Online business tricks

Avoid accidents during the winter

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.

About Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage

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.

What is liability in auto insurance for?

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.

What is this antitrust status?

In the midst of all the heated debate about healthcare reform, there is one element that tends to get slightly less publicity. Yet, when it comes down to making the reform work, it is one of the most important changes to push through both the House and the Senate. To understand the issue, we need to go back to the Supreme Court decision in United States v. South-Eastern Underwriters Association which, in 1944, allowed the federal government to apply antitrust laws to insurance companies by extending the Commerce Clause in the US Constitution to break up abusive monopoly control. For many years, the lack of competition had allowed South-Eastern to fix outrageously high premium rates and to defend their monopoly through intimidation and coercion in six US states. When the Supreme Court finally signalled a potential end to these abusive practices, the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945 appeared. The key provision exempts insurance companies from the general run of federal laws imposing antitrust limits so long as each state puts local regulations in force. This has produced a patchwork of state laws which, to a greater or lesser extent, encourage free competition between insurance companies.

Finding affordable insurance if you are a high risk driver

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.