Credit Card And Business

Having an accident with a driver who has no auto insurance coverage can place you and your insurance company in an unpleasant situation. However, having uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage allows you to rest assured that you’ll receive coverage no matter what. While having an accident with such a driver may sound quite unlikely, since all states legally require drivers to have auto insurance, fact is that there the number of uninsured drivers can go up to 25% in certain places.

What is UM or UIM?

Uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage will pay for injuries or damages you, your passengers or your property has sustained due to an accident with a driver who doesn’t have enough insurance coverage, or no insurance at all and is called responsible from the legal point of view.

By uninsured river most companies mean a driver who had no insurance, didn’t have the minimum required amount, or was denied coverage by his insurance company and thus being unable to pay for the damage caused. Hit-and-run drivers can also be classified as uninsured drivers from bodily injury liability perspective.

An underinsured driver in contrast, is a car owner who had the amount of coverage to meet state minimum requirements but not enough to cover the damage or injuries caused. In this case, his insurance will pay a certain part of the damage and the rest will have to be covered by underinsured motorist coverages.

Though, you have to keep in mind that these coverage types are not the same and are separate. Still, insurance companies tend to bundle them into a single product for convenience.

Is it a must?

Only in a small number of states UM/UIM coverage is legally required. The majority of states leave it as an option. However, if you choose to purchase this coverage it should meet the minimum state requirements but not exceed liability limits of your policy. In case your company offers uninsured motorist property damage (UMPD) coverage it is impossible to be purchased without having UMBI.

What use is there in it?

First of all, this type of coverage is relatively cheap car insurance and won’t boost up your rates dramatically. However, in case you have an accident with an uninsured/underinsured driver, you risk of not getting sufficient coverage by your company, which will pay for your car repair or medical bills if required. Assuming that the other party was at fault, it is the other party’s insurance company that should be paying for these expenses, and if there’s not enough or simply no coverage eventually you won’t be paid anything.

Having uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage will pay for your damages and injuries in case you face such a driver in an accident. It is evident that it’s better to have such coverage with your policy even if you are striving for cheap car insurance. You especially benefits from this coverage if you frequently drive in areas where there are more uninsured vehicles. See what the rates are in your location and decide if it is a must for you.

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When speaking about liability, many seem to forget the initial meaning of the word, which would let them understand better anything that has to do with “liability” in this country. “Liability” means that “there’s a possibility” if used in broader terms. In legal glossary, liability tends to be associated with words “owing” and “responsibility” meaning that a person or entity is forced to hold responsibility for certain actions with respect to the legal framework of the state or federal level. The same meaning spreads to the field of insurance too.

In most cases, such a responsibility has a financial form when a condition or a situation putting the law at work takes place. This is because laws are designed to regulate the lives of all citizens, harmonizing all relations between them and assuring that any injustice is addressed properly.

In most US states and countries over the world, drivers are legally required to carry insurance policies when operating most types of vehicles, which of course includes cars as well. And as there are many conditions for the driver to be responsible for certain damage or injury on the road, all insurance policies include a “liability” section, which is triggered in situations of being at fault during a traffic accident.

When a traffic accident takes place, someone is the victim and someone is at fault. Who’s who is determined by the police basing upon the facts provided by both parties, witnesses and location observations. All parties involved in the accident should have auto insurance in order to drive a car legally. And the one who is determined to be at fault is automatically liable for the damages caused by his or her actions on the road. Meaning that the person wields financial responsibility for the consequences of the traffic accident and the insurance policy will help the person pay for the damages or injuries done.

Most people driving cars don’t have the money to be fully liable for any accident they are involved in, because repairing a car or paying medical bills can cost you a fortune. That’s why people need insurance policies when driving automobiles and no matter whether you have cheap auto insurance or a very costly coverage plan, your policy still contains the liability portion to different extents.

