Out in the United Kingdom, women’s insurance premiums could soar as high as 24-percent more than what they’re currently paying thanks to the EU’s Gender Directive that will be put into effect December 21st.
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You might have seen a commercial by now advertising Progressive’s “Snapshot” service. Even if you haven’t, it’s likely to happen soon.
This winter season, are you worried about the driving habits of other drivers, or the weather affecting your car’s driving characteristics?
Hurricane Sandy was the most devastating blow to classic car collecting ever according to Hagerty Insurance.
Snow and ice on the road can make for a slippery drive home, and the snowflakes falling from the sky can limit your visibility, so it’s no wonder that there’s a definite increase in insurance claims once winter starts.
It turns out that deer season is dangerous for more people than the Elmer Fudds among us who hunt without an orange vest.
Fisker is reporting that it lost $30 million in inventory after Superstorm Sandy flooded a New Jersey port.
Your car is at a standstill, your heart is racing, if you’ve just been in an accident, chances are you’re a little shook up. Take a deep breath. There are a few things to go over when you get into an accident, especially if another driver is involved.
Drivers who buy auto insurance from Progressive are probably accustomed to the idea of having their driving patterns tracked for the chance at a discount, but now the company is using its program to tempt customers from under competing companies.
Everyone should take note of this: Swedish company Autoliv is developing an in-car breathalyzer that works automatically to keep drivers from taking intoxicated trips.
Overall, drivers are more satisfied with their insurance companies this year than last, according to J. D. Power’s 2012 U.S. Auto Insurance Study.
Relief at the gas pump seems to be a pipe dream. Prices are rising and drivers are rethinking budgets to accommodate. One way to help save money is through your insurance.
According to certified financial planner Rick Rodgers, car insurance can be a good place to start saving money.
The average annual insurance premium is $850 and Rodgers offered some tips to meet or beat that rate.
Shop Around:
“Your insurance agent doesn’t have a lot of incentive to reduce your premiums,” Rodgers said. He encourages car owners to look around at other insurance agents who will be happy to provide you with lower rates.
Thanks to the internet and the growing insurance industry, it’s easier to compare rates than ever before. Rodgers said he knows someone who saved $1,600 on his premiums by switching agents.
10. 2009 Ford Fusion: $2,890
Insurance isn’t kind to teenage drivers. Rates are usually double the price of experienced drivers. Luckily CarInsure.com has provided a list of the top 10 best vehicles to insure for teenagers.
The rates are calculated based on a Washington family: a married couple driving a 2011 Honda Accord and a 2009 Chevrolet Traverse, with a clean driving record and good credit. Their teenage driver is a 16-year-old male, also with a clean driving record. This list covers a five-year insurance impact. The vehicles on this list are from 2008, or 2009.
Tenth on the list is the 2009 Ford Fusion, equipped with ESC. This car gains its price thanks to a perfect NHTSA front impact score and the highest score possible for frontal-offset and side impact tests from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The key to this model though is the optional electronic stability control.
You may think America has its fair share of uninsured motorists on the road, but out in the United Kingdom one out of every 25 drivers do not carry insurance. That equates to an astonishing 1.4-million people that law enforcement has had a tough time cracking down on.
The UK government has decided to step in hoping to curb the problem by installing cameras at gas stations and parking lots. Thanks to their automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system working in conjunction with CCTV cameras, the government will be able to track down all the uninsured motorists in their country.
The hope is that the cameras with the ANPR system will be able to quickly check whether or not a car getting gas is insured or taxed. If either of those are missing, the system will automatically shut down the pump – possibly leaving the vehicle’s owner stranded. What happens after that though would be an interesting scenario, especially if it happened in America.
The UK government plans to meet with representatives from major fuel companies to discuss whether or not this is a good idea. So far the idea has been met with criticism and skepticism; fuel companies fear that gas station cashiers could be in danger from angered motorists while insurance companies are playing devil’s advocate in the scenario where the system doesn’t instantly update that a motorist had renewed their insurance.
[Source: Mirror News]
10. Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Extended Cab: $1,149
Those looking to save a few bucks when buying a new car, might want to take a look at this list from Insure.com of the least expensive cars to insure. They may not be the flashiest vehicles around, but we’re sure your bank account will appreciate the frugal cost of insuring these new cars – listed in cost per year.
Pickup trucks are usually used for work, and that’s probably why the Silverado, not to mention a few other pick-up trucks, are so cheap to insure. This model, with the V6 and Extended Ca,b features some good safety features and Chevrolet‘s OnStar vehicle safety service. The extended cab Silverado starts at $26,340, and comes with a 4.3L V6 with a meager 195 horsepower.
10. BMW 750Li Hybrid: $2,641
Flashy, fast or luxurious cars tend to be expensive. It should come as no surprise then that they’re also among the most expensive cars to insure.
This list, provided by Insure.com shows us the most expensive cars to insure. Whether they’re more likely to get into an accident because of their high-powered engines, more likely to be stolen, or they’re just expensive to make and maintain, these cars cost quite a lot to insure.
How can a hybrid cost so much to insure? When it’s aBMW 750Li Active Hybrid, which has a twin-turbo V8 and starts at $101,000 it’s easy to see why this big BMW lands in 10th place on the list.
