Bob's Halloween Safety Tips for Protecting Your Ghouls & Goblins

Halloween can be an enjoyable experience for parents and children alike. Watching your children be creative with their costumes and having a great time with family and friends can create heart-warming memories that will last a lifetime. However, whenever your loved ones are involved, it is also a time to take precautions against potential threats to your children.

With Halloween being tonight, we at Bob Lancaster Insurance wants you to be aware of some useful safety advice:

1. Supervision. Make sure your young children are accompanied by at least 2 responsible adults.
2. Kids on their own? If your older children are going trick-or-treating unaccompanied, make sure they are in a group of at least 4 kids. Have them meet at one their parents’ houses and make sure a responsible adult picks them up and drops them off at home. Never let any of them walk home alone.
3. Familiar surroundings. It is safer to stay in familiar neighborhoods where you know your surroundings, or at the very least, know people in the neighborhood you where you will be trick-or-treating.
4. Haunted houses. Instruct your children that they are never to go inside a stranger’s home unless accompanied by an adult. This includes a haunted house. While a haunted house may look like fun, if you don’t know the people, you don’t know if it’s safe.
5. Enjoy treats safely. Be cautious and avoid fruit or unwrapped candy.
6. Your stamp of approval. Tell your children not to eat any treats until they get home, and you can inspect and approve their candy inventory.
7. No shortcuts. Children should never take shortcuts through stranger’s yards, alleys, or empty fields.
8. No free rides. Tell your kids to never accept rides from strangers.
9. Be prepared. Take these safety items with you: a cell phone, a flashlight, water, and a small first-aid kit.
10. Where are you going? Pre-plan the trick-or-treating route.
11. Set and confirm a curfew. Since some cities have curfews, make sure you are aware of, and show respect for local laws. If your city does not have a curfew, set a personal curfew time for your children and let them know to return home in advance of their curfew.
12. Costumes. Make sure costumes are fire-resistant and safe. Costumes and shoes should be comfortable and easy to walk in.
13. Be easy to see. For increased visibility and safety, have your kids wear something bright and easy to see at night. Also, use a flashlight to make others aware of your presence.
14. No weapons (real or imitation). Never use realistic looking weapons as part of your costumes. There have been several instances where such replicas have led to fatal shootings by homeowners or police.
15. Contact us for all your Insurance needs! (321)725-1620 
    
    Bob Lancaster Insurance
    Serving Florida since 1964

Bob's Insurance Success Tip #8 – Consider Pollution Insurance

Almost all liability insurance policies exclude pollution claims.  Consider buying separate policies.

Oil leaks from a heating oil storage tank?  No coverage.

Stored chemicals contaminates a neighbor’s well?  No coverage.

Pollution is found at a vacant site you own?  No coverage.

You buy land and find it is contaminated?  No coverage.

Your property insurance provides extremely limited coverage for cleanup of pollution at your location when the cause of the loss is a peril covered by your building insurance.  The coverage is probably less than $15,000. 

Contact us for all your Insurance needs! (321)725-1620 

Bob Lancaster Insurance

Serving Florida since 1964

Bob's Insurance Success Tip #7 – Check Your Work Comp Payrolls

The payrolls declared on your workers’ compensation policy determines your estimated premium.

At the end of the policy year you are asked to report your actual payroll. The audit results in an adjustment to and the final settle-up of premium.

Review your payrolls to avoid a large audit additional premium or a large return premium. Think of it like your income tax – you pay estimated taxes and settle at the end of the year. You don’t want a big bill or a big return.

Contact us for all your Insurance needs! (321)725-1620 

Bob Lancaster Insurance

Serving Florida since 1964

Bob's Insurance Success Tip #6 – Review Your Business Interruption Insurance

Business interruption insurance protects your profits and pays those expenses that continue after an insured loss.

Your store burns. It will take 4 months to rebuild. Business interruption insurance (extra expense coverage) pays to rent a temporary location and to advertise that you are still open for business. It pays your lost profit and those expenses that continue beyond what you are able earn in your temporary location.

Meet with your insurance adviser to be sure you have enough business interruption insurance and that it is properly designed to meet your unique needs.

Contact us for all your Insurance needs! (321)725-1620 

Bob Lancaster Insurance

Serving Florida since 1964

Bob's Insurance Success Tip #5 – Buy Employee Dishonesty Insurance

Half of all theft in the US is perpetrated by employees. Don’t tell me how honest your employees are. Everyone who has been hurt by embezzlement said the same thing the week before they found that they had been taken.

$250,000 of coverage is a minimum for any business. More if your exposures warrant. The coverage is usually cheap too.

