Smart advice for smarter coverage - Page 6

By Aaron Crowe Undocumented immigrants can find themselves in a Catch-22 if they want to drive and have auto insurance in most parts of the United States. They can’t get a driver’s license in most states, and without a license, they often can’t buy auto insurance. “They’re forced to drive without insurance and it’s a […]

By Annmarie Geddes Baribeau Consumer advocates have been cautioning that some automobile insurance companies are using “price optimization” to collect more money from loyal customers. Whether your insurance company is engaging in price optimization or not, the good news is it does not have to affect you. By shopping around, you can make sure you […]

By Aaron Crowe Buyers of electric vehicles have always paid a premium when compared to their gas counterparts, often due to the high costs of technology and the batteries needed to run them. That premium for new cars — sometimes as much as $20,000 before a federal tax incentive is taken into account — disappears […]

By Aaron Crowe Speeding can be expensive, as anyone who has been caught by a police officer’s radar gun already knows. An infraction on a driving record comes with a fine and can lead to an increase in the driver’s auto insurance premium. In California, driving 5 mph over a 25 mph speed limit can […]

By Aaron Crowe Before getting the keys to their rental car, the average driver this summer was pushed by car rental desk clerks to spend $393 more on extras such as insurance and a GPS system, adding up to a 73 percent increase from the average $554 to rent the car. Once the four “extras” […]

By Aaron Crowe Hackers remotely killed a Jeep Cherokee on a highway in St. Louis in July, using the vehicle’s 3G data connectivity to kill the engine, turn on the air conditioning, hijack the infotainment system, track it via GPS, disable the brakes and control the steering. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles quickly came up with a […]

By Aaron Crowe Driving during the summer sounds easy enough: good weather and a relaxing drive to a vacation hideaway are what summer’s all about. The best driving conditions of the year come during the summer — dry roads, excellent visibility and longer daylight hours. Summer driving has got to be a lot safer than […]

By Aaron Crowe   Depending on where you live, deciding between flying and driving to your vacation destination can be a complicated weighing of time vs. cost. The 400-mile trip from the Bay Area to Los Angeles, for example, can take about six hours by car with less than two tanks of gas for the […]

By Aaron Crowe Some auto dealers regularly use bait and switch sales tactics — where they deceive consumers by “baiting” them with a low price and “switch” to a higher price with a similar car — partly because the illegal practice is rarely questioned. Among the Southern California auto dealerships that auto fraud attorney Pauliana […]

By Aaron Crowe It may sound like science fiction, but a day will likely come when you’ll be able to hail a robotic taxi. But that trip in a driverless car could lead to motion sickness, a queasy feeling that auto passengers can get on winding roads, for example, according to a new study. Drivers […]

By Aaron Crowe Drivers who use marijuana are at a much lower risk for car crashes than drivers who use alcohol, according to a study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. When adjustments for age, gender, ethnicity and alcohol consumption were taken into account, drivers who were high on marijuana were no more likely […]

By Aaron Crowe The environmental benefits of green cars may be enough to get some early adopters to buy them. But for others, the switch from all-gas to hybrid or all-electric vehicles can be a lot simpler: Saving money. Rarely, or never, stopping at a gas station is a major benefit of owning a green […]

By Aaron Crowe One of the first inclinations after being in a car accident is to call your auto insurance company. After making sure everyone is safe and you’ve contacted the other driver, calling your insurer for help can be one of the first things you want to do. That can often be a smart […]

By Aaron Crowe For nonsmokers driving with a smoker, slightly cracking open a window to let the smoke out isn’t enough to prevent them from breathing secondhand smoke, according to nonsmoker advocates. It certainly isn’t enough to protect children, they say. In an effort to protect children from secondhand smoke, the city of Tempe, Ariz., […]

By Aaron Crowe Growing up with the Internet at their fingertips, Millennials are used to researching a car purchase with their mobile devices. Being tech-savvy doesn’t mean they don’t want to deal with a salesperson when buying a car, according to a new study. One of every three Millennials (ages 18-34) used their phones to […]

By Aaron Crowe Modifying your car can be a personal statement and a lot of fun, if you can afford it. From stereos and entertainment systems to custom wheels, paint jobs and hydraulics that can bounce your car into the air, it can be easy to spend thousands of dollars on customized parts and equipment. Getting […]

By Aaron Crowe Having a backseat driver offer driving tips and suggest you stop at the nearest doughnut shop doesn’t sound like much fun, especially if you’re trying to avoid eating doughnuts. But that’s what will be happening this summer with OnStar, a service that allows General Motors vehicles to be digitally connected and receive […]

By Aaron Crowe Unless you buy a Corvette that’s likely to appreciate, you could find yourself owing more on your car loan than the vehicle is worth after an accident. That’s because the average new car loses 11 percent of its value the moment you drive it off the dealer’s lot, according to Edmunds.com. During […]

By Aaron Crowe Just as graduated driver licensing keeps teens safe by not allowing them to drive late at night and earn driving privileges gradually, would it also work for elderly drivers? Elderly people drive a lot less than teenage drivers do. Still, per mile traveled, fatal crash rates increase at age 75 and increase […]

By Aaron Crowe In the next wave of zero-emission cars, hydrogen fuel cells are expected to gain ground and eventually pass electric cars, experts say. Researchers at the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis say fuel cell cars are becoming more viable as major automakers push the technology — six have announced that they’ll […]

By Aaron Crowe   Graduated driver licensing, or GDL, is meant to protect young, beginner drivers while they gain experience driving a car. The state programs typically don’t allow them to drive late at night, or with other teens in the car, and the young drivers don’t earn their licenses until after one or two […]

By Aaron Crowe Women are driving more, and they’re not happy about it. More women (51 percent) than men have driver’s licenses in the United States, and while women are becoming more dominating in the car-buying process, they’re not so thrilled with what car manufacturers are offering them. Those are the findings of two separate research […]

By Aaron Crowe The number of U.S. families with two or more cars is declining in major cities, thanks in part to ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft that are changing the ways people drive. The decline isn’t in every city — about 57 percent of U.S. households have two or more cars as […]

By Aaron Crowe Getting into a Lyft, Uber, Sidecar or other ride-sharing car isn’t really about sharing. You’re paying for a taxi ride. As part of that service, you expect the driver to have auto insurance that will cover you if they get into an accident while having you as a paying passenger. Drivers of […]