The faster a vehicle can travel, the more it will cost to insure it. Parents need to find a happy medium because the car that a teen drives is crucial to their overall safety and the amount of money that will have to be paid out for car insurance premiums.

A recent survey by USAA has found that approximately 80 percent of parents who have teen drivers want to find a vehicle that is reliable for their children. The second biggest consideration was higher safety features.

Many parents have fixed budgets. One way they often try to save money is to purchase used cars for their kids. It is not a good idea to purchase a used car that is over three to five years old. This is because these vehicles may lack the necessary safety features that could help to save the teen’s life in the event of a crash.

It is important to take the time to shop for a car. If you are buying your teen a used car, then pull a Carfax report on the vehicle. This will tell you if the vehicle has regularly been serviced and if it has ever been involved in any automobile accidents.

Another good idea is to take the car to your local mechanic. Ask them if the car would easily pass a state inspection and if it needs any work done to it. If a used vehicle needs a lot of work, then it probably is not only a bad financial investment but it could be very unsafe for the teen.

Carefully research the safety features and crash test ratings of the vehicle and compare it to the other cars that you are considering buying. This will allow you to make an accurate comparison of each vehicle. Parents need to make sure that they listen to their own instincts when choosing a vehicle for their teen. It is crucial to find a car that looks great, runs well, and is safe. Most teens are just obsessed with the paint job and how fast a car can go. This is a big mistake and can cost lives so parents need to take the wheel.

Why Parents Need to Choose Cars for Teens Cautiously is a post from: Cheap Car Insurance News Blog

Car insurance coverage is a form of financial protection that can protect your assets. When you are at fault for an accident, your insurance company will pay out a specified amount to cover damages to the property that was damages and any medical bills that were amassed.

If you are buying liability coverage alone, then you will probably not be able to qualify for very many discounts because you are just maintaining the minimum coverage that is required by law in most states.

One great idea for drivers is to look for group discounts. For example, if you work as a teacher then there might be associations that you can join that would offer you discounts on your car insurance coverage. You can usually get a discount if you are a member of the military or shop at Sam’s Club or Costco also.

Those people that do not drive a lot of miles each year can look for infrequent driver discounts. For example, if you drive your car once or twice per month then you will probably get a discount of up to 20% off of your insurance premiums.

The key to buying auto insurance is that you have to know not only what you need for coverage but also what you should pay for it. You would never have your car repaired by a mechanic without getting some estimates first, so why not shop for the best car insurance coverage as well? It is important to not only focus on the discounts but what the coverage entails. You do not want to pay hundreds of dollars each year to be insured and then find out that you wasted your money and now are being sued for excess damages.

It is important to view the insurance policy buying as a transaction that can impact your fate. Most people race through the insurance quote process and make really big errors. When looking for a discount, you have to scour multiple websites and see what is out there. It will save you a lot of money and you will be able to put that money towards other household expenses.

Car Insurance is Necessary Just Like Health Insurance is a post from: Cheap Car Insurance News Blog

When a teen gets their license at around the age of 16, they often want to allow their friends to ride in the vehicle that they are driving as a passenger. New studies have shown that passengers under the age of 21 who drive with a teen increase the odds of an accident occurring by 44 percent. This is a big problem for parents and teens. It can be hard to be able to drive your children everywhere when you work and have errands and other responsibilities to take care of.

If a teen drives with a parent, such as someone who is over the age of 35 and who has experience behind the wheel, then their risk of an accident drops an astounding 65 percent. This may be due to the fact that parents are more likely to pay attention to the road that their child is driving on and point out the mistakes that are being made behind the wheel.

Other younger drivers are more likely to be texting, chatting, listening to music, or using other devices while the teen is driving. They also pose a huge threat to the teen because they can cause the driver to become distracted. Older drivers on the other hand, make teens pay more attention because they do not want to get into trouble.

It is very important for parents to know what kind of drivers they have in their teens. Many teens text while they drive a car and this is a very serious driving offense to commit. If a teen has two passengers then they are 200% more to have an automobile accident where there is a fatality. This percentage increases to 400% if there are three to four passengers in the vehicle.

Parents need to take the helm where this matter is concerned and lay down strict rules for the number of passengers that can ride in their vehicle when their teen is behind the wheel. It is much better for teens to have older passengers such as those that are over the age of 25-35 in the vehicle with them when they drive. Hopefully, the number of teen related accidents can decline if parents get more involved.

