Zarek Insurance

03/17/2025

The 2025 March Padness brackets are officially OPEN! 🏀 Don't miss your chance—submit your Men's and/or Women's bracket now! Scan the QR code or click the link below to enter and refer your IMT Agent or IMT Employee. Games tip off Thursday, March 20th. Get in the game! ⬇️
https://imtmarketing.info/marchpadness

04/11/2020

03/28/2020

03/15/2018

The Burlington Community Pool Board will have a booth at the HOME SHOW this Saturday March 10th at Burlington High School. We will be there from 9:00am to 3:00pm to answer questions and help with membership registration, sponsorship or swim lessons. We are very excited about the NEW Burlington Community Aquatic Center and all the that we hope to offer !!!

10/28/2016

02/23/2016

There are several myths about how auto insurance premiums are determined. Here are some factors that truly determine how auto premiums are calculated.

10/13/2015

Ridesharing services such as Uber have become popular. Do you know if your personal auto policy provides coverage?

02/18/2014

Owning a home is a huge financial investment. That’s why it’s important to insure your home to 100% of its replacement cost.

12/17/2013

Some winter driving tips courtesy of West Bend Mutual Insurance:

Here are some reminders that will help keep you and your family safe when traveling this winter season.

1. Be aware of changing weather conditions. If you don’t need to go out in a snow storm, don’t. If you do need to travel, use technology to your advantage. There are many weather apps for Smartphones that provide up-to-date weather conditions and send severe weather alerts to your phone. To sign up for weather alerts from The Weather Channel, click here.

2. If you’re involved in an accident stay in your car. While it may be instinctual to get out of your car and survey the damage, don’t. It’s safer to remain in your vehicle. From your car, you can call your family, police, insurance company, or a tow truck. If you’re in a pileup and can safely get your car off the roadway, do it. If you can’t and are in the driver’s seat with more cars coming your way, try and slide into the passenger seat and put on your seatbelt.

3. Pay attention to road conditions and what’s happening in front of you. The link below provides live camera footage from a Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicle’s traffic cam. As you watch the video, you’ll see that traffic is moving slowly and the approaching cars are traveling too fast for conditions. You can learn a lot by watching this video. It’s quite amazing.

4. If you’re approaching an accident or the road is in poor condition, turn on your hazard lights. This immediately alerts people behind you that a potentially dangerous situation exists and that they should begin to slow down.

5. Avoid using cruise control when driving in rain or snow. The slippery surface can cause your tires to slip, putting your car into an out-of-control spin.

6. Keep a safe following distance. Experts recommend keeping a safe following distance of eight to ten seconds. A car traveling at 60mph covers 88 feet per second, so it can take a car traveling on wet or snow-covered roads 6 to 10 seconds, and more than 500 feet, to stop.

Be Safe and have a Merry Christmas!!!

12/03/2013

Be safe while driving. Seeing a distracted driver while you are on the road is becoming a common occurrence. According to Distraction.Gov, 3,331 people were killed in 2011 by distracted drivers. In addition 387,000 people were injured. This equates to 9 people killed and 1,060 people injured per day! Inexperienced drivers under the age of 20 are the most likely to be involved in these crashes. Unfortunately these numbers are only going to increase.

11/26/2013

The holiday season is fast approaching. It’s estimated that more than 40 million Americans will be traveling at least 50 miles to celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends.

While we look forward to spending time with family and friends, travel can turn our long holiday weekend into a nightmare. If you plan to hit the open road this year, here are some tips from West Bend Mutual to help you safely get to your destination .

