An Insurance Policy That Monitors Your Driving – Are You Willing To Trade Your Privacy For Discounts?

No one likes an annoying back seat driver.  But could you stomach one that stayed quiet and just used observations of your driving habits to determine your auto insurance rates?  Well that time may be coming soon.   Insurance companies are beginning to build momentum in the field of using telemetrics as the primary actuarial data source for auto insurance rates.  Telemetrics, the science of measuring data created by your driving habits has the goal in mind of a more accurate auto insurance rate for each driver.

Insurance industry executives and underwriters have long wished for a better way to predict which clients will cause losses on their insurance policies.  In the world of auto insurance, the tools that insurance companies have had at their disposal in the past have been relatively crude.  Decisions about your driving ability and safety are currently based on information such as the kind of car you drive, your age and number of years driving, your past traffic violations and past auto insurance claims.  For instance, get a few speeding tickets and even though you’ve not filed a claim, in N.C., your auto insurance rates will skyrocket.  And yet I’ve seen quite a few clients with a high number of speeding tickets who never had an accident or filed an insurance claim.  Or take the example of teen drivers.  Not every new driver has accidents, but the insurance company simply has no way of knowing which child carries the greatest risk so they just have to charge huge inexperienced operator rates to all new drivers..  But what if the insurance company could watch young driver every time they head out in the car?  Would they then be able to make better decisions about which young driver is most likely to cause an accident and thus charge each a fairer rate?

Enter telemetrics, the newest underwriting science in auto insurance rates.  While this science has been around for a few years already, very few insurance companies have studied or adopted it.  That may be about to change.  State Farm Insurance, one of the largest auto insurers in the country is testing the use of telemetrics in several states and has indicated that they plan to roll this out to all states soon.  This strategy, should it succeed for State Farm, is bound to push this trend amongst all auto insurers much more quickly.  So what is telemetrics exactly?  Well, telemetrics is the gathering of data about your driving habits via small telemetric devices which plug into the car’s diagnostic ports.  This data is then sent to the insurance company and analyzed to determine if your driving habits indicate that you deserve  a discount refund on your rates for safer driving.  Right now these programs are focused on offering cash back discounts for good driving behaviors but are not designed to generate additional rate increases for the drivers who don’t make the grade.   That approach is almost certain to change should this form of auto rating, often referred to as usage rating become more common.    For now, this new technology is still in a testing phase and insurance companies would be hard pressed to get people to sign up to be monitored if they risked higher rates for doing so.

So what data are insurance companies collecting with telemetric programs?  Generally speaking they claim to monitor your speed, the number of miles your drive, the times of day that you drive, as well as your acceleration and deceleration habits and how hard you take turns.  What they currently claim not to monitor is seat belt usage, the exact vehicle location the car’s speed relative to the posted speed limit at that location. 

Telemetrics as a car insurance rating and underwriting tool is not without its critics.  The fears and complaints deal primarily with privacy issues in this data collection process.    Collecting this much data on U.S. drivers certainly puts insurance companies in a powerful position.  While they don’t currently plan to collect detailed data about where you have traveled, as telemetrics become more commonplace it can be assumed that more and more data will be collected.  This does create a slippery slope scenario where once you have given over your privacy to insurance companies, over time the data they collect on you could become more detailed and broader.  And once the data is compiled and collected, it could fall into the hands of law enforcement or even your separated spouse’s divorce lawyer or some other civil liability suit attorney.  And what about hackers gaining unauthorized access to insurance company data and using this information to harm you in some way?  And one other aspect of the slippery slope theory says that as more and more people accept the loss of privacy in order to try for more discounts, those who wish to maintain their privacy may have to pay higher insurance rates just to do so.  Would this be fair? 

Clinard Insurance Group is an independent insurance agency, located in Winston Salem, NC.  We insure thousands of families and businesses all across North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia.  If you would like help with your auto insurance,  home insurance, life insurance or business insurance needs, please feel free to call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557.

In NC Now Your Auto Taxes and Tags Will Be Combined On One Bill

The way you pay your vehicle property taxes in NC is on the brink of a big change.   The State of NC is now beginning to phase in a new billing program that will combine your license tag renewal bill with the bill for the property taxes due on your vehicle.

Each county in NC charges a property tax for the licensed vehicles in their county.  Before this change was passed, each county would send a separate property tax bill for each vehicle in the county.  These taxes were generally due on the anniversary date of the day that you first registered your vehicle.   In 2013 this is all changing.

