George L. Blau

I have been thinking of who people would enjoy hearing more about. I felt that most of us would like to learn more about people who have lived within our vicinity at one time or another. I thought that people would enjoy getting to know more about Stan's younger brother, George. By reading about him, you will also learn abit about a staple of our lifestyle--insurance. It is very possible that by contacting George, you may find that he can save you some of your hard-earned money.

George was born on August first of 1961. His parents are John and Joyce Blau of Leoti and Scott City. His paternal grandparents were Louie and Julia Blau of Wichita County and George and Mary Bennett of Scott County were has maternal grandparents. He has 3 brothers, Gary who lives in Salina; Ron who lives in Hays and my Stan in Leoti. George also has two sisters, Sandy Emme and Christine Blau of Manhattan.

In June of 2009, a hailstorm of historical proportions struck Wichita County. Many homes and cars received major damage. Fortunately, God spared our home from much damage but our 2003 Buick was not quite so lucky. Its damages were so devastating that our former insurance company totalled it out. Evntually, we decided to do some more research to see if we were getting as good a deal on our insurance as we could get. Since George was an insurance agent in Wamego, Ks., we gave him a call. We were glad that we did as he saved us a tremendous amountoney and even managed to give us additional insurance than what we had to begin with.

George graduated from Scott Community High School in May of 1979. After graduation, he moved to Liberal where he majored in Computer Science at Seward Community College.

Since then, he has worked for a computer software company, worked for two elementary-secondary schools in the Oklahoma Panhandle. Eventually, George went to work at IT Lab for a local telephone company in Oklahoma. Later, he opened his own cleaning business in Colorado and later went to work with Target.

One day, he left his job at Target to visit us in Leoti. He had a motorcycle accident that damaged his left leg extensively and totalled his motorcycle. (The totality of his motorcylce was the worst part, he says. LOL)

Months passed without his ability to work. Family in Manhattan urged him to move there so that they could help with his recovery. We offered the same thing but if he had chosen to move to Leoti, he would have had to travel for several hours to see his specialist. By living in Manhattan, he could see a specialist right there in town. As soon as his doctors released him to go back to work, he was re-hired by Target there in Manhattan. He began has career as an insurance agent in June of 2009.

George sells personal, commercial, and agriculture insurance.

Personal insurance includes home, auto, life, health, renters/condominium, umbrella, flood, motorcycle, watercraft, recreational vehicles, off-road vehicle, earthquake, rental properties, long-term care, annuities and disability insurance.

George can help you with your commercial insurance needs also. Some of those include workers compensation, commercial property, general liability, excess liability, umbrella, commercial auto and motorcyle dealership coverage, commercial auto, bonds, group health benefits, contractors, cities and municipalities and custom harvesting.

Farmers can also purchase John Deere Crop Insurance, farm insurance, country home, stable boarding, farm ag workers compensation, livestock and manure hauling.

For more information, please go to www.copelandinsurance.net Please place George's name in the COMMENTS section when you request a quote. That will insure you get to discuss your insurance needs with him.

I also to know if our current economy is affecting people as they purchase insurance. George said that he is seeing a MAJOR EFFECT! People are now shopping around to see if they can find lower rates with the same or better coverage, which in George's humble opinion, can be found out there.

I asked George if there is anything that insurance customers are doing wrong when they look for insurance. He told me that many are thinking that by purchasing insurance with the bare mimimal coverage, they're fine. George said that not only is that a mistake, it could, in all reality, put the individual/business in serious financial trouble. He gave the following example:

Lets say that you have purchased Kansas' minimmum bodily injury and uninsured motorist--$25.000 per person/$50,000 per accident; prperty damage $10,000.

Take those minimums and picture this scenario: You are driving down Main Street America. You fail to notice that there is an icy patch in the road and start sliding, right towards a brand new 2010 Hummer. This Humer just happens to be parked next to a 2009 BMW and eve worse, they are on a patch of ice. Your vehicle slides into the Hummer so quickly that it slides into the BMW. Now, you are citied for causing the accident and are responsible for the repairs of both vehicles.

Well, needless to say, just taking a guess, the damage to the Hummer, alone, is well in excess of $15,000. You are also going to need to come up with $5,000 out of your own pocket. Now, we take a look at the BMW. Okay, just some minor damage and one sides needs to be repainted due to scratching, probably another $5,000 to $7,000. Now you are up to $10,000 to $12,000 out of your own pocket. Wait!!! You also have your own vehicle that now needs to be repaired, another couple thousand dollars if you only have minimal damage.

By now, you have the point. Today's vehicles cost more and require more expensive repairs than when the minimal liability rates were first set. NEVER GO WITH STATE MINIMUMS, take at least one step up. For Kansans, George recommends the following minimal coverage:

Bodily injury and uninsured motorist--$100,000 per person/$300.000 per accident.
Property damage--$100,000.

Ask your agent to show you what the price difference is between the minimum and the higher coverage. In most cases, George thinks that you'll be very surprised. For George's personal vehicle, the difference is roughly $50.00 more per year. Do you think that he moved up? Yes, he did because it is easier to pay out that extra $4.00 per month than he can afford coming up with the staggering $15,000 for the above incident. Where your biggest cost factor comes in on auto insurance is your comprehensive and collision deductables. The lower your deductable, the higher your cost and visa-versa.

I also asked George if he is seeing anything NEW going on in the world of insurance. He responded that there is really nothing right now. If the White House Health Plan comes into effect, there will be some MAJOR changes in health insurance. At this point, he is not willing to be pro or con on that issue.

George recommends that if you want to secure the best rates possible,you need to:

#1. Follow ALL of the rules, ALL of the time.

#2. Stay with a good insurance company or get a good company to insure you.

#3. Have your agent do a yearly check-up,if not more frequently. A scan of all of your properties' policies needs to be done to make sure that you are receiving the best possible rates.

#4. Combine as much coverage as you can with one company: Auto, Life, Home, Umbrella, Motorcycle, etc.

I asked George if people have to make yearly payments on their policy. He told me that the answer is usually "yes" but in some cases, the answer is "no".

I then asked George why he wanted to be an insurance agent. He told me that he wanted to have a career where he could actually help people. Insurance is a major benefit for people. He said that if anyone wants to know how how selling insurance is beneficial, he would answer that that the reason is because in most states, insurance is required. He can provide people with the coverage that they need for almost anything that could happen in their lives.

George is able to sell all types of insurance in the state of Kansas. He sells limited types of insurance in Colorado, Oklahoma and Missouri.

George married the love of his life, Shelley, in 2009. (By the way, we introduced them to each other!!!) They own their home in St. George, Kansas which is just a few miles out of Manhattan.

If you're interested in having George give you a quote or to ask him any other qyestions, please call him at (785)456.2240 or email him at glblau@live.com . He is an agent for Copeland Insurance Agency. You can send mail to him at the following address:

Copeland Insurance Agency
P.O. Box 274
Wamego, Kansas
66547
Attn: George

You can also fax your current insurance information to George at 785.456.9838.

If you're interested in signing up for their FREE e-newsletter to keep you updated on everything going on with insurance, please send in your email address. George will sign you up immediately for the next available release.

On a personal note, we have been amazed at how much George has been able to save us on our insurance needs! Give hime a try!!!

VLE-B