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There are special considerations to make when preparing for a long RV trip and RV travel safety is an important topic to us here at Gilbert RV Insurance. Please take the time to review these tips on how to make a long journey safe and successful!

Plan Your Trip Thoroughly

Sure, surprise side roads can spice things up, but have an itinerary laid out ahead of time to outline your approximate location on any given day. The key here is that once your itinerary is planned, leave a copy with someone you trust and contact them on a regular basis so they know everything is going according to plan. If you change plans, be sure to let your contact know what’s different so that if something goes wrong, they know where to find you or where to send help.

Stock Up on Essentials

Namely, medications. Plan to visit your doctor before you leave on your big RV adventure to get enough medications to last for the duration of your trip. The last thing you want to do is needlessly pay for a consultation with a doctor you don’t know in a city you’re not familiar with to get the medication you need to finish your trip. Take it with you from the outset and keep it (and yourself) safe.

“When in Doubt, Know Your Way Out”

And by this we mean, don’t rely entirely on electronic devices to do your navigating. Pre-load your maps into these handy gadgets in case you cannot get reception on-site and always have an atlas or maps of your routes and destinations should the batteries die or your coffee get spilled on it, rendering it useless.

Don’t Take Your Chariot For Granted

Every day that you drive your RV, take a good hard look at it before you get behind the wheel. Check the flu

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New York insurance regulators fined 15 insurers a total of $2.7 million for failing to notify small businesses of their eligibility to buy special coverage.

The insurers who failed to comply with the provisions of Timothys Law are the first to be fined since the laws enactment in 2007, according to Benjamin M. Lawsky, superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services.

The law requires insurers tell small businesses the option of purchasing extended mental health benefits when they buy or renew their basic health insurance plans.

The fines imposed include:

• Oxford/United, $1.31 million
• Empire Health Choice, $480,440
• HealthNet, $260,680
• MVP, $215,630
• HIP, $187,570
• Independent Health, $112,350
• HealthNow, $101,640

The violations occurred during calendar 2009 and 2010, officials said, noting that additional insurers were polled and found not to have violated the law.

The companies were found not to have willfully evaded the law. They also agreed to correct the problems leading to the violations, Lawsky said.

The violations were uncovered when the department began investigating complaints from a number of small businesses. The businesses said they would have purchased the coverage for their employees, but were never advised of that option when they purchased or renewed their basic health insurance plans.

“Mental illness can have devastating consequences for families,” Lawsky said in a statement. “It

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An Oklahoma insurance agent confessed to embezzling an estimated $62,000 from her clients and surrendered her insurance license.

The agent, Amanda Sue Wilson of Lawton, Okla., was found to have created unauthorized life loan checks and credit/debit charges, misapplied escrow checks from house closings and misapplied premium refunds and premium payment checks to cover cash payments she embezzled, according to Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John D. Doak and Comanche County District Attorney Fred Smith.

A criminal case is expected to be filed in connection with Wilsons actions, for which she signed a confession, Doak and Smith said.

The investigation of Wilson began when the Oklahoma Insurance Department’s Anti-Fraud Unit received a referral from an audit consultant retained by a large Oklahoma insurance company, which was not identified. The auditor’s report revealed a number of discrepancies in the insurance transactions made by Wilson from October 2009 to February 2011.

About 100 policyholders were affected by Wilsons criminal activity, officials said in a statement.

But there could only be one winner. And that was a writer who turned something mundane into something beautiful

Congratulations to Mandy Huggins from Cleckheaton, whose first trip abroad was special for several reasons. Here’s the Kindle-winning entry, in all its glory.

My first trip abroad was memorable for many reasons but the thing that made it special was my first taste of an exotic drink which I have loved ever since.

I contemplate the tall glass that has been placed on the table in front of me. I have yearned for this drink for some time. Even with my limited experience of life, I know that it spells sophistication. A drink that has so far been denied to me at home, but here in Catalonia anything seems possible. I run my finger down the condensation on the outside of the glass. When I raise it to my lips, the sweet bubbles tickle my nose. There is the sharp citrus scent of the lemon slice, and the pleasing chink of the ice. I am still expecting someone to snatch it away and say that it’s a mistake.

This is my first holiday abroad. It is 1967, and Roses in Catalonia is still a sleepy fishing town. We have rented a green-shuttered villa on the hillside, which comes complete with Maria, the seriously buxom maid. I think that my father may lose an eye.

Every day Maria takes our pesetas to town and brings back heavenly bread with a thick dark crust, fresh fish, rice in a cloth bag, and rich spicy sausages. My mother has learnt Spanish at evening class, but Maria pretends not to understand her.

Today we have taken a trip inland for lunch. The

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Nearly half of the people who bought individual critical illness insurance policies last year were younger than age 45, according to a new report.

Exactly 49% of men and 46% of women who purchased policies in 2011 were under 45 years old, according to the 2012 Critical Illness Insurance Buyer Study conducted by the American Association for Critical Illness Insurance (AACII) and General Re Life Corp.

Researchers analyzed data from 10 critical illness insurers, which accounted for more than 57,200 purchasers of individual critical illness insurance policies made in 2011.

While the majority of critical illness insurance sales continue to be made in the worksite setting, sales to individuals are increasing as awareness grows, explains Jesse Slome, AACII executive director.

Exactly 18% of male buyers and 17% of female buyers were between the ages of 25 and 34.

Fewer than one in 10 buyers were age 25 or less and just over one in five buyers were age 55 or older.   This year’s study found that buying ages for men and women were more closely aligned compared to last year, said Stephen Rowley, vice president for Gen Re, in a statement.

Critical illness insurance pays a tax-free, lump-sum cash benefit generally upon diagnosis of a covered critical illness such as cancer, heart attack or stroke.

Sold in 54 countries worldwide, the first policies became available in the United States around 1996 and today more than 1 million individuals have such protection in the U.S.

A lost or stolen passport on holiday can really make you panic. But try to stay calm. Follow these steps and you’ll be able to get back safe and sound, wherever you are.

The first thing you need to do is report the loss or theft of your passport to the local police. This is an essential step. You will need a copy of the police report in order to get a replacement passport or emergency travel documentation. If the police do not give you a report, you at least need to demonstrate evidence that you tried to get them to do so.

It’s possible to get emergency travel documentation from your nearest British Consulate office for genuine, urgent or essential travel. You will need verification of identity (so it makes sense to take ID other than your passport on holiday) as well a copy of your police report. Background and identity checks will be carried out, which can take time. There will also be a fee. Take out a travel policy with us at World First Travel Insurance and you will be able to recover this cost when you arrive home.

Finding your passport might be a big relief. But be careful. If you find your passport after you have completed an LS01 form it’s important that you do not use it. It wi

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