Car Insurance

How to buy a pre-owned car

Why buy a used car? Why not? According to Robby Stamps, automotive consultant and author of the online used car buying guide www.goodasnew.com, a recent automotive study showed that 45% of families earning $75,000 or more would consider buying a used car.

“The stigma attached to owning a used car is melting away,” Stamps says. “Because of the competitive climate to sell, cars now are a different animal. In the past 10 to 15 years, there have been tremendous improvements in technology, design, and metals.”

Cars are–to borrow a slogan–built to last, with lengthier warranty options. For example, you could purchase a 3-year-old car and it will still fall under factory warranty. Some warranties are good for up to seven years or 100,000 miles.

“This is also becoming more of a buyer, s market,” explains Darryl Brooks, author of How to Save Thousands on Your Next Car (Consumer Consulting Services, $16.95) and president and CEO of Consumer Consulting Services, owners of the buying and leasing site www.autobysave.com. “The growth of leasing has loaded the marketplace with used cars. Consumers have more of a choice.”

Why are many people still skeptical? Cars have advanced, but the depreciation curve, usually determined by banks, has not. “There is no reason why a 4-year-old car with 40,000 miles should be worth 35% less than when it was first purchased. That car is an excellent bargain,” says Stamps.

There are several places to buy a used car–new car dealerships, used car dealerships, auctions, and private sellers. Where you buy will depend on what you’re looking for and what you’re willing to spend. Used car prices could range from $1,500 to $60,000. New car dealerships are likely to charge the most for a car.

“Used cars are bought very cheap by the dealership, because the seller is usually anxious to get their new car,” explains Brooks, “so the markup is high. They tend to make at least a few grand in profit, with the consumer thinking they got a great deal. But a reputable dealership will sell sound cars and will offer financing.”

Used car dealerships offer the widest variety, particularly of hard-to-find vehicles. These cars come from various places, including auctions and leasing and insurance companies. You may have significant history to consider. But, Stamps says, mom-and-pop dealerships usually meet your specifications on a car, or come close.

Auctions can be a great place to buy luxury vehicles–but not a public auction, warns Brooks. The quality of the cars sold is questionable, and you typically won’t know what you’re getting until you’ve bought it. Contract with a dealer or auto broker to buy at a closed dealer auction. The contract fee ranges from $500 to $1,500, but you could save up to $2,000 on the price of the car.

Buying from a private seller could be the least expensive route, since most private sellers just want a decent profit. It can also be the most exhausting, since it requires locating, calling, and then visiting each one. The car’s history may be more questionable. Private sellers tend to mask the truth.

SAVVY SHOPPING TIPS

* Don’t believe just your mechanic. “Mechanics are notorious for misdiagnosing an auto problem,” offers Stamps. “Get an extended warranty to protect yourself. You will have to spend at least $5,000 to $6,000 to get a car that’s eligible for a warranty.”

* Don’t believe long-standing industry references as reliable sources. Stamps explains that “blue books” often list inflated retail prices to protect the car dealers, their biggest subscribers. “Many dealers advertise that their prices are below blue book rates. It’s a ruse to make consumers think they’re getting a bargain.”

* Establish a budget beforehand. Factor in car options, loan rates, and insurance. Stamps uses this as a guideline: Subtract your fixed expenses (rent, credit card payments, utilities, etc.) from your monthly take-home pay. Use one-third of what remains for your monthly car payment and maintenance.

* Never buy the first year’s production of a new model. Says Stamps, “No one knows for sure how a new model is going to perform in the real world.”

The N.A.D.A. Official Used Car Guide(R) Company (N.A.D.A.), the Recognized Authority in used vehicle values to the new and used car and truck market for over 70 years, and Automotive Lease Guide (ALG), the benchmark for residual values in the United States and Canada for over 35 years, today announce a collaboration that will benefit the automotive industry.

Through a strategic partnership, N.A.D.A. and ALG have created an N.A.D.A./ALG Mapping Table(TM) that cross-references the unique N.A.D.A. vehicle identification description to the ALG vehicle ID. By providing such a customized product that includes both used vehicle values and residuals, N.A.D.A. and ALG offer one integrated valuation solution. Customers benefit, as they will no longer have to go to two different sources and then modify their systems to integrate the separate data.

“Our mission through this partnership is to create additional opportunities for our customers and prospects to have seamless access to the highest-quality vehicle data from the leaders in the used and residual valuation business,” said Scott Lilja, executive director of the N.A.D.A. Official Used Car Guide Company.

