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When You Find Yourself Out Driving in the Cold November Rain.

November 6, 2023 By Forrest Dailey

We are getting right into the thick of that most unpredictable of seasons. The late fall/not quite winter season wherein it may rain, it may snow…it may even sleet. Or “snain.” (Look it up – it’s a thing.) The surface of the road may be merely wet or it may be an ice rink. And you won’t know which it is until you’re driving on it. So it’s a time for extra caution behind the wheel.

It’s an odd time of year, to be sure. Odd enough that “November rain” was the title and subject of a song by Guns N’ Roses. But like the song says, “nothing lasts forever, even cold November rain.” Soon it’ll be snowing, which brings with it its own brand of fun for drivers. At least when it’s full-on winter you’re a little more likely to know what you’re getting.

With all of that to look forward to, it’s time to get new tires if they are anywhere near needing replacement. Wet and icy roads make even tires that are just beginning to go bald much more of a liability than they otherwise would be. Might as well get ahead of that situation.

It’s time to decrease your regular speed. Don’t make yourself a hazard to other drivers by doing so, of course. But maybe others will follow suit and you’ll start a trend. If nothing else, it’s a time to make a habit of increasing your following distance behind the cars ahead of you.

It’s time to accelerate and decelerate more slowly than normal. If you have not gotten those bald(ing) tires replaced, then remember quicker acceleration or deceleration are more likely to lead to spinouts on wet and icy roads.

And it’s time to be much more observant of the current weather conditions and forecast. Granted, local meteorologists don’t always have that whittled down to a fine point for us, but it’s the best guide we can go by. And this is a time to really trust what we can see with our own eyes. If it looks slippery, it very well may be. Err on the side of caution, within reason.

And always, always remember to steer into the skid, should there be one.

Having said that, there is just one more thing to consider: Can you imagine Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose as an insurance agent? Or the guitarist, Slash, for heaven’s sake?! Nah…better to stick with the experienced agents at Horihan Insurance. We’re dependable. And we’re predictable. In the good way. Far removed from the volatile rock and roll lifestyle. And very unlike the weather in November.

It’s Baseball Playoff Time! So Naturally, Let’s Talk About Contract Insurance on Multi-Million-Dollar Contracts.

October 3, 2023 By Forrest Dailey

Are you a sports fan?

Did you ever wonder how professional teams can shell out the outrageous amounts of money they do on players, when so many of them end of being injured for a part, or a large part of the term of the contract, and some of those injuries are career-ending? Quite often a player is injured and the team with whom he/she is under contact still ends up paying them for years after they are no longer on the field or the court, the ice, or whatever the case may be.

An extreme example of this came to fruition back in August when Stephen Strasburg, a pitcher for the Washington Nationals, retired due to ongoing injuries, ending what was once an extremely promising career. He signed a seven-year contract with the Nationals after the 2019 season for $35 million per year. He only pitched about 31 innings over 8 games since then.

* For context, while relatively healthy Strasburg had spent his whole career pitching 130-215 innings per season! *

You may never know about it but when a player’s career fizzles out due to injury in the middle of a contract, usually the team has a medical insurance policy on the contract, so the player gets paid what they were due, but the team gets compensated as well. Although usually those insurance policies will only cover the contract in two- to three-year intervals, especially once a player gets older.

In any case, remember I said “usually.”

When Strasburg announced his retirement a lot of opinions swirled around about what was going to happen regarding his contract. As it turns out the Nationals did not have medical insurance on Strasberg’s contract at all, so they will be paying the entire balance of said contract.

Many commentators shook their heads at the perceived irresponsible contract doled out by the Nationals. And it led to wide-spread debate about the wisdom of such large-scale contracts in sports in the first place. Given Strasberg’s history of injury – it goes back well beyond 2019 – insuring such a contract for any period of time was probably quite difficult. Which leads one to naturally wonder why the Nationals were willing to take such a risk.

That’s what contracts are though. The team presumes a certain level of performance from the player. Risk of injury and inability to perform are – one hopes – factored in. In this way, it is very much like an insurance policy. Insurance companies hope nothing does happen when they sign a client to an insurance policy just like the Nationals signed Strasburg hoping he would stay healthy, but if not, thinking he was worth the risk.

As for the actual insurance policy that the Nationals did not put on Strasburg’s contract, had they done so, when Strasburg retired, the insurance policy would have compensated the team for the money they’d be paying Strasberg for at least that two- to three-year span.

Of course, that is assuming that it could be demonstrated that his retirement was due to injury, and not just because he didn’t want to play anymore. Those insurance adjusters are always on the case.

How Much Life Insurance Costs and Other Fish Stories.

September 1, 2023 By Forrest Dailey

Don’t exaggerate.

A study has shown that most people without life insurance think that term life coverage costs three to four times what the average cost really is. Younger adults are likely to go as far as five times overboard in their estimate. So we are here to say to you “Don’t exaggerate. Get the facts. Come visit with your nearest Horihan Insurance agent to go over exactly what it would cost for you.”

