Personal Finance Tips

Are you satisfied with the quality of coverage you get for the money you pay? Of course, most of us think that cheap means low-quality and tend to overpay just believing that this will give them better insurance or services. In fact, it is not so. Paying too much money for insurance often leads only to over-spending money and doesn’t increase the quality of coverage you get. So if money is vital to you and you want to lower your insurance costs, here are some simple tips how to do it:

Lower theft risk: The majority of new cars carry anti-theft features. And the more such features your car has the lower will be your insurance premiums. Theft is one of the major risks for insurance companies, especially in urban areas, and if you do something to prevent such risks your policy will be much cheaper.

Multiple car discounts: Sometimes insuring two cars can cost you the same amount of money as insuring a single vehicle. People often get pleasantly surprised with multiple car discounts they can get from their insurance companies when asking for one. It’s much cheaper to have a single policy covering all your cars rather than separate policies for each individually. Even if you think of selling your second car, it is better to get it insured too because it will allow you to opt for the multiple car discount. But when you actually sell the car and report it to your insurer it is quite likely that your rates will go up.

Get one-year policies: Not only you save yourself from the hassle of looking for a new policy every six months instead of a year, but you also get fixed rates for a longer period of time. Which is quite nice if you find a cheap policy initially.

Storage discounts: In case you will be storing your car for a certain period of time, it would be smart to inform your insurance company about it. Because during that time you aren’t likely to be needing any collision or liability coverage, making your car insurance much cheaper during the storage period.

Check your exact mileage: When the insurance agent asks you how much mile you drive within a certain period of time, it is better to be as precise as possible. Your mileage strongly affects your rates, so if you drive only a few miles to work and back it is good to know how much “a few” really is.

Opt for group discounts: In case you are a member of a credit union, college association, driver’s club or any other organization, you can opt for a group discount on your car insurance in case the organization is affiliated to your insurance company.

EFT payments are cheaper: You might notice that every time you pay for car insurance by mail, you are charged more than by any other means. Start using your banking account for settling payments: it’s not only more convenient but actually cheaper.

There’s a terrible temptation when you are looking to buy your first vehicle or replace what you currently drive. So many different factors come into play. A young man’s dream car may be a babe magnet, others may have to move a family around town. No matter what your needs, the hard cold reality is the cost of insuring your choice. Never commit to buying a vehicle before you have used the online search engine on this or any comparable site to get multiple quotes for each make and model you have on your shortlist. It’s free to use these engines and the information you get back can save you a small fortune. How does an insurance company set the rates for each type of vehicle?

The Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) is funded by the insurance industry and it collects information about every traffic accident in the US, breaking it down to every potentially relevant variable from the make and model, the driver, and the cost of repairing the damage both to the humans involved and the vehicles. To support this data collection function, it also has “fun” by running crash tests, looking at how best to survive through seat belts and airbags, to design issues, to the influence of road conditions. Its purpose is not only to assist the insurance industry, but also to help the consumer by improving the design of vehicles and of the roads, thereby reducing injuries, deaths and property damage. To help you make good decisions, the Institute publishes safety ratings for all major vehicles on the roads – see http://www.iihs.org/ratings/default.aspx. It also collects data on the other ways in which you might experience loss. The most common is theft, both from the vehicle and of the vehicle. Here we come to fascinating details. Did you know you are twice at risk of theft if you drive a two-door as against a four-door vehicle? Convertibles have the highest theft risks. Check out the National Insurance Crime Bureau for a top 10 list of most stolen vehicles: https://www.nicb.org/newsroom/news_archive/2007_hot_wheels

So here comes the crunch. You get to see the top layer of summarised data at both sites. This is very useful and it will help you make good choices about what to buy. The insurers get to see all the data and base their premium rates on the probability and cost of loss. They also know about you as a driver. Put you in a car with a bad safety record or a strong probability of theft, and you may find the cheapest car insurance unaffordable. But if you buy a vehicle with a top ranking for crashworthiness and take basic precautions on theft, your premiums just became affordable. What should you look for in a new vehicle? Buy a vehicle with good locks and remember not only to lock it but take the keys away with you. Then instal an alarm or immobilizing device to cut off the fuel. Tracking devices are increasingly standard and help the police find your vehicle. Put all this together with good seat belts, airbags, antilock brakes and the other features and your dream cheapest car insurance became real.

