.
  • Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet.
  • Exercise regularly.
  • Get plenty of sleep.
  • Give yourself a break if you feel stressed out — treat yourself to a therapeutic massage.
  • Maintain a normal routine.

Getting your home ready
Are you preparing for guests this holiday season? Is your home ready? Whether your guests are staying for the day or longer, the following checklist may help make your home safer, more comfortable and help reduce stress as you prepare for the holidays.

Holiday checklist
	Entrance Keep all walkways, steps and porches free of ice and snow. Make sure all outdoor lighting is functioning properly and is turned on at dusk. Establish a place to collect all winter weather apparel, especially boots, where people won’t be likely to trip over them. Living Area If your guests have young children make sure you childproof your home.2 Make sure all smoke detectors are working properly. Keep all areas free of clutter and well lit to reduce tripping hazards. Bathrooms Keep any medication somewhere inaccessible to guests, especially children. Check safety rails in tub and shower enclosure to make sure they are secure. Use non-skid bath mats to reduce the likelihood of a slip. Kitchen Make sure any foods that are cooking are never left unattended. Make sure all food is stored away from cleaning materials and that drawers are closed after use. Make sure any knives or cooking utensils are out of reach of children. Wipe up any spills immediately. Guest rooms Make sure to have nightlights throughout your home. Guests can easily become disoriented in a dark, unfamiliar place. Secure or remove any area throw rugs.

Is your coverage ready for the holidays?
While you are making your home safer for family and guests, it is also a good time to review your homeowners insurance. Call me today to discuss and we can make sure you have the coverage you want. The Werzberger Agency can be reached at 913-383-3276

Put the brakes on accelerating driving costs

Many of us are trying to reduce our driving costs. And manufacturers are helping: More and more vehicles are now equipped with onboard data centers that measure everything from the vehicle’s fuel efficiency to average speed. If you don’t have these features in your vehicle, here are some tools that may help you get to your destination more cost-effectively.

Let’s review the basics
This may seem like a no-brainer, but your driving style and your vehicle’s state of repair (or disrepair) can affect your fuel consumption significantly.

• Don’t drive with a heavy foot, keep it steady. Rapid acceleration and braking can lower gas mileage whether you’re on the highway or in town. Make it your goal to avoid driving aggressively.
• Don’t idle (sitting in neutral while engine is running). If you’re stopping for more than 10 seconds — except in traffic — turn off your engine. Idling uses more gas than restarting your engine.
• Properly maintain your car. Follow guidelines in your owner’s manual. They’re intended to provide optimum vehicle performance.

Use your smartphone
Smartphones can be incredibly useful for car owners, offering a selection of apps, many free of charge, which can help save both time and money. Here’s a selection of tools that may be helpful. Most are available for both Android and Apple phones. Some also support BlackBerry and Windows Phone devices.

Important note: It isn’t safe to use your smartphone while driving. Instead, pull over and check your phone or give the device to a passenger while you keep your attention on driving.

Waze
Considered the go-to app for cars on the road, Waze is one of the world’s largest community-based traffic and navigation apps. You can join other drivers in your area who share real-time traffic and road info, saving everyone time and gas money on their daily commute. And it’s simple to use — when you start your car, open the app and enter your destination. Waze does the rest. Waze is a free app available for Apple, Android and Windows phones.

greenMeter
Want to know what your lead foot is costing you? Get the greenMeter, an app for the iPhone and iPod Touch: It computes your vehicle’s power and fuel usage characteristics and evaluates your driving to help you increase efficiency and reduce fuel consumption. Results are displayed in real time so feedback is instantaneous. greenMeter is available for $5.99; the company claims the software can pay for itself within one or two tanks of gas.

aCar
aCar is a tool to help you track your vehicle’s fuel mileage and expenses to see if it’s operating at peak efficiency. aCar will also remind you when it’s time for maintenance services such as changing engine oil, air filter, oil filter, etc. aCar is free for Android, Amazon Kindle Fire and BlackBerry phones.

Fuelly
Fuelly lets you track, share and compare your gas mileage. Simply sign up, add a car or motorcycle, and begin tracking your mileage. Fuelly is a mobile site rather than an app, so there is nothing to download or install. Visit http://m.fuelly.com from your smartphone and add data right from the gas pump. Fuelly gives you instant feedback about your fuel efficiency. You can search the site for other drivers with the same make and model as your vehicle to see efficiency comparisons


Common sense
In addition to the apps we’ve highlighted, you can probably come up with many ways to conserve — combine trips to town; telecommute to work once a week, if possible; carpool and/or use public transportation when available. Check out Farmers Facebook page for more great tips on saving and "like" The Wertzberger Agency Facebook page to stay connected to us locally.

Online Reviews

Did a local business go above and beyond your expectations recently when servicing you?

Did a local business fall short of your expectations recently when servicing you?

Did a local business meet your expectations recently when servicing you?