The cost of your insurance policy does not determine the amount of liability it carries directly, but usually the more costly is the policy the larger is the amount of liability coverage. Still, you can have decent liability coverage even with cheap auto insurance plans if you look deeper into your options and choose the right offer from the right provider.

Just make sure to ask your agent or broker about your liability limits before buying the actual policy. The state you live in can strongly influence the minimum amount of coverage to be carried, because these numbers vary across states. And you don’t want to have liability coverage below the required minimum, because it will cause much trouble when the policy finds it out.

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Do you think much about car insurance rates before you buy that car you’ve been dreaming of for years? If not, you should be, because the car you ride makes a big importance in what you will pay for insuring it. The Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) accumulates and analyzes information regarding the insurance costs of every car make and model present on the road according to theft rates, repair costs, number of claims filed, safety and damage to infrastructure. the cost to insurance companies from theft, collision, and injury claims as they relate to cars.

For example, two door cars are much likely to be stolen than their four door peers. A convertible Chevrolet Corvette has a theft rate five times higher than that of a Buick LeSabre. And Toyota Celica is 67% more likely to be stolen than her sister Toyota Camry.

Another primary factor determining the cost of insuring your car is safety of those who are inside when the car crashes. Some cars will leave the passengers intact, while others have frightening lethal rates even with non-devastating collisions. So if you want to keep your life and pay lower insurance premiums, you should definitely check out the crash test ratings and see if your dream car fits into the “safe” category.

The same should be done with car theft rates. Every year these lists change, because newer and more exclusive cars tend to become the target of car thieves more often than older models. However, some car models keep on appearing in top theft lists, contributing to their “popularity” and high insurance rates respectively. These cars are:

• Toyota Camry
• Toyota Corolla
• Toyota Pickups
• Honda Accord
• Ford F-150
• Acura Integra
• Nissan Sentra

Another factor that may raise your insurance rates is how much a single theft claim costs according to the car stolen. This variable is determined by how often such claims are filed and how much the car costs. Currently the most expensive theft claims are filed on the following cars:

• Cadillac Escalade
• Chevrolet Corvette Convertible
• Lincoln Navigator

Respectively the lowest theft claims come with the following vehicles:

• Buick LeSabre
• Volvo V70 Station Wagon
• Mercury Grand Marquis 4-four

In what concerns injury claims and passenger safety, the rule of thumb here is the bigger the car, the safer it is. Vehicles with a smaller mass tend to get damage more in accidents, and the same applies to faster sports cars. Thus the rating of the most expensive vehicles in terms of injury claims:

• Suzuki Esteem 4-door
• Kia Rio 4-door
• Mitsubishi Mirage 2-door
• Kia Spectra 4-doors

While the cars with cheap car insurance due to low injury claims are:

• GMC Sierra 2500
• GMC Yukon XL 1500 4-wheel
• Chevrolet Silverado
• Chevrolet Tahoe 2-wheel

So it is better to investigate your cheap car insurance options before actually buying the car you were dreaming about. Because in reality it may turn into a real nightmare, with costly insurance premiums, high repair costs and the risk of being stolen the other day you actually buy it.

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Life is precious. People say lots about life. Comments such as “Don’t take life too seriously” and “What doesn’t kill you make you stronger “can be dubious. What is the reason for that? First of all we should take life too seriously because mistakes sometimes can not be erased. We live only once to take it for granted. What doesn’t kill you can make you paralyzed or wounded. Do you want that? Surely not.

Can you make sure you are insured for life?

Yes there is a way to insure yourself from danger or any harm you might meet in your life. What do you need for that? You have to knock on the insurance company door and ask them for protection. They have an insurance that will not come too expensive. It is called lifetime insurance. It is good for those people that don’t want to head into the insurance company’s office every now and then. You ca insure yourself today and stay calm about your tomorrow and even the day after it. This insurance doesn’t cover you for a particular period of time. It covers you for good. A significant benefit with the insurance company’s long-term insurance that covers life is that it also builds cash value. It is totally tax-deferred until the time comes when you can withdraw the money and borrow against it.

