When an airplane crashes, we’ve all been brainwashed into watching the search for the black box. That’s the onboard recording device that captures what the pilots were saying as the plane fell from the sky as well as storing all the technical information from the instruments. We’re told it’s vital to be able to explain why each aircraft crashes. After all, the larger planes carry many passengers and, if one were to crash into a city center, it could do a lot of damage. We all have an interest in reducing the risk of air accidents. That’s why we’re hooked as television cameras record submarines going down to search the seabed to recover these vital boxes and as many bits of the plane as possible. Remarkably, experts rebuild as much of the plane as possible to see more clearly what damage was sustained before the plane hit the ground or fell into the sea.
Have you heard of event data recorders (EDR)? These are the little black boxes for the vehicles we drive on our roads. In 2008, a report published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) admitted between 65 and 90% of vehicles were already fitted with EDRs. The reason for the big range in the estimate is easy to explain. Almost every new vehicle rolling off the assembly line has an EDR fitted. It’s been a standard component for many years. But it’s not entirely clear how many older vehicles are still driving around without one of these recording devices inside. All we can say is that, as we slowly throw the old vehicles away, we’ll slowly move up to 100% installation. How can you tell whether your vehicle has an EDR? Curiously, until 2011, manufacturers did not have to tell you. Now, if you look in the driver’s manual, you’ll find confirmation.
Why should you care? Well, the NHTSA lists all the information these devices are supposed to collect. It’s very comprehensive, showing exactly what you were doing in the minute or so before the accident, i.e., how fast you were driving, whether you swerved, applied the brakes, whether you were wearing your seat belt, and so on. Anyone getting hold of this information can reconstruct how the accident occurred. You’ll be pleased to know EDR data is increasingly used to prosecute cases of vehicular manslaughter. Your insurance company will be able to compare your description of the accident with the EDR data. So, if you said you had to swerve to avoid an alligator on the road as you drove through the Everglades, you’d better be sure the EDR will tell the same story of a violent maneuver while braking sharply.
The EDR holds out the possibility of being able to detect more fraud, e.g. that you weren’t driving fast enough to cause the whiplash injury you now claim. If insurance companies can filter out more dishonest claims, this will reduce the overall cost of loss and, if the insurers are honest, reduce the auto insurance rates. Across the US, it’s estimated that several billion dollars in fraudulent claims are successful. Reducing this means more affordable if not cheap auto insurance for all us honest drivers.
November 22nd, 2011 | Posted in finance | No Comments
Sometimes acronyms work really well. They lodge in the mind we’re forever stuck with remembering them like Washington’s self-fulfilling prophesy in the the VOTER Act, i.e. Voting Opportunity and Technology Enhancement Rights Act. Other times, we wish someone had taken out a gun and shot the clever idiot who thought up these mixtures of letters. Well, here comes an organization begging for a bullet. It’s the Insurance Information Institute or III for short. Obviously it was a day when inspiration was lacking.
Anyway, this cleverly named organization has just issued a Pulse Survey in which the insurance industry discovered that slightly more than half the people who buy their policies think the amount of cover is based on the resale value of their property and not the cost of rebuilding it. Slightly more than one-third reported reducing the amount of cover because the value of their homes had fallen and their mortgages were now underwater. Forgive the confusion here. It would be reasonable to reduce cover if the household budget was so strained they could no longer afford the full premium rate. But this finding suggests many mortgagors may now be in breach of the terms of their mortgages. Why, you ask. Because all mortgages require the borrowers to carry an adequate amount of cover. In this case, the amount should cover the cost of rebuilding assuming the building was a total loss. If the borrower fails to put adequate cover in place, the lender can substitute its own policy and add the premium to the monthly payments. It’s just too bad if that makes the mortgage payments unaffordable. As far as the lender is concerned, it’s your fault for cutting down on the amount of cover.
Let’s say you avoid the lender discovering your reduction in the cover but you then have to make a claim. Now the shock is going to become very expensive. Because the cost of materials and the labor to rebuild has been rising while the resale price of the buildings have been falling, it’s quite common to discover the amount insured is not enough to pay for the rebuilding. This should emphasize the importance of reviewing the amount amount of the insurance every year. Get at least two quotes from reputable local builders as your guide. This is particularly important if you have lavished special care on the building. The more you fit custom fixtures or improve on the fabric, the more it’s going to cost to reinstate. If there’s a shortfall, the difference comes out of your pocket. Those lenders have never been the most forgiving of people, so you could end up with your home as a pile of rubble and a civil action to recover the amount of the loan not covered by the home insurance policy.
So before you decide to reduce your cover, remember the purpose of insurance. It’s supposed to protect you from financial disaster. Arbitrarily saving a few dollars on the monthly payments may turn out a false economy. Always look for alternative strategies. When you use a site like this to obtain your home insurance quotes, run the process several times to find out whether you are eligible for discounts. It’s better to save money legitimately than to hide your head in the sand.
November 19th, 2011 | Posted in finance | No Comments
Nobody gets something for nothing. The only way to get a benefit or save money is by investing effort. More often than not, this means a regular commitment to work. After all, we Americans hate scroungers, condemning the entitlement mentality, and promoting the idea we should all earn enough to pay our way through life. This applies just as much to insuring the vehicles we drive as to all other aspects of our lives. So let’s start with a dose of reality. It’s not often economically convenient to change the state in which we live. This is unfortunate because the average cost of a policy is $789. Actually, it’s probably higher than this but the most recent figure released by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners only comes up to 2008. Anyway, where you live can make a significant difference. The average rate in North Dakota was $500, whereas living in Florida will cost you more than $1,000. Then, depending on your personal characteristics and other factors like the make and model of the vehicle you have chosen to drive, you can find a difference of more than $1,000 in the actual premium rate you have to pay. Just as many are now looking carefully at the packages they buy on cable, this can make it worth your while to look carefully at your insurance policy.