Adding Passengers to the Mix Causes Problems for Teen Drivers is a post from: Cheap Car Insurance News Blog

It is important to know everything that you can about the various types of coverage that are available. Knowledge is power and it is important for people to know the auto insurance laws that their state has enacted. For example, the state of Florida is a no fault state.

This means that all of your medical care will be covered in accordance with your auto insurance policy. You can continue to receive care until you have exceeded the maximum dollar amount allowed by the policy. The law does not cover property damage though so keep this in mind. You do have the legal right to file a lawsuit to sue for damages after the medical payments have no longer been paid out. In the United States today, twelve out of 50 states are classified as no fault insurance states. If you live in one of these states then you will pay more for your auto insurance coverage than drivers who live in other states. Premiums are about one fifth higher because more money is being paid out to accident victims.

One state that is unique is New Hampshire. They have never required drivers to have minimum liability insurance coverage. If you live in the Granite State and get involved in an accident then you will have to post a bond to show that you will be held financially responsible for any medical bills and damages that occurred. This could really hurt uninsured drivers because these damages can often cost in the thousands of dollars.

South Carolina drivers are allowed to drive while uninsured but they have to pay a fee of $500. However, drivers should beware because the fee does not release them of the financial liability of being involved in a crash. It pays to be insured and have the insurance company take care of the expenses. Drivers should research the laws carefully so that they can make the right choices in regards to their individual car insurance policy.

Understanding How the State that You Live in Impacts Your Car Insurance Coverage is a post from: Cheap Car Insurance News Blog

The changes could make a real dent in the number of insurance scams that occur in the state. One great change is that the law will no longer force auto insurers to pay out claims for medical care that was not performed. This will mean that there will need to be documented proof of all medical care that is performed on accident victims.

Doctors and other medical professionals will also be given strict deadlines in regards to providing documents showing that a victim needs medical treatment. For example, if a patient needs at home care then a doctor’s note would be necessary in the first month or two to show that the medical expense is in fact a necessary one.

This will help to make the entire auto insurance claims process go much faster. If claims adjusters are able to have all of the documentation that they need in a timely manner then the compensation checks can be cut much faster.

Another help to auto insurance companies is that minor clerical errors involving paperwork will excuse them from problems during court and arbitration proceedings. In many situations, there are issues with claims because the paperwork has errors. For example, there may be paperwork that was left out or the claim may have had expenses denied because of issues. Insurance companies would not get in trouble for these errors.

In the future, the whole system might need to be re-vamped because there could be more changes made to even further speed up the process. The lengthy process is one reason why so many criminals have been able to get away with scamming insurance companies.

They know how to use the system to the advantage and find weak doctors and medical clinics who will help them commit the fraud. If there are deadlines in place and documentation is required then more red flags can be raised for claims that allude to fraud.  One major red flag is medical treatments that are not well documented. Hopefully, the state can close additional loopholes in the future.

NY Fighting Insurance Fraud By Going after Loopholes in No Fault Law is a post from: Cheap Car Insurance News Blog

The auto insurance industry spent nearly six billion dollars last year to advertise their products to consumers. Most people know the commercials by heart because they are run on a loop all the time on TV. The industry spent 11 to 12 percent more in 2011 than they did in the year before on advertising and marketing campaigns.

In all, more than 40 percent of the drivers who did shop on the Internet for lower auto insurance premiums did end up finding what they were looking for and switched their insurance company. This is a three percent increase and the highest rate of changes in about three years.

About half of drivers search online for their car insurance coverage and almost three quarters of them will directly visit an insurance company’s website for further information. One reason why fewer people may be shopping online is because they think that the economy is very bad and they will not be able to get enough of a discount to save them a lot of money.

In 2011, drivers saved more than $410 on their auto insurance coverage by utilizing online insurance quotes. Now most people save around $359 which is a significant drop. With the number of uninsured drivers on the road increasing all the time, it stands to reason that this may be the cause of why savings have not increased for drivers.

Drivers typically decide to switch their auto insurance provider when they suffer a huge premium rate increase or they feel as though they are not receiving quality customer service. The study found that drivers are now giving their auto insurance companies a score of 790 out of 1,000. This is an increase of 13 points from the year before. If drivers are getting what they want then they will tend to stay put.