With the passage of General Assembly House Bill 1779, the Tax and Tag Together program was created.  This program combines the renewal bill for your license tag with your property tax bill for your vehicle.  By the time this new program is fully phased in, sometime in mid 2014, everyone will receive a combined bill for both license tag renewals and vehicle property taxes.   Both will be due at the same time, both are payable to the NC Division of Motor Vehicles.

This new Tax and Tag Together program will begin phasing in by mid 2013 as the DMV begins sending out registration renewals that will include the property taxes with each bill.  By mid 2014, all vehicles will be included in this program.  The DMV will disburse the property tax funds of your tax payment to your county tax office.  This means that once your vehicle is phased in to the new program, you will no longer be able to pay your vehicle property tax payments at your county office. 

It has only been a few years now since the NC DMV connected your annual vehicle inspection renewal to your tag renewal and this rule has not changed.  This means that you still must have your vehicle inspected before you pay your tag renewal.  With this new program, your vehicle tax will be due at the same time as well.  So, you will have three things that you must do at the same time every year: Get your vehicle inspected, pay your tag renewal and pay the property taxes on that vehicle.

You should receive a notice with the new tax bill and registration renewal by mail.  But keep in mind, if you have recently moved and have not notified the DMV of your new address, then you will likely miss this notice and could be subject to penalties and interest if you are late paying your property taxes.  In addition, if you have moved to a new county and not notified the DMV, then the tax bill that you receive might be inaccurate so you will have more to work out before you can renew your tags.

Last of all, don’t forget that NC law states that if you have a tag in your possession, then you must have auto liability insurance in force as well.  So if you sell your car, don’t forget to take off the tag and turn it in to the NCDMV office before you call your insurance agent to ask them to remove this car from your insurance policy.

At Clinard Insurance Group, we want all of our customers to be informed insurance buyers.  If you have any questions at all about any of your insurance policies, or if you need help with a new auto insurance  or home insurance policy, please call our office at 877-687-7557 and we will be happy to help you.

Insurance Fraud Investigators Using Social Media To Catch The Crooks

There are many different kinds of insurance fraud scams, from the creative and complicated to the simple and childlike.  Insurance fraud in the United States costs insurers about $30 billion per year; more than 10% of all losses paid out by insurance companies.  I’ve mentioned this number to people in the past who have responded with a comment that the insurance companies can afford it so what is the big deal.  But they are forgetting that all costs are passed to the consumer eventually so these crooks are really stealing from them.  Just imagine, if we could get rid of insurance fraud completely, you could expect to pay 10% less for every kind of insurance policy that you buy from auto insurance and home insurance to business insurance and life insurance and health insurance.  How much would that 10% add up to in your case?

Before social media exploded into an integral part of so many peoples’ lives, solving insurance fraud claims had been a slow and difficult process.  But sites, like Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and others are providing a wealth of information and clues to investigators.  Here are a  few of these real world examples that show how these social media sites are helping investigators catch and stop some of the insurance fraud taking place today.

This first example is a case of fraud that didn’t include an insurance company, but it does prove how powerful these tools can be.  A woman worked in the payables department of a big corporation that had awarded a maintenance contract to a firm which was secretly run by her husband.    The maintenance firm was billing for services that were not actually performed and the wife was paying them on behalf of the corporation.  You can imagine that this kind of fraud is tough to detect and even harder to prove.    But the investigator cross referenced information from all of the social media sites with traditional sources such as the white pages and eventually found an address associated with the maintenance firm that matched an address of one of the couple’s grown children.    This allowed the investigator to connect the two and eventually to put an end to their fraud.

The one area of insurance that has perhaps benefited the most from these new tools is workers compensation insurance.  In one case, an injured worker, who was out of work on disability, posted photos of himself on top of a mountain in Aspen ready to ski down.  Another disabled worker left social media tracks that led to him playing basketball in an adult basketball league.   In this case,  the insurance company saves a lot of investigation money because instead of having to follow him around 24/7, the investigator needs only to attend the basketball game to witness him playing.   Or consider the case of a worker who was out on disability for a back injury who posted photos of himself at a karate class, thereby ending his disability workers compensation claim.

Social media is also quite good at revealing relationships between the different players in a scam.    A doctor and an attorney who were involved in a fraudulent insurance scheme together turned out to be connected on Linked In and it was later found that they were tweeting to each other to set up meetings to work out their next moves.  In another case, an investigator of a slip and fall claim, using social media sleuthing, discovered that two other people living in the same apartment with the victim were also victims of previous slip and fall claims.  In the end it was proven that only the first of these claims was legitimate and that the other two were fabricated.

