Daytime Running Lights - Why Should Your Car Have Daytime Running Lights?

"I never saw that car. It came out of nowhere!" Have your ever said those words after an accident? Have you ever said that after a near miss of a collision with another vehicle?

I know how you feel, but that car was likely there all the time. You might have been momentarily distracted. But what can you do to make sure that the other driver is not saying that about YOU? You can make your vehicle more visible, and therefore safer! When it comes to being on the road, VISIBILITY means SAFETY!!

But how? Put a strobe light on the roof? Paint the car fluorescent orange or green? No! Use Daytime Running Lights (DRLs). When DRLs are sufficiently intense, they make your car easier to see when you're driving.

Research shows that without your headlights on during the daytime, your vehicle is visible at a distance of only 2200 ft. But with headlights on, you can be seen as far as 4700 ft away! That's more than double the distance... much more time for the oncoming driver to see your vehicle and make the driving decision that might save your life!

In 1993, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued Rule 108, which allowed auto manufacturers to add DRLs as standard equipment. GM and Ford are now featuring DRLs as original equipment. That action follows the European auto manufacturers, where DRLs have been mandatory for decades.

Tests done by the Society of Automotive Engineers showed a 38% reduction in collisions in the first year of installation. Test results by Avis Rent-a-Car showed a 64% reduction in car damages, and a 69% decrease in repair costs for cars equipped with DRLs.

My Chevrolet Corvette has Daytime Running Lights. Even though the car is white, which is the most visible car color, it's very low to the ground. I appreciate the DRLs because they help make me more visible out on the road.

You already have the ability to have DRLs on your car. Simply turn on the headlights every time you drive the car. The problem with this simple solution is our memory. We have to remember to turn the headlights on, and then remember to turn them off when we shut off the car.

So, what if you make a mistake and forget to turn on your headlights, and you have an accident because the other guy didn't see you? You don't have to rely on your memory.

There's a product available for cars that do not have DRLs as standard equipment. It's called SAV-A-LIFE DRL. The company offers a cost-effective and mistake-proof way of upgrading your vehicle to the latest safety standard. When installed, the DRL functions just like the manufacturer equipment. The lights automatically come on when you start the car, and shut off when you turn the car off.

You can call SAV-A-LIFE at 1-800-654-3337 or email at: sales@sav-a-life.com to find out if they have a model for your car's year, make and model. The units work on cars, trucks, buses, RVs, vans and pickups.

Daytime Running Lights can SAVE YOUR LIFE!!

If you are one of the unfortunate people who experience an vehicle collision, you'll need to know how to handle your insurance claim so that you maximize your recovery. You will need to know how to take control of your insurance claim, and add hundreds or even thousands more dollars to your claim settlement. For more information, check out the website shown below in the Resource Box.

© 2008 copyright www.mauhidup.blogspot.com a insurance articles

Insurance Claims - Dealing With Adjusters

Insurance adjusters' claims handling can go very well, or it can be a nightmare. But part of the responsibility is YOURS!

Have you ever thought about what kind of service you should expect from the adjuster when you file a claim?

A professional, intelligent, honest adjuster is a pleasure to work with. He treats you with respect and gives his best effort to complete his investigation as quickly as possible. He is patient, knowing that you are not familiar with the claims process. He understands how upset you might be about your claim. He senses that you have already been frightened by the loss itself, and now may be frightened about the claims process.

He explains the process to you before he begins it, and invites you to be an active participant, not a spectator. He sits down with you and reads your policy with you, and explains it as he goes. He makes sure that you have his contact phone numbers, so you can get your questions answered when he's not there. He answers his phone messages promptly.

The professional claims adjuster must have empathy for people. I'm not sure if that is a skill that can be taught with a book or a class. Some of the empathy must come from a person's upbringing. Compassion for another human being who is hurting or afraid must come from deep within a person. Even having said this, it is not unusual for a person to have his compassion and empathy stretched thin by the things that happen in life.

Haven't you heard a story from a friend or relative about how badly the insurance company treated them when they had an insurance claim? I think most people have.