Auto insurance companies put a lot of money into their advertising efforts. It stands to reason if they will increase their budgets in the coming months. As it goes to show, consumers will pay money for a quality product that offers them the best customer service possible. It is still a great idea to shop around though because drivers can still save money.

More Consumers Not Shopping Online for Car Insurance Savings is a post from: Cheap Car Insurance News Blog

The criminals think that what they are doing is not that bad because they own their vehicles and they bought their own auto insurance coverage. One man ended up finding out the hard way that crime does not pay at all. Committing this kind of crime can lead to jail time.

Many criminals do this because they just want access to money. For example, if someone is having car problems that require thousands or even hundreds of dollars in repairs then they may stage a fake car theft as a way to cut their financial losses, file an auto insurance claim, and collect the money to get a new vehicle.

A man from San Bernadino County in California allegedly worked with some of his own relatives to commit the alleged insurance fraud. The man stashed his vehicle behind a house and then asked his relatives to drop him off somewhere else so that he could file an insurance claim with his insurance company.

The one issue that he ended up encountering with his shady and criminal plot was that lo-jack had been installed on his vehicle. Once the car was reported stolen, the company was called to try and recover the vehicle.

The authorities were dispatched to the man’s house where they found and recovered the vehicle. A lo-jack employee said that she had never heard of anyone actually having their own device end up turning them in for car insurance fraud.

This is a very serious matter because it is happening all the time. People who have car payments that are behind or who are unable to pay their bills often get a collision or comprehensive insurance policy on their vehicle before staging its theft. They think that they will be able to pull a fast one.

Many vehicles now have On Star or lo-jack installed in them straight from the factory so that they can be recovered in the event of an auto theft. Auto insurance companies have often been grateful for these devices because they have saved them millions of dollars in claims.

For example, some anti-theft devices actually will stop the car engine from starting again after it has been stolen. This has benefited police officers who have been involved in high speed pursuits with people who have stolen vehicles. If a vehicle can be quickly disabled then it cannot be used as a weapon against the police and innocent bystanders.

Every time that someone decides to report their car stolen when it has not been, it hurts the insurance company and its policy holders. It also wastes the time of the police officers who will be looking for the vehicle to see if they can recover it. Many people have gotten into trouble with police officers for filing fake police reports for stolen vehicles. It costs the tax payers money.

The fact that this man did not remember that there was a lo-jack device on his car before he decided to report it missing and stolen is one that many people will be laughing about but it is very serious.

When people such as relatives decided to help people commit insurance fraud it can become a huge legal issue. This is because the people who were involved could be deemed co-conspirators by the court.

One issue that many drivers face is that they cannot pay their car payments any more because of becoming unemployed or the fact that they just cannot handle the financial burden any more. It is important for these drivers to be able to reach out to their financial lenders and get help. Committing a crime and reporting your car stolen fraudulently can only lead to hot water which is what this man is enduring now.

When an auto insurance company sees that someone has committed auto insurance fraud, they will probably deny them insurance coverage ever again. This can prove to be a huge penalty for people who need a car to survive. Some places do not have easy access to cabs, buses, and other forms of public transportation.

Hopefully, other drivers will learn a lesson from this man’s experiences. Trying to commit a crime to get money is not something that is morally or legally right. Hopefully, all car manufacturers will install anti-theft devices such as lo-jack in the future to prevent similar occurrences of insurance fraud.

Driver’s Lo-jack Device Turns Him In is a post from: Cheap Car Insurance News Blog

For most accident victims, there can be issues with certain medical claims that have been filed. One example is the fact that the 6^th Circuit Court has stated that automobile accidents who have suffered brain injuries cannot sue their auto insurance company again to try to get the company to pay for their in home care for their injuries.

Six people who suffered brain injuries recently filed a lawsuit against their auto insurance company because they were no longer getting their claims paid for. At the beginning, the six victims were being allowed to filed claims for expenses related to their in home care. However, as time went on, the insurance company decided to reduce the compensation that they were offering the victims and then slowly shut off the compensation.

The insurance company stated that the reason for this action was that the proper documentation was not being submitted to them from the victims. They also stated that they did not know what kind of care each victim was receiving and how much the care would cost them.

After this happened, a lawsuit was filed against the company. The trial was ruled on by a jury after 20 days in court. The jury found in favor of the auto insurance company. They stated that none of the six accident victims had incurred expenses that would be allowed to get compensation.