This may sound quite interesting to those business owners who have to deal with alcohol. Because liquor liability insurance is a form of commercial insurance that protects the business from legal action on behalf of the consumers who harm or injure themselves or others from consuming the product (alcoholic beverage). In case your enterprise produces, bottles, distributes or sells any alcoholic drinks, this type of insurance will definitely be helpful.

Liquor liability coverage is somewhat similar to product liability insurance and can be sold as an integral part of it, or as a stand-alone policy, depending on the insurance provider. However, you have to keep in mind that this type of insurance coverage is not included into your standard commercial insurance, which will be unable to protect you if such claims arise.

Keep in mind that this type of insurance coverage can be quite costly, with rates varying from state to state. In fact, experts say that only 35% of enterprises that should carry it actually have it in their insurance policies. It’s partially caused by the common belief within the hospitality industry that there is no such thing as liability with drunk patrons. And while it’s still a subject for intense debate, insurance companies continue to add exceptions to such policies, sometimes making them completely useless when legal action comes.

If your business is located in a “dram shop liability” state and deals with alcoholic beverage as a source of income, then such liability coverage is a must.

What your liquor liability policy should carry:

• Assault and Battery Coverage – In most cases bars, pubs and restaurants face claims caused by drunk fights. That is why your business insurance policy should carry assault and battery liability coverage. Otherwise, there’s not much sense in having such a policy at all.
• Defense Costs Included – One of the biggest parts of expenses in such claims for your business are of course attorney fees. Insurance companies understanding that, quite often exclude defense costs from the coverage amount. And this often means that you won’t have quite much to spend on a skilled lawyer that will be able to defend your interests in court effectively, even if you have a $500,000 business insurance policy.
• Employees Included – In case your business serves alcoholic drinks, then your workers will drink no matter what the rules say. And most insurance companies will exclude your workers from liability coverage. It’s good to have your workers insured as patrons.
• Damage Definition Includes Mental Damages – Some policies exclude non-physical damage from coverage stating that it’s not a direct form of damage. Make sure to get a policy where stress, psychological damage and anguish are also regarded as damage to the patron.
• Reduced Premiums Based on Safety and Claims – Some business insurance companies specialized in providing insurance to bars and restaurants sometimes offer free trainings to policy holders’ employees on how to reduce the damage and improve safety of their business. Having no claim history can even let you opt for a considerable discount, so ask your insurer for one if you comply.

Of course, the environment can be a factor contributing to accident risk. Bad weather, rain, snow, strong wind – the likelihood of an accident to occur in such conditions is certainly quite high. But still, it’s much easier and cheaper to try to avoid an accident rather than having to deal with the consequences. Not to say that accidents are quite hazardous and can be deadly even if you’re not speeding. However, if you faced an accident, it really helps to remember certain things that will help you cope with the situation as effectively as possible. Here are some things to keep in mind that will actually help you.

It would be very good if you’ve had these tips printed and stored somewhere in your car, because it is so easy to forget everything when being in a stress situation. And having an accident, regardless of how serious it is, is surely a stressful situation.

First of all, you should do everything possible in order not to panic. Try to calm down and examine the situation. See what damage has your and the other party’s car sustained, ask if anyone’s injured. Other people’s health and life has priority than car damage, so if there’s anyone hurt call for medical assistance in the first place and then get busy with the vehicles. It may be a single scratch or a serious crash, so being cool-headed and able to evaluate and react accordingly is very important.

Cooperate with the police and tell everything they ask you too. Escaping the scene is not a very bright idea, because it will cause much more trouble and legal action when they find you. And it will be almost impossible to get car insurance coverage if your accident is not documented with the police. No matter who’s at fault in the accident, be there and tell everything as it happened. This will make it a lot easier and faster for everyone involved.

Don’t let yourself go. Try talking only to the policeman, answer all the questions in an informative manner. Of course, it is quite hard to remain calm, especially when you’re not at fault and the other party starts talking to you aggressively. Getting caught in an argue will only make things worse. So keep the conversations to a minimum, speaking in details only to the police and your car insurance company.

Take note of everything you can. When an accident takes place, people sometimes forget to write down the info of the other party involved, which only makes the coverage process longer. Make sure you have all the names, contacts and details written down. Before the police arrive, it really helps to call your insurance agent for an advice, and he or she will surely ask you to learn the other party’s insurance company.

In general, your insurance company should be the first to know about the accident, so it really makes sense of having their contact number somewhere in your wallet. Ask how to proceed and tell everything required as it will ease the process of filing and processing your car insurance claim.