What possibilities are there with a whole life insurance once you got it?

There are certain choices you can make within your insurance. The most popular of those would be - traditional, interest-sensitive, and single-premium insurance that involve your whole life. Now let us introduce all of these policies to you so you can definitely make the right decision. The traditional policy is offering you a minimum rate of return on the part named your cash value. The second one is called interest-sensitive policy. What is really beneficial about this policy is that its rate can differ so you can adjust it to your own preferences. With the help of this policy you could easily raise your death benefit without having to lift your premiums up. And the last but definitely not the least comes the single-premium policy. It works perfectly well for those people with a good fortune behind their backs that also want to insure their life ahead of the time. You can save some cash on your insurance as this one is a cheap life insurance.

Why should one go for a life-long insurance instead of any other insurance?

People want to hear about financial benefits when raise this issue. Usually a life-long insurance saves money. When you choose insurance that only covers a certain period of your life you end up losing money at some point. What is good about this life-long insurance is that lets some of the premium money to be transferred towards your cash value. A big advantage is also the fact that the premiums are not raised with time. They remain the same throughout the whole period of time. You don’t have to pass any medical exams with the life-long insurance. You do it once and the record is kept for the rest of your life. You can save lots of money on your taxes which is also great. Who would not be interested in this? Life-long insurance is also a cheap life insurance compared to other ones. Don’t hesitate to get it today!

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You will be surprised how the common and obvious driving distraction can increase your car insurance premiums. Your first accident will raise insurance rates by about 22 while the first ticket will boost them 13% higher. It’s a fact. And most drivers know that the most common reason for having trouble behind the wheel is being distracted.

And what are the most common distractions for a driver?

Eating, talking or using your phone are the most common distraction that take your eyes of the road and lead to crashes or near-miss situations (if you’re fortunate enough). Most US drivers admit using their cell phones while driving and nearly 20% even manage to write text message while behind the wheel. This leads to the statistics, where about 45% percent of car owners who experienced an accident tell that either of the parties involved was using a cell phone during the crash.

Eating is not as frequently reported to cause an accident as cell phone use, but it definitely distracts the driver from what is going on the road. Some foods are more suitable for on-the-go situations, some are less, and some should be avoided initially:

• Hot drinks such as coffee or tea can spill over you and cause quite unpleasant sensations, which will definitely get you distracted, especially on high speeds.
• Greasy foods can be tasty but they will definitely make a mess out of your steering wheel, making it less comfortable to handle, which can be crucial in risky situations. Chicken wings and barbecue ribs are definitely not the type of food to eat while driving!
• Gooey things like jelly donuts or breakfast burritos can simply ruin your suit when they ooze down from your hands. And it definitely stresses and makes think of things different from what’s happening on the road.

What can you do to keep the distractions down?

First of all, if you want to eat really bad and didn’t resist the temptation of the drive-thru don’t eat on the go. Find a place to pull over and take a snack without driving. It will be also better to get out of the car if you can. If it’s a long drive you’re taking, you will be able to shoot two birds with one stone: eat and walk around a bit. Besides, you will keep your driver’s seat and steering wheel clean if there are any greasy substances.

Don’t use hand held cell phones while driving. Some states have already banned this practice and if you get caught using such a device behind the wheel, you can wave your cheap auto insurance goodbye because you’ll get a ticket and your rates will be raised instantly. There are many additional devices for cell phones that allow you to talk without using your hands, and this is quite helpful behind the wheel. Still, the conversation itself could distract you from the traffic and raises your risk of having an accident. So if you want to make sure you’ll keep your cheap auto insurance and avoid accidents, just find a place to pull over and take the call there. It may take some time, but it can also save your life.

