?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?
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.
When I talk with someone about Texas car insurance I cover a number of items with them including the kind of vehicles they have, who drives which one, and how the cars are driven (see http://50.87.248.161/~wiseinsu/what-type-of-driver-are-you/). Add to this data a person’s credit or insurance score along with their accident and ticket history and I’m able to provide any Texan with an accurate car insurance quote.
About two weeks ago, Cecilia Abadie of Temecula, California, was issued a speeding ticket by a California Highway Patrolman. That’s not unusual, but what followed may be the first ticket of its kind in the country. The CHP officer noted Abadie was wearing Google Glass and gave her a second ticket which is usually reserved for drivers who may be distracted by a video or TV screen.
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