Top 4 safety tips for drivers who want lower insurance rates and more security


Whether you have a new car or an old one, it is imperative that you take into consideration certain safety measures to ensure that you and your family is safe while riding the said vehicle. Staying safe on the road and being road safe i.e. a safe driver also lowers your car insurance premium.


Maintain a Clean Record At The DMV


Follow all traffic rules. If you always get a speeding ticket or a ticket because you keep beating the stop light, you will never get a clean record at the DMV. Keeping a good record at the DMV is not only good for your driving reputation but will also ensure that you get a good deal from car insurance companies because the safer driver you are, the lower your premiums will be. Driving under the influence does not help in maintaining a good, clean record at the DMV and this gets a special mention because a number of Americans get arrested for drinking under the influence. If you are drunk, have your spouse drive or have someone to come pick you up.


Safety Features


All the safety features of your car should always be in good, working order. Your airbags should be working, the seatbelts should be maintained and your brakes should always be checked by your mechanic. To ensure that you get the best car insurance rates, you should also make sure that your car has an alarm system in case someone tries to drive away with your vehicle.


Fluids


Regular checking of leaks in your engine is a good way for you to make sure that everything is working fine. Your engine oil should be changed every time too it reaches a certain number of miles. All fluids such as antifreeze, engine oil, brake fluid etc should all be in good working order.


Take It Slow


Doing it the fast and the furious way is only made for the movies and these guys have a lot of money to spend on gas. If you drive slow, you are less likely to be involved in an accident and you get to save on gas too!


Keeping these 4 tips in mind you will be safe while driving and have greater chances to receive a lower premium on your car insurance.


Learn the terms and rules for comparing auto insurance online


There are many talks about comparing your auto insurance quotes for saving money. While most people find it easy to compare the premium price, it is often very difficult to compare the actual coverage. If you are feeling frustrated because you are having this problem, this article may help to shed some light on the subject. Understanding what to compare in insurance quotes helps you choose the right policy


The first rule is ‘Apples to Apples’. Understanding the policy’s language will help you know if you are comparing the same things. Start with Liability insurance. Simply put liability is your financial obligation to cover damages to persons or property in the event of an accident. Very few people put aside money to cover the costs of what if’s, and even fewer have the resources to cover the total costs of an accident. The government requires you buy insurance. (Otherwise they would be footing the bill for medical and many property damages created by auto accidents).


Liability coverage has two components: personal injury and property damage. When you read the numbers like:




  • Bodily injury Liability : $50,000/ $100,000


  • Property Damage Liability: $25,000


This means the limit and individual will be paid for bodily injury or death in a single accident is $50,000 and the maximum to be paid out for an accident is $100,000. Furthermore, the maximum amount to pay out for property damage is $25,000. This is probably the lowest limit your state will allow. Be advised that if you at fault and the property damages or the bodily injury damages are higher than the amount of auto insurance coverage you bought, your personal assets will be used to cover the costs.


Next examine the comprehensive verses collision. These two types of coverage are optional. Collision is limited to collisions, your car hitting and object or another car and you are responsible. Collision pays for repair and possibly towing, minus your deductible up to the true value of the car. (The true value is the depreciated or market value not what you owe on any loans or what it is worth to you.) It does not pay for damages that occur as the result of someone else. Comprehensive covers extras like acts of God including hailstorm, flooding, falling objects as well as riot, collisions with animals, fire, theft, and vandalism.


The general rule is you must know what you need when checking auto insurance quotes from multiple insurance companies.


Starting A Business On A Shoestring Budget

Starting A Business On A Shoestring Budget
One of the problems with opening a business is the fact that it often requires a considerable amount of startup costs. If you are trying to start a business on a shoestring budget or if you don’t have the credit necessary to get a business loan, what can you do to ensure that you have everything setup properly so that you can move your business forward? One of the things that you can do is to look for wholesale suppliers that are going to work with you on a one-on-one basis so that you can get the items that you need to sell at a lower price (Source: Wholesale Suppliers by Simple Source). You may also be able to use drop shipping wholesalers that will not only sell you those items a lower price, they will take care of your customers in the fact that they ship the items to them. Where can you find a drop ship supplier and what should you keep in mind when choosing one?