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Remember, the general rule always has exceptions. So when everyone tells you insurance companies load up the premiums of the inexperienced drivers and the drivers who have a bad safety record, that is true as a general rule. But this does not mean it’s impossible to find reasonably cheap insurance. All it means is you have to work harder to get results. So the first rule is, “Never give up hope!” There are always ways in which you can save on the premium and find reasonably good coverage. Who are you? You may:

• be a new driver;
• have been involved in multiple traffic accidents;
• have been convicted of driving while under the influence or other serious offenses; or
• have had you license suspended and/or your previous insurance cancelled.

The second rule is always to tackle the problem honestly. It is pointless to lie about your record. Even if the lie goes undetected when you buy the policy, every company makes thorough checks once a claim is made. If your dishonesty turns up, the company will cancel the policy and you will be left with no indemnity against the claim. Be open about your high-risk status and get two sets of quotes using the online search engines. You should aim to compare the prices on general policies with the premiums charged by the companies offering special policies for drivers with poor records. The bad news is the majority of general insurers will refuse to quote or quote high premiums. These are the companies only writing policies for people aged between 25 and 70 who have never had an accident in their lives. The quotes you get are still useful because you find out which is the lowest of the high quotes. The good news is there are a small number of companies offering a specialised service to high risk drivers. Ask for high risk auto insurance or nonstandard auto insurance and get their quotes.

The third rule is to improve your driving ability and record. If you are a new driver or have recently had a serious accident, go through one of the advanced driving courses approved by local insurance companies. Successful completion usually entitles you to a discount. You then have to put all you best driving skills into practice and drive without collecting tickets and getting into accidents. The longer your license stays clean, the lower your premium will be. Sadly, it takes years to remove the negative marks from your record but, once you have proved you are a good driver, you will be rewarded.

The final rule to find every possible discount to bring the premium down. Drive a low-powered vehicle only at low-risk times of the day and avoid driving long distances. Fit safety features to your vehicle and store it off the road at night. You may not end up with really cheap auto insurance, but it should be reasonably affordable. In any event, cheap auto insurance is often bad value for money. It’s always better to find good coverage at a price you can afford.

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Looking around the US economy right now, all you see is the wreckage of dreams. Homes have been foreclosed, bankruptcy looms on private debts and the retirement 401ks have taken a serious hit. Life as we knew it has been turned upside down without anything in place to catch us as we fell. So how did we get into this mess? The economists tell us we have been living beyond our means. Credit was cheap and, with banks and credit card companies raising their borrowing limits, there seemed to be nothing we could not afford. There was no need for savings. Everything could be charged. If the limit was reached, the housing equity could be released as cash. Over a period of about twenty years, we switched from a country that saves to a country that spends on credit. In the period just after World War II, we had “prudence”. People mostly paid cash for what they wanted and, if they did not have enough, they saved. It was a revolution when, suddenly, everything could be paid for in affordable monthly instalments. In one sense, this is the easiest way to get into serious debt without noticing. When you only pay a few hundred dollars every month, it hardly registers the total debt is tens of thousands.

Insurance companies were the last of the hold-outs. For years, they insisted everyone should pay them a lump sum once a year. Then, slowly, there was a cave. First it slipped to every six months, then quarterly. Now almost every company across the nation accepts monthly. What’s the problem for the insurance companies? Well, they estimate the likely total cost of the claims they will have to pay over the next twelve months and divide that amount between all the policy holders as the premium. If the company has done its sums properly and everyone pays once a year, the company always has the cash in the bank to pay out on all the claims. If people pay monthly, they can easily change to another insurer. They can miss one month’s payment when the family budget is under pressure. That means the insurer may not have enough money to pay the claims. So, to encourage all you people with some savings (or some slack on your credit cards), they offer discounts if you agree to pay every six or twelve months. It gives them more security and saves you some money. Paying monthly costs you the most.