The N.A.D.A./ALG Mapping Table can be delivered in .txt, .csv or .xls formats. Every unique model year and ALG Code will have a corresponding N.A.D.A. Vehicle Identification Code and the Option Mapping Table links ALG options to the equivalent N.A.D.A. Vehicle Accessory Code.

“The automotive industry continues to need integrated data solutions especially in the area of automotive finance,” said John Blair, ALG’s chief executive officer. “Our mapping project with the N.A.D.A. Official Used Car Guide Company will provide our mutual customers an opportunity to create efficiencies and reduce mistakes in their data processing.”

About the N.A.D.A. Official Used Car Guide(R) Company

The N.A.D.A. Official Used Car Guide(R) Company, a NADASC subsidiary, has provided used vehicle valuation products and services to the auto, finance, fleet/lease, government and insurance industries since 1933. In addition to the N.A.D.A. Official Used Car Guide(R), N.A.D.A. e-Valuator(R) valuation software group, various developer’s tools, the ATD/N.A.D.A. Commercial Truck Guide(R), AuctionNet(R) Online, consumer and business Websites (nadaguides.com and nada.com/b2b), and a full line of appraisal guides, including RVs, boats and motorcycles.

About Automotive Lease Guide

Automotive Lease Guide, a privately held company in Santa Barbara, California, has been the benchmark for residual values in the United States and Canada for over 35 years. ALG’s objective is to provide residual values, analytical data products and consultation to the automotive industry.

Widening the Heart God laughs & Plays: Churchkss Sermons in Response to the Preachments of the Fundamentalist Right, by David James Duncan. Triad Books.

Reviewed by Julie Palter

Like a cluster of traffic cops, insurance adjusters, and whiplash lawyers at a multicar pileup, writers of all sorts are trying to make sense of the dangerous intersection of faith and politics in the United States. God Laughs if Plays, David James Duncan’s contribution to the literature of democracy, moral values, and how-dowe-get-out-of-this-mess, is not the book to go to for systematic theology, solemn punditry, or political strategy. I’m guessing equal numbers of readers will find his slicing humor and mystic sensibility either aggravating or inspiring. Sometimes I was both aggravated and inspired at the same time.

But these “churchless sermons”-actually a collection of essays, adaptations of talks and interviews, and spiritual improvisations-are worth checking out for the virtuosic turns of phrase and unique perspective that Duncan offers, as well as some fine analysis of religio-political rhetoric and impassioned hymns to love, trout, and giving a damn.

Duncan is a critically acclaimed novelist and essayist, as well as an environmental activist. With Wendell Berry, he was awarded the American Library Association’s 2003 Eli Oboler Award for the Preservation of Intellectual Freedom for their jointly authored book, Citizen’s Dissent, a treatise on the destructive ramifications of the Bush doctrine and national security strategy. Duncan’s concerns as an artist and defender of rivers-freedom of speech and imagination, the power of language for good or evil, care and protection of creation-are key elements to the grudge he has with many of the far-Right forces in U.S. politics.

But the strongest thread loosely stitching together Cod Laughx & Plays is, fittingly enough, God. Duncan is a Jesus-loving, Mother Teresa-quoting non-Christian who as a young man rejected his fundamentalist upbringing but took up reading the sacred texts from most of the major world faiths. His take on God mystically melds these various traditions, which won’t likely impress many readers doctrinally rooted in specific faiths, Christian or otherwise.

However, even as I-a fairly orthodox Christian who’s content to have just Jesus as her co-pilot without crowding the cabin with Buddha and Krishna-struggle occasionally with his characterization of Christianity, I can relate fairly deeply to both his spiritual experience and his understanding of the values that should guide our lives. And when Duncan writes, “I believe Jesus is the bee’s knees,” I confess I find it to be one of the more effective testimonies I’ve heard in a while, perhaps because he backs this up with more focused respect for, and knowledge of, the life, words, and witness of Jesus than some Christians I encounter.

DUNCAN ARCUES, as others have, that religious language has been distorted by fundamentalists, and manipulated for power by politicians . He asserts that the correct answer for fundamentalism isn’t secularism, but rather a return to the core of our religious traditions in order to reclaim our “spiritual vocabulary” from those who have distorted or misused the language of faith. As he puts it, “The defamation of a religious vocabulary cannot be undone by turning away: The harm is undone when we work to reopen each word’s true history, nuance, and depth.”