1. Take off work early. Wednesday and Sunday are the busiest days to travel during the Thanksgiving holiday. If you have a few extra vacation days, consider starting your Thanksgiving travel on Monday or Tuesday. Visiting family and friends from Tuesday to Saturday can help prevent you from being stuck in holiday travel. You may even want to extend your stay. Travel begins to level out the Monday after Thanksgiving.
2. Take the long way home. If you do have to travel during the peak times, consider taking alternative routes. While setting the cruise and rolling down the interstate can seem like the way to go, why not take the country roads? While there may be more twists and turns, the back way home is usually more scenic and may prevent you from getting stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Click on the videos below for driving tips on interstates and country roads courtesy of Jeff Huber. Jeff is the owner of Drive-for-Life Driving School in Madison, WI.
3. Make sure you have your charging cords. While more and more cars are manufactured with touch screens, many of us still don’t have this feature. So make sure you have charging cords for your smartphone or GPS. You should even consider bringing a paper map. This way if the route you’re traveling is closed due to a traffic accident, you have tools to help you find an alternative route.
4. Take plenty of snacks and water. If you do get delayed due to a traffic accident or road construction, it’s good idea to have distractions on hand for you and your occupants. If your children are like mine, they’re always hungry. A full stomach equals a happy child which equals a more enjoyable road trip.
5. Don’t forget your coins or interstate pass. If you travel on interstates with toll booths, make sure you have enough change. If you have an electronic pass, check your account balance before you leave home. While cruising through automatic tolling is a real time saver, getting notices in the mail for unpaid tolls is not a fun way to follow up your holiday.
6. Take your car in for a check up. If you plan to drive several hundred miles, it may be worthwhile to have your car inspected by your local mechanic. Items to inspect include your tires, brakes, car battery, and windshield wipers. Making sure your car is in good working order can prevent an unexpected break down and make your trip more enjoyable.
7. Get plenty of rest. If you’re taking a long road trip, get plenty of rest before you leave, and take plenty of breaks while traveling. Periodically stretching your legs and getting fresh air is beneficial. Proper rest and breaks can help you stay alert. Remember the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles?
8. Avoid distracted driving. You should always be attentive and alert when driving. Consider pulling off the road to eat, make a phone call, or to send a text message. If you arrive at grandmother’s house and you don’t remember how, that’s a pretty good indicator you drove distracted.
9. Keep a safe following distance. If you drive during the day or in good weather conditions, it’s best to leave a three-second gap between you and the car in front of you. If you’re driving in extreme weather conditions, like heavy rain or snow, double the following distance to six seconds. If you stay back, you give yourself an escape route if something goes wrong in front of you. If someone is tailgating you, allow them to pass or pull over.
10. Remain calm. You can experience some stressful situations while driving so take some deep breaths and remain calm. Don’t drive with road rage. This could cause you do something unsafe, and put you and your family in harm’s way.

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

11/15/2013

For those of us who live in the Midwest, fall is a great time of year. Football has returned, the temperatures are comfortable, and watching the leaves change colors is enjoyable.

Unfortunately, this is also the peak time of year for deer and auto collisions. Mating season for deer runs from October through December so the population is more active during this time, accounting for that increase in collisions.

Here are some tips to prevent a collision between your car and a deer this fall.

1. Pay attention to your surroundings. Look for the yellow traffic sign with a deer on it. If you see one, it means you’re entering an area with an active, concentrated deer population. Make sure your eyes are always moving, and pay particular attention to the side of the road.

And don’t forget to pay attention to what other cars are doing. The car in front of you may brake suddenly. If you notice something out of the ordinary, slow down.

2. One deer probably equals many more. Deer usually travel in herds, so if you see one cross the road, look immediately to where the deer came from. There are probably others ready to cross. Deer are most active between 6:00 and 9:00pm.

3. High beams, high beams, high beams. Use your high beams as much as oncoming traffic will allow at this time of year. High beams do a great job lighting up the road in front of you, especially the side of the road where the herd may be hanging out.

If you feel your headlights aren’t lighting up the road properly, consider taking your car to your local mechanic for a check up. A headlight may be burned out or need an adjustment.

4. Never swerve for a deer or other animal. While swerving is an instinct many of us feel when an animal runs in the road, it can put you in a more dangerous situation. Swerving can cause you to lose control of your car, put you in the lane of oncoming traffic, or cause you to hit a tree or ditch and overturn your vehicle. The best techniques are to remind yourself not to swerve and to brake firmly.

5. Consider purchasing deer whistles. While there’s conflicting data on whether or not deer whistles actually work, they’re a cheap precautionary measure. I believe it’s worth giving them a try. I’ve had them on my cars and never collided with a deer. Knock on wood.

6. Stay calm and safe. If you do hit a deer, another natural instinct is to get out of your car to check the damage. But can you really determine the extent of the damage just by looking at it? Probably not. I recommend you stay in your car. From there you can do a number of things that will keep you and your family safe:
a. Call 911;
b. Turn on your hazard lights; and
c. Call your insurance company.

7. Knowledge is power. Make sure you understand what coverages and limits of insurance you have on your auto insurance policy. Comprehensive insurance provides coverage for damage that results from hitting an animal; however, if you don’t have this coverage, you’ll be left with the bill.