Car Insurance

Our cost versus benefit is not an opinion page. The items listed are here to help you in your decision making process. We do not know your income status and all of the other factors used to help you in you purchasing decision. We merely make this page available to you to let you know where you have some “room to maneuver.”

The first discussion topic is deductibles. Popular theory says that the rule of thumb is to take the highest deductible you can afford. That is the key phrase; “the highest deductible YOU CAN AFFORD.” Take time to factor your monthly budget for all expenses to determine whether or not a certain deductible is appropriate. The higher the deductible, the amount you choose to pay for repairs, the lower the overall premium. If you have a loan on your vehicle, you should check with your lender before removing your deductible. Your lender may require that deductibles be maintained until your loan has been paid off.

We have come to accept that car insurance is a fact of life. While necessary, the process of renewing your car insurance can sometimes be confusing.

The standard for all major insurance carriers is to write automobile insurance policies with six month policy periods. This is done to allow the company to reassess risk on a regular basis and to keep insurance affordable. At the end of every six month policy period, you will need to renew your policy. You may occasionally run into a carrier that will write an auto policy with a twelve month policy period. The procedures you will go through to renew the policy do not change with the increased policy period. Follow these steps to renew your policy.

1. About a month before your current policy expires, you will receive a renewal notice from your carrier by mail. If you have not had any accidents, moving violations or changes in drivers, you should be automatically set for renewal for the next six months. However, as a prudent consumer, there are some steps you should take prior to completing your renewal.

2. Review the renewal notice for any changes in premium (the amount you pay for insurance). There may be changes due to a change in your risk. Risk is the probability determined by the insurance carrier that you will have a claim in the next six months. Risk can be impacted by driving record, age, zip code (whether you are a rural or city driver), accident or moving violation history. Your premiums may also be impacted by market conditions, whether your carrier has reassessed its rating system, and whether your premiums have been adjusted based upon what other carriers are doing. You may see an increase or decrease in premium based upon these factors.

3. Perhaps the most important thing you can do is to confirm that all coverages you wish to be paying for are listed on the renewal. Common coverages on your auto policy are Comprehensive, Collision, Liability, Rental Reimbursement and Medical Payment Coverages.

4. Determine if the deductible (amount you are responsible for on each claim) is appropriate for your household. Deductibles usually range from $250 to $1,000 per claim. A higher deductible will lower your premiums, but you will have a higher financial responsibility in the event of a loss. Conversely, a lower deductible will cost you more each policy period, but will have a smaller financial impact on your pocketbook in the event of a loss.

5. Make sure that everyone who drives the listed vehicles are listed on the policy. If you have drivers in the home who are not on the policy, you may be jeopardizing coverage if they are involved in an accident.

If you determine that changes need to be made, contact your insurance agent immediately and discuss the changes. Once you are happy with the renewal, you will simply need to pay your premium as dictated by your insurance company. Once your premium has been paid, your policy will be renewed for the next six months.

More people seem to be on the road every day. Where I live the freeways continue to be more and more congested. With the slow down caused by all this congestion you would think traffic accidents would be going down, they are not. Instead you need to concentrate on the fact that there are more people than ever on the roads and every one of them can cause an accident. Here are some motor vehicle facts for you to be aware of.

According to the Federal Highway Administration as of October 2004 there were nearly 200,000,000 licensed drivers in the United States. The amount of men and women with licenses are nearly equal.

Nearly 70% of our population can legally drive.

There are more registered cars, 231 million, than there are licensed drivers.

In 2004 there were nearly 7 million motor vehicles involved in accidents. From those incidents over 3.5 million injuries were reported.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has reported that over 43,000 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 2002.

According to the NHTSA rural areas compared to urban area are riskier to drive in. There is a 58.4% death rate in rural areas compared to urban areas.

Rural drivers are more likely to log more miles and thus spend more time on the roadways. The death rate might also be higher due to the length of time it takes for emergency vehicles to arrive at the accident scene and get the injured to the hospital.

Motor vehicle accidents cost nearly $5,000 per second if you broke it down.

Most drivers will have a near car crash one to three times a month. There will be an actually accident every five to eight years. If you are a lucky one and have not been involved in an accident than some has had been unfortunate and taken up the slack.

By 2025 it is expected that costs for car collisions will exceed 450 billion dollars. Perhaps technology will be advanced by then and motor vehicles can be made to be more resistant to collisions, or at least we can hope, so that this number will come down.

When you get in a vehicle to drive, it is usually for one of two reasons: to go somewhere or drive around leisurely. In either case, it is assumed you want to reach your destination without being involved in an accident. The following are ten tips for safer driving will increase your chances of reaching your destination without your involvement in an accident. For the most part these tips are common sense.

1. If the weather outside is frightful, stay at home, stay at home and finally stay at home! Adverse weather conditions increase your odds of being involved in an accident. Is your trip necessary? Can it wait until the conditions get better?

2. If you do have to drive in the bad weather conditions, pay attention to the surface on which are driving? Are the roads snowy or icy? Are they wet? Is there oil on the road? If so, are the water and oil creating slick roads? Are you driving on a muddy road?

3. When the driving conditions are not favorable, avoid going to fast. Whether sight is limited due to fog or the roads have become slick, allow yourself enough time to stop. Increasing your stopping distance will give you time to react better to a bad situation.

4. Speaking of stopping, whether you are in good or bad weather conditions, always leave one car length to the car in front of you. That way, if your vehicle is hit from behind, you will have enough time to steer away from the vehicle in front of you (assuming you are hit hard enough to reach the next vehicle).