Duncan does his part to reopen such words largely through anecdotes, musings on trout fishing and literature, quotes from mystics, attempts to describe some of his own mystical encounters, and a running analysis of the fundamentalist mindset. Shaped essays, such as “What Fundamentalists Need for Their Salvation” and “When Compassion Becomes Dissent”, have a deep impact-agree or disagree, the writing is moving and smart. Other more fragmentary or casual pieces sometimes require a little more patience to find the gems. While the publisher promises that Duncan offers “a profound new cosmology,” I don’t see anything quite that grand or systematic. However, within both his lyrical descriptions and snapping rants, I do glimpse some holy truths.

Duncan carries some substantial baggage from his pietistic upbringing, which in the midst of calmer analysis of fundamentalism will slip out in clichéd jabs at organized religion about hypocrisy, greed, uprightness, etc. Like most clichés, these speak of real truths, just not very deeply. But some of his jabs do hit deep and true. The creativity and richness of many of his insights are worth enduring the occasional cheap shot-and since I agree that God laughs and plays, I don’t worry about the Holy Trinity being endangered by a little irreverence and pew-phobia.

At his most thoughtful, Duncan is aware of the self-righteousness in his frustration with the self-righteousone dilemma of passionate, deep belief. Commenting on a prayer of Mother Teresa’s, “May God break my heart so completely that the whole world falls in,” Duncan writes: “There is a self-righteous knot in me that finds zealotry so repugnant that it wants to sit on the sidelines with the like-minded, plaster my car with bumper stickers … and leave it at that. But I can’t. My sense of this life as pure gift-my sense of a grace operative in this world despite, and even amid, its hurts and terrors-propels me to allow the world to open my heart still wider, even if this openness comes by breaking.”

Rod Evans knows firsthand that good help is hard to find. As the owner of three agencies in eastern North Carolina, he’d struggled to find individuals for staff positions. During his term as president of the Independent Insurance Agents of North Carolina, he heard from countless agents around the state that they too were having hiring difficulties, and it was affecting the success of their agencies.

Thus began what Evans refers to as his “selfish interest in workforce development.” His research led him to a national program available through the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America. Called InVEST, the program has been in existence since 1970. “I let it be known that I was interested in serving on the national InVEST board and in 2002, I became a board member,” he recalls. “Soon, I will complete my term as chair of the InVEST committee. I’ve become active in promoting insurance as a profession and in educating young people who will have the skills to begin their career in insurance.”

Evans says he “sells” the InVEST program in much the same fashion as he sells a commercial account, beginning first by creating and nurturing relationships with educators. This approach has yielded good results. He reports that the InVEST program is in place in several high schools in Charlotte as well as several other locations around the state.

According to Barbara Miller-Richards, who for many years headed up the IIABA’s Agent Development programs, the InVEST program educates students as consumers, and about careers in the insurance industry. InVEST is a 501(c)3 educational trust, which means it’s solely supported by contributions. InVEST has a high school and a community college curriculum. “We have a model set up with step-by-step guides on how to implement these programs in your community. The teaching materials are downloadable from the InVEST Web site,” she explains. “This program brings the insurance industry together with the education community.”

The high school model, Miller-Richards continues, is often incorporated into an existing business class. It’s a simulation-a hands-on concept-where students begin by learning what risk is, what risk management is, and about the different distribution systems in the industry. Then the students form mock agencies and mock carrier home offices.

“Most of these students are 17-year-olds,” she notes, “and there’s nothing more important than getting a car. This program helps them understand how insurance rates are developed and how underwriting decisions are made based on credit scores, MVRs, increased hazards.”

So while the high school curriculum includes auto, homeowners, and BOP, most programs begin with the auto component. Miller-Richards says there’s a competition as students “sell” fictitious auto policies to family, friends, and classmates. Part of that process includes using a live online rating tool supplied by AMS. All of the students rotate through the different positions in both the mock agency and mock home office.

“The community college program is more academic,” Miller-Richards explains, with the community college curriculum based on the ENS and AAI courses from the Insurance Institute of America. “At the community college, a professor who is qualified to teach insurance facilitates the classes. Agents still need to be a part of the process, though, by doing mock job interviews or offering internships. Insurance professionals still need to volunteer as guest speakers to talk about what a career in insurance is like, how they got started in the business, and what the qualifications are.”

