Effective Car Insurance

Many people do not check their car insurance rates on a regular basis, but like with almost any other aspect related to financial expenditures, it is worth your time to shop around annually to see if you are still getting the best rates possible. There are many factors that come into play when a car insurance company determines your rates, and most of those aspects change over time.

As an example, many people believe that they will get the best rates by shopping for car insurance online. This is a myth. While it is true that you MAY find the best rates online, much depends on your specific and individual criteria, which is why it is important to shop around and not limit your search for a low car insurance rate to online searching.
Make sure that you are really comparing apples to apples when you are comparing car insurance quotes. For example, one policy might have a ceiling limitation of $100,000 on the personal injury aspect of the insurance, while another one has a ceiling of $250,000. If you have had any medical procedures done recently, you should realize that $100,000 will be gone in an instant and that the $250,000 coverage is much better for a few dollars more.
Don’t pay for more insurance coverage than you need. For example, if your car is paid off, you are not required to carry collision insurance. Now if your paid-off car is a late model car used regularly to commute to work, you may want to have collision insurance anyway, so that if you are in an accident, it will be covered. But if your paid-off car is an older car that might be considered “totaled” if it got a flat tire, then it clearly does not make sense to pay extra for collision insurance.

Lastly, try to accompany your kid wherever he or she goes. You can let your kid drive the car while you sit back and enjoy some good music. Your teen might have been a good driver when he or she got his or her license but after that, what happened? Your kid might have thought that he or she is now a master of the road, having driven a car in the mean streets for almost 3 months, therefore he or she already knows the rules. If this is your kid’s attitude and if you’re riding with him or her, then at least you can correct your kid’s doings right away.

Today, kids delve on the prohibited. They party all night, drink all the alcoholic drinks known to man and partner it with rave drugs. The fact is, kids think that they know what they are doing and that they are in control of everything. But facts aren’t true at times. Kids tend to outdo it, so make sure you tell them to stay away from these knowing that they are driving their own cars. Who knows? They might party the night off, undergo some of these party rituals and end up in the hospital because they dozed off while driving.

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

For car owners, auto insurance is not just an option, but rather it is a legal necessity. If you get into an accident, or if your car is stolen or damaged, you need insurance so that repair costs or the loss will not be too heavy a burden. So what really is this auto insurance? Is it an easy way to get easy money in just an instant? Or is it just another problem that will just cover up another one in times of need?

The first time I read about auto insurance information online, I felt it’s a way to get a rush of money so easily, in a flash. Well it sounds cool but I never knew that auto insurance would involve a lot of things.

Having auto insurance will essentially cover up for financial losses in certain instances. Coverage will usually be in the following forms:

1. Property coverage – payment received from damages and theft
2. Liability coverage – payment for accident related injuries and property damage.
3. Medical coverage – payment for injuries, medical operation cost, rehabilitation, funeral expenses.

In other words it is one means to get yourself secured, whatever happens to you or your car.

via [Auto Insurance Blog]

Keep your distance Amigo!

Avoid following too Close. As tailgating will most likely result to rear-end accidents.. Maintain a 3-second following distance from the car in front of you, except in hazardous weather conditions where you should maintain a 4- or 5-car following distance.

Have your whip maintained.

Give your vehicle regular checkups, especially the wiper fluid, brakes, and tires. and replace wiper blades whenever they are worn. You don’t want your car to break down or suffer an accident just for not spending a few dollars on maintenance. Remember: Your life also depends on the condition of your vehicle. Also a well maintained vehicle doesn’t eat up as much gas as an un-maintained one.

To be continued…

Turns out that risky and aggressive driving behavior don’t just pose serious threats to your physical person, they also make you pay higher car insurance premiums.

Car insurance companies generally give higher insurance premiums to people with risky driving attitudes – those who have fast cars and are more inclined to aggressive driving (as evidenced by driving history like number of accidents involved in, speeding ticket, etc.). The rationale behind this is that these kinds of people are more likely to cash in on their insurance policies or file claims, unlike people who just take car insurance for that added security just in case something bad happens. Cars belonging to people like these also have their parts wear out faster, and thus cost more to maintain and repair – something which is again another concern for insurance companies.

So if paying high premiums is a no-no for you

New cars are very much easier to insure than older cars but with a little wrangling, a respectable firm may issue insurance cover for a vehicle that is no longer accepted by other providers. Having an auto policy doesn’t assure prompt assistance though, for some of the best ones offer many lines of communication throughout the day. This communication lines allow you to get help when you need it as you need it whatever the time of day it may be. May it be through land line, mobile or SMS, most respectable firms offer several modes of contacting them. Others even offer free emergency roadside assistance and can also cover board and lodging should there be more than a minor defect with your vehicle.
List down these important numbers along with a copy of the certificate of cover in your glove box to ensure anybody using the vehicle has access to them.

Image Source: tecnocoches.com

There are many factors that come into play when a car insurance company determines your rates, and most of those aspects change a lot. The first thing you should do is to make sure that you really compare insurance quotes. For other companies, a few amount added to your premium, will give you a higher coverage than the rest. Collision insurance are not required if your car is paid off. But if its a late model car used regularly, consider collision insurance anyway so that when in an accident it will be covered.The financial net gain should also be considered from consolidating multiple different insurance policies. Be sure to check the rates since there is still no guarantee that the sum total payments will be less than having different insurance policies. Time and effort will be reaping financial benefits of not paying more for your car insurance than you need to. Over time, the amount you invested in comparison shopping will pay off more than the amount of premium you should be paying.