R&R Insurance Blog

As teenagers get their driver’s licenses and hit the road, parents usually decide what their children drive, and most feel comfortable with a vehicle that’s as safe as can possibly be. A lot of times that choice is a pick-up truck because it's large, and seemingly indestructible. Parents and teen drivers, however, take note: a pick-up truck could be the most dangerous vehicle for a 16-17 year old to drive. According to a recent study conducted by the University of Texas and published in the traffic safety journal Accident Analysis and Prevention, teens driving pick-up trucks are two times as likely to be severely injured during a crash than a teen of the same age driving a car.

Teenagers driving a pickup are more likely to drive aggressively and sustain serious injuries in a crash, according to the study which also found that when it comes to aggressive driving behavior, a 16-17 year old is 368 percent more likely to drive aggressively than those 65 or older, while a teen just a couple of years older is only 195 percent more likely.

Full article: Teen Drivers and Pick-up Trucks, A Bad Mix? at ABC News.

R&R Insurance Services is committed to providing our customers with the highest level of service and support. We take the safeguarding of our customers' personal information very seriously. Your privacy will always be a priority at R&R Insurance Services. Because of this, R&R has a company-wide policy to use encryption software when sending any email that contains personal, identifiable information.

Encrypting an email message that contains personal or non-public, identifiable information about our customers, their family members or employees greatly diminishes the risk of that information being intercepted by third parties. We are confident that it is in the best interest of our customers to take appropriate measures to protect their information from potential identify thieves.

R&R Insurance uses RPost, an email encryption service to handle our encryption needs.

RPost's Secu(R)mail encrypted email services are effective for electronic delivery and execution of documents required or regulated under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPAA"). RPost also preserves data integrity by legally verifying that precisely what was sent is what was received by the other side. To view an encrypted message, the recipient needs only to open the message, click on the attachment and enter a password.

Should you have any questions regarding our encryption policy or our corporate privacy policy, contact Julie Liebelt.

Property owners and residents should be aware of the weight loads heavy storms may create, especially on flat roofs.

How to Protect Your Roof From Collapse
Schools, churches, office buildings, restaurants, casinos, gas stations commercial buildings and residential buildings - both homes and apartment buildings, as well as carports and awnings can be affected. Owners and residents of flat roof buildings in particular are urged to be aware of the possible snow load danger. Be aware that the threat from heavy snow weight will remain for some time after the storm ends because cold temperatures won’t allow much melting to occur.

Take the following precautions to protect life and property:

• Don’t put untrained individuals on roofs to clear snow. Falls from roofs and possible exposure to electrical wires while on the roof are serious hazards.
• Inspect roofs for leaks or structural deficiencies that may develop during the storm.
• Make certain gutters, drains and downspouts are clear of ice and debris.
• Clear snow and ice away from exhaust vents that go through exterior walls.
• Clear decks of snow to reduce stress on them.
• Watch for falling snow and ice from roofs.

After the storm:

• Clear areas around downspouts so that water from melting snow has a path to flow away from the house or building.
• Remove snow from side walls to prevent high snow mounds from pushing them in.
• Temporarily shore up and brace dipping or sagging roofs or walls.
• Improper operation of doors or windows, deflection of ceiling finishes or exposed beams, roof leaks or sprinkler heads moved from their normal positions could be signs of roof failure.

If you have suffered storm damage to your property, make sure that there is no danger to anyone nearby, and then contact your insurance agent immediately. Wisconsin residents and businesses can contact a knowledge broker at 800-566-7007 for details on how to protect and insure your property and avoid roof collapse during snow storms.

If you have questions about your building’s condition, contact a structural engineer or your local building official for an assessment of the conditions.

This material does not purport to address every possible legal obligation, hazard, code violation, loss potential or exception to good practice. It should not be construed as indicating the existence or availability of any insurance coverage. Portions of this information provided by Hanover Insurance.

Ken Balda, President of Quality Truck Care Center of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, describes how R&R's claims management process saved his company from what could have been a very large claim...

"For our garage package renewal last year we chose to go with R&R Insurance Services who represented American Hardware Mutual. Mike Obertin and Bill Katzfey put together the proposal and presented us with a solid package that appeared to best suit our needs. When I made my decision and spoke to Mike Obertin, I told him the most important thing for me was for them and the company to be there if, and when, a big claim were to happen. Well; their test came in short order when a substantial claim arose. R&R brought in one of their experts, Jerry Aman, to handle this difficult claim and he was able to work with the insurance companies involved to resolve the claim for us."

