2008 Woodie Awards
PSU alum demystifies insurance
Chris York
Issue date: 3/27/08 Section: Campus Life
While acknowledging that insurance may not be the highest priority on students' minds, Rob Lesson told a group of 20 students that having adequate insurance is important.
"Once you get out of school and start a career, it's important to protect your stuff like clothes, furniture and so on," Lesson said.
Lesson, owner of Fox Insurance in Arma, spoke on Tuesday, March 25, in the Balkans Room as part of the Alumni Sharing Knowledge lecture series.
"I was born into the insurance business," Lesson said. "My father owned the business before me and my uncle also owned it before."
Lesson spoke for around 30 minutes, answering questions from students about the finer details of the insurance business.
Keeping records of possessions is also an important part of property insurance, Lesson said. Having documentation and plenty of it can help when needing to file a claim for damaged or stolen property.
"The best way to document things is by having photos, receipts, owner's manuals or video of things," he said.
The documentation will help adjusters when figuring out how much the possessions are worth. According to Lesson, receipts are the best documentation to keep because they show the exact dollar amount that was spent on the item.
"Keep a file with copies of theses things away from your premises in case something happens to the originals," Lesson said.
Documenting everything one owns is not necessary, but helpful when making a claim, he said.
"Nothing in an insurance contract says that you have to document everything." Lesson said.
Besides property insurance, Lesson discussed other forms of insurance. In car insurance, for example, he said that having one speeding ticket will not raise premiums, but more than one will.
"Most insurance companies will give you one speeding ticket before your premium starts going up," Lesson said. "If you show a pattern of getting tickets, then rates will start to rise and if you get a bunch of tickets in a short period of time, an insurance company can and will drop your coverage."
In those cases, rates can get pricey, but there are ways to keep premiums down.
"One of the biggest things the past 10 years is credit scores," Lesson said. "People with better credit scores will get better insurance rates."
Paying credit cards off and on time is a good way to keep a good credit score along with paying bills off in a timely fashion. However, Lesson went on to say that right now is a good time for customers seeking good insurance coverage.
"We are in a soft market right now, so rates are really in the customer's favor." Lesson said.
"Once you get out of school and start a career, it's important to protect your stuff like clothes, furniture and so on," Lesson said.
Lesson, owner of Fox Insurance in Arma, spoke on Tuesday, March 25, in the Balkans Room as part of the Alumni Sharing Knowledge lecture series.
"I was born into the insurance business," Lesson said. "My father owned the business before me and my uncle also owned it before."
Lesson spoke for around 30 minutes, answering questions from students about the finer details of the insurance business.
Keeping records of possessions is also an important part of property insurance, Lesson said. Having documentation and plenty of it can help when needing to file a claim for damaged or stolen property.
"The best way to document things is by having photos, receipts, owner's manuals or video of things," he said.
The documentation will help adjusters when figuring out how much the possessions are worth. According to Lesson, receipts are the best documentation to keep because they show the exact dollar amount that was spent on the item.
"Keep a file with copies of theses things away from your premises in case something happens to the originals," Lesson said.
Documenting everything one owns is not necessary, but helpful when making a claim, he said.
"Nothing in an insurance contract says that you have to document everything." Lesson said.
Besides property insurance, Lesson discussed other forms of insurance. In car insurance, for example, he said that having one speeding ticket will not raise premiums, but more than one will.
"Most insurance companies will give you one speeding ticket before your premium starts going up," Lesson said. "If you show a pattern of getting tickets, then rates will start to rise and if you get a bunch of tickets in a short period of time, an insurance company can and will drop your coverage."
In those cases, rates can get pricey, but there are ways to keep premiums down.
"One of the biggest things the past 10 years is credit scores," Lesson said. "People with better credit scores will get better insurance rates."
Paying credit cards off and on time is a good way to keep a good credit score along with paying bills off in a timely fashion. However, Lesson went on to say that right now is a good time for customers seeking good insurance coverage.
"We are in a soft market right now, so rates are really in the customer's favor." Lesson said.
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