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August 9, 2012
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Distracted Driving

Happy Halloween. What’s the scariest thing you might see on the highway today? Zombies, vampires, the devil, Angry Birds? Not for me. The most terrifying thing for me is actually distracted driving – it plays a big part in a number of auto accidents on the road today. 20 percent of injury crashes in 2009 involved reports of distracted driving. (NHTSA). Of those killed in distracted-driving-related crashed, 995 involved reports of a cell phone as a distraction (18% of fatalities in distraction-related crashes). (NHTSA) In 2009, 5,474 people were killed in U.S. roadways and an estimated additional 448,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes that were reported to have involved distracted driving. (FARS and GES) The age group with the greatest proportion of distracted drivers was the under-20 age group – 16 percent of all drivers younger than 20 involved in fatal crashes were reported to have been distracted while driving. (NHTSA) Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times […]
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August 9, 2012
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Uninsured Motorists

The Insurance Research Council estimates that one in seven drivers on the road today could be uninsured. During difficult economic conditions many people simply cannot afford to pay for car insurance. So what can you do to protect yourself? Here are a few things you may not know about your automobile insurance policy and uninsured motorists: What are Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Insurance? Uninsured motorist insurance provides coverage to a policy holder when the at-fault party does not have auto insurance. Who does it cover? It provides coverage not only to the occupants of your vehicle but also to any family member residing in you home when they are injured in a motor vehicle accident. Even if they are a passenger in someone else’s vehicle, a bicyclist, pedestrian or in the event of a hit and run accident. What losses are covered? Uninsured motorist insurance is intended to compensate for your financial losses such as medical expenses and loss of […]
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August 9, 2012
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Late Payments and Coverage

Bills. We’ve all got them to pay each month but one of the most important bills to pay on time is your insurance premiums. It is critical to make your insurance payments on time to avoid a potential lapse in coverage. If you let your policy lapse it can have big, long-term consequences. Missed payments and a lapse in coverage can lower your credit rating significantly, making it more expensive to get car insurance in the future. What’s the worst case scenario? Driving without insurance is also against the law and you will be personally liable if you have an accident. You can lose your home and your future earnings could be effected. I recommend having your insurance taken out each month by automatic draft. This way you never have to worry if you are late or forget to pay.  
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June 21, 2012
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Equipment Maintenance Program

UNICO Group is one of the only insurance agencies that can provide options for you to improve your equipment maintence program. You can see a video here.. The Maintenance Value Plan (MVP) is an alternative Asset Management Program available to a variety of industry groups. MVP utilizes a self-insured approach, helping clients save anywhere from 15% to 40% or more, while allowing them to choose who performs their service and when they want it performed. Maintenance Value Plan not only saves monies, but tracks these savings in a real time environment that gives clients finger tip access to all aspects of their equipment maintenance program! We can show you not only how to save hard dollars on your current program, but to improve cash flow to your facility, while maintaining the level of service you expect! MVP can provide you an overall program of protection and capitation, allowing substantial advantages when compared to traditional OEM or Third Party Service Contract […]
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June 13, 2012
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Wellness Program Benefits

Carl Zeutzius, Director of Sales and Marketing of UNICO Group, was featured in the  Lincoln Business Journal in June 2012. You can view the article below: Lincoln Business Journal – Carl Zeutzius
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June 4, 2012
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Six Benchmarks to Ensure RTW Program Success

Return-to-work (RTW) programs have long been recognized as a best practice for effective cost control in businesses.  However, in today's challenging economic climate, even these programs are under scrutiny. As organizations strive to stay competitive and improve efficiency, it's crucial to assess the value of RTW programs.
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April 30, 2012
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Professionals to speak on safety programs

Carl Zeutzius, Director of Sales and Marketing of UNICO Group, was featured in the  Lincoln Business Journal. You can view the article below: Lincoln Business Journal – Carl Zeutzius
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January 10, 2012
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Fidelity and Fiduciary Insurance: Essential Protections for Small Business