The family members who were helping to provide help and care to the automobile accident victims should have presented the proper documentation to the insurance company. The insurance company needs to be shown that the victim did incur the expenses for the in home care that they received.

The case took place in Michigan which is a no fault insurance state so accident victims are entitled to medical care without a lifetime cap after they have been injured in an automobile accident. However, when the case went before the court, the insurance company stated that the family members should have documented the times of the care and what the care was for. The family members should have been able to supply receipts and other documentation because they were being billed for the care and the care was being administered at home. The family members were the only witnesses and they had the responsibility to provide the information to the insurance company.

Auto insurance companies have been subjected to instances of fraud for many years. They want to know that the money that they are paying out for insurance claims is for expenses that were incurred.

When the Sixth Circuit Court got the case, the judge went over all of the facts surrounding it. A case in 2007 is similar to this one. In it, a female automobile accident victim sued her auto insurance company for her home care.

She was able to have sanctions brought against the insurance company because she had witness testimony and letters from medical professionals attesting to the fact that yes she was indeed receiving at home care. However, the case has not had the sanctions handed down yet which means that the judge does not exactly have that case to compare it to.

It is important for people to understand that they really have to make sure that they document any insurance claims as fully as they can. It can be extremely exhausting to have to help to care for an accident victim that has suffered a brain injury.

Many of these victims are disabled so they have a hard time even leaving their bed or the house. Auto insurance companies want to make sure that every expense that they pay out for is one that is justifiable. In Michigan, people are entitled to lifetime benefits for their injuries so the insurance companies are required by law to honor their obligations.

Judges and juries see it in a way where the insurance company is not asking for a whole lot from the families who represent brain injury victims. These six accident victims probably would have continued to received compensation to cover the expenses for their in home care if they had just submitted the information that was asked for in the first place.

Hopefully, families will be able to learn a lesson from this court case in Michigan. Always request documentation for care stating the time, date, and costs of the care that is being given. This allows insurers to process the claims properly so that the victim gets the help that they so desperately need.

Families of Brain Injury Victims Take on Auto Insurer at 6th Circuit Court is a post from: Cheap Car Insurance News Blog

Contra Costa  County is where the insurance fraud allegedly occurred. There were 20 defendants in all who prosecutors charged with tens of felonies in regard to automobile insurance fraud. Most of these individuals pled guilty. In this instance, the defendants will most likely get a lesser sentence for pleading guilty then having the matter proceed any further and going to trial.

The investigation into the crime ring started three years ago. There had been a pattern of staging accidents and then scamming automobile insurance companies from 2002 to 2012. The investigation involved many different agencies that worked very hard to coordinate the effort so that they could finally disband the crime ring and stop the insurance fraud from continuing any longer. In total, there were 289 counts against all 21 men and women. The charges ranged from insurance fraud to burglary. This crime ring had been allegedly operating in and around the county for years and posed a huge threat to its economy.

The man who is the alleged head of the crime ring is named Kelechi Chukwueke . He appeared in court on Tuesday and pled guilty to 12 of the 61 counts that he had been charged with. The crime ring that he was allegedly running ran under the radar for a long time.

It is important for task forces to be put together any time that there is an issue with criminal activity such as this. It can be hard to prove that auto insurance fraud. In many of the instances of staged automobile accidents, the criminal forces the other driver to stop suddenly and cause an accident to take place. This makes the other driver at fault. The criminal can do this over and over again by using different aliases and vehicles which is why it takes so long to build a thorough investigation into this type of criminal activity.

The agencies had to work together in order to gather enough evidence against each of the defendants. When you have such a large case involving hundreds of felony counts and defendants, you need to make sure that you have made sure that you have covered all of your bases.

The police carried out a warrant search in December of 2011 and found out that the alleged ring leader and two of his associates were threatening other people to become involved in alleged insurance fraud schemes. Many crime rings end up needing to recruit new members because they do not want to raise suspicion by having the same individuals stage automobile accidents over and over again.

One of the auto insurance companies that two men allegedly scammed lost over a half of a million dollars due to their fraudulent insurance claims. The two defendants were able to avoid going to jail because they settled their court cases civilly.

