I had an interesting discussion with a client the other day regarding quoting their car insurance. The parents have a daughter and son attending college and the family just recently purchased a new vehicle that will be used primarily by the daughter. What’s worth noting is neither the daughter nor the son has a driver’s license. They have their permit, but neither one their license and they are 21 and 19.
Over 90% of the prospective clients I talk with have never had an explanation of what’s contained in a car insurance policy. In other words, they are paying for something without understanding what they’re paying for or why. Such was the case when I met with a mom and her adult son to review car insurance quotes I’d prepared for them. Below is an outline of what I presented and what may help you better understand what you have, don’t have, or could have.
What do you do while driving? I know I don’t always pay attention like I should. I may be having a conversation with one of my assistants or answering a client’s questions about their policies. I check email and text messages at lights, confirm directions if I’m headed to someplace for the first time, and listen to books on Audible. I guess this means I’m driving distracted, and I know I’m not the only one. But there’s a new app from TrueMotion that may make each of us a better, less distracted, driver.
Earlier this week, a pedestrian was struck by an Uber vehicle operating in autonomous mode and died from her injuries. This if the first recorded fatality between a pedestrian and an autonomous vehicle, and it raises several interesting legal, liability, and even insurance related questions worth noting.
There are a couple of major and minor drawbacks when anyone excludes a driver living in the household from a car insurance policy. The biggest two are what happens if the excluded driver drives a car(s) that is on the policy they are excluded from and is involved in an accident?
According to Ted Gramer, CEO of TrueMotion, a mobile telematics firm in Boston, the most seismic shift in car insurance since it began over 100 years and it’s occurring now. Gramer wrote an article on the 5 car insurance trends he sees either beginning or unfolding this year. The article was published by Insurance Journal and provides some interesting insight into changes many consumers will find interesting, refreshing, and possibly long overdue. I think his observations are worth sharing here.
The weather was a major story line in Texas and national news during 2017. As I mentioned on Tuesday’s post, north Texas was pounded by golf ball to baseball sized hail a couple of times last spring and early summer followed by Hurricane Harvey’s lashing and flooding rainfall of the Texas coast.
I was talking with a prospective client this week who has a daughter graduating later this month from a university in Texas. The question they were grappling with was whether to keep her on their car insurance that I would be quoting, or to have her get her own policy since she has a pretty nice job lined up. I run into this a few times a year and thought we’d examine how I suggest they approach the decision.
I wrote a car insurance policy for a friend’s son last year. It’s an interesting story that’s worth retelling because most people aren’t aware that many car insurance companies won’t write a policy if you or one of your kids does this. You may surprised by this too!
The value of a totaled vehicle is one of the most contested car insurance claims. Is it too low, is it fair, or is it more than you expected? It doesn’t have to be, based on a recent article in the Dallas Morning News by Jerry Reynolds. His article, “How to Negotiate with Insurers,” suggests, if you’re willing to do a little homework, you’ll know whether the offer you receive for your totaled or stolen vehicle is fair or not.
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