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Special Event Insurance is needed if you are planning an event such as a conference, exhibition, festival, large birthday party, wedding or reception.

At Centerville Insurance Agency, we can help manage your risk of liability and loss if accidents, injuries or weather affect your event.

Special event insurance coverage differs from regular liability insurance because it covers specific things that may come up during an event that general liability policies do not cover.

Examples of coverages for Special Event Insurance include:

Event Cancellation Coverage:  This may help cover the costs if the event has to be canceled.

Event Liability Coverage: This may help if there is damage to the rental facility or venue.

If there is going to liquor at your event, you should also consider including Liquor Liability Coverage. This will protect you if there are alcohol related accidents or injuries during the event.

Weather Insurance Coverage: Rain, Snow, Tornados, Flooding, Hurricanes and more! Be protected for whatever Mother Nature throws at your event!

At Centerville Insurance Agency, we are the trusted insurance provider for Special Event Insurance and serve all cities in Virginia.  Start a quote by calling 757-420-0006, emailing us or click now https://centervilleinsure.com/about-us/contact-us/

If you don’t have a driver’s license, then you don’t need auto insurance. Seems reasonable – you wouldn’t buy a flight out of the country without your passport. However, you can buy insurance without a license, so the option exists. It must exist for some reason, right?

There are a couple reasons and they are actually more common than you might think. There are multiple scenarios where buying auto insurance as a non-driver is just as important as buying auto insurance when you drive every day.

Underage drivers are one common scenario where you may want to invest in insurance. Many states do not allow minors to enter into a contract. Insurance falls under the umbrella of “a contract.” However, many people under the age of 18 drive. For many people, this is not an issue since they just add their kids to their policy. Adults who don’t drive, but have children who do can effectively do the same thing. You may not drive, but buying an auto insurance policy will allow you to put your underage driver on your policy plus, there are ways for students to get discounts.

Another common scenario – especially for older individuals – is if you have a personal chauffeur. We’re not talking about some guy who drives you around in a limo or a Bentley, but someone who drives around senior citizens who can’t drive anymore, but still need to get from point A to point B. These seniors may not have licenses, but they still need to purchase insurance for their car and driver. Many insurance companies charge seniors more because they are seen as higher risk drivers, but for a senior who does not have a license, this is not a problem. They won’t be driving the car, so age doesn’t matter when writing up the policy. This works the same for those who have health issues that need a caregiver to drive them around.

Perhaps you are working on getting a license. Regardless of whether you have a license or a permit, you need insurance on your car. Adults with permits can get insurance on their car just as any license driver would be able to.

Finally, another scenario that comes up is for those who own a classic car. Classic car insurance exists and will cover that car in the same way that other specialty insurance policies cover boats and ATV’s. However, if you are tempted to have someone drive you around in your beauty of a car, you will want auto insurance there to protect your investment.

However, this doesn’t answer the question of how you get a policy without a driver’s license number. The workaround is pretty simple. If you are not driving, then you must have someone else who is and they have a driver’s license. If you list them as the primary driver, then you can get the policy using their license number.

Anyone with a license can be named your primary driver. It could be your spouse, your son or daughter, or even your friend. The license number corresponds to a driving record which is why you have to have a number. The agent needs to know how much of a risk they are taking by insuring a driver. You may also need to put yourself down as an excluded driver – your name is on the policy as someone who will not be covered when driving. Seeing as you don’t have a license, this shouldn’t be an issue. It is used to reinforce the message that you can’t drive without a license.

In any case, Centerville Insurance Agency can help you get the policy that meets your specific needs. Schedule an appointment today to learn about all of your options and find out which policy will work best for you.

It’s no secret that life insurance should be an essential part of anyone’s financial future – especially if you are in your mid-twenties. With the burden of student debt, rising home costs, entry level jobs that expect more and pay less, life insurance can seem like a cost that might matter later, but certainly not now. Life is expensive enough as it is.

This is the part where we convince you that life insurance is important. It’s more than important. Life insurance is the best thing you can do to ensure that the financial future of your family and your loved ones will be stable in the event of your death. And there is no greater time to start the process than right now.

For one, life insurance will never be any cheaper than it is right now. If you are an average 25 year-old looking to buy life insurance, you are paying the bare minimum when it comes to life insurance premiums. Life insurance tends to increase by an average of 8-10% every year you don’t buy it. That increase is just from the simple fact that you are a year older than you were last year.

Another important thing to remember is that buying life insurance now will let you have peace of mind now when the weight of your finances can seem absolutely crushing. That’s the beauty of life insurance: you pay for it and when you die, your family gets the death benefit. Let’s say you are a twenty-five-year-old male and you want to make sure your family is absolutely protected if you were to die sometime before the age of 55. You plan to buy a 30-year life insurance policy for $500,000. The average cost you would pay would be about $32.09 a month. If you were to die at any point, your family would receive the $500,000 death benefit so long as your premium had been paid. It doesn’t matter if you died a year after or 20 years after, you got the policy and your family got the benefit. This doesn’t even take into account that your premium will stay the same as you age; therefore, as you get paid more, less of your monthly budget will be devoted to paying that policy. It’s a win-win.

All of this sounds great, however, you may be thinking to yourself, “I don’t have a family or kids, and the chances of me dying prematurely are slim.” While that may sound logical, it’s not. You have no idea when you might meet the right person and how quickly towards marriage you will move. You may decide to have kids sooner than you envisioned. You’re young and with that youth comes an uncertain timeline. The only logical choice is to get the policy in the chance that everything that can happen, will happen. That way, you are gambling that things go your way and you made the right choice for the future. It’s logical and positive!