Rod Evans maintains that introducing InVEST to high schools and community colleges isn’t difficult, but it does take time. However, he notes, “As agency owners it’s important for us to give back-to our communities and to the insurance industry. InVEST is an opportunity to give back and receive at the same time. That’s rare.”

He recommends that fellow agents capitalize on the relationships they have with educators within their communities. Miller-Richards concurs. “Insurance is a people business,” she observes, “so agents who want to implement an InVEST program are naturally going to contact the people they know in the education community. For instance, the agent may be on the board of the local community college or play golf with one of the high school administrators. Or the agent may insure the school’s guidance counselor.”

Guidance counselors are an important conduit for spreading the word about how vital the insurance industry is as an employer in the community, notes Roger Ronk, chief operating officer for the Independent Insurance Agents of Indiana (IIAI), and a long-time national InVEST board member. He’s aware of one state university that offers a course for guidance counselors about the insurance industry. By getting guidance counselors interested in the insurance industry, he says, they’ll be better able to interest students in the industry.

For his part, Ronk has been spreading the word to educators about the significance of the insurance industry in his home state. Recently he made a presentation to a group of high school teachers who were attending an Insurance Education Institute as part of their master’s degree program. “I talked to them about the employment needs of the insurance industry-and specifically the needs in Indiana. I also spoke about InVEST-what it is, how it works-and how they could get involved if they wanted to start an InVEST program at their school,” he recalls. Following the presentation, he says, a number of the teachers expressed interest in setting up an InVEST program in the schools where they teach.

An important component of any InVEST program is the independent agent, he reiterates-agents need to volunteer as guest speakers at schools with InVEST programs. But if you’re in a community without an InVEST program, and you’re planning on starting one, he suggests setting up a committee that includes local insurance professionals representing a cross section of groups-CPCUs, Insurance Women, a carrier representative, an agency representative, people who can be a resource, people who can provide field trips, and people who can be guest lecturers.

Ronk points out that even without an InVEST program, there are still ways for agents to be a presence in the schools. “In Indiana, the IIAI developed a guide for youthful drivers that agents can take into a driver’s ed class. Making a driver training presentation is a good start. That gets you into the school, meeting the teachers. So if you don’t already have a relationship with the school system or an educator in that school system, this might be a good way of getting a toe in the water.”

Chrysler acknowledges that Indiana isn’t the only state with such a program, but he says it’s one of the most expansive. He recommends that agents check with their home state’s department of commerce or economic development corporation to see if a similar program is available. “States are looking for ways to diversify their economy,” he observes. “The insurance industry is an attractive alternative to manufacturing.”

That observation is an important point to make when proposing an InVEST program to a high school or community college, notes Kent Daugherty, P&C marketing senior executive at Westfield Insurance, Westfield Center, Ohio, and another member of the national InVEST board. Westfield is a regional insurer, operating in 28 states.

“Educators need a reason to put the InVEST program in their school,” he says. “So if you’re proposing a program, you need to have some facts and figures to support why young people should be trained in insurance.”

K&K Insurance of Fort Wayne, Indiana, celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2002. Perseverance, dedicated employees and hard-working independent agents, along with successful “partnerings” have built K&K Insurance into one of the largest managing underwriters in the United States, with over $365 million in written premiums. Today K&K is part of the Aon Corporation, a world leader in risk management, insurance brokerage, reinsurance, and human capital consulting services.

K&K’s 50-year growth story actually begins a little more than 50 years ago … The year is 1948 and many Americans enjoy stock car racing. It is a dangerous sport, one that could leave you disabled for life. Imagine that you are racing around a dirt track and your car crashes, leaving you severely injured. You have a family-and that family depends on you. Whom do you turn to?

Nord Krauskopf, a Fort Wayne businessman with vision, founded a special risk insurance brokerage company to meet those pressing needs.

K&K-the beginning

Krauskopf was an ordinary man, a roofer by profession and a stock car racer on the weekends. He and his wife, Theodora (Teddy), often could be seen racing on the local tracks. There was no insurance to protect the racers, nor did they really think in terms of risk. Their sole goal was to win the race and have a good time. To protect those who did crash, the racing participants would all contribute equal sums of money to a benevolent fund, which covered medical bills and family needs. However, the benevolent funds could easily be depleted by a series of serious accidents.