Those sneaky, sneaky bastards. Owners of super-expensive cars list them on insurance as farm vehicles, gaining a discount on their premiums as high as 20%.
According to a survey of 80,000 vehicles, owners of Porsche 911s, Mercedes SL550s, and BMW Z4s label their cars alongside John Deeres and Caterpillars for use exclusively on a farm, regardless of their address or any actual agriculture work. About 8%, or 6,382 cars, live in zip codes where farming is practically nonexistent—such as Brooklyn, where a tree may grow but not much else. An Audi A4 classified there as an agricultural implement saves its owner $389 per year.
To be fair, many insurance companies research the owner’s zip codes to survey their sorghum crops, and adjust premiums accordingly. But since there’s no punishment for lying on your insurance quotes, about $150 million in unpaid premiums slides through the dirt. Farm use isn’t easily verified, either: owners can drive a Porsche 911 for years without attaching a spike harrow to the back. The one possible risk is that in case of an accident, the fraudster might get his coverage denied.
And to be fair again, anyone who has filled out an online quote without mentioning a few speeding tickets or fender benders can relate. But for those enterprising folks who know the value of a good deal, they know that their cars will slip through the cracks of the millions of policies out there. After all, those Hummer H2 buyers who classified their trucks as a tax write-off knows how the game works.
[Source: Los Angeles Times]
17th century Scottish writer William Shenstone once said, “nothing is certain in London but expense.” He should be lucky there weren’t cars back in his era, or he would have spit out his haggis: the average cost of insuring a new driver in Ol’ Blighty is around $10,000 a year.
That’s money that could go towards, well, Junior’s second car, or a year’s worth of college tuition, or a lot of gummi worms. The math breaks down like so: young drivers between the ages of 17 to 22 are charged as much as £546 per month while they have their bright red Learners tags. This converts to $891.72 per month, and multiplied over the course of a year brings the figure to $10,700.64 per year, enough to make Pops seriously angry if Junior’s out joyriding the Jaguar.
Why so pricey? While it’s no surprise that young drivers are more prone to get into accidents, insurance providers assign exorbitant premiums to beginners, leaving many drivers to go about without coverage or have their vehicle insured by their parents. Around 41% of British families do the latter; unfortunately, it’s illegal and insurance companies can forfeit an entire family’s policy if they do find out.
To bring prices down, some insurance companies are considering a plan to install automotive “black boxes” into the cars of beginning drivers, in order to measure sudden acceleration, braking, cornering, and other ne’er-do-well driving shenanigans. This would allow them to customize an insurance policy to a wide range of drivers. Some companies in America are considering the same plan.
[Source: Autoblog, Six Figure Mentors]
If you’ve ever wondered as to the mental capacity of your fellow commuters, here’s a statistic that will confirm your deepest suspicions: 19 percent of drivers admit to browsing the Internet from their cell phones, while on the road.
That’s one in five drivers, according to a survey conducted in November by insurance company State Farm. Of course, this could be low among certain groups of drivers for the 912 people the company asked, and State Farm plans to conduct another study soon. Why? Most of the people who admitted to playing with their smartphones while driving were teenagers and younger drivers—usually the least experienced on the road, which could lead to massive carnage.
Those who go online while going on the highway acknowledge the dangers, but aren’t too concerned about it—the study found that these drivers would only change their behavior after they’ve been in some sort of accident. Hopefully nobody will be seriously hurt or killed when that happens—and hopefully, it won’t involve you.
[Source: USA Today]
A report by insurance comparison website InsWeb suggests that the priciest car to ensure in America isn’t a Nissan GT-R or some other foreign exotic favoured by the young and reckless, but the strange looking Acura ZDX crossover.
According to the site, there is little data on the ZDX, as few people have bought one, and the vehicle is still fairly new to the market. But the ZDX is apparently involved in more than its share of accidents, something we can’t quite account for. Rounding out the list are obvious suspects, like the Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Corvette and Dodge Challenger.
At the opposite end of the spectrum were cars like the Kia Sedona, Mazda5 and Ford Escape, the three least expensive vehicles to ensure, and coincidentally, three of the least exciting.
[Source: Left Lane News]
With so many people falling on hard times in this economy, some folks will do anything to earn a buck. That includes faking a car accident to make ends meet.
According to a recent report from the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), questionable claims (QC) resulting from staged accidents have increased 46 percent from 2007 through 2009. On a somewhat positive note, legitimate insurance claims have shrunken a bit, but this is only because there are fewer cars on the road, a by-product of fewer jobs.
What makes this type of crime so popular is that unless someone becomes suspicious, many of these staged accidents go undetected. Along with the fact that it’s a criminal offence and they defraud insurance companies out of millions of dollars (which in turn raises the premiums for the rest of us), staged accidents often involve innocent victims who are obeying the law, and can result in serious injury and death.
Florida takes the lead in all states with 3,006 QCs in 2009, with New York following in second with 1,680. Rounding out the top five are California (1,619), Texas (792) and Illinois (433). Out of the top offending cities, New York City leads the way, but Florida comes in strong with three offending cities (Tampa, 562; Miami, 511; and Orlando, 422). Houston closes out the list with 376 QCs.
The NICB has created a series of videos that get the message across by demonstrating some of the most common types of staged accidents. You can watch them at www.nicb.org.
Official release after the jump: