How does free car insurance sound? That’s what General Motors is offering up in a new marketing push to help sell new cars. If you live in the states of Washington and Oregon and you purchase a new GM car you may qualify for a year’s worth of free car insurance from MetLife Auto and Home. “We want to give residents of Oregon and Washington another reason to discover Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles,” said Chris Perry, U.S. vice president of General Motors Marketing, according to The Car Connection.
The free insurance deal runs through September 6 and includes both liability and physical damage coverage. It exceeds minimum requirements set by Oregon and Washington. If you’re wondering why those two states were selected for the free insurance promotion, officials say it’s because those states are falling behind others in market share. But it may move to other states if it proves successful.
GM reports an 11% increase in sales so far this year compared to last. Retail sales are up 16%. Those numbers do not account for corporate fleets. Officials hope by offering free insurance, more people will feel comfortable buying a new car since the financial burden will be lower.
It appears that a very high proportion of motor accidents causing minor damage never become the subject of an insurance claim. The person at fault may have backed into another vehicle in a drive way, causing minor damage to the other party’s lights and paint work. A quotation for the damage is obtained in the sum of $500.
The policy deductible amount on any claim is $200. The driver at fault faces a real dilemma about whether or not to make a claim, as there will generally be a fear that the no-claims bonus will be affected. The no claims bonus is an important and jealously protected benefit which can increase or discount the annual premium by as much as 75%. Car insurance is an expensive though very important item so it is not surprising that the no-claims bonus is guarded so tenaciously.
Once the accident has taken place, the mere fact of reporting it and asking whether the premium would be affected by a claim could be enough to trigger the feared result. Some brokers and insurers will treat the existence of the occasion for a claim as harshly as though a claim actually had been made, the justification being the increased risk calculated in respect of a person who is now known to have had an accident. It doesn’t seem at all fair but on consideration, it is indeed quite logical.
So as always, it pays to check all the small print on your insurance policy, ideally before buying, but anyway before there is a need to claim on it. A possible option for protecting your no-claims bonus, is to buy a policy which includes protection. The premium will be higher than normal so whether or not that is worthwhile must be an individual decision. If Read more…
The city of Des Moines is taking on a unique plan to save taxpayers about a million bucks and keep their city employees insured. The Des Moines Register reports that City Council members approved a plan to move to a self-insurance system. The city is looking for ways to reduce expenses significantly since property values have dropped and commercial property tax rates are dropping by 40 percent.
They’re not the only ones moving to a self-insured program. Nearby Ankeny and West Des Moines are using similar models. “I hope we stay self-insured,” City Councilwoman Christine Hensley said according to The Des Moines Register. “I think the time is right for us to go forward with that. I think there have been some changes made.” This isn’t the first time the city has used a plan like this. The system was in place until 2003 when the city started buying private insurance from Wellmark.
Leaders expect to start seeing significant savings in 2013 because of this move. “Conservatively speaking, we anticipate it being more than $1 million,” one leader said. Alternatively, council members said they would have been paying millions more– rather than saving a million dollars. The new plan starts July 1.
Travel disruption caused by Icelandic volcanic ash has reaffirmed the need for travel insurance – but older travellers face a battle to find competitively priced cover. New figures from consumer champion Which? reveal that a quarter of travel insurance providers refuse to even consider offering cover to new customers who are 65 or over.
For travellers in their 80s the problem is even more severe, with some nine in 10 insurers rejecting applications from people in this age group as a matter of course. And even among those firms that do continue to cover people when they turn 65, premiums can triple overnight.
An annual worldwide travel insurance policy with Essential Travel, for example, costs £58.72 a year for people who are under 65, but soars to £205.51 for consumers over this age, Which? researchers found.
Richard Lloyd, executive director of Which?, said: “It’s absurd that you could wake up one morning and suddenly be three times more expensive to insure.
“Insurers should take a more common sense approach and look at factors other than age when setting premiums.”
Where can older travellers find competitive travel insurance?
Which? found that almost nine in 10 of the insurers offering single trip travel policies have an upper age limit, while just 29% will cover people in their 80s.
But fortunately for older Britons with itchy feet, there are a number of insurers that continue to cater for their needs. And the best place to find them – also according to the Which? report – is online.
A quick search of the moneysupermarket.com website, for example, reveals that a man born in 1940 and looking for annual European-wide insurance can pay from £57.26 with EHICPlus. It
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Nobody wants to get into an accident, but over the course of a lifetime, many of us will have at least one fender bender. While an accident can be a hassle, most of us will simply call the police and a tow truck and begin the auto insurance claims process.
Unfortunately, there are places where having a collision is much more complicated. Here are the six worst roads to get into an accident.
1. The Loneliest Road, Nevada
This stretch of U.S. Highway 50 runs from Ely to Fernly in Nevada. It covers 287 miles and passes through nine small towns with just a few gas pumps. The Loneliest Road was given its nickname by Life magazine in 1986 and AAA warns motorists “not to drive there unless they’re confident in their survival skills.”
You can literally drive for hours without passing another vehicle, so if you are in a collision it will be awhile before the police arrive to take your accident report. If you decide to drive this road, plan ahead and carry the proper supplies.
2. U.S. Interstate 70 in Utah
I-70 runs from Cove Fort, Utah across the country and ends near Baltimore, Md. While the majority of I-70 is well serviced, there are parts of it in the Utah desert that are largely desolate. For example, the stretch from Salina to Green River is a 107-mile drive that has absolutely no service stations. Both Salina and Green River have a highway patrol station, but if you end up in a car wreck somewhere between these two towns, it may be a long time before patrolmen are able to reach you – and that’s assuming your cell phone has reception and you’re able to call for help. If your c
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Looking for an appropriate insurance quote offline may be an extremely, very annoying process. Being on the phone for hours and hours, repeating the same information repeatedly to several agents and agents, simply to be told that you are in the wrong division after which getting transferred is extremely irritating. It is a time consuming process that requires persistence: something I certainly don’t have!
But, fortunately, the stone ages have passed. And so have the time where we had to battle to find cost-effective insurance rates without popping a vain. In today’s high-tech era, there is easier ways of getting things done. It has allowed us to locate inexpensive quotes simpler and faster than in the past. Business insurance, vehicle insurance, medical health insurance, home insurance and life insurance: all of these types are available on the web: the biggest supply of data in the world. All you’ve got to do is log on to the web and you will find a huge selection if insurance resources that will allow you to find quotations like a car insurance quote online at the click of a button! Incredible, is it not?
The internet has made our lives so much easier during the last few years. Businesses of all likes are now desperate to establish an online presence: social media marketing companies, clothing merchants, hospitals, advertising agencies and insurance companies. There are now a huge amount of various insurance companies available on the web, from well-known vehicle insurance providers to small, local life insurance companies. They’ve all entered the cyber-life and so are offering their services and information regarding their products on the internet. Read more…