Even Craigslist is a useful tool for the fraud investigator.  One fraudster filed an auto insurance claim for a stolen car.  A few months later he listed that same car for sale on Craigslist.    In another example, an individual filed a claim for his car that had been burned and investigators later found several earlier ads on Craigslist where this person had tried unsuccessfully to sell the car.  I guess he decided it would be easier to burn it and collect the insurance money.

All of these sleuthing techniques will help keep your insurance costs lower over the long term.   But if you don’t want to wait for these techniques to trickle down as savings to you, but would rather lower your insurance costs today, then you should call Clinard Insurance Group, toll free, at 877-687-7557 and let us help you find the policy that suits your needs at a rates that will bring a smile to your face.

NC Steps Up Enforcement On Auto Insurance And Tag Possession

NC state law requires that every licensed vehicle in our state maintain continuous liability insurance in force.  This law has remained unchanged for many years but recently the NC Division of Motor Vehicles has started to change the way that they enforce this law.  And this change has caught many car owners off guard, resulting in nasty fines that were never expected by the car owner. 

The law requiring continuous liability insurance for all licensed vehicles is a good one and is designed to make sure that everyone who drives a car and puts others at risk has some way to pay for the losses that they cause.  In the past there was more flexibility in how this law was enforced, particularly for people who sold a car.  You used to be able to wait a week or so until it was convenient to run down to the tag office to turn in the tag and not risk a fine.  And we all know how this works, you sell a car and you immediately want to take it off your insurance policy and get your refund on the way to your mailbox.  The tag though is usually just a nuisance and you get around to turning it in when it is convenient for you.   That has all changed, and caught more than a few people off guard as the enforcement has been stepped up.  Now, with very few exceptions, if you have a tag in your possession even one day after your insurance has been cancelled, then you will probably have to pay the $50 fine, no questions asked.

There may be many reasons why the DMV has decided to stop going lightly on this rule.  I might speculate that perhaps the increased revenue associated with collection of these fines plays a part.  Or maybe there have been just too many uninsured vehicles out there involved in accidents and causing damages that the drivers can’t pay to fix.  Whatever the impetus behind this change, people who have become used to taking their time about turning in their tags after selling a car, will have to change their patterns or face fines.

After our office reached out to and spoke with a DMV officer, he confirmed that the DMV is more rigorously enforcing this rule and collecting more fines these days.  He also offered some pretty good advice for helping protect yourself from the system itself, even when you do turn your tags in on time.  He asked that we tell people to turn in their tags before they cancel their insurance on a car, and most importantly to ask for a receipt stating that the tag has been turned in.  This is necessary because your tag might otherwise be tossed in a box to be processed later.  This late processing might happen after you have called your auto insurance agent to remove the sold car from your policy.  If so, you would still be facing a $50 fine, even though you did everything correctly. 

At Clinard Insurance Group, we insure thousands of families all across North Carolina.  We hope that none of our clients get caught in this new fine trap.  If you would like any help with your home insurance, your auto insurance, your life insurance or even your business insurance, I hope you will give us a call, toll free, at 877-687-7557.  We look forward to helping you with all of your insurance needs.

Will Falling Bond Yields Mean Higher Insurance Rates For You?

It may at first seem a little disjointed.  How could volatility and falling yields in the bond market have any effect at all on your insurance rates?  I mean weather yeah, bad driving record yeah, but falling bond yields?  The answer lies in the way that insurance companies make a profit.  And in times of intense completion,  most of their profit comes from investment income as opposed to underwriting income.  The intense completion for your auto insurance dollars is on display on your television every day and probably in your junk email folder as well.  And this competition on pricing has put a lot of pressure on investment income.    The options in that arena these days may leave many insurance companies with no choice but to raise rates.

One very important metric that every insurance company follows very closely is called the loss ratio.  This metric has several different iterations. The easiest to understand is called the pure loss ratio.  This is simply a measure of all premiums taken in, divided by all losses paid out.  Of even more importance is a metric called the combined ratio which is all premiums taken in, divided by the sum of losses paid out plus all other expenses.  When the combined loss ratio goes over 100%, then the insurance company has lost money on their underwriting operations.  When this happens, they will need to find their profit in the income that they generate by investing your premiums until they need them to pay for losses.

Intense competition in the insurance marketplace has driven down rates steadily for many years and the combined loss ratio of many insurance companies is now up over the dreaded 100% level.  To protect themselves their choices are to cut expenses, increase investment income or increase the rates that they charge for the various insurance products that they sell.  As a rule,  insurance companies invest in very stable and safe government bonds.  But the volatility of the government bond market, along with dreadfully low yields has driven some insurance companies to invest more in corporate bonds.  The problem with this strategy is that it exposes the insurance company to debt risk if and when interest rates rise.  If we see more corporate defaults, then the insurance companies that have invested in corporate paper will suffer losses and will have to raise their rates even further.