In today's world, poor customer service is nearly accepted as the norm. Sadly, we are overjoyed and amazed when we get good customer service. We're astounded and tell all our friends when we get great customer service.

Most people I've met who had a loss, and filed a claim, never thought for a minute about what kind of service they would get from the adjuster that the insurance company assigned to handle their claim. But, I'm writing today to make a couple of points that will be CRUCIAL to you collecting all the claims settlement money you're entitled to collect:

1. The pool of qualified, trained adjusters is drying up.

I still read industry magazines. In the latest edition of Claims Magazine, and in the latest edition of Best's Review, there were articles stating that the insurance claims adjusters nationwide, as a group, were marching on toward retirement years. They went on to say that there is a huge concern in the insurance industry that the most capable, most experienced adjusters are leaving the industry, and that there is a growing shortage of experienced adjusters in the North American market today. The articles also said that these days, insurance companies are spending less time and money training adjusters.

If the insurance companies are worried, YOU as a consumer should be DOUBLE WORRIED!!

Why?

Because inexperienced adjusters won't be as thorough in the claims process. They won't have years of experience to fall back on. They won't know policy language and the claims process as well as the "old guys."

Have you heard the old saying, "The Devil is in the details?" I've said over and over that the claims process is where the devil hides. Most of my book is about teaching consumers that they must educate THEMSELVES about the claims process. The claims process is NOT in the policy. The insurance companies will not tell you...the consumer...about the process, because if they did, the insurance settlement amounts would skyrocket!

You want a couple examples?

First: You're in a traffic accident, and your car is damaged. The adjuster will likely tell you to go get three estimates from three different repair shops. They'll want to pick the lowest one, or the middle one as the agreed estimate. However, there's NOT ONE WORD in your policy that forces you to get three estimates. That is a waste of YOUR time. You should get an estimate from the repair shop of YOUR choice, not the insurance company's choice. Then, the adjuster should work from your estimate. By the way, if your insurance company has "approved repair facilities," you should know that they work for a huge discount, and regularly use cheap, aftermarket auto parts...which leads me to the next example.

Second: The insurance industry is totally sold on "aftermarket" parts for auto repair. These parts may fit your car, and may work on your car, but they are of inferior quality to the original equipment manufactured parts the automaker used to build your car. You should NEVER allow the insurance company to insist on aftermarket parts to repair your car. There is NOTHING in your policy that gives the insurance company permission to use cheap parts to repair your car. In fact, most policies guarantee you "like kind and quality" repairs. Aftermarket auto parts save the insurance company bunches of money, but only at your expense.

2. Knowing that the talent pool is shrinking, it's more important than EVER to make sure your adjuster is qualified to handle your claim.

In Chapter 7 of my book I wrote at length about the qualifications of an adjuster. I also wrote about what level of service you should expect from the insurance adjuster who handles your claim.

You should interview your adjuster and find out his education and claims experience. If you do not believe that your adjuster has the education and experience to handle your claim, you should call his supervisor and request that your claim be transferred to a more experienced adjuster. Further, I say in Chapter 7 that if the adjuster has less than two years' experience, ask for another adjuster. If the insurance company refuses, call your state's Department of Insurance and file a complaint.

Don't allow yourself to be bullied by the insurance companies. But, that will require YOU to take responsibility for YOUR OWN education.

If you take control of your claims, you WILL add hundreds or even thousands more dollars to your claim settlements!

Full Insurance Online Guide

Insurance refers to a contract wherein a person gets financial reimbursement from an insurance company in case of losses. Insurance comes in many types such as casualty insurance, disability insurance, health insurance, life insurance, property insurance, liability insurance, credit insurance, car insurance, financial loss insurance, kidnap and ransom insurance, and purchase insurance. Believe it or not, there is even pet insurance.

Getting financial reimbursement is not that simple. Since nothing is free in this world, you have to pay a premium in order to be insured. The premium is highly based on the risk of loss. Aside from the premium, there are other factors affecting insurance. It is best if you take time understanding insurance, insurance policies, and everything in between before actually getting one.