As a small business owner, understanding the importance of fiduciary and fidelity insurance is crucial in today's complex regulatory environment. In this blog we break down these essential coverages and why they matter for your business.
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December 14, 2011
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Understanding Business Interruption Insurance

Understanding Business Interruption Insurance: This is probably the one risk area that is often overlooked and most likely to put a company out of business shold they suffer a loss that causes an interruption. Time and again we see examples of companies not understanding this coverage and not having the proper coverage at the time of a loss. When business is interrupted by a disaster, business interruption insurance will help get it up and running again as soon as possible, but if your building is heavily damaged and your equipment and materials are gone, how do you do that? Your main concern is to keep your employees, keep your existing customers, and to maintain your excellent relationship with your suppliers. Business Interruption Insurance is designed to replace the loss of business income and to help pay for at least a portion of the extra expenses which you encounter in restoring your business operations after a covered loss. Business Income Coverage […]
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November 16, 2011
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Communication-Key To Injury Management

Communication- It Can Help You Lower Work Comp Costs As simple as it appears that simple word is a major barrier when it comes to workers’ compensation claims. However, if your employees and supervisors don’t know what is expected of them when an injury occurs you are likely paying more than you should for your workers’ compensation coverage. While employers spend money on loss control efforts, incentive programs and safety programs they often fail in one of the key areas to help control workers’ compensation costs. Yes, it is important to focus on injury prevention but that isn’t enough. There are two more areas that employers need to focus on, managing the injury and managing the return-to-work process. Injury reporting is a key factor in shaping the outcome of an employee injury. The sooner an injury is reported, the sooner medical assessment can be made available, and the sooner an employee is on the right track to recovery. It has […]
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November 9, 2011
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Contractual Risk Transfer Recommendations

CONTRACTUAL RISK TRANSFER RECOMMENDATIONS The following checklist suggests some approaches for minimizing friction between contracting parties (or the possibility of unknown breaches of contract requirements) while still securing realistic protection for risk transferors. • Update your insurance requirements to reflect modern insurance terminology. If your contract still requires “comprehensive” general liability insurance with a broad form property damage endorsement, it was written in the dark ages. • Construct your additional insured requirement to deal with the other insurance issue in a manner that works with the standard industry approach instead of requiring special language that achieves nothing more but is very difficult to obtain. • Don’t require a waiver of subrogation endorsement on the transferee’s general liability policy. Include a waiver of subrogation in the contract if you wish (though it is probably unnecessary if you are an additional insured), but don’t require an endorsement to the policy. • Evaluate whether you really need a workers compensation waiver of subrogation. […]
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October 14, 2011
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Shun Those Cell Phones While Driving

Shun Those Cell Phones While Driving More than 20 percent of injury crashes in the United States involve reports of distracted driving, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Of those killed in distracted-driving related accidents, 18 percent involved the usage of a cell phone. Another study indicates that using a cell phone while driving, whether it is a hand-held or hands-free device, delays a driver’s reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent. Cell phones, and particularly smart phones, are considered one of the leading driver distractions. As a result, more and more communities are placing restrictions on drivers’ use of cell phones. The following tips are offered to motorists with regard to cell phone use in vehicles. You should wait until the car trip is complete before placing a call. Your cell phone’s voicemail feature should answer a call while you are driving. Absolutely essential calls should only […]
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August 19, 2011
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Big Changes Coming For Your Ex Mod Factor

NCCI has recently announced some news that will have an impact on how your NCCI experience modification factors are calculated. For the first time since 1993 NCCI will be adjusting the Spilt Point. Remember, the experience rating modification is affected by small losses more than by large ones because small losses are more frequent and predictable than large losses. The portions of all losses that are $5,000 (split point) or less, which are termed “primary losses”, have the greatest influence in determining the experience modification. Losses in excess of $5,000 go into the “excess losses”.     Every loss is divided into a primary and excess portion. Since small losses – those less than the split point – have NO excess value, primary losses work as an indicator of loss frequency. For example, three $3,000 losses yields $9,000 in primary and $0 in excess. Since large losses – those over the split point – always generate some excess value, they work as […]
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