5. Concentrate on driving. Avoid distractions like eating or drinking, changing radio stations, disruptive passengers, and talking on cell phones. Try eating or drinking before you leave or stop and eat somewhere. Choose your radio station before you start driving.

Before you go anywhere, let your passengers know your rules. You are driving, so you are in charge. Also, chances are your strict rules will be better than walking. So, I am pretty sure you will get your way. And cell phones have a place. They should be used for emergencies only. If you need to carry on a conversation, pull off to the side of the road until you are finished. And resume driving when you finish your conversation.

6. Another way to concentrate on driving is to keep your eyes moving at all times. First, of all, this will keep you from going into a dazed, hypnotic state. Also, you will be able to keep track of your speed and the traffic that is around you.

7. Speaking of keeping track of the traffic around you, check your blind spots before changing lanes. Sometimes vehicles sneak into your blind spots. A momentary peek is all that is necessary to keep you from an accident.

8. While we discuss changing or merging into other lanes of traffic: merge with the speed of traffic. Merging not only affects you and the vehicle you are getting in front of, but this action also has ramifications on the vehicles behind the other vehicle. Here is an example: when you are going up a ramp to merge onto the interstate, do not wait until the end of the ramp to ‘floor’ your gas pedal to go 55, 65, or 70 miles per hour. Chances are your vehicle cannot go from 35 to 55 mph at the snap of your fingers.

Without speeding up on the ramp you are endangering the vehicles on the interstate. Also, you have put the vehicles behind your vehicle on the ramp in a very precarious position - they now must merge like you decided to merge. You need to start to accelerate by pushing on your gas pedal at the beginning of the ramp. That way you will be going the speed of traffic at the end of the ramp. At that point, it will be easier to speed up or slow down to get into traffic.

By gradually speeding on the ramp to the get the proper speed by the end of the ramp you now do not compromise the safety of the others who need to use the ramp. And, if you are behind another vehicle who is going to use an on-ramp, give the other vehicle a chance to gain some speed before you get on the on-ramp. It will also be easier to merge if you are not right up against the back bumper of the car in front of you on the ramp.

9. Now if you have quite a distance to go, plan time for delays. If there are no delays, you will be at your destination early.

10. When it comes to children, people on bicycles, and aggressive drivers, expect the unexpected. Be a ‘defensive driver’ in the sense that you need to strategize a ‘defense’ to protect yourself and to protect them against the dangers they present.

Again, whether you are driving to a destination or you are driving for pure leisure, there are things you can do to avoid accidents. I hope the previous ten tips helped you think on what you can do be a safer driver.

We are now part of the 21st Century. This is good in many ways because we have learned a lot from our past and have transformed our lives with more technology. This has made life more interesting and progressive. The downside to this century is that as our world grows around us we are more prone to be at risk with all of our surroundings.

I would like to now take time to give you ways to not be at risk when it comes to your car being stolen in the 21st Century. We might all have ideas but here is my list of 10 ways to prevent auto theft.

1 - Have an anti-theft device or alarm system on the car. When a vehicle is purchased make sure that it has an anti-theft device or an alarm system it. This is an easy step for you to do at the dealership and it is only the beginning of prevention.

2 - Always lock the car doors. Lock the doors even if you are entering your residence to grab that one item that you forgot to take on your way out the door. Theft can happen in matters of seconds.

3 - Keep your window ups. Your vehicle windows should always be up when no one is in the vehicle. Having the doors locked will not help you if the windows are left down. With the windows up and the doors locked you will prevent personal belongings and even the car itself from being stolen.

4 - Do not leave personal items in the car in plain site. Never leave property inside of an unattended vehicle. Items that thieves will break into your automobile for are purses, shopping bags, backpacks, etc. And once a thief is in the car for these items they might also find any important documents, or credit cards you left in the vehicle. Then the next step is that once they have broken into the car is to steal the car itself.

5 - Do not leave the car keys in the ignition! Sometimes when we are in a hurry we might forget and leave the keys in the ignition. If you do this you are making it way to easy for the thief to steal your vehicle.

6 - Have your windows tinted. If possible have your vehicle windows tinted. With tinted windows it should be more obvious to any by stander if a stranger going to break into your car. The thief will have to try and peer into the car to figure out how to break in and that is the normal stance of a person who owns a car. Also having tinted windows makes it harder for a possible thief to see what belongings you have in a car.

7 - Get an aftermarket anti-theft device. To have an extra protection you can go to an auto parts stores and buy an anti-theft device that you can use yourself in your automobile. For these types of devices you do not need professional installations. The most popular is the device that locks around your steering wheel, this is commonly known as The Club.

8 - Do not leave a vehicle on and unattended. Never leave car running unattended not even for a second. We sometimes stop at a gas station to grab something and pay for it real quick and that is making it extra easy for the thief to drive off in your car. So even if you are just running into a store for two minutes, turn off your car and take your keys with you.

9 - Do not leave a spare key where a thief can find it. It is very common for one to have a spare key under the car, this is not recommended. Too many people have used this trick so to prevent locking themselves out of their car. Thieves are smart and know where to look for that extra key. So you might get locked out of your car but if you leave that spare key under your car you could end up loosing your whole vehicle.

10 - Park in a public place with plenty of light. Make sure to park you car in a lighted area if at all possible. Park in a place where your car is visual to public. The more eyes on it will be more difficult for a thief to do anything to it. A car is more likely to get stolen if it is parked in a dark area where a thief can slink up to the car than if in a well lit area in which a thief’s every move could be seen.

Those are my personal 10 tips of how to prevent your car from being stolen. I hope you take this information and think on how you can keep your car from being stolen. Once you have implemented these tips file this article in your book of information on safety features and preventive measures you do to your vehicle.