Car insurance, to put it simply, serves as protection against losses in cases of accidents. For example, you hit another car while driving and both cars were damaged. Your car insurance will help you foot the bill. Usually, companies selling cars include car insurance in their sales. While packaged deals are great, it will not hurt you to look around.

Developed medical care, improved healthcare, enhanced diagnostic procedures... These may give you hope that life insurance is not exactly as important as advertised. However, the day when you start thinking like this is the day you are wrong. Life insurance serves a number of purposes. For one, it is a good income replacement. Another, it can be used for paying your children's college education. Also, life insurance can be a tool in wealth preservation.

Health is wealth. You have heard of this before and chances are you will still be hearing it years later. Health is of utmost importance; you should not take any chances with it. This is where heath insurance comes in. Health insurance may be the best way to get preventive car, nursing care, and other medical attention in cases of accidents and illnesses.

The Dangers of Assuming Your Insurance Policy Covers

One of the most costly errors any one of us can make is to overestimate our short term insurance cover - be it on our primary residence, our car or even our own health and well being. Many of us may well rush into covering ourselves and our valuables without considering updating the policies on a regular basis and this could prove fatal.

Even if your chosen policy does protect you from rising inflation, you may find the value of your home simply outpaces it. Plus, the fact that many of us keep on collecting valuable and often priceless possessions without increasing the short term insurance cover could mean your personal property is criminally under insured.

Review the basic elements of your short term policies regularly

It is imperative that you review the basic elements of all your insurance policies on a regular basis, especially in these economically trying times. There can be nothing worse than submitting a claim only to be told you are not adequately covered.

The vast majority of property policies generally cover losses to your home, the related property and selected personal items. The provided cover for your possessions is usually worked out as a percentage of the total coverage of the house and is normally in the range of 50%.

When taking out a policy, it is important to be aware of the acts of God, or perils, that are not included in the cover. In the United States, for instance, flood damage is often not included in the overall insurance cover and home owners are encouraged to buy separate cover.

Here in South Africa, many insurance policies will not cover damages caused by riots or political turmoil and home owners have to address it as a separate issue.

Choose replacement cost cover over actual cash value

A smart move when ensuring that your possessions are adequately covered is to negate the urge to purchase a home owner's policy with extra blanket coverage for your personal items and to rather opt to buy separate, additional cover for your valuables instead.

Remember, however, to choose replacement cost cover rather than the actual cash value. The latter, although it sounds like the better of the two options, takes depreciation into account and will only pay out the calculated market value of the item instead of the cost of replacing it.

Penny wise, pound foolish

Some brokers may suggest you try and save a little on your premiums by insuring your home for only 80% of its value. The thought process behind this startling proposition is that it is most unusual for your entire home to be destroyed in one fell swoop. But this idea has its definite snags, apart from the obvious one of losing your entire home to fire, earth quake or some other natural horror.

The problem with under insuring your home is that the cost of labour and materials could very well increase and instead of the claim covering 80% of the cost of re-building, it may only cover 73% of costs. And in these turbulent times, it may be very difficult for you to source the extra 27% needed for the job.

Quick policy pointers

• Make sure your policy automatically protects you from rising inflation

• Shop around for a policy that is tailor-made for you and your possessions

• Be aware of acts of God not covered by your policies

Every business in today's market should not be without liability insurance and risk assessment. It is very important for any type of business to take these precautions to ensure they are not at a major risk that could be detrimental to the business. There are many factors that should be considered when thinking about liability insurance and risk assessment for any company.

Liability insurance is designed to offer specific protection against third party claims, such as if payment is not typically made to the insured, but rather to someone suffering loss who is not a party in the insurance contract. Under liability insurance policies, generally damage caused intentionally and contractual liability is not covered. When a liability claim is made, the insurance carrier has the right to defend the insured.

The legal costs of this are not always affected by the policy limits, which is useful because they can be substantial when long trials are held to determine a fault or the amount of damages. Overall, liability insurance covers companies that may come into contact with claims made against them.