That said, paying monthly gives you flexibility. You can use the online search engines to find auto insurance quotes at the lowest price. Then for just one month’s premium, you can be driving. In effect, this becomes a monthly policy. You can keep shopping around for new premium offers from different insurers. If you find a better monthly rate, you can transfer at the end of the month. But if you pay once or twice a year, the insurer will hit you with high cancellation charges to lock you in. Whatever you might save disappears. Worse, if you change the make and model of your vehicle during the longer policy term, it can be too expensive to move the policy to a cheaper company. You end up paying the higher premium until the six or twelve months end. So make a wise decision. Auto insurance is never cheap. Avoid making it too expensive.

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Holy cow, Batman, it’s winter again. Sadly, Robin probably never said this to Adam West’s Batman and the lyrics from the song by The Band are not quite right. Which brings me to a Scottish group appropriately called Snow Patrol and their lyrics to Holy Cow include the fabulous line, “The telegraph pole knows where you live.” Yes, friends, it’s that time of the year again. Let’s start with a fact you do not want to hear. Claims arising from traffic accidents in snow are 40% higher than from the accidents when the road conditions are dry and the visibility is good. As you sit behind the wheel of the vehicle with that sense of absolute powerlessness, remember Holy Cow. You can turn the steering wheel this way and that. You can pump the brakes for all you are worth. But if that telegraph pole wants to get you, it will.

So what can you do? Let’s start with pre-snow planning. One of the worst things to happen is walking to your vehicle at night and finding it will not start. Always have your engine retuned to improve cold weather starting. Otherwise you can find yourself stranded waiting for help to arrive. This brings up several pointers. Is your cell phone always charged? You need to be able to make calls for help. Have you programmed in the numbers of your garage and a towing company? Or have you joined a club like the AAA. There are some good emergency roadside assistance packages out there. Look for the best value given the number of times you are forced to drive in poor weather conditions. Is there an emergency kit in your vehicle. You need a blanket to keep you warm and hazard flares to warn other drivers. Finally, check the windshield wipers to keep maximum visibility in sleet and snow and either fit snow tires or have good all-season tires with chains to clip on to the wheels if conditions worsen unexpectedly.

Now the driving itself. The most important rule is not to drive unless it is absolutely necessary. If you cannot avoid going out in icy conditions with snow forecast or falling, always drive slowly, keeping the maximum possible distance between you and the vehicle ahead of you. Expect everyone else to be out of control and about to crash into you - given the accident statistics, this is not an unrealistic expectation. So be prepared to stop or get out of the way of other drivers. Apply these rules and you should arrive at your destination in one piece. The aim should be to avoid making any claim on your car insurance policy and facing the usual increase in the premium rate - insurance companies like to stay in profit and react when you claim. The ability to drive safely in winter also grows with experience. As a new driver or someone moving north from the eternal sunshine of the south, the car insurance quotes are likely to reflect this lack of experience. Be prepared for the worst. The premiums will start and stay higher until you have survived one or two winters. That said, the basic technique is to drive defensively, always assuming the worst of the road conditions and other drivers. Let’s hope you can learn how to survive without too many crashes on the way.

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One of the things we value is certainty and predictability. It would be good if everything stayed the same so that, once we have put everything in place, we could just lie back and let life pass us by. Unfortunately, life has a nasty habit of waking us up. If we are lucky, the plans we laid cover the emergency. If not, it’s a case of picking up the pieces, working through the problems and putting new plans in place for the next time. But then there are the problems that creep up on us without any fanfares to announce their arrival. One morning we wake up and, when we look around, we find things are not the same. Welcome to the phenomenon of inflation. This is where the prices of goods and services slowly rise over time. The purchasing power of our weekly or monthly paycheck drops. With some persuasion, our employers reluctantly increase the pay and make up the difference. The result is a steady erosion in the value of the dollar. What was a good sum twenty years ago becomes a pittance today. This represents a subtle threat. Unless you actually think about the adequacy of your insurance coverage, you just drift on paying the instalments. If the worst happens, your dependents then find out there is enough to cover the cost of the funeral and pay the family outgoings only for a month or so.