With high quality corporate bond now yielding below a 2% return, corporate debt is no longer a viable option for helping to reduce the combined loss ratio to produce a profit for the insurance company.  This leaves insurance companies faced with the choice between reducing expenses or investing in riskier investments to chase higher yields.  If they reject these choices then they are left with one remaining option, raising rates.  When yields ran at 6% for grade A corporate bonds, then the insurance companies that took a chance on this type of debt had 4 additional points to play with on their combined loss ratio.  At 2% the margin is getting pretty thin.  Add in the risk of default by the corporations that issue these bonds and you can see the dilemma that may lead more and more insurance companies to raise their rates.  It is easy to see that while falling interest rates may be helpful to you from a mortgage or car loan standpoint, they can have a counter effect on your car insurance rates and your home insurance rates.

At Clinard Insurance Group, we insure thousands of families all across North Carolina with their auto insurance, their home insurance and life insurance as well as their business insurance needs.  If you would like to ask questions or receive help in any of these areas, I hope you will call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557.

Auto Insurance Marketing Costs – The Ad War Continues….

If you watch any television these days then you know that as soon as an ad sequence starts, you are very likely to see at least one ad for car insurance.   It is no accident that you seldom see specific appeals for you to buy home insurance in NC.  But that is simply because most insurance companies are losing money on NC homeowners insurance.  But auto insurance is different.  The profit margins for this product are much higher, thus you see so many ads offering to save you money.    These ads must work though, since the insurance companies just keep upping the ante and spending more and more each year.    But just how much is being spent to try and convince you to switch your auto insurance policy?

The numbers are shocking.  In fact if you are one of those who would like to see more money spent on solving world problems rather than advertising, you may even be offended.    The insurance company that is currently spending the most money on marketing expenses is Geico.  Last year they spent $993.8 million dollars on marketing.  That’s almost a billion dollars!  Geico increased its expenditures in 2011 by 10% compared to what they spent in 2010.    And yet, this 10% increase, as amazing as that seems, is far below the 15% average increase in marketing spending industry wide.  Geico’s marketing budget amounted one sixth of all the marketing spent last year by the entire property and casualty industry.

You’ve heard the saying that bigger is not always better and I think it comes into play here.  The more ads they put on television, then the less impact each one has.  But this arms race that the largest insurance companies have joined in simply requires them to spend more and more each year to overcome the noise that the others have created trying to keep up with them.  Where it will end is not clear but at some point in time the return on investment will fall and this trend will slow down or stop completely. 

You may be interested to know that while auto insurance represents about 1/3 of the total of all property and casualty insurance sold, the advertising and marketing budgets for car insurance represent more than half of the total spent on property and casualty insurance marketing.  This is evidence to me that these direct writer insurance companies with their faceless call centers believe that the average television watcher is probably the biggest sucker for them to approach.  And they are probably right.  They boil the complicated process of protecting your hard won assets down to saving money.  Look, saving money on car insurance is easy, just reduce your coverage.  But doing that of course flies in the very face of why you would buy car insurance in the first place.  But hey, if they can distract you with comedy and talking reptiles, why not?  They surely won’t spend this same amount of money trying to reach commercial insurance customers because commercial insurance customers are too savvy to fall for the idea that all insurance policies are the same and that the lowest price is the only goal when buying insurance.  And people who buy car insurance should be just as careful as business customers because after all, you are buying car insurance to protect your assets that you have worked so hard for over the years.

At Clinard Insurance Group we do things differently.  We don’t have billion dollar ad budgets so we have to get it right with every person that calls us.  We do this by offering you an experienced, well informed agent who will take the time to listen to you, hear your story and then help you find the right policy for your needs at the lowest possible cost to you.  We insure thousands of families all across North Carolina and would love to have the opportunity to show the difference between huge ad budgets and one on one consistent, professional help.  Give us a call today; toll free, at 877-687-7557.

Do Higher Speed Limits Cause More Accidents?

The Texas Department of Transportation is in the midst of a debate about increasing the speed limit on a stretch of highway to 85 mph.   If this happens, then this section of road will hostthe highest speed limit in the United States.  Should Texas then expect to experience more car accidents on this highway then?

What is the relationship between speed limits and accident frequency?  Will higher speed limits always lead to more accidents?  In nearly every study made, the answer is no.  However, when accidents happen at higher speeds, the damages and injuries are much more severe.  Fatality rates in high speed accidents are always higher than in those at lower speeds.  Given that, how do traffic engineers determine the safest speed limit on any given stretch of highway?