It stands to reason how many more crime rings there might be in the county. Hopefully, the fact that so many people worked so hard and put in so many hours to bust up the crime ring will send a message to others. These 21 defendants will most likely have to serve some time behind bars in the near future. The sad fact of the matter is though that you can get rid of 21 criminals but 22 more are ready to take their place. It is hard for criminals to think about their big picture and how their actions impact others.

Car insurance fraud is one of those crimes that many criminals justify after they have been caught by saying that the only victims were the auto insurance companies that were scammed. This is not true at all though. Both policy holders and their insurance companies end up paying the price. In this case, both and the tax payers had to foot the bill for the years of auto insurance fraud that had taken place.

It took a lot of financial resources to break up this insurance fraud ring and that money comes from tax dollars. Many states such as Florida are spending millions of dollars each year just to try to fight the fraud that is taking place.

The Insurance Commission does have numbers that drivers can call if they suspect that someone is committing insurance fraud. In order to save as much money as possible, states need to provide more incentives to individuals who report this type of crime to the proper authorities so that crime rings can be broken up as soon as possible.

Insurance claims adjusters need to be more on the ball when they review insurance claims. Many cases of fraud slip through the cracks and end up costing automobile insurance companies and their policy holders billions of dollars.

Massive Car Insurance Fraud Dismantled is a post from: Cheap Car Insurance News Blog

The law is innovative because it would allow police officers to verify a person’s proof of automobile insurance coverage by smart phone or other electronic device. For example, most automobile insurance companies allow their policy holders to be able to open accounts to pay their insurance premiums online each month. Now, they can have access to their insurance cards online as well. This is incredibly convenient and will help the police have less headaches when they pull over drivers and ask them to produce their driver’s license, proof of insurance, and registration.

Drivers can still print out their automobile insurance cards and keep them in their glove compartment, center console, or wallet. One issue that could arise from this new bill is that people could be driving and be in a bad service area where their wi-fi might not work for them. This means that the electronic copy of the isnurance card may not be available at all times which can be a huge problem.

Another potential issue might be that a driver might have an electronic copy of an insurance card that is not valid any longer. For example, every six months, a driver receives a new insurance card. If the driver has not been paying their insurance premiums on time each month then their insurance policy might have been canceled. This would make police officers think that a driver has valid coverage when in fact the policy has already been canceled by the insurance company. Many insurance companies have created applications that drivers can download onto their smart phones.

Every auto insurance company wants to be able to offer their policy holders innovative products. Millions of drivers have their smart phones with them when they drive in their vehicles. It is important for drivers to understand that they should always have a hard copy of their auto insurance card just to make sure that they always have it with them at all times.

A driver can be fined for not having the proof of insurance at all times so it is an important safe guard to have in place. Other states have already passed bills similar to this one. Most auto insurance companies are in favor of this because down the road it could end up saving them a lot of money.

The state should also consider a way for officers to be able to run a person’s license plate number and find out if they are in fact insured. Many drivers try to skirt the system by just using the card. It has been hard in the past to have an updated system in place for law enforcement because there can be a lag between policy holders submitting their insurance premiums to their insurance companies and the insurance companies processing the payments and applying them to the accounts.

The two kind of have to go hand in hand down the road. When policy holders can easily download their insurance cards then there needs to be a faster way to get the information for law enforcement who need it the most. Consumers have a lot of power over the system which is why there has not been an effective system in place ever before. Some states have wanted to be able to have random insurance coverage checkpoints but they are very easy to avoid.

Many groups have stated that creating a system to electronically verify insurance coverage would be unfair if it meant that drivers would face serious fines or jail time. If politicians feel pressured to keep the system the same then no real progress will ever be made.

States need to fully comprehend the fact that they cannot mandate insurance coverage and then lack a technological system to verify that people are following the mandate that has been put in place.

People might be able to receive discounts for going paperless. It costs insurance companies a lot of money to have to send out identification cards every six months. If they can tap into this type of law then they could provide incentives to drivers for using an electronic copy alone. This would make the entire process much more convenient for insurance companies.

The bill has a lot of support and will probably be passed by the House soon. Hopefully, the measure can allow drivers to avoid some headaches when they get pulled over for speeding or a traffic stop. It will also allow drivers to have access to their documents at the DMV and other locations where it is asked for.

LA Law Would Allow Drivers to Have Electronic Insurance Cards is a post from: Cheap Car Insurance News Blog