I was reviewing a car insurance quote with a woman from Richardson last week, and she asked me a question after I confirmed her claims history. She had one claim for an accident that wasn’t her fault. Her question was, does an accident that wasn’t her fault still count against her?
When was the last time you thought about your insurance? Any kind? Most people don’t think about insurance, whether car, home, or business, except at different times including the purchase of a new car or adding a teen driver, buying a home, when a baby arrives, or when starting or growing a business. Some people may think about their insurance when it renews, and everyone thinks about it if when they have a claim.
I helped a new Dallas client with her car insurance this week. We were able to save her $300 a year over what she’s paying now and give her better coverage. One of the ways we added coverage and kept the price lower is by offering her a discount for agreeing to let the new car insurance company monitor her driving for up to 4 months.
Most Texans give little thought as to what’s happening in any given legislative session in Austin. After all, how does it impact me or what can I do seem to get in the way of work, raising kids, and being with family and friends. I understand, but you might be surprised that when we do speak up, we may just be heard and cause the very change we seek.
Dallas and the North Central Texas Council of Governments, like many municipalities, are working through the task of creating a consistent car for hire policy. The goal is to create a seamless regional approach for cabs, limos, and app based companies like Uber and Lyft. If successful, we can avoid a patchwork approach of different rules and regulations for Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano, Grapevine, Richardson, Keller, etc.
Have you heard about the new Ford F-150? It would be hard to miss the press on its predominate aluminum body. Ford shaved 700 pounds off last year’s model by switching from steel to aluminum for 97% of the outside of the truck’s body. Doing so helped improve theF-150’s fuel economy from 5% to 29% depending on which engine is installed.
In case you missed it, House Bill 2305 was passed by the Texas Legislation on June 14, 2013. It goes into effect on March 1, 2015 and it does away with the familiar inspection sticker most Texas drivers are accustomed to receiving when we have our cars and trucks inspected each year. The goal, starting March 1st is to combine inspection sticker with our vehicle registration sticker.
This sparked my thinking about what advice I’d give on the insurance side of personal finances to help you confirm you’re adequately covered and hopefully pay less than you did this year! So get out your policies, flip to the declaration pages, and let’s see what we can do in 30 minutes or less!
There are two blog posts I’ve written in the past several months on car related topics. One involved the airbag recall fracas between the auto makers, the air bag manufacturer, Takata, and Congress (see http://50.87.248.161/~wiseinsu/air-bags-recalls-mysteries-driving-changes/). The other involved our privacy rights from the auto makers (see http://50.87.248.161/~wiseinsu/privacy-rights-and-your-car/). I felt it was time to revisit and update these posts due to the movement in both of these stories.
Sheri and I were returning to Dallas after visiting family in Birmingham for Thanksgiving. A friend and client called me on my cell phone. Since it was Saturday, that usually means a couple of things such as they need help with a claim or a copy of their ID card because they’re getting their car inspected. In this case, it was neither, she was in the process of buying a new car, and before driving off the lot with her new car, the finance manager wanted to confirm she has a current and active car insurance policy.
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