melloInsurance

Serving our clients, Serving our community

Lyndon Block

How “roaring” are these 20s going to be?


We are on Day 7 of this new decade. The “Roaring 20s.” It seems very strange to think that this past year was the end of the decade. It has felt like since 2000, we have been living in a new era of the “2000s” and the perspective of time has been skewed. I often think, “Oh a 2001 truck is still pretty new!” Then realize that in 10 years, it will be an antique! Wild! Time is just flying by. To think that every day now revolves around online streaming and internet content and it has only been “mainstream” since 1993! Most of us had dial-up internet through the Y2K Armageddon Debacle. Now, between Netflix, Amazon, and Social Media, our lives pivot on the axis of this new Net-World.

So looking forward, what is to come? What will the next decade bring? These are the exciting questions that many are asking, and many others are building and creating. Tesla continues to create innovative autonomous products. Google, Apple & Microsoft are developing new technology all the time to house all this data that we continue to create. To put that into perspective, YouTube has 500 hours of fresh video content added every minute.That works out to 30,000 hours of new content per hour, and 720,000 hours of new content per day. No wonder we are addicted. There is no way we can keep up to that amount of content. This is unreal. To think, that just 25 years ago, television ENDED at 12pm every night. Our minds are always on, because the content never stops. It is hard to grasp and actually find time to shut down and unwind. 

Just like these companies and the products they offer, insurance companies are continuing to innovate and develop new technology to help their consumers as well. In fact, Block’s Agencies just created “Saskatchewan’s FIRST Digital Insurance Brokerage” called Mello Insurance. With Mello Insurance, you can purchase Condo or Renters Insurance online INSTANTLY. You can also make billing changes, policy changes ANYTIME, online through your customer portal. We are currently developing Home, Auto & Travel Insurance products and should be up in early 2020.

Mello Insurance offers the very best coverage, with the most convenience for our customers. We understand that business doesn’t end at 5pm and so with our platform, you can continue to make those changes on your time. We also understand that in the event of a claim, you still want people in your corner; so even though we are a digital company, we still have great people who will continue to support you through your hardships and give you that small town customer service you expect.

Technology continues to advance and blow our minds. In our industry, we know we need to continue to advance, however, we also know it is people that are at our core and make our business valuable. We know a robot will not have the same level of customer service and bedside manner as an actual person does, when your basement is flooded. However, we know that you want to shop, be efficient, and make changes to your policy on your own time. So we are working around the clock to offer every level of service imaginable.

With that in mind, as we move into the twenties, we need to continue to think outside the box and push ourselves. Whether it is in our own business, our work ethic, trying to be healthier or in helping the environment. Let us be better and work together to make this decade the best one yet.

Driving students to an event? What coverage should I have?

Saskatoon Hilltops (Photo credit: Saskatoon Starphoenix)


The School season has officially dropped or “fall”en. (Ha! Knee Slapper – Dad jokes. Gotta love ’em!) With that in mind, many sports activities have started and as parents, teachers or coaches we will get heavily involved, whether it’s with fundraisers, taking kids to practices or games, or organizing home tournaments. 

When travelling to these sporting events, it is important to make sure that your drivers are alert and that they have proper coverage. When you have a van or SUV filled with football or hockey players, things can get a little rambunctious and the driver can be easily distracted by the people or loud music in the vehicle. These distractions to a new driver can severely hinder their ability to drive accurately and with undivided attention.

Most school divisions are starting to filter who can drive and who can’t. Which is a good idea. They should collect drivers abstracts and other claims documentation to make sure that your students are being driven by responsible adults. They are also requiring extension auto policies to be purchased as well. This isn’t so you have a “lesser deductible” if a claim arises. That is a bonus, but that is not the reason they want you to have this policy.

There are 2 coverage’s that come with an auto pak that are underrated and undervalued. Third Party Liability and Family Security. 

What is Third Party Liability? 

This coverage is to protect the driver if he were ever sued for negligence while operating the motor vehicle. When an accident occurs, it is easy to point out the blame. However, there are never cool heads during a claim and especially following an accident. Having liability coverage allows the lawyers and insurance companies to go to work for you, on your behalf, to make sure that you aren’t going to be financially crippled when the claim finally settles. We strongly recommend carrying 2 million liability minimum. This can be purchased for under $50/year. Most inexpensive coverage you can buy. 

