Smart advice for smarter coverage - Page 4

By Dan Rafter Heading to traffic school to keep your insurance premium from rising? Paul Trowe can tell you what to expect: boredom, and plenty of it. Trowe, the chief executive officer of Austin, Texas-based video game company Replay Games, has attended traffic school or defensive driving both in person and online to keep a […]

The average car in America is over 11 years old and is owned by its original owner for roughly six years. Considering the speed at which car technology seems to be evolving, it’s easy to see why some people may be interested in buying a new car––or giving their vehicles a bit of a facelift. […]

The average American driver uses over 650 gallons of gas every year. At roughly $2.46 per gallon, that’s nearly $1,600 just to fill up your tank on an annual basis. Other ways of filling up your car might be costing you, though, and these prices aren’t posted on the signs at the station. Gas station […]

Car technology and safety features have come a long way. While major tech companies are currently racing to produce the first self-driving cars, it wasn’t until 1959 that Volvo debuted the first three-point seat belt that’s standard in vehicles across the country today. Considering cars are already beginning  to park themselves, self-adjust in a lane, […]

Hurricane season runs from June through November so it’s smart to prepare during the first part of the year for tropical storms and the damage they might inflict on your cars and homes. Homeowners insurance is what people are most concerned about ahead of hurricane season, but thought should be places on car insurance, too. […]

Whether you’ve placed a witty slogan on the back of your whip or you’re using the rear of your ride as a billboard for political campaigns, bumper stickers help car owners add a layer of expression to their vehicles. Bumper stickers allow drivers to share their humor, successes, and allegiances in the form of adhesive […]

If you had to rate your driving skills on a scale of 1 to 10, what number would you give yourself? Do you follow every rule of the road? Are driving below the speed limit and stopping at red lights non-negotiable? A lot of people would consider themselves to be pretty safe drivers, but according […]

It could be a couple of glasses of wine at dinner, a few beers catching up with friends, or a bartender with a heavy pour before your speech becomes slurred, your short-term memory suffers, and your reaction time slows. It could slow just enough to miss hitting the brakes by a fraction of a second. […]

Car thieves are getting more sophisticated all the time, and with good reason. The lure of a quick, but highly illegal pay day, has triggered a crime way in stolen wheels in recent years. According to the FBI, a motor vehicle is stolen in the United States every 44 seconds. In its most recent review […]

It’s easy to say you’re a good driver. Maybe you haven’t received a ticket in a while – or ever. Perhaps you’ve never found yourself on the side of the road calling your insurance company about an automobile accident. Even more, it’s probably been a few days, weeks, months or years since you last took […]

Ever been pulled over by the police? If so, how did you feel? Did you burst into tears or try to charm your way out of that pricey traffic ticket? Did you get the ticket anyway? What would others do in your shoes? We wondered just that, so we asked over 2,000 people to tell […]

You may look forward to handing the car keys over to your teen, but that convenience will come at a price in the form of higher car insurance rates. These tips to get cheap online quotes can help. Car insurance for teens can be very expensive, possibly adding hundreds of dollars a month to your […]

Every day, Americans take 1.1 billion road trips in the U.S. That’s four vehicular expeditions for every person in the country. One of the most instinctual actions when we sit down in our cars should be to buckle our seat belts. We’re taught at a young age that buckling up is as important as looking […]

If you have a young driver on your insurance policy, you know that can be an expensive proposition. Young drivers cost more to insure because, mile-for-mile, they get into more accidents. So it’s smart to ask yourself, “How will a child going to college affect my car insurance?” Having a child leave for college is […]

Many people are passionate about speed, whether dizzying roller coasters or fast motorcycles. But for some drivers, this need for speed manifests in a dangerous and illegal way: street racing. This underground subculture draws participants and onlookers across the country. Fueled by adrenaline and competitive spirit, drivers race and drift (purposely oversteer to perform fishtail-style stunts). […]

  First, the good news: In the United States, car theft has been declining steadily for the past decade. Still, a motor vehicle is stolen every 46 seconds – a number that isn’t very comforting. So how safe is your car? To find out, we looked at data from the FBI and the National Insurance Crime […]

Let’s see if you can answer this question without Google: How do you jumpstart a car? While we live in a world where information and instruction are just a few taps or voice commands away, there’s something to be said about knowing the inner workings of our automobiles. Unfortunately, though, our mechanical troubleshooting skills don’t […]

If you’re a college student needing car insurance while on campus, or a parent who needs insurance coverage for a child away at school, it’s smart to understand the costs of car insurance for college students and how to find the best deal. The typical college student looking for car insurance may already be at […]

Ever wonder what might happen to your car if it were caught in the middle of a riot? Or what if a meteorite descended from space and landed on your hood while driving to visit the in-laws? Well, there’s good news for drivers who may encounter these and other strange circumstances — auto insurance just […]

Nobody likes getting into a car accident. From the high-pitched screech of tires to the thunderous sound that comes when two cars slam together, the entire experience can jolt you to the core. Even the smallest of crashes – a fender bender – can shatter your nerves for the rest of the day. According to […]

By Aaron Crowe Online research is a smart way to evaluate a new car before buying, but it can’t replace getting the feel for a car with a test drive, auto experts say.More than one in 10 new car buyers skip the test drive, figuring the car is meant to get them from point A […]

You probably remember that moment as a teenager when you finally got your driver’s license. It’s the one time in your life that driving is truly thrilling. You climbed behind the wheel, that little plastic ID card in hand, ready to take on the world as a full-fledged driver. Or so you thought. At first, […]

Obnoxious. Pushy. Combative. Whatever you call these drivers, you’ve surely encountered them on the road at some point or another. But what actions cross the line from simply rude to flat-out aggressive? Is one state’s aggressive driving simply another state’s norm? And how do opinions vary among different age groups, genders, and drivers of certain […]

By Aaron Crowe Can’t get your car’s Bluetooth system to sync with your phone? Does the car’s navigation system misinterpret your commands and not get you where you need to go? You’re not alone. A recent study by J.D. Power and Associates found that 20 percent of all customer-reported problems on vehicle reliability were for […]