"Being in business has many risks and as business owners we tend to buy our insurance based on what we hear at the proposal and the price we are willing to pay. The people at R&R insurance services have shown me what a leading agency can do to better protect my business. I had not experienced a team of professionals coming together to partner with me and work so hard to protect us. The people at R&R are true professionals and I highly recommend them and would be open to sharing my experience. When you get a chance to receive a proposal from them it may be one of your better business opportunities; it was for me and my company. " - Ken J. Balda

We saw a great article written by Russ Banhan of Independent Agent magazine, about personal and business exposures from the use of social media. Here's eight ways to reduce your exposure:

1. On Facebook and other social media sites, take advantage of the highest security settings and only allow "friends" - not "friends of friends" - to see your profile.

2. When creating a profile, choose a different year of birth than your actual one.

3. Be parsimonious with your "friendships": if you don't know the person in the real world, do not friend them in the cyber world.

4. Make sure that your friend really is who he/she says he/she is. Follow up your friend requests with an e-mail, text or phone call.

5. Make your children friend you. This enables you to watch them, and them to know that you're watching.

6. Don't post or tweet your location or when you're going to be any place specific, to reduce the chance of being burglarized.

7. Search for yourself using search engines like Google and people search sites like Pipl to find out what is being said about you, and then contact websites that have posted inaccurate or personal information to have it removed.

8. Consider investing in online repuatation management services that will monitor the Internet for information about you.

Information taken in part from an article by Russ Banham.

See also: Cyberbullying and Age-Based Guidelines For Children's Internet Use

Students at the local Greenland Elementary School in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin are learning how to combat bullying issues through CLIMB Theater. CLIMB (an acronym for Creative Learning Ideas for Mind and Body) performs interactive drama classes on the topics of bullying prevention for second, third and fourth graders.

CLIMB's program reached almost 200,000 students last year! Congrats to Oconomowoc Area Schools and CLIMB for addressing the hot topic of bully prevention in a new fun, creative and educational way. This Full story was printed in the Living Lake Country, Tuesday January 4, 2010.

For more information on CLIMB, visit: www.climb.org.

Municipalities, public schools and anyone employing "public sector" employees must complete an OSHA 300 log. The deadline is March 1 each year for public sector employers. Additionally, they are required to annually complete form SBD-10710 which is the same information that is on the OSHA 300A form. Unlike OSHA that requires completion of the log by companies that employ 10 or more employees, the Wisconsin Department of Commerce makes no distinction. Whether municipalities have 1, 100 or 1,000 employees, the log must be completed.

Global news is showing that bullying and cyber-bullying issues aren't just making national headlines - it's a serious problem on a global scale. In a recent article posted in DailyIndia.com, a Norwegian researcher indicates that two out of three children experienced bullying via the Internet or mobile phones on a regular basis, while twice as many girls as boys reported having being bullied digitally.

Chances are, if you’ve had a total loss on your home due to a fire or storm, you're going to need to replace it. Hopefully you had Replacement Cost coverage on your homeowners policy.

If you are going through the rebuilding process and wonder why the rebuilding costs are 30-40% higher than new construction, here are 9 reasons that explain why it could be higher.

1. Extensive planning and matching of labor and materials required to build around an existing structure with partial losses.
2. Contractors specializing in reconstruction and restoration charge more for their expertise.
3. The use of hand tools, such as wheelbarrows and dollies rather than heavy equipment due to limited access created by surrounding buildings and landscaping.
4. The increased cost of dwelling reconstruction is comparable to rebuilding an automobile part by part. The labor and materials are more expensive when building a single home versus a tract home. The labor and materials for rebuilding an automobile part by part are more expensive than a mass produced car.
5. Labor and material shortagesdue to supply and demand, especially in the aftermath of a catastrophe. Good examples are the fires in northern California some years back, and some of the recent tornadoes in Wisconsin.
6. Older home construction such as plaster walls and custom woodwork. It’s often difficult to even find craftsmen that still do this type of work.
7. Rebuilding to code. The requirements and expenses associated with updating the structure to meet current building ordinances. For example, new electrical codes often are stricter and will require heavier wiring and additional electrical services. All municipalities will do inspections.
8. Demolition and debris removal. While new home construction normally begins on open site with perhaps some brush removal and grading, rebuilding begins with a partially or totally destroyed structure occupying a building site with trees, plantings, driveways, sidewalks and other structures that have to worked around. Imagine the cost and extent of debris removal after a major fire or a tornado.
9. Economy of scale. When contractors have many homes under construction at once, materials can be purchased in large quantities and work can be scheduled for the most efficient use of carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and other tradesmen.

If you are a homeowner and don’t have Replacement Cost coverage on your homeowners policy, here’s why you should have it.

Wisconsin residents: Contact a knowledge broker at R&R Insurance today about insuring your home for it's true replacement cost.