November 7, 2000. This was the last day there was not a fatality on a Texas roadway, county road, farm to market road, or highway. For over 13 years, there’s been at least one traffic fatality per day. Over 45,000 people have died on our roadways during this time period …
?2013 has come to a close and 2014 is off and running. Housing in north Texas rocketed last year, however many predict it will cool a bit in 2014. The population of Texas continues to grow at a rapid pace. While the rate of growth is predicted to slow a bit in the coming years, it will still grow.
?What do you consider when buying a new or new-to-you car? Is it style, comfort, or enough room to run the kids to school or soccer practice with their friends? What about color and features? Maybe it’s pickup, handling, and how it feels when jumping on LBJ when there’s no one there? Whatever it is that moves you toward a particular vehicle, have you considered the safety of the vehicle you’re considering and its crash rating?
It’s New Year’s Eve. 2013 draws to an end tonight and tomorrow a New Year dawns. Your outfit’s picked out and reservations are made for dinner and the after dinner party. Or maybe you’re going with a group of friends to a club. Or maybe you’re hosting the party at your house. Champagne is chilled and hors d’oeuvres are ready! So what’s to worry? Plenty if you drink too much and get a DUI.
Driving in the Dallas / Fort Worth area is always entertaining when we have an ice storm. Those of us who grew up in Texas or the southern parts of the country are just not very good at driving on ice, although I don’t know anyone who is. Aside from the normal slipping and sliding on LBJ or North Central Expressway, we learned that “cobblestone” ice can be just as challenging as sheet ice. There were also some interesting things that occurred with falling or flying ice that led to a number of car insurance claims.
I got a call from a client on the Friday after Thanksgiving. He’d been hit on Central Expressway in Dallas after some Black Friday shopping by someone with no car insurance. The person who hit him was driving a pickup truck that rear ended him and then did some damage along the side of his car when he took off. He wanted to know what to do.
Before credit reports and scores existed, financial institutions had to guess whether someone was a good applicant (or risk) for taking out a loan. Credit reports and scores were “invented” to take the guess work out of it. The national average credit score is approximately 672 – – but how are credit scores calculated?
Every 43 seconds a vehicle is stolen in the US. That works out to about 3,000 vehicles a day or almost a million every year. Many of the cars stolen are older car models made in 1990’s through early 2000’s. That’s changing as crooks become smarter and use technology enabling them to defeat electronic locks and anti-theft measures. Some of the technologies even allow them to start your car without a key by using an electronic device that interacts with your car’s computer and start it tapping a screen.
A few weeks ago, an insurance broker made the national news. His name is Jerry Goldman and he was the insurance broker for Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson. Goldman pleaded guilty to mail fraud for overcharging Hanks and Wilson hundreds of thousands of dollars in excess premiums. Over a 13 year period, Jerry Goldman inflated premiums as much as 600% and presented phony invoices to hide the overcharges. He was sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay about $840,000 in restitution.
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