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Choosing a new boiler as part of the latest home improvements can be a hard enough job as it is, without even thinking about the type of British Gas boiler cover to purchase to ensure it’s protected. As with the boiler itself, when making a decision on boiler insurance, you need to shop around to find the best option for your personal requirements.

What sort of cover do you need? What do you want to be included as part of the monthly premium? Maintenance costs, servicing and repair all need to be considered to ensure that you can make the best decision for your household.

1. Boiler and Controls breakdown cover is one of the most basic types of insurance and can cost as little as £4 a month. The aim of this cover is to ensure you receive the help of specialist engineers in the event of boiler breakdown.
2. Central heating breakdown cover can be taken for as little as £6 a month and extends the above cover to include your central heating as well as your boiler. If your central heating system conks out, having this cover could help get your heating up and running again.
3. Homecare is a British Gas initiative that is highly recommended for homeowners throughout the UK. It helps to cover the cost of boiler maintenance, faulty electrics and damaged pipes as well as having an annual boiler service and efficiency check included.

• HomeCare 100 is £9pm and includes an annual boiler service and boiler and controls cover.
• HomeCare 200 is £11pm and also includes central heating cover.
• HomeCare 300 is £14pm and covers drainage issues too.
• HomeCare 400 is the ultimate package, at £17pm, and includes all of the above and electrics cover as well.

Regardless of your personal budget, signing up for boiler insurance is a sensible premium to consider. After all, what’s a few pounds a month if it helps to pay for a job that would otherwise cost hundreds? Take a look at the options available and give yourself the peace of mind you deserve as a homeowner.

A key issue to consider if you become unemployed is the loss of your health insurance coverage. You won’t want to be without it, but you will also have to face the fact that it can be quite expensive. Consider the choices you have and how you can make use of them as you hunt for a new job.

What you can expect

At the time you are laid off, your employer should provide information regarding the health benefits available to you at. In addition, if you feel that the information you are given is insufficient, find out if you can continue your coverage under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA).

What you should know

Note that the law requires your employer to make health insurance available to terminated employees for 18 months via COBRA, usually at their expense. However, some employers provide this insurance in the severance package they offer for a specified time. To obtain this coverage, you must enroll within 60 days.

What you can do

You can also get in touch with your state health department because a number of states offer health insurance that covers families and individuals for a fee. If this is true in your case, you will have to meet certain asset and income requirements in order to participate in the plan.

Above all, don’t delay in looking for health care insurance that is right for you, and avoid making an uninformed or hasty choice that you come to regret. If you have a pre-existing condition, you have 63 days to find other coverage and avoid a waiting period in your situation.

Here are some options for you to consider:

With a major medical plan, you will pay a premium that is really affordable by choosing a high deductible. However, while this program will cover you if you face a medical event that is catastrophic, you cannot rely on it for in routine, predictable health care situations. You can also opt for less-expensive short-term medical insurance coverage that will expire in six or twelve months.

If you want to find an insurance plan with a lower premium, you can also look for one that doesn’t provide treatment at many facilities or find an inexpensive medical plan without a deductible that includes coverage for your basic health care needs, such as a brief hospital stay or a routine office visit. In addition, determine whether any school alumni associations or insurance companies in your state provide temporary medical coverage for the unemployed that would meet your needs.

Certain members-only warehouse clubs, trade associations and unions also provide various types of medical coverage, such as vaccinations and screening, and you can contact them for information.

While being unemployed reduces your income and a pre-existing condition may keep you from qualifying for the various options mentioned above, assistance from your state or certain high-risk pools may help you in paying for your medical coverage until you find a new job.

If you are an unemployed worker under the age of 26, you can be covered by your parents’ group insurance plan. This is part of the health care reform bill, and you don’t have to be a dependent or a full-time student to qualify.

Determine if your children can participate in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which is available in every state.

If you currently participate in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program that means that you are eligible for Medicaid. Others may also qualify for this assistance, depending on the income and resources currently available to them.

When it comes to getting a good deal on your car insurance quote, there are a few neat tricks that you can use to ensure that the price stays low. A lot of people will stay with the same company when it comes to car insurance for years, and while this is often a great option, there are also many other great deals out there. Here are a few of the best tips to ensure that your car insurance premium doesn’t break the bank.

#1 – Try not to claim for small amounts

Let’s say that you have an accident; the first thing that you will probably do is call your insurance company and let them take care of everything. Now, this isn’t always the best thing to do and in fact, we recommend that in a lot of cases you don’t do this if at all possible. Making claims on small amounts when it comes to car insurance can often pump up your quote for the following year. In fact, we’d say that anything up to a cost of £500, you should ideally fix without claiming through your car insurance company.