The last step when buying a policy is to pick an insurance agent. They can help guide you through the process and help you pick the policy that makes sense for you. Centerville Insurance Agency can give you a wide range of options from multiple different carriers so you can make the right choice at a price point you can afford. Don’t waste any more time! Plan for the future today with a life insurance policy.

Insurance is built on the idea that you should prepare in the case of something happening. If you get into an accident, you need to have auto insurance. If you buy a home and something were to happen, like theft or a fire, you need to have homeowners insurance to cover the costs. The list can seemingly go on forever. However, there is only one insurance policy that can truly be said to prepare for something that will definitely happen to everyone, life insurance.

Life insurance helps you prepare your finances in the event of your death. Life insurance is widely considered to be one of the most important insurance policies you get because you are definitely going to die. And if you have a family, the death benefit that the insurance pays out can help supplement your family’s finances and give them the time to pick themselves up. They can then plan for the future without the stress of needing to put off the grieving process in favor of keeping themselves financially above water.

There are a few different options when it comes to life insurance. One of these is called whole life insurance (or permanent life insurance). Whole life insurance offers two key benefits: A death benefit will be paid to the beneficiary upon your death and the cash value accumulated can be used as a savings or be borrowed against while you are alive.

Also, as the name implies, the policy covers you for your entire life. The whole life term is usually appealing to those who want to be absolutely sure that when they die, the policy will still be in effect. However, this policy has some key differences that should be understood before deciding if this insurance is right for you.

The most crucial part of whole life insurance (and the biggest selling point) is the benefit of cash value. The cash value refers to a facet of the policy that works like a savings account. You will pay your premiums and that premium will pay for the policy and some of the money will also build up in this account over time and will be tax-deferred. This tends to start slow and then ramp up as your earnings start to outpace the cost of insuring you. This matters because the money that builds in this account is not part of the death benefit. The money in the account will essentially disappear after you die.

So why is that a selling point? For one, this cash value can be used for anything, such as paying your premiums. Depending on how much your account builds up, you might be able to use the accumulated value to pay off your premium every month. Also, this cash value is guaranteed to build up because it is factored into the premium cost of the policy that you have to pay to keep the policy.

This is a brief overview of whole life insurance and the benefits it can afford you if you are young and want to start soon or if you are older and wealthy and need something to do with your money. Always remember to talk through all your options with your insurance agent. The agents at Centerville Insurance Agency can walk you through all the benefits of a whole life insurance policy and let you know whether or not it is the right choice for you!

Unless you grew up in one of the 9 states that doesn’t use the points system on drivers, you are probably well aware of what points are. Points are applied to your license when you are pulled over for a driving violation and can vary depending on the infraction. Going over the speed limit? Probably a fine, and maybe a couple points on your license. Going 92 miles an hour on the highway in the middle of a rainstorm? You’re looking at a hefty fine and at least 4 points on your license. After a certain number of points, your license will be suspended.

The points system affects more than just your license, it also affects your auto insurance rates. If you go to get auto insurance and get a quote before they check your driving record, you will probably be shocked when they read off the rate you will actually be paying. This is especially true if you have a driving record that could be considered less than sterling. Fortunately, we can offer some tips on how points can affect you.

1. Not all tickets end up on your record. Usually, a first-time, non-moving offense will not end up on your record. The police department would have to report you to the DMV and usually it is not worth their time to report someone not wearing a seatbelt. Unfortunately, unless you have only recently been driving, your first offense was probably during your teen years. That luck might be used up by the second or third offense.
2. 9 states (as of 2018) don’t use a points system. Those nine states are Hawaii, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wyoming. You may not accumulate points in those states, but your infractions will be monitored.
3. Driver’s License points and insurance points are not necessarily the same. Your premium may be high because of insurance points used by the company itself rather than the points on your license. This may include where you live or the kind of car you drive. Consult with your agent to learn exactly what the issue is.
4. You can remove insurance points with an approved driving course. Traffic court can sometimes offer driving courses that keep offenses off your record. This is a great option that you should take if given the opportunity.
5. You should know your driving record. The insurance company will probably check your driving record when putting together your policy. This is usually when the policy rate jumps up. Knowing your driving record will help you gauge whether or not you will experience a premium increase.
6. You’d be surprised what raises your premiums. Poor credit can raise your premiums. If you live on a busy street, your premium could rise because your street is considered “high risk.” Specific cars can also increase your premiums. These cars are luxury cars, convertibles, sports cars, and vehicles that do poorly in safety tests.
7. Major violations will definitely raise your premiums – a lot. If you have violations for racing, DUI, impaired driving, reckless driving, refusing a breath test, hit and run, failing to stop for police, or driving on a suspended license, you will experience hundreds of dollars’ difference in your premiums, an arrest on your record, and possibly being cancelled by your insurer.
8. Small violations may not affect your premium. Minor infractions may not show up on your record, but even if they do they may not affect your rate. These include failure to yield, speeding, improper passing, expired license, no proof of insurance, broken tail lights, not displaying license plate, noise violations, texting, or tailgating. This depends on each state’s particular laws about these items.
9. It is difficult to determine how much your premiums will increase by. There is no way to know how much your premium will increase by after a ticket. Every company is different.
10. Some offenses can follow you for years! DUI’s can follow you for 10 years. If insurers check back that far, you may find something from your past negatively affecting you even though you are a different person entirely. It’s important to know how your insurer calculates points.

Hopefully, this list gives you a good overview of how points can affect your insurance. If you are in the market for good insurance, Centerville Insurance Agency can help you find discounts, affordable rates and solid coverage from one of their multiple carriers!

Check out Janet Hunt on The Balance for the inspiration behind this blog post! https://www.thebalance.com/what-you-should-know-about-insurance-points-4083258