It will depend entirely on your specific lifestyle and situation, but the odds are very much in your favor that if you are guessing what it costs, that you are over-estimating. We only bring this up because if you are making such an over-estimation and it is not based on sound information from an agent, you are really – unintentionally of course – doing yourself and your loved ones a disservice by not securing the coverage you could have for a cost that works for you.

These are things we must talk about at some point, so why not now? It will require a bit of forethought on your part, but you’re not being asked to predict the future. Just to consider what kind of life you would want for those who depend on you if you were no longer there.

There are a few things you can do going into a meeting with an agent to help expedite the process. The first would be to do a little research on how much life insurance does actually cost so you come into the meeting understanding what you can get for your budget. What you will find is going to be general estimates. Sitting down with an insurance agent is the best way to get down to the specifics leading you to your personal magic number.

When considering how much coverage you ideally should have, a good rule of thumb is to take your current take-home pay and add a zero at the end of it. That is the amount of coverage you should have just to cover the basics. It may look like an imposing figure, but rest assured that is nowhere near what you will pay. It is what your loved ones will get back, should it come to that. You’ll want to add on a bit more for college for your children, but even that amount is much more affordable than people seem to think it will be.

Of course all of this depends on whether term life is right for you, or if you’d be better served by a whole life policy or a universal policy, each of which have their own pros and cons and particulars which suit certain lifestyles. These are things you can familiarize yourself with if you haven’t already, but we’ll go over that with you to make sure you get the policy that is right for you and your dependents and descendants.

The important thing is that you do initiate the process by getting in touch with your nearest Horihan Insurance agent.

Innovations in Hail Damage Prevention

July 31, 2023 By Forrest Dailey

My wife and I have a garage, but for reasons beyond our control, we have had no choice but to park our car outdoors over the last several weeks. Thankfully – at least as far as our car is concerned – over that time, it has barely even rained, let alone hailed. But every time the sky even starts looking wicked, we get to thinking it’s time to take some extra precaution on our car sitting out there in the elements.

Though there are car covers specifically meant to help prevent such damage – and you can get a decent one for under $150, and probably under $100 – there are a number of innovative ways you can protect your car from hail damage even if you haven’t invested in one.

Blankets, pillows, mattress toppers or folded towels – They’ll get a good soaking but they are a great cushiony buffer against hailstones. You’ll want to cover as much of your auto body and definitely the glass as possible.

Floor mats – This one is a great idea, because they are right there in your car. Just pop them out and drape them over your wind shield. They are thick enough to provide a solid barrier without much risk of damaging your car themselves.

Cardboard – Depending on the amount of rain that comes down, this option isn’t the best, as soon enough a good soaking will compromise the structural integrity of cardboard. Even so, it will, for a while anyway, provide some measure of defense against direct impact.

Potting soil bags – Placed – carefully! – on your sunroof, windshield, rear window etc., potting soil bags are thick, and sturdy and will almost certainly not be moved by the wind. The only thing you have to worry about is that they aren’t so heavy that they damage your car.

…and speaking of things blowing away, it is highly recommended that you do not secure any of these creative protective materials to your car with stones. Depending on the wind, even stones could go flying and cause unforeseen damage to your car, or someone else’s property. Best leave them on the ground where Nature intended them.

To secure any and all of these anti-hail devices, use bungee cords, string or rope if you really want to be sure “that baby ain’t going anywhere” or just top it off with objects heavier than stones, so long as they haven’t got any jagged edges. This will minimize the damage should the object find itself airborne.

If none of these options are available, park under a tree or overhang of a structure. Of course in parking underneath a tree during a storm you always run the risk of other damage due to wind or lightning. So you have to weigh the risk depending on the ferocity of the storm you expect. If there is a structure nearby with a larger than average roof overhang, try to at least get your windshield in a protected position. If some of these sound like quite elaborate operations, maybe they are, but when you compare it to the potential damage of a raging hailstorm, I think you’ll agree it is worth the trouble.

And don’t forget to fold your side mirrors in. You can always re-set them to that perfect position later. But leaving them out in a hailstorm is like going out in 100-degree heat without sunscreen on your ears. There are going to be issues later on.

Prevention, as in so many other situations, is the best option, but should all else fail, be sure you have a good comprehensive insurance coverage, the best way to protect your vehicle against non-driving damage when your car is just parked in the driveway minding its own business. Some sunny day in the near future, go through your closets and find the materials listed to have ready for a not-so-sunny day. But first, give Horihan Insurance a call to go over your vehicle’s current comprehensive coverage and/or the options available for it.

SIDE NOTE if you are considering selling your car: Hail damage reduces the appraisal value of your car by not just the cost of repair, but a little more, simply because aesthetically it would be less appealing to a potential buyer. That along with the knowledge that they’ve got the actual repairs to deal with.

When You Find Yourself Out Driving in the Cold November Rain.

It’s Baseball Playoff Time! So Naturally, Let’s Talk About Contract Insurance on Multi-Million-Dollar Contracts.

How Much Life Insurance Costs and Other Fish Stories.

Innovations in Hail Damage Prevention

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