Although the basic math is the same for all insurance companies – they all want to take in the maximum and pay out the minimum – the actual way in which they calculate and manage the risk is different. For this reason, it makes sense to get quotes from all the more reliable companies in your state. The young drivers are the ones likely to find the biggest savings. Now comes the part it seems the vast majority find so difficult. You have to change your insurer to the company offering the best cover at the most affordable price. At present, the figures show only about 10% of drivers actually take this step. This is a remarkable testament to the power of blind loyalty. It’s completely irrational to automatically renew with a company charging you more than the average premium rate. Indeed, your failure to change actively encourages insurers to keep on increasing their premium rates. If you continue to pay without complaint, the company pays no penalty for taking ever more of your money. The only way you force change in the market is by enough people changing away from the most expensive insurers and buying from the most affordable.
Think of it as being like politics. Once a year, you get to vote on how well or badly your insurer represents your interests. If enough people refuse to renew, the company’s market share drops and it loses money. This upsets the stockholders and encourages the company to change its ways. This is consumer power in a market based on free competition. The efficient companies offering a good product at a competitive price prosper. The bad companies fail. So get auto insurance quotes from all the most financially reliable insurers, compare the rates and change. Over time, this simple event snowballs into a market move toward cheaper insurance for the many. Be active. Drive car insurance rates lower.
November 19th, 2011 | Posted in finance | No Comments
Every driver wants to strike a balance when it comes to insuring their vehicles. We all want to pay as little as possible. Indeed, some may be resentful there’s a mandate for liability insurance when unemployment remains so high and the pay offered by employers is low. The problem is cheap insurance usually means poor value. Yes, you get some cover, but there are likely to be problems in the small print of the policies and the claims process is often difficult to get through. Insurers prefer to take your money and not pay out. The more difficult it is to make a profit, the more difficult it is to get full value on a claim. So it’s better to pay a little more. This buys better terms in the policy and a more sympathetic welcome when you make a claim. That said, how do you get the most affordable rates?
It all starts with your own safety record. If you’re involved in multiple accidents and claim large sums of money, the insurer will either hike the rates or refuse further cover. The same applies if you’re suddenly caught for some more serious moving violations. In some states, picking up any ticket entitles the insurer to surcharge, i.e. add an extra fee for continuing the insurance. With convictions for driving while intoxicated or under the influence, you instantly become a high-risk driver. Insurers will cancel the policy if you pick up more than an average number of criminal convictions. Remember the insurer checks your claims record and has access to the public records of criminal convictions, so it does no good to lie on your application. Once the dishonesty is recognized, the insurer will either refuse cover or cancel the policy. In some states, the safety record extends to all the members in a family. So although you and your partner may be safe, any children or relatives who regularly drive your vehicles can pull down the rating.
Then check out the discounts. Most insurers reduce the rates if you insure more than one vehicle or package the auto and home insurance together. Going back to your safety record, you earn a discount if you stay safe, making no claim and picking up no tickets. You may also be rewarded if you’re a non-smoker, have a good credit score and have a good GPA as a student. Now look at the safety of the vehicle itself. Some makes and models have better safety records and lower rates. If you have seat belts, passenger airbags and anti-lock brakes, there are usually discounts on the elements of the policy covering personal injuries. If in doubt, talk to an agent of the insurer or pick up the telephone and ask what discounts are available. Another standard strategy is to accept a higher deductible. Before you agree to this, ask yourself whether you could afford the cash payments if there are several accidents in a short period of time. Play your cards right and you should receive lower car insurance quotes. If the rates still seem high on the first set of quotes, change some of your decisions on make and model, the amount of the deductible, etc. Hopefully, the next set of car insurance quotes will be lower.
November 18th, 2011 | Posted in finance | No Comments
When it comes to choosing your car insurance cover you need to make sure that you look not only at the cost of the cover but also at the various important aspects of any plans that you are considering. Of course, when you are looking for cheap car insurance price is a very important factor that needs to be considered. However, in order to get value for money you need to make sure that you know what you are getting for your money and that what you are getting is right for your needs.
There are a number of important aspects that you need to take into consideration when it comes to finding the right cheap car insurance. By looking at these different areas of cover you will be able to better determine which cover plan is going to be best suited to your needs. Some of the areas that you need to look at include:
- The level of cover that you get: You need to work out whether you want basic cheap car insurance, which is often suited to people with older, lower value vehicles where it doesn’t make sense to pay a fortune for comprehensive cover, or whether you want the protection of fully comprehensive cover, which is ideal for those with higher value vehicles. You can then focus on looking at plans that offer the right level of insurance cover for your needs
- The features and benefits of the cover: You should make sure that you look into the features and benefits that come with the cover so that you know exactly what you are getting for your money and so that you can make sure that you will get the level of cover that you want or need. For example, some insurance plans may come with breakdown cover included whereas in other cases you may need to pay extra for this to be added.
- Any exclusions or restrictions that come with the cover: You should make sure that you always look at the restrictions and exclusions that come with the plan, which are often to be found in the small print. This will help to ensure that you know exactly what you can and cannot claim for so that you can determine the suitability of the cover for your needs
By looking at the bigger picture by considering all of these areas of your cover you can help to ensure that you get the right level of insurance cover for your requirements whilst also finding cover at a competitive price.
November 17th, 2011 | Posted in finance | No Comments