The Car Insurance Blog

In today’s economy, consumers are continually trying to think of ways to save their hard-earned money. If you want to know how you can lower your car insurance premium, here are some factors that may help you:

1.Your address – neighborhoods that have little traffic compared to congested cities are at lower risk for accidents,and translates to lower premiums. On the other hand, neighborhoods that have a higher rate of vehicle thefts may result to higher premiums.
2.Driving Violations – having a record of accidents or driving violations (such as speeding tickets, DWI, etc.) means that you are at a higher risk for accidents and will mean higher premiums.
3.Accident Claims – insurance companies will check on the accident claims you’ve made in the past. The more claims, the higher premiums.
4.Occupation – There is a statistical correlation between your occupation and risk. A salesman who drives around a lot is more likely to have a higher premium than his secretary who sits behind the desk all day.
5.Education - A higher education means lower premiums. This is one case where ignorance isn’t bliss.

Image Source: www.capemaycountyherald.com

There are various types of insurance coverage available and the extent of damages covered under each type differs. A comprehensive coverage basically provides car insurance for the hurricane season as well as damages occurring from natural disasters such as rain, wind, storm, fire, flood, snow and tornadoes.

If your car is damaged in a hurricane there are two types of coverage’s available, namely gap coverage and rental reimbursement. In case of gap coverage one gets paid the difference between the amount that you owe on the loan and the actual value of the car. However, in case of rental reimbursement the coverage pays you for a rental car till your car is repaired so that you are not left without transportation while the car is being repaired.

One can take special care during hurricanes such as parking the car indoors, moving it to higher ground or parking it away from telephone poles and trees in case one is denied car insurance for the hurricane season. The best period to buy car insurance for the hurricane season is when there is no approaching news about natural disasters being predicted by the weather department. This is so because some companies refuse to give car insurance for the hurricane season when they know that a disaster is about to hit the area.

In case of an approaching hurricane and if you have not obtained a car insurance for the hurricane season one can take certain precautions. The first tips is to get the car repaired and in proper working condition. Have all important documents such as license, vehicle registration, insurance policies and medical information kept in waterproof bags in the car in case you get caught in a hurricane. Do not venture out on the street if there is an emergency declared and avoid paths that cross the storm. If the car is parked in a garage check the garage door and cover the car with thick padding.

Yep, at least there is some good news that is coming out of the gas price hikes that are currently sweeping the country. People ar in fact driving slower on the roads and they are obeying speed limits. This used to be a challenging area for law enforcement for drivers have been known to go over the set speed limits for an infinite number of resons they can conjure up. Driving slowly allows more fuel economy allowing you to maximize the gas you put in your gas tank. People are also choosing not to fill-up rather estimate their consumptions for the week (even by the day) and filling up just a bit over that to allow for emergency stops or drives. If people only folowed the speed limits then their gas guzzlers wouldn’t have consumed too much gas and supply would have lasted a tad bit longer. Drive Safe Guys.

Urban dwellers used to be the types of folks you spend the summer with at farms as you watch the rising of the sun when you wake up early on grandpa’s farm. Studies are now showing that people in urban areas are getting nastier by the minute and auto insurance is one of the areas they happen to get high failing marks for. Farms usually get subsidies when it comes to auto insurance and other vehicles due to their use for agricultural use, but guess what? Some farm owners are claiming farm subsidies for their Porche’s, Saab’s and Jaguars among some of them and they are comitting insurance fraud in the highest respect. These people have relized that living on a farm kinda’ gets you some priviledges in the form of discounts in matters such as insurance for the farm and vehicles and knwoing that, they have started to get the same subsidies for their more speedy type vehicles and Insurance forms are finding out about it. If caught with such mis-declarations, they are subject to insurance fraud which can lead to jailtime.

The many states are reviewing rates for auto insurance and are considering fining or asking for higher premiums for drivers who have a nasty habit of breaking the laws of the road. Ask anybody and you’d be surprised to find that many of them have comitted traffic infraction at one time or the other but making it a habit can send your auto insurance premiums up to ever higher rates. This is in hopes of dissuading people from routinely ignoring or even breaking traffic laws and is also aimed to make drivers adopt a safe driving habit. By following the rules, you get lower premiums than the next guy who has hundreds of dollars of parking tickets and a speeding ticket to match.

Having an OnStar supported vehicle allows one to save on their insurance premiums according to GM for they once and for all have a way of verifying the total mileage of vehicles enrolled with the service. The Service is available to most new GM autos and vehicles and is hailed as the triumph between the combination of security, convenience and of course savings. GM was unable to ask for dicounts for their vehicles due to the inability of most insurance firms to verify the total distance a vehicle has travelled to offer discounts. The OnStar service keeps tab of all the vehicles enrolled in the service form the newly purchased ones to the extended contracts older models get with their owners purchasing added time coverage.

The injury is painful at the least and even debilitating if extensive, whiplash is the result of sudden head movement when a car is hit from behind where the body moves forward and the places the neck under strain. Smaller compacts are designed to be safe mostly from frontal impacts leaving the rear vulnerable for drivers. airbags are standard on most vehicles but head restraints in the event of rear crashes say in a car crashing into a vehicle from behind is quite rare. Seats are to blame for the drive to get cheaper seats has reduced their protection properties. Better seat design and materials that absorb crash forces can be the key to safer cars as drivers go on their daily drives. It shows that as people want more compacts or smaller cars, they are also seeing rising injuries to the neck and upper back as a result to these accidents when a heavier vehicle is involved.

In the UK, young drivers who go get more lessons such as specialist training for bad weather driving, defensive driving and many more are entitled to get more discounts in their auto Insurance premiums according to lawmakers. New drivers are more often than not the majority of accident causing drivers due to utter inexperience at the skills and getting further training with the many driving schools allows them to learn more and thus drive safer that those who do not get additional lessons. With worsening weather and drivers, better skills are needed to negotiate the many congested streets of London and other major Cities. The more skilled a driver is, the better they cope with changing driving conditions thus the safer the roads.

Without a doubt, hybrid-technology-based car owners are surely proud and awed to have participated in advancing this new, cutting-edge technology. However, they must also remember that costs of repair and maintenance for these special types of vehicles will be obviously more expensive than repair and maintenance costs for average cars. A transaxle which fails just after the expiration of the warranty may cost the owner $5,000 for the part replacement and an additional $3,000 for the labor. This amount represents approximately 40% of the original base price for the hybrid car.

Other costly repairs may include about $1,000 for side mirror replacement, $2,000 for a headlight and much more for more intricate systems of the car like adaptive cruise control or even rear view camera. These amounts are justified by the complicated and difficult systems associated with these vehicles. If you own these types of cars, make sure you have adequate car insurance coverage or else it is going to be a painful process for you.

Funny as it may sound, but there really are some car insurance myths that have been passed on like urban legends and have been taken as fact. It is time to set the record straight to help you get the best car insurance protection for your investment.

In no particular order, here are some common car insurance myths:
1.Red cars mean higher premium payments.
2.If you get one speeding ticket, your premiums will go up.
3.There is no regulation of the car insurance industry.
4.I do not need add-op options for my policy.
5.The cheaper my car, the lower my premiums.
6.It is not my responsibility if someone is using my car and he causes an accident.
7.The older my car gets, the lower my premium.
8.A smoker needs to pay higher premium.
9.My premium should be the same as my neighbor�s.
10.My premiums will drop when I reach the age of 25.
11.Comprehensive coverage means it covers all situations I am involved in.
12.Rental Reimbursement coverage will protect me when I crash my rental car.
13.Getting all my insurance from the same company guarantees me a lower premium.