In a recent survey of financial preparedness, the answers show that about 60% of all adult Americans have coverage representing less than three times their net annual income. In many cases, this amount would not be enough to clear off the outstanding mortgage on the family home let alone provide a lump sum to tide people over until the loss of income can be recovered. But the detail of financial planning is about more than a simple formula. Some industry professionals recommend coverage representing not less than six or seven times the net annual income. But it’s always better to start with the estimated level of debts. We start with the mortgage and any other loans secured on the family home. Although these amounts should slowly fall during your lifetime, many people actually maintain or increase the amount borrowed. This may be to trade up in the quality of the home or to release some of the housing equity as cash. The first priority should be to ensure that the family’s occupation of the home will not be threatened. Now add in the unsecured debts in overdrafts and on credit and store cards. Then what are the longer term plans to pay for your children’s college education? The number of dependents and their needs change during your life so keeping the amount of coverage the same is always an option. But, in most cases, inflation-proofing is the better choice, particularly if the policy has a cash value. This gives you more personal security later in life.

Life insurance planning is all about monitoring the needs of your dependents and assessing how much will be required to replace your earning power. When you are starting off, always get the maximum number of life insurance quotes. It’s also a good idea to take independent professional advice on the strategies to apply over your lifetime to get the most value out of the policy you buy.

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History can surprise sometimes. It’s too easy to assume particular laws must be Democrat or Republican. Take the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 as an example. Better known as COBRA, this provides a safety net for people to keep their group insurance plan in place after leaving employment. Employees can maintain health cover for up to eighteen months if they pay a subsidised premium of 35% of the original cost. The period of cover is extended if the employee is disabled or divorced. This is an excellent bridge between employer-provided health plans and private coverage at the full premium rate. During a period of unemployment, many could not afford to pick up the bill for full private coverage. They have to wait until a new employer provides cover or a sufficient pay check to pay the premium on private cover. Yet for all this law mandates protection for employees, it was signed into law by President Reagan.

Until the latest recession, this law worked well but, as unemployment began to rise and employers stopped hiring, a funding gap began to emerge. With little or no chance of finding alternative employment, too many people were looking at continuing monthly payments that were going to eat away all the family’s savings and add to the already barely manageable debts. In some states, the 35% premium was more than the state’s unemployment benefit. So, when the stimulus package was launched in March, it contained a subsidy representing nine months cover for those entitled to COBRA benefits. That means the subsidy disappears in December and several million of the unemployed will suddenly lose their COBRA benefits.

The expectation is that the Republicans will oppose any attempt to extend the subsidy program. The reasons are not hard to identify. The proposed reform of the healthcare industry motivates the Republicans to oppose anything connected with healthcare that might add to the already massive federal deficit. If the Democrats can maintain some degree of unity, it might be possible to force new legislation through to continue the subsidy, but this may not be a sufficient priority despite the still rising level of unemployment.

Medical insurance is caught in a perfect political storm and instead of discussing issues with a bipartisan spirit, the political class is polarising. Despite the efforts of the White House to focus attention on the plight of the unemployed and their families, it seems likely that a wave of uninsured people will wash up and be left stranded on the beach as the nine month subsidy slowly ebbs away. Given the insurers have been increasing the premium rates on private plans over the last year, even those who remain employed are beginning to struggle.

Although the use of sites like this helps people find the still affordable policies, the percentage of uninsured adults will keep rising. Health insurance should be a basic right for everyone, but it has become a political football leaving people exposed. The hypocrisy of the politicians is ironic. All treatment at emergency rooms for the uninsured is partly paid out of federal funds and partly by the insured. It is impossible to avoid subsidising the healthcare for the unemployed. All that changes is the name on the account sourcing the subsidy.

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