Do you really enjoy a local business and want to do all you can to help them succeed?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you need to leave that local business a review on an online website, detailing your experience and thoughts of the establishment. Local reviews can greatly help a local business attract new customers as people want to know what they can expect when they would come to a business for services needed. They can also help that local business improve their SEO (Search Engine Optimization). With good SEO, that local business is more easily "found" online when people are searching for services needed.

Leaving a local review is easy! Simply go to a search engine like Google, Yelp, or Yahoo. Then, type the name of the business and the zip code of where they are located. There will then likely appear a link to visit their respective site within that search engine. Once there, there should be a link directing you to "leave a review". Through your review, you can detail your experience and thoughts of the business. You can also note whether or not you would recommend then to others needing their services offered as well as give them a rating (usually 1 - 5 stars).

To reach Farmers Insurance - The Wertzberger Agency's online search sites on Google and Yelp, click the links below. Once there, click to "write a review"! Your reviews are one of the best ways you can show your appreciation of The Wertzberger Agency!

LINKS:

Google+ Page

Yelp Page

Farmers Insurance Brand Ambassador Stops in Sea Bright, N.J.

PGA TOUR player and Farmers Insurance brand ambassador, Rickie Fowler stopped in Sea Bright, New Jersey, on August 19 to help rebuild a home devastated by Superstorm Sandy in October 2012. Working alongside Farmers agents and employee volunteers, Fowler helped install flooring and trim bringing the owner Erik Lovgren one step closer to returning home. Following the rebuilding, Fowler headed across the street to the Sea Bright public beach where he demonstrated his golf skills for more than 150 kids from local chapters of The First Tee and members of the community.

“The recovery effort in Sea Bright and surrounding communities by Farmers and Sea Bright Rising is incredible, and I’m lucky to have the opportunity to help,” said Fowler.

Farmers has a history of being the first on scene to help in the immediate aftermath of natural disasters. Farmers has partnered with Sea Bright Rising, a local nonprofit, to help rebuild more than 100 homes on the Jersey Shore by the end of 2014.


The video below highlights Fowler and Farmers’ day in Sea Bright. Click HERE

What if you didn’t know what Boomer knows?

If you were suddenly removed from the picture, what would happen to those you love? Think about it … would they suffer financially? Boomer knows.

Boomer Esiason is a husband, a dad and a record-setting NFL quarterback. These days he’s a popular radio and TV broadcaster. He’s also a spokesperson for Life Insurance Awareness Month — his hope is that others will learn from his personal story and get the life insurance protection they need.

Boomer was seven when his mother died with no life insurance. His father coped with his own grief and the constant struggle to keep finances, work, home and his kids in balance. “I was handed a life lesson early,” says Boomer. “It wasn’t the easiest life — my dad sacrificed a lot.”

Boomer went behind the counter in “Undercover: Boomer the Barista,” to show that you just never know what’s going to happen next. After all, would you expect to have your morning espresso served up by a sports hero?

Does anyone depend on you for support?
Whether you’re single, starting a family, have kids already in school, are preparing for retirement or already retired, life insurance should be part of your overall financial plan. Helping your family avoid financial hardship in the event of your passing is one of the most important reasons to own life insurance. And if you own a small business, you have business insurance needs as well.
Now is the time to act: You can help ensure that your family does not endure unnecessary financial hardship. I am here to help and so is Farmers Life^®.
Life insurance can be life changing for those you love. It can help them:

• Pay the mortgage
• Maintain their current standard of living
• Fund your children’s college education
• Pay for final expenses

Life insurance is one of the greatest gifts you can give to those you love. Boomer knows.

Did you know your business vehicles need different coverage?

If you’re a small-business owner you know that your company vehicles provide not only transportation but also a consistently professional image and mobile marketing. But do you know that they also require a commercial insurance policy? It’s true: personal auto policies typically exclude coverage for vehicles used in your business. If you use vehicles to transport your employees, equipment or products, you probably need commercial coverage.

Farmers offers flexible coverage options that reflect the characteristics of your business and typically include:

• Bodily Injury: Covers bodily injuries (or death) to another for which you are legally responsible.
• Property Damage: Covers damages to someone else’s property for which you are legally responsible.
• Collision: Covers your vehicle when your car hits, or is hit by, another vehicle.
• Comprehensive: Covers your vehicle for losses resulting from incidents other than collision.
• Uninsured/Underinsured motorists: Covers you for bodily injuries, damages, or death caused by an at-fault uninsured or underinsured driver.
• Medical Payments: Covers medical expenses incurred by you and your passengers injured in an accident.

Avoid, reduce and mitigate potential claims
Whether you manage a few pickups or a full fleet of box trucks, you owe it to yourself and your business to learn as much as you can about our comprehensive commercial auto policy provisions. Farmers has a staff of highly trained loss prevention experts who can guide you through safety programs and provide supporting materials designed to help educate your employees. Let’s get together soon to review your coverage.