The reason for this is that you will just be charged a higher premium when it comes to renewing your insurance the following year. You can also make sure to keep your excess high when you apply for the insurance to get a lower quote.

#2 – Be specific when it comes to your occupation

When you are filling in the forms on the comparison websites or even the insurance websites themselves, you will often be asked for your occupation. You might not have realised, but there are a handful of occupations that insurance companies don’t favour at all. If you have one of these occupations, your insurance premium might skyrocket. For example. many insurance companies don’t like sales reps or estate agents. This is usually because they will be traveling quite a lot.

By being more specific, you can lower your insurance premium. For example, let’s say that you do work for an estate agent but you only usually work at the office and do the admin work, you might put “administrative assistant” instead to lower your premium. Little things like this can add up to a big difference in your costs.

#3 – Don’t modify your car

A lot of people like to add extras to their cars these days, especially those that are young. However, adding a state-of-the-art surround sound system or colour neon lights to your car is only going to increase your insurance premium even more; and this is far from what you want, especially if you are young and have a high premium already.
By ensuring that you don’t modify your car too much with accessories, you can ensure that your premium stays as low as possible.

#4 – Add an extra driver to your policy

This might seem like a bit of a strange tip but in a lot of cases, this actually lowers your insurance costs. By adding another driver to your policy, you might see a reduction in your costs and it also means that a friend or family member can drive your car (should you allow it of course).

This is something to be careful with as it really does depend on a variety of factors. Age, relation and many other factors are taken into account by the insurance companies so make sure you explore this option before you go ahead with it.

#5 – Buy a used car

Again, this is a neat little trick to ensure that your premium is as low as possible. By purchasing a used car, you will be able to make sure that the value of the car your are insuring is much lower than if you purchased a brand new car. This means that should you opt for fully comprehensive insurance and the insurance company has to pay out should your car be stolen, they won’t have to pay out as much.

In effect, the cost of your car will be part of the algorithm used by insurance companies when it comes to calculating your premium. Used cars can be reliable and cheap too so this is actually a plus point for a lot of people.

If you have recently suffered an injury while at work, on holiday or on the roads, you may be thinking about making a compensation claim. Ensuring that you have enlisted the help of the best personal injury solicitor should be your main priority. Yet such is the wide range of compensation claim solicitors available, it can be difficult to determine the best solicitor for your needs. Here are the top 5 things to consider when making a personal accident compensation claim:

1. Free Accident Claim Advice

Before you choose an accident claim solicitor, you may want to use a free accident claim calculator to compare your entitlements. This will help you to ascertain your rights. Many accident claim solicitors also offer no obligation accident claim advice free of charge. Solicitors are expensive so, aside from providing the details of your case in a free accident claim advice session, you must determine what would happen if you pursued your case and lost it. Many solicitors work on a no win, no fee basis so you may wish to ask your solicitor whether they are willing to insure your compensation claim against the chance that you may lose your case.

2. Specialist Solicitors

When seeking a reputable solicitor to handle your case, it is essential to ensure that your chosen solicitor specialises in the particular area of law in which you wish to pursue your claim. If you have experienced an accident in the workplace and wish to submit a workplace accident compensation claim, you will require a solicitor who specialises in this area of law. In the event that your chosen solicitor fails to specialise in a particular area of law, you could end up losing money.

3. Testimonials

Your chosen solicitor should provide you with testimonials from previous clients and you should also consider carrying out your own independent research by searching for reviews of your chosen solicitor on the Internet. Where possible, you should aim to enlist the help of a solicitor who has been recommended to you by trusted relatives or friends. However, it is essential to be comfortable with your chosen solicitor as you will need to frankly discuss the details of your accident case with them.

4. Solicitor’s Agreements

When you sign a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) with your chosen solicitor, you will wish to ensure that the solicitor will claim for their fees and expenses from the opposing party – not from the accident compensation that you receive. The majority of personal injury solicitors include a clause in the CFA that states that you will be responsible for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred. Out-of-pocket expenses may include the cost of medical treatment that you are advised to receive by your accident compensation solicitor and any overtime incurred by the solicitor’s own staff. Your solicitor should be responsible for recouping the money for meeting these costs from the opposing party.

5. Out-Of-Court Settlement vs. Court Proceeding

Some accident claim solicitors fail to listen to the desires of their clients and instead instigate full court proceedings. If you wish to settle your compensation claim as opposed to taking your claim through the courts, you should ensure that your chosen accident claim solicitor does not have any objection to you doing this. Conversely, if your solicitor is advising you to settle your claim out of the courts yet you wish to take your claim through the courts, you should discuss with your solicitor the disadvantages of taking your accident compensation claim through the courts.