Krauskopf recognized the need for insurance and seized the opportunity to fill it. In 1952, he put his love of car racing aside and set out to find insurance for racecar drivers. He located Charles Lenz, a broker from Lloyd’s of London, and presented him with a bold idea-to build a sound and powerful business protecting racecar drivers and tracks. In the early 1950s, racecar driving was seen as a dangerous sport-a hobby for thrill-seekers-and not many insurance companies were willing to take on that risk. But the plan that Krauskopf presented to Lloyd’s was simple: He would travel around the Midwest marketing coverage to many tracks, thus creating a premium pool adequate enough to cover the risks associated with the sport.

In order for tracks to carry the K&K Insurance policy, they had to adopt safety rules such as installing a blockhouse for the starter, wire mesh in front of the stands, guard rails around the outside and inside of the tracks; and allowing the track to be inspected yearly Lloyd’s agreed to write the risks; the partnership was sealed with a handshake, and K&K Insurance was founded. Today K&K provides motorsports insurance to more than 60% of the country’s short-track facilities and about 85% of the major speedways. It also insures roughly 65% of the teams racing in the major series.

K&K expands into new markets

With K&K salespeople dotting the nation, Krauskopf allied himself with other strong insurance men such as Greg Mosher. In 1973, Mosher became a partner, lending his expertise in sales and public relations.

His addition to the K&K team proved to be profitable, as K&K began to expand into new markets in the sports, leisure and entertainment industries. Professional associations became one of K&K’s most lucrative markets-with high-volume sales.

Late 1970s-early 1980s K&K and Yamaha enter into personal lines

Deciding that the time was ripe to develop personal lines, K&K once again launched into an arena that no other company would risk offering personal insurance to buyers of Yamaha motorcycles. Dealers had direct phone lines into K&K so that customers could immediately purchase insurance at the point of sale. The lines were so busy that K&K had to have state-of-the-art wiring installed in its offices to receive the volume of business. This business venture into personal lines was extremely profitable; however, keeping up with individual state requirements eventually became too time-consuming to continue the personal lines business. It was time to refocus on their core business strategy of special risk commercial insurance.

End of an era

Nord Krauskopf retired in 1980 as chairman and owner of K&K Insurance Group. Krauskopf had built the company into a $10 million corporation with approximately 200 employees. K&K moved from the Krauskopf house to another Ft. Wayne location, before building its current home at 1712 Magnavox Way.

New ownership

In 1984, Lincoln National Corporation purchased K&K and provided the capital needed for continued expansion. That capital, combined with the hard marketplace of the 1980s, allowed K&K to grow its sports, leisure and entertainment business. K&K’s expansion began in the fair and festival industry and from there grew into para mutual racing and on to professional and amateur sports. The focus was to provide a dedicated, long-term, stable insurance source for those industries. In 1986, K&K wrote $50 million in written premiums; after just three years, premium volume leaped to $100 million. K&K continued to add programs including ski resorts, amusement parks and various franchised dealership programs. Lincoln National Corporation eventually made the decision to divest itself of product lines not related to their core life insurance business and, in 1993, sold K&K Insurance to Aon Corporation.

Aon Corporation’s purchase of K&K from Lincoln National Corporation marked the beginning of another aggressive growth period that took the company from approximately $160 million in premium volume to approximately $360 million in 2001. Aon’s extensive resources and worldwide reach provided the support K&K needed to continue to reach for its goal of becoming the largest provider of sports, leisure and entertainment insurance in the world. Aon’s global expertise also helped establish several offices outside the United States.

Under the direction of Chief Executive Officer Steve Lunsford, an Aon veteran and former president of Aon Reinsurance Corp., K&K continued to expand its market share in virtually every specialty program segment in which it operated and today offers over 100 specialty sports, leisure, and entertainment programs.

In 1994, K&K established a holding company, SLE Worldwide, Inc., to set up offices in Canada, Australia, London and Mexico City. Although adverse economic conditions at the time eventually led to the closing of its Mexico City operation, the SLE offices in Sydney, Australia, and London, as well as the office in Toronto, Canada, grew steadily through the application of the same entrepreneurial principles and operating philosophy that K&K used in the United States. The offices were initially run by K&K employees to ensure that the K&K program business philosophy and exclusive focus on sports, leisure and entertainment risks would be carried out. Since that time, Aon’s European operation has assumed management of the SLE offices, allowing K&K to focus on the United States and Canada.