What is Family Security? 

This coverage is (kind of) the opposite of liability coverage. Family Security kicks in if you are in an accident with an un-insured or under-insured driver. The person who is at-fault may not have any coverage or very minimal. This can be a serious issue. So to protect yourself from litigation costs and small claims court frustrations – trying to get money from someone who likely doesn’t have much, this Family Security makes sure that you and the passengers in your vehicle are looked after. This coverage will pay for your additional costs – such as: medical costs, hospital bills, lost income, etc. This coverage comes with a 1 million or 2 million dollar limit, depending on the liability limit you carry. Oh and want to hear the best part. This coverage is INCLUDED in the $50 you spend on the liability coverage!!!! YOU DON’T EVEN NEED TO PAY FOR THIS!!!! It’s a no brainer to buy this liability policy!

For $4 a month, you can protect yourself from financial ruin in case you are at-fault in an accident, PLUS you can protect your passengers from unwanted medical bills and financial restrictions that come from being involved in an accident. Protect you and your loved ones today. Call one of our offices and get this set up. It takes less than 5 minutes to get properly covered!

Traffic Tickets and the Aftermath


A common concern after being pulled over by the Five-O, is “what kind of consequences am I going to face?” “What is the fallout going to be?” This varies depending on the person. Your experience as a driver (number of years), your claims history, whether you are a new driver (learner/graduated driver) and whether or not you’ve had a rough track record with the law. 

In Saskatchewan, SGI controls the regulations of our driving system. They have two programs that monitor your driving habits. 1. The Driver Improvement Program (DIP) and 2. The Safe Driver Recognition Program. These programs are designed to help safe drivers benefit from good driving habits and bad drivers paying additional premium for their higher risk behavior. 

  1. The Driver Improvement Program tracks and monitors all the driving records for Saskatchewan drivers. This program is designed to help remove high risk driving habits, by penalizing those who show high-risk driving behaviors (ie. DUI, Texting and driving, at-fault accidents, etc.) They do this by applying sanctions against people who continue to exude these bad behaviors. This includes: fines, driver license re-testing, suspensions and traffic safety workshops like “driver improvement training.” 
  2. Safe Driver Recognition Program – this is an incentive program to reward those who practice safe driving habits. Based on the scale it determines your discounted rate, with 0 being the base rate. If you end up dropping below 0 (based on bad driving habits) you could face financial penalties. 

Points

Discount
Neutral Zone

0

Premium Base

1

 2%
2

4%
3 6%
4

8%
Good Driver Zone

5

 10%

6

12%
7

14%
8 16%

9

18%
10

20%

11

 20%
12

20%
13

20%

14

20%
Great Driver Zone

15

 20%

16

20%

17

20%

18

20%

19

20%

20

20%

21

21%
22

22%
Safest Driver Zone

23

 23%

24

24%
25

25%

Financial Penalties

Once you are in the penalty zone, you must drive with extreme caution as these fines can compound. For example. If you are at a -5 rating, you will already have paid a fine of $250 to SGI for the demerits. If you were to have an at-fault accident and drop -6 points to -11, you would now face a fine of $550. If you were to have a failure to stop at stop sign ticket the same year, you would drop an additional 4 points to -15 and would be charged $750 over and above the traffic fine issued by the officer. 

Points

Penalty per Incident
($1,000 Max)

-1

 $50
-2

$100

-3

 $150
-4

$200
Penalty Zone

-5

 $250
-6

$300

-7

 $350
-8

$400

-9

 $450
-10

$500

How do I leave the Penalty Zone? 

Driving safely without incidents is the only way to escape the Penalty Zone. You can do this by driving 1 year at a time to crawl out year by year. After 3 consecutive years of safe driving, you will snap back to zero on the scale and will start accumulating safety discounts the following year.

These discounts are applicable to personal vehicles that you register under your personal name. If you have a business or farm corporation, you would fall under the Business Recognition Program.

What is the Business Recognition Program? 

This program rewards businesses that have a good claims history, offering a potential discount of up to 15% on their basic insurance. This is available in almost all vehicle classes, including – A, C, D, IRP, F, L PB, PC, PS, PT, LV.

This discount is based on the loss ratio or premiums paid to claims incurred. If you have more claims paid than premiums paid, you could fall into a surcharge zone where you need to pay more for your insurance as you have become higher risk. To learn more about this program, please click here. 