Contact us for all your Insurance needs! (321)725-1620 

Bob Lancaster Insurance

Serving Florida since 1964

Bob's Insurance Success Tip #4 – Work Only With Great Insurance Agents

The most important part of the insurance transaction is the relationship you have with your insurance agent. If you don’t have total confidence in your agent, find another agent – now.

Contact us for all your Insurance needs! (321)725-1620 

Bob Lancaster Insurance

Serving Florida since 1964

Bob's Insurance Success Tip #3 – Buy High Limits of Liability Insurance

Do not skimp on liability insurance limits.

A $1,000,000 umbrella liability policy is a “must-have” for all businesses.

For companies over ten employees, my recommendation is at least $3,000,000.

For most small businesses $5,000,000 is quite affordable.

Best approach: have your agent quote $1 million, $3 million, and $5 million. You will be surprised at how inexpensive the coverage is.

Make your decision based on the value of the coverage compared to the premium charged.

Contact us for all your Insurance needs! (321)725-1620 

Bob Lancaster Insurance

Serving Florida since 1964

Unlawful or Unauthorized Charging of Fees

The Florida Department of Financial Services has received an increasing number of inquiries from Florida agents and agencies asking if it's allowable to charge fees for policies or services, such as issuing certificates of coverage, to obtain additional compensation. Charging fees is unlawful under the Florida Insurance Code. Subsection 626.9541(1)(o), F.S., states that it is unlawful for any licensee to collect any sum connected with the purchase of insurance that is not forwarded to the appropriate insurer, or part of the insurer's rates as filed with the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, or otherwise designated as lawful within the Florida Insurance Code. This law applies to all licensees, including agencies and surplus lines agents.

The Department will vigorously investigate all allegations of unlawful fees and take the appropriate enforcement action for the overcharging of Florida consumers in insurance transactions.[See 626.9541(1)(o), Florida Statutes]

Contact us for all your Insurance needs! (321)725-1620 

Bob Lancaster Insurance

Serving Florida since 1964

Bob's Insurance Success Tip #2 – Use High Deductibles

Let the insurance company take the big risks. You pay for small losses.

$5,000 is the minimum deductible most businesses should have on property insurance. Same for crime insurance, machinery coverage, and the physical damage portion of your automobile insurance.

Most liability insurance policies do not have a deductible. When someone is hurt or you have damaged their property get your insurance company involved soon. The same day the accident occurred is the best approach.

Don’t play the dollar swapping game with your insurance company.

Contact us for all your Insurance needs! (321)725-1620 

Bob Lancaster Insurance

Serving Florida since 1964

Bob's Insurance Success Tip #1 – Bid Regularly

To get the very best premium and the best coverage you must bid your business insurance regularly.

The insurance marketplace is now structure so that insurance buyers who do not regularly bid will pay a “Loyalty Tax.” Insurers provide the most aggressive pricing when they think they will lose the account.

Competition gets you the best coverage at the best price.

Contact us for all your Insurance needs! (321)725-1620 

Bob Lancaster Insurance

Serving Florida since 1964

Reminder: Unemployment Taxes Due by October 31st

The Florida unemployment compensation tax (now called “reemployment tax”) for the third quarter of 2015 (for payroll paid during the months of July, August and September) is due to the state of Florida by October 31st, along with the Employer’s Quarterly Report (RT-6).­ All Florida businesses with employees are responsible for paying this tax (with very limited exceptions).

The Employer’s Quarterly Report used to be called the UCT-6 but is now known as the RT-6 because the Legislature changed the name from unemployment compensation to reemployment assistance several years ago.­ Only the name has changed; the content of the form is still the same.­

On the RT-6 tax return, an employer must list all employee names and social security numbers, plus the amount of wages paid for the quarter.­ Reemployment taxes are collected only on the first $7,000 of each employee’s wages.­ This is a change from 2014 – last year, employers paid tax on the first $8,000 of each employee’s wages.­

Because reemployment tax is only paid on the first $7,000 of each employee’s wages, the employer may not owe much tax this quarter if their employees have already reached $7,000 in wages this calendar year.

If a business pays its tax by electronic funds transfer (EFT) or through the Internet, they must initiate the payment by 5:00 p.m. ET on the business day prior to October 31st for the payment to be considered timely. A late filing penalty is charged at $25 for each month or a fraction of a month that a report is late. Interest is charged at 1% per month on the unpaid tax from the original due date until the tax is paid.

If employers have 10 or more employees, they are required to file an RT-6 and pay their taxes online through the Department of Revenue’s website, unless they have received a waiver to file their return on paper.­

Whether employers file by paper or electronically, they can sign up to receive a quarterly reemployment tax reminder email from the Department of Revenue at dor.myflorida.com/dor/list/.

Contact us for all your Insurance needs! (321)725-1620 

Bob Lancaster Insurance

Serving Florida since 1964