Steve Brooks Insurance Services eNewsletter 800-915-3090 Safeguarding the interests of you and your family February, 2009 In This Issue Teensurance Life Settlements News Oddities Rumors of the Road - True or False? Dear Friends, February is flying by with groundhog predictions, Cupid's arrows, and memories of past presidents. While the new President attempts to get America back on its feet, we're proud to report that we're doing our part as well. We've been very successful in finding great insurance protection plans for many new clients. They're getting peace of mind while saving money, which is extremely important during the country's current economic hardship. If you have a friend or family member who would appreciate the level of service you enjoy, we encourage you to ask them to contact us. We at Brooks Insurance Services assure all our clients that we will help them attain the best policies - homeowners, auto, earthquake, renters, personal property, flood or fire - at an affordable price. In this newsletter, we check in on some strange news stories, play some mind games (how long are those dashed lines on roads?), explain how life settlements work, and introduce parents of teen drivers to a new and valuable groundbreaking option: Teensurance. We'll see you in the spring! Steve M. Brooks, CIC, CPIA Founder/President News Oddities Cops Clock Man Driving 137 MPH in '93 Honda Civic State police have ticketed an upstate New York man for driving more than twice the 65-mph speed limit on an interstate highway. Troopers said a 21-year-old man was clocked doing 137 mph on Interstate 84 in Orange County on Tuesday. He was pulled over in the westbound lanes near Exit 2 in the town of Greenville, on the New Jersey border 60 miles northwest of New York City. Troopers said the man was driving a 1993 Honda Civic. The man was ticketed for speeding, reckless driving and having vehicle windows with illegal tint. He's due to appear in Greenville Town Court on Feb. 25. Woman OK After Bullet Ends Up in Her Hair Weave Other than having a bit of a headache, a Kansas City woman was uninjured after a bullet fired at her ended up tangled in her hair weave. Police said the 20-year-old woman was in a convenience store parking lot late Wednesday when a man flagged her down and told her that her ex-boyfriend still loved her. She replied, Well I don't love him, then heard gunshots. She said she looked behind the vehicle and saw her ex-boyfriend firing a handgun at her. She stomped on her accelerator and fled, then turned into another parking lot and called police. She told officers she recently had ended an eight-month relationship with the suspect. Police arrested the ex-boyfriend and his friend in a car. Suspect Trips Over His Pants While Fleeing Police Authorities said a burglary suspect was literally caught with his pants down while trying to run away. A deputy responded to an alarm at a convenient store early Tuesday morning and reported seeing a 37-year-old man exiting through a smashed-out front door while carrying several packs of cigarettes. Deputies said the man tried to flee, but the handfuls of cigarettes prevented him from holding up his pants, which fell down and tripped him before he could make it out of the parking lot. The man was charged with criminal mischief, burglary, theft and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was being held on $12,000 bail. Joe Woe: Man Loses $300K In Starbucks Jewel Heist How much is a cup of coffee at Starbucks? For a jewelry salesman from Kansas, it ended up costing about $300,000. Police say the man stopped for coffee Monday at a Starbucks in Parker, Colo., south of Denver. He was just returning to his car when he was held up. Three masked robbers took three tubs of jewelry and a briefcase containing the salesman's handgun. Police didn't identify the 64-year-old salesman. Parker police spokeswoman Elise Penington says he was in town for a trade show. One of the robbers allegedly brandished a gun, but no one was injured in the robbery. How much is a cup of coffee at Starbucks? For a jewelry salesman from Kansas, it ended up costing about $300,000. Family to Sell Cave Home on eBay A Missouri family says the credit crunch has forced them to put up for sale the 17,000-square-foot home they created in a cave. Curt Sleeper told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he and his family, like so many others, are victims of the credit crunch. He has been unable to obtain mortgage refinancing for the cave. We don't want to move, he said. But we need to protect our equity. We put everything we had into this home. So the Sleepers have listed the cave on eBay. The couple, who have two children and are expecting a third, bought the cave, a former mine, five years ago. In the late 1950s, it had been converted to a roller rink and night club called Caveland, where Tina Turner and other major stars played, the newspaper said. Rumors of the Road - True or False? Your engine will explode if you throw the gear shift into reverse while driving. False. Well, just so that you won't try it, and so that your curiosity will be cured, the only thing that you'll experience is a noise: a loud, buzzing, sound of gear teeth grinding against each other. But because the car is in motion, the gear won't actually go into reverse, and nothing will happen. Your transmission won't explode, and it won't suddenly stop and reverse into oncoming traffic, either. Still, don't do it. Your gears don't want to make that noise. Those dashed lines painted down the middle of the road are about two feet long. False. They're actually 10 feet long. That's the federal guideline for every street, highway and rural road in the United States, where dashed lines separate traffic lanes or indicate where passing is allowed. Guess how many feet of space is between each dashed line? Nope, not two. Not 10, either. Each space is 30 feet long, which means every time you pass a new dashed line, you've traveled 40 feet. Our underestimate of the length of these lines implies that we're misjudging distances as we drive and driving too fast as a result. What does this mean? Slow down and keep more of a distance between cars, of course. My roommate, who is a good friend of mine, is automatically covered on my renter's insurance policy. False. If your roommate is a relative of yours, then our standard renter's insurance policy will cover his or her loss of items due to robbery or fire. But roommates who are just friends should obtain separate policies. My home office business equipment and furniture is covered in my homeowners insurance policy. False. If your home is one of the 40 percent of American homes that contain a small business or an office, then you may have no coverage for stock, equipment, office supplies or furniture that is used for your business. Your policy also provides no liability coverage. However, you can readily purchase coverage for your business exposure at a reasonal price, depending on what type of work you do from home. If you're doing any work from home with the potential for profit or income, please call us to discuss what kind of coverage may be available for you. Flood damages are normally not covered under a homeowners policy. True. A homeowner must obtain coverage under a separate flood insurance policy. Less than 1% of homeowners policies provide flood insurance coverage, so please check with us to be sure. Teensurance It's one of the most exciting events for teenagers, but it's one of the most stressful for parents: the day their teen starts driving. To help parents feel more secure as their teens begin driving, Brooks Insurance Services is introducing a new program, especially for teen drivers and their parents called Teensurance, developed by Safeco. Teensurance combines their Safety Beacon System, a service that includes a GPS-based vehicle monitoring system, with a 24/7 roadside assistance program. Teensurance's Safety Beacon System: Stolen vehicle tracking and retrieval support. An alarm will sound if the vehicle is unexpectedly moved. If the car is stolen, an operator will locate the vehicle and work with police to retrieve it. Remote door unlock. If your teen accidentally locks the keys in the car, you or your teen can make one phone call to get back in the vehicle. Speed limit reminders. You can set a maximum speed limit for your teen's car. If the vehicle exceeds that speed for more than 30 seconds, you will receive an alert via phone or e-mail. Safe driving zones. You can set geographic boundaries for your teen. You'll get a phone or e-mail message if your teen goes outside of those boundaries. Driving curfew reminders. You can set times or certain days of the week that your teen's vehicle may be driven. Vehicle location tracking. At any time, you can view the location of your teen's car online in real-time. Teensurance's 24/7 roadside assistance: Out of gas. A technician will deliver up to three gallons of fuel to your stranded teen. Dead battery. A service truck will give your teen's vehicle a jump-start. Flat tire. A service technician will remove the tire and install the spare. Locked out. Remote unlock through the Safety Beacon System or the dispatch of a trained locksmith will get your teen back in the vehicle. Stalled vehicle. A towing service will deliver the vehicle and your teen to a safe location. If you are interested in purchasing Teensurance for your teen driver, call Brooks Insurance at (800) 915-3090. Also, visit www.teensurance.com for more information and for a printable Parent/Teen driving contract. What is a Life Settlement? A Life Settlement is a transaction in which a life insurance policy owner can sell his or her ownership interest in the policy for a lump sum, typically in excess of the cash surrender value. Why might one consider selling his or her life insurance policy? There are many reasons... A policy owner is over-insured and wishes to dispose of an existing policy, or execute a more appropriate one. A insured might gain more favorable terms under a newer policy. Sale, dissolution of a business, or termination of employment may eliminate the need for key man coverage. Divorce or divorce liquidity. Tax law or reduction in estate value may eliminate the need for coverage. A family medical emergency requires current capital. Insurance premiums have become unaffordable. Stock market volatility has reduced or diminished investment income. Need to fund current medical or long term care expenses. Business loans secured by the policy have been repaid. Did You Know? That a life insurance policy is an asset? Similar to your investment portfolio, like your home other valuable collections, or real property. A life insurance policy can be sold in a secondary market, like other assets. Did You Know? That over 80% of life insurance policies are either surrendered or lapsed, yielding substantially less value to their owner than what the actual value of the policy would have been? Did You Know? That the average life settlement may yield as much as 10% to 65% of the coverage (death benefit) payable to the policy owner, before the death of the insured? Did You Know? That the sale of a policy to a third party may yield a return somewhere 4-to-15-times the cash surrender value of the policy? Did You Know? That your insurance broker has a fiduciary obligation to advise you of the potential value of your life insurance policy? Did You Know? That a life settlement is held in strict HIPAA compliance and that absolute confidentiality of your identity is assured should you sell your policy? For more information, or to discuss if you or someone you know can benefit from a life settlement, please call or email us. Steve Brooks Insurance Services, Inc. is a full service, Independent Insurance Agency, offering California Automotive Insurance, California Homeowners Insurance, as well as Renter, Condo and Earthquake coverage. We have access to the products and services of over 20 A+ Rated Insurance Companies. sent by: STEVE BROOKS INSURANCE SERVICES, Inc. 340 N. WESTLAKE BLVD SUITE 210 WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA 91362 Phone: (800) 915-3090 Fax: (805) 496-4822 Email: info@brooksins.com Website:www.brooksins.com