It is always important to practice safe driving habits and to always be prepared before operating a vehicle. Making sure the vehicle is registered and your driver’s license is valid is a crucial piece of information as those fines are not only $580, but you can be stuck with the entire cost of the claim as your insurance is not applicable, whether or not you are at-fault or not. This can be financially devastating, so PLEASE, double check this to make sure before operating a vehicle. We want you and your family to arrive to your destination safe and sound. As SGI says, “take care out there!”

Packing up and moving? This is what you need to know!


The weather is warm, the real estate market is getting hot, and this years home inventory is flying off the shelf. It’s moving time. You’ve either sold your home or decided not to renew your lease and now you’re moving into your new digs. 

Now what!?

You may have a moving company coming to pack up your life and move it, or you may be doing that yourself. Make sure you label your containers and boxes, otherwise you might have a hard time knowing which box is which.

You might even be lucky enough to have your possession dates line up and so you can just move from one house to the other OR you may have a more difficult road and you have to live in limbo while you wait for your new home to be vacated. Whatever the scenario, there may be a time when you don’t know if or where your belongings are going to be and if they will be insured while they are there. Questions might come into your head like: “When do I start insuring my new home?” “When do I cancel insurance on my old home?” 

Your possession date is typically when you want to start or cancel your insurance. That’s an easy one to remember. However, if you sell your house today, but don’t get possession of your new house until the end of the month, this may complicate things. You’ll likely have to store your stuff all over the place. For example, you take the large items to your dad’s shop, PLUS you’ve moved your small furniture and belongings to a commercial storage facility, PLUS you have some personal belongings with you; as you are going to be temporarily residing with your Great Uncle Ned. “How is this supposed to work?” “Am I properly covered for this?” “What do I do?”

Talk to your insurance broker. 

When in doubt, give your broker a call. They can help make sure that your belongings, stored in all these random locations, are properly protected. Most insurance companies even allow a 30 day extension of coverage for the duration of the move. That means, you can leave everything “as is” on your policy and you are covered for the first 30 days, up to the limit insured on your policy. If the value of your new home is less than your old home, they may drop the limit slightly to reflect the new value.

“Okay, that’s great, but I’m building/renovating a house, so it’s going to be more like  6-8 months, not 30 days.”

With these situations, you are going to have to make changes to your insurance policy. You will have to put a tenant pak or renters policy on your belongings for where you will be residing temporarily. You will have to add on a “belongings in storage” endorsement to your policy for each location the belongings are stored in. Such as: the commercial storage facility and dad’s farm workshop. It is important to note that for this endorsement, your belongings may not have theft coverage, if stored in a detached garage, shop or outbuilding. Most companies will only extend theft coverage if it is located in a locked/gated commercial compound or an attached garage of an occupied residence. So keep that in mind when storing your high value items.

“I’m moving across the country, and movers are taking my belongings, do they insure my stuff while in-transit?”

Typically, if you have hired a reputable mover, they will carry some type of Cargo Insurance while they are in possession of your belongings. However, it may be worth while keeping your insurance policy in place, just to be sure your stuff is covered during the transportation. 

Moving comes with its fair share of stress. You don’t need another headache by having your belongings stolen or destroyed while in transit or storage. Be sure to inform your insurance broker and have them look after that for you. That’s what we’re here for. Happy Moving!

Saskatchewan Sporadic Weather Activity


As you have likely seen, there were tornadoes that recently touched down by the Meadow Lake Provincial Park. We have had some wild windstorms across Saskatchewan which have been accompanied by some decent sized hail as well.  These aren’t huge surprises as we live in Saskatchewan and these storms seem to be an annual occurrence. However, when it does strike your area, it can not only be terrifying, it can be devastating as well.

What can I do to protect my family and my assets in these storms? 

Having a proper emergency protocol is always important. Whether you have a designated room in your basement or you just hide under your staircase, it is important that your family knows what to do in the event of a storm. Avoid going near any windows as broken glass can cause serious injury. 

Having your roof secured with “hurricane straps” to the trusses helps keep your roof firmly attached to your dwelling. For your outbuildings, making sure your bins are anchored and any other structures are on a solid foundation and anchored down is important as well.