There are directories online that can help you to find a dropshipper that you can use for your business. Once you have found one that you want to use, establish a relationship with them and continue to work with them regularly. Those types of companies enjoy working with other businesses that give them regular customers. The fact that they are taking care of the shipping process and handling any returns will allow you to continue to work on your business and to develop your online presence regularly.

Health insurance for smokers


Without any doubt, having health insurance is a primary necessity these days despite its optional status. Any person that ever had to do anything with healthcare without a standard health insurance policy will tell you that it’s simply impossible to get proper care for reasonable money. Even an average health condition like flu or bronchitis can result in a medical bill that you’ll need to pay half of your annual salary to settle. Not to mention emergency situation when surgery and hospital care are required, and we all know that it can be as costly as hell. So whether costly or not, an insurance plan is a much more affordable option for having your health covered. But what if you make part of an insurance group that isn’t really favored these days? What’s the cost of health insurance if you’re a smoker?


Being a smoker isn’t cheap, and if you didn’t realize it already the numerous studies and social campaigns sure did their job on informing you about the costs and perils of smoking. It is a well-established fact that smoking causes certain types of cancer, has serious effects on your general health and is a serious money drain, especially if you prefer the costlier cigarette brands. But what does health insurance have to do with it?


Well, the relation is rather obvious and unambiguous. If smoking is directly related to certain health conditions that cause the customer to file insurance claims more often than health insurance will be more expensive for the customer with such a habit. That’s why smokers always get higher rates than their non-smoking peers, and the difference can be rather pronounced depending on the company and the particular demographic group the person makes part of. But wait, it can get even worse!


Some companies will be unwilling to insure you once they realize that you’re a smoker and have any pre-existing conditions that can be attributed to this habit. They will regard your application as too risky to deal with and will deny you coverage. Sure, this may seem outrageous bit there were cases like these around the country and it’s the insurer’s right to decide whether you’re suited for having your health insured with them or not. So keep this in mind when shopping around for health insurance plans, since some of the quotes may drop off once the insurers realize that you’re a smoker.


It may sure look tempting to conceal your habit when applying for health insurance, but it’s not a particularly bright thing to do. In case the insurer finds out that you’re smoking or you develop a condition that can be linked to smoking you will likely to get your policy terminated and subjected to a substantial fine. But what’s even worse, this fact will be included to your insurance history and other companies will know very well that you’ve misinformed your previous provider. As a result your rates will always be high if any insurer will accept your application at all.


So, what’s the best solution for smoker to deal with health insurance? The most logic solution would be to quit smoking as it will spare your health and offer you lower rates. If you’re not willing to give up, however, at least make sure to inform your potential insurer about the habit in order to avoid any future complications. Otherwise you risk being left without any health insurance.


The credit-hire scams and cheap car insurance


Life would be so much easier and an awful lot cheaper if the world was a place with more honesty in it. But, unfortunately, we’ve always been surrounded by thieves and vagabonds who take goods and money not belonging to them. Why does this matter? Because when the victims are in business, their insurance premiums go up. When their insurance premiums go up, they raise their prices to cover the costs. So we all end up paying more for all our goods and services because the level of dishonesty is so high.


The huge amount of fraud in the system, however, is making it increasingly difficult to find the cheap car insurance we are all looking for. As an example, let’s take the credit-hire companies. These honest and upstanding members of the community buy the personal details of all us unlucky souls who’ve just had an accident. Armed with our personal details, they then approach us and offer a hire car and “cheap” repairs. This sounds a good deal. We’d just started to go round the garages to get quotes. We’d done the internet thing on hiring a replacement vehicle. This looks cheap and easy because we don’t have to pay upfront and claim it back from our insurance company. These nice people do it all for us. Except what a lot of these nice people do is rip off the insurers by inflating the hire charges, storage costs and repair costs.


Why don’t we notice? Because we’ve signed documents authorising these nice people to deal with the insurers on our behalf. So when they issue invoices for storing the car pending repairs when it was on our drive, or double the going rate for hiring a car of that class, or claim to do work which is not done, they are criminals acting in our names. This puts us at risk should the insurers complain and the police investigate. The Office of Fair Trading recently said the car insurance market was dysfunctional and confirmed that all our premiums were being inflated by frauds like this. If you want to keep your cheap car insurance, refuse the credit-hire companies and do the work of finding a reputable garage on your own.