Effective Car Insurance

by Mheo Soriano

Hug the terrain
Adjust your driving style depending on the terrain you’re in. Slippery road, foggy horizons, rainy weather may require slower speeds and much greater caution. Also extra caution is needed in cliffs and mountain ridges. Better be safe than be sorry.

Suppress your need for speed
So you want to be the outlaw, the next highway star or the fast and the furious?
Think again. It’s not as easy or as cool as they make it look like in the movies.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “the economic cost of speeding-related crashes is estimated to be $40.4 billion each year.” Excessive speed reduces reaction time and greatly increases impact and injuries.

We all said this to ourselves, we need a car… and so it begins the quest to find the perfect car…

oh man… I NEED A CAR!!!… I really need a car to go from point A to point B / here to there / anywhere to everywhere… hehhe…I need a car so I won’t bug my Dad to let me borrow his to get things like my usual cravings for coffee, burgers, pizza, chicken wings, or when i need to go to Blockbuster to rent games and such… hehehhee!!

I desperately NEED a car… but I still need to a research on cars… I want a BMW M5
Can I afford it? really that’s the question I leave to the philosophers…hehhe but for my price range it’s from $10k - $30k, so BMW M5 would be out of the picture…

What if I list my far-out Specifications and standards on the type of car I would need…

it should be able to fly, and I can drive to a side of a building, that car should be able to sense what i’m feeling on that time i’m driving it, so if i’m angry… it would change into a menacing car… like what the batmobile looks like hheee… voice-activated driving (oh YEAH! the best)… so i don’t need to hold the steering wheel, when i’m driving on the freeway, i can switch the voice-activated driving on and off anytime i want… and my steering or control pad would be like my xbox 360 controller, and oooohh, ooooohhh i know….I want a soda dispenser, a microwave oven, a coffee maker, a personal fridge and a grill… so i can make burgers, sandwiches, drink coffee anytime when I’m driving… and it should fold small enough to fit in my pocket so I don’t have to worry about parking too far…

The adventures of the QuickStop Project — BackPackers Crew : Jaren’s Quest for the perfect car and the mixture fantasy and reality…

Pic Link
AutoClub.com.AU

Also via [Auto Insurance Blog]

“Always buy original,” this is what we usually hear from car manufacturers. There’s a very valid reason to this as having original car parts will ensure that you’ll be covered by their warranty and guarantee. Another reason is for insurance.

Your insurance company promises to return your vehicle to its pre-accident condition after you’re involved in a crash. Unfortunately, the definition of “pre-accident condition” is hazy at best, and the use of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts at repair time could develop into a tug of war.

OEM parts are manufactured by the maker of your vehicle. Non-OEM parts, often called aftermarket or generic parts, are made by third-party vendors. Many insurance companies recommend non-OEM parts for the repair of damaged vehicles to keep insurance costs down. The industry sees non-OEM parts as quality replacements that are guaranteed and a perfectly reasonable alternative to OEM parts, and less expensive.

Insurance policy coverage requires repairs that use “certified” parts, parts of “like kind and quality,” or “functionally equivalent” parts. These are commonly called aftermarket crash parts. These aftermarket parts usually cost less than genuine OEM parts.

Many consumers aren’t aware that their car insurance coverage may allow use of aftermarket parts. One of the easiest ways for for you to ensure you get the highest quality parts is to choose an insurance policy that assures use of OEM parts. Read your policy carefully and ask your agent before you have a claim.

State Farm issues repair estimates using only OEM parts for exterior crash parts, although the company may prescribe aftermarket parts for non-crash components, such as batteries and headlights. State Farm sometimes also recommends recycled crash parts, mainly for older vehicles, when it believes a recycled part will restore the vehicle to its pre-loss condition.

You are certainly entitled to demand OEM parts after you crash your car, but your insurance company might not pay 100 percent of the repair bill if you do.

“We have an obligation to keep the cost of auto insurance down for all of our customers, whether or not they’ve been involved in an accident. If we paid for higher-cost OEM parts when non-OEM parts would allow us to return the vehicle to its pre-accident condition, we would overpay claims, which would result in higher costs to our customers,” says a Progressive spokesperson.

Progressive policyholders can request that OEM parts be used for repairs, but they will have to pay the cost difference between the OEM part and aftermarket part if the Progressive claim representative believes that an aftermarket part is appropriate.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), which conducts crash tests, maintains that non-OEM parts do not degrade the safety of a vehicle involved in a crash. The IIHS refers to crash repair parts as “cosmetic parts.” According to IIHS, the source of “cosmetic parts” is “irrelevant to safety because the cosmetic parts themselves serve no safety function. They merely cover a car like skin,” with the exception of hoods, which must buckle properly during impact. And the IIHS says that “there is no evidence that hoods from aftermarket suppliers fail to perform as well as original-equipment hoods.”

Via[Car Insurance News]

for further reading : Are you entitled to brand-name repair parts? Know You’re OEM Rights!
via [Insure.com]

Source

So you just turned 21 and you’re ready to blaze down the road and show off your mad driving skillz. However, before you step on the gas, there will be some paperwork involved:

In the United States, there are some imperatives before you can actually hit the road and drive away – and it’s different when you’re buying a car or if you’re renting one. Nevertheless, the ultimate basic is to get a car insurance. The proof of having acquired an insurance gives the go signal that the car you bought or rented can be driven. For rented cars, specifically, the insurance must cover the period of rental. Car insurance is also particular with the age of the driver. Drivers who are below twenty-five years old are charged with higher premiums because they are considered as a high-risk group.

The basic policy must include coverage expenses for damages to other vehicles and persons that are part of the accident. Protection against an uninsured or under-insured motorist who caused the accident is also required.

Source

In the health insurance industry, we have a group of health insurance policy holders called Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) wherein persons or their employers assign medical services monthly charge instead of pricing in per piece basis. No matter what kind of medical service was acknowledged, the monthly HMO fees remain fixed. Qualified medical practitioners such as physicians working by or under contract with the Health Maintained Organization perform Professional Medical Services. Various kinds of Health Maintenance Organization Insurance Companies are existing with rules connected with the health treatment services offered and medical facilities use.

Nobody wants to get in a car accident even if you are covered by a car insurance policy. However, since it can never be foreseen, it may be inevitable that if it happens, you will need to make a claim on your coverage from your insurance provider. To make things easier for you and your car insurance provider, here are some tips on making a claim:

1.Never drive away from an accident, especially if a person or an animal is hurt or injured or property is damaged.

2.Get the names and pertinent information of all involved in the accident, the insurance company will need this to process your claim.

3.A sketch of the accident is also necessary, if possible, show exact boundaries where the accident took place and road or traffic signs in the area.

4.Have your Certificate of Motor Insurance ready so that you can show it to the police or the other parties involved.

5.Report the accident to the insurance company at once even if you do not intend to file a claim, it will help your appraisal and your insurance company.

via [Car Insurance News]

If you want to know how high your insurance premiums going to be, then I would suggest you read the article below.

Determine your Car Insurance with these 5 Factors:

Gender – like age, there is really nothing you can do about this. Men are generally perceived to be the potential dangerous drivers and not the females. hence, females get lower rates.

Age – younger drivers, particularly teenagers, receive higher premiums for nothing else but age. Inexperienced drivers also receive this because their not yet considered “mature” with their driving. There is really nothing that can be done about this: you get older, you get better at driving and your rates will eventually go down.

Type of Vehicle – we would all love to cruise around on a Pontiac Solstice or Porsche Boxter but you won’t believe the kind of rates these kinds of cars get. If you want lower premiums, get a car with a lower price.

Auto Insurance Companies – now this is something you can control. Despite the determining factors, some companies just offer lower rates than others. It’s up to you to choose.

Driving Violations – this is another thing you can certainly control. While it may be so tempting to race around town upon getting your license, a police ticket is not worth it. It may be a single ticket, but it can do wonders to your insurance premiums as insurance companies keep track of your driving record.

via [Auto Insurance Blog]