If the winds are strong enough, it may not matter how secure your buildings are. In this case it is important to carry the proper insurance coverage to insure your property from these types of windstorm claims. 

Tornadoes and Plow Winds can do serious damage, whether it is by causing direct damage to the buildings, vehicles or equipment, or indirectly, by blowing trees down and then the tree severely damages your property. Having an insurance policy for your home, buildings, vehicles & equipment can make sure your property is covered so you are not in a serious financial loss after the storm subsides. 

Wind & Hail are covered on majority of insurance extensions as it is a named peril. Make sure you confirm with your broker what coverage you actually have on your policy. In some instances, people assume they have coverage and cancel their license plate insurance off their trailers/RVs when they are parked in a year-round seasonal site. Make sure you phone your broker to make sure your extension auto pak covers you during this time, as some policies need to be amended for such a scenario. 

Shingles are commonly damaged when it comes to these elements. It is important to note that insurance companies have started depreciating your roof, if the shingles are over 15 years old, as they wear over time. Doing an annual inspection of your roof (whether it is you or a professional) would be a good thing to do, to maintain and fix any small amounts of damage and make sure your roof is still in good condition for another year of wind, rain, hail, ice & snow. It would be a good idea to clean out your eavestroughs at the same time as these can get blocked up by debris and prevent water from draining properly.

Keeping your property maintained and well looked after, is very important, not only to you, but to your insurance company as well. By looking after your property, you reduce the chance of having a claim and that can benefit your relationship with your insurance company and result in accumulating claims free & loyalty discounts.

These storms can be very scary and can cause an exorbitant amount of damage. Make sure you  have measures in place to keep your family safe, and policies in place to keep you financially safe. Take care out there.

Canada’s birthday is coming up, what do you have planned?

Can you believe July long is this weekend? Crazy how time continues to speed up. (Insert cliche statement about ‘time’ here). However, these long weekend checkpoints are a nice reminder to stop and smell the roses once in a while. 

As Jazz Fest is winding down this week, our question remains, what do you have planned for this weekend’s summer kickoff? We would love some feedback on what your favourite memories were on this weekend. With that in mind, we have put together some great ideas for you to try, if you have not already made a game plan. Here we go!

If you live around Saskatoon, you can partake in Optimist Canada Day at Diefenbaker Park. The schedule is here and it is loaded with the activities, such as: 

  1. Pancake Breakfast  8 – 11:00am
  2. Sask Intercultural Association 11:30 – 1:30pm
  3. Pavlychenko Dance Ensemble 2 – 2:30pm
  4. Media Stage Entertainment (Michele Dubois & Chris Henderson) 3:15 – 5:45pm
  5. Transcontinental Blues Band   6:15 – 7:00pm
  6. Tucker Lane Band   7:30 – 8:30pm
  7. Stuck in the 80’s Band   9:00 – 10:30pm
  8. Fireworks presentation by NUTRIEN.   10:40pm

There will be food trucks, children’s activities (including: face painting, tattoos, amusement rides, etc.) and a Flea Market all day long. The recipe for a hooting good time. Warman is also having a similar lineup of events.  

Or maybe you want to view the fireworks from the water. You can book a specialty cruise here, and for $80 you can watch from the river. Check to see if there is availability. 

For those who maybe want to escape the city, you may wish to explore some of our great Saskatchewan Parks & Lakes. Check out these more remote areas for some Canada Day festivities:

There are all kinds of activities, in Saskatchewan, during this Canada Day weekend. Sometimes it’s nice to have a quieter weekend away with family and friends and just go camping, or have a nice evening outside on the patio. Kick up your feet, you’ve worked hard.

Saskatchewan is known for its living skies and it’s nice to take it in when you can. Whether it’s sunsets, rainbows, thunderstorms or northern lights; we get our share of spectacular activity in the skies. Those living skies will now include a variety of fireworks shows this weekend, so keep an eye out for those. 

We are very lucky to live in this amazing country called Canada. We are a melting pot of diverse people from all walks of life. Despite our differences, we come together and we support one another. We were very fortunate to have our very own Toronto Raptors win the NBA Championship just a few weeks ago, and it was great to see the country united in that victory. Let’s take time this weekend to remember and reflect on what we love about our amazing country and how we can continue to make Canada the greatest nation on earth. Happy Canada Day everyone!