Risk assessment is the purpose of quantitative or qualitative value of risk related to a solid situation and a recognized threat. Quantitative risk assessment requires calculations of three components of risk, the magnitude of the potential loss and the probability that the loss will occur. Assumptions and uncertainties are clearly considered and presented and defined as a formalized basis for the objective evaluation of risk in mind. Risk assessment is an important, but difficult, step in the risk management process. The steps to properly deal with these risks are more formulaic, once risks have been identified and assessed.

Part of the difficulty of risk management is the measurement of both of the quantities in which risk assessment is concerned- potential loss and probability of occurrence- can be very difficult to measure. The two main categories for risk can be A risk with a large potential loss and a low probability of occurring and a low potential loss and a high likelihood of occurring. These may sound very similar, but are treated very differently as both produce very different results.

So any business that has forgotten about these two issues should start recognizing the need for them in any type of company especially with the financial climate the way it is, uncertainty may be on the cards for more than just the banks.

Is Pet Health Insurance Or Rental Insurance Right For You?

If you are considering pet insurance or rental insurance you may have a lot of unanswered questions. Is rental or pet insurance worth the cost? What do they cover? Or is it even necessary? Because pet insurance is not quite as well known as its human health insurance counterpart, you may have a lot of questions. The same may be true for rental insurance, whereas the necessities of home insurance are obvious, rental insurance isn't. We will take a look at both.

Pet insurance, as the name implies is health insurance for your pet. With the costs of veterinary care, rising as quickly as human health care, pet insurance makes a lot of sense. Essentially, pet insurance provides protection for your pet against accidents or emergencies, and illnesses. The cost of pet insurance can vary widely depending on the type of plan you choose. Just like health insurance, if you have a higher deductible, and a less comprehensive policy, you can save some money. In all actuality, when compared to human health insurance, pet insurance is rather affordable. For as little as $30 a month you can have a rather decent pet health insurance policy.

When it comes to utilizing your pet insurance policy it is quite a bit easier than the health insurance you're probably used to. You don't have to choose your pet's doctor off of an approved list. This allows you to stay with the veterinarian that you are comfortable with. After services are rendered, you pay for treatment, and then the pet insurer reimburses you. What your pet health insurance covers is based on how much insurance you have in place. If you have a comprehensive plan that covers everything from routine office visits to medications, you'll probably pay a bit more. So it's important to determine how much pet insurance you not only need but how much insurance you can afford.

Pet insurance does have some issues that you should consider before purchasing. Some insurers will provide limited coverage, which means you may be capped out at a particular amount. You may be restricted when it comes to seeing expensive specialists. Some dog breeds may be more expensive than others. If your dog's breed is more prone to a particular disease or problem, you'll pay more. If your pet is older, pet insurance will be more costly, for obvious reasons.

When buying pet insurance you will want to choose a quality insurer. Insurance companies are notorious for finding loopholes to get out of claims, when they are needed most. Not only do you want an insurer that will be around for you when you need them, but also you'll want them to cover what's needed. Saving a few bucks by going with the cheapest insurer just isn't worth the headaches.

To touch on rental insurance briefly, we'll cover a few basics. Renters insurance is much like homeowners insurance, in that it protects you when renting an apartment or a house. Many individuals go without rental insurance, thinking that it's their landlord's responsibility. This is not a very good approach. Yes, the buildings structure is insured for your landlords benefit, but not your belongings. Rental insurance protects your belongings from theft, fire and other natural disasters. And much like homeowners insurance, rental insurance also protects in the form of liability protection. This means that if a guest as an accident at your apartment or home, you won't be held responsible. For this reason, many landlords are now making rental insurance mandatory. This provides them with the liability protection that they are looking for.

Much like pet insurance, rental insurance is very affordable. We have seen rental insurance for as low as $15 a month. Now, this is for a basic policy, but in many cases, it gets the job done. Things like your deductible, whether you own a pet, and how much coverage, will affect your premium. Make sure to take an inventory prior to getting rental insurance, this will help with any ambiguity with the insurer, if you need to make a claim. Also, the importance of understanding or policies features is a must. Have your agent or insurer explain any policy features or drawbacks that you may have questions about. And go with a decent insurance company that you can rely on.