Well, the formula that is most commonly used now is to set the speed limit at a speed  at which 85% of the drivers would drive at any given location in optimum weather conditions.  This is because the real factor in determining the likelihood of an accident is the speed disparity between the fastest and the slowest cars.  The majority of drivers rarely drive faster than their speed comfort zone.  This might seem ridiculous given how many drivers you see risking their life and everyone else’s by texting and talking on the phone while they drive.  These behaviors are much more dangerous than driving fast, but people understand intuitively that speed can kill them and so they rarely drive faster than they can control their vehicle.  Texting and talking on the other hand are activities that few drivers recognize as deadly at this time in our cultural development.  That will change in time.  When traffic engineers choose a speed limit that suits 85% of the drivers, then the police can then more easily spot the speeding outliers who need to be controlled by ticketing.

But wait, isn’t driving slower always safer?  Well no.  It turns out that in  both state and federal studies it is consistently shown that the drivers most likely to get into accidents are those traveling significantly below the average speed of the other drivers on the road.  If you are on the highway driving 10 mph slower than the average vehicle speed  then you are more likely to be involved in an accident than if you were driving 10 mph faster than the average speed. 

One thing that everyone should remember when driving at higher speeds is that that you need to allow significantly longer stopping distances between you and the car in front of you.  It will take you nearly twice as far to stop at 85 mph as it will at 60 mph.   So increased speed limits need to be accompanied by some changes in driver habits and that doesn’t always happen.

If those driving on highways at speeds above the speed limit are less likely to get into accidents than those traveling at speeds below the speed limit, then why do auto insurance companies charge you higher rates if you have speeding tickets on your driving record?  In my opinion this is an example of archaic rules still on the books.  Here in NC it is a bit ironic that you can get your ticket reduced to less than 10 miles over the speed limit and have your insurance points waived.  However, if you get a speeding ticket for going more than 75 mph in NC, which in some cases might be only 6 mph over the speed limit, then you could face a 4 point surcharge which would increase your insurance costs dramatically.  You can quickly see that this approach flies in the face of all research and does not make any actuarial sense at all.  I think with the increased use of on board monitoring systems for auto insurance rates, that eventually some of the speeding ticket insurance surcharges will be changed or removed from the books completely.

Clinard Insurance Group is an independent insurance agency located in lovely Winston Salem, NC.  We insured thousands of families all across North and South Carolina.  If you need any help with your auto insurance policy, your homeowners insurance policy, or your life insurance, please call our office, toll free, at 877-687-7557.  We look forward to answering your questions and helping you.

Your Car Has No Insurance And You Loan It To A Friend – Who Will Pay For An Accident?

Not long ago I was buttonholed at a party and asked this question:  If I were to loan out my car with no insurance on it and my friend had a wreck, who would be responsible for paying for the damages?  My first response was to blanche at  the question of course since driving any uninsured vehicle on the road would be counter to any advice I would ever give someone.  But to avoid being rude, I tried to lay out for this person just how this deal might go down.

I want to begin my answer here by stating that I am not an attorney and so I can’t give legal advice.  What follows is just my opinion and thoughts about the answer to this question.  I want to make is clear that I feel that no one ever drive an uninsured vehicle on the roads in North Carolina.  Having said that, I understand that at any given time,  up to 15% of the cars on our NC highways have no valid insurance in force.  This happens inadvertently when people forget to pay their car insurance bill or the payment gets lost in the mail or the check that they sent to the insurance company bounces.  And of course there are also a number of drivers out there that simply choose to be uninsured for all kinds of other reasons.

So, how will it play out if you loan an uninsured car to a friend and they have a wreck that is their fault?  Who will pay for the damages?  Well, keep in mind that different circumstances may generate different results but in general both the driver and the vehicle owner can be held liable for the damages.  Can you demand that your friend pay for the damages and leave you out of the matter?  Of course you can but whether or not you succeed will probably depend on if your friend knew the car was uninsured when he borrowed it, as well as the nature of what caused the accident and the degree to which your car’s condition had an impact on the accident happening in the first place.  Either way, I would advise that both parties hire counsel to help sort this out.

Your friend may have some insurance protection that from his own personal auto insurance policy if he has one in place on his own cars.  If that is the case, then he has protection for himself, but not for you.  If he relies on his insurance company to step in and pay the first dollar damages, then probably his insurance company will sue you for the damages that they paid out on his behalf.

Now, if you are choose not to insure your vehicle and you loan it to others, you should know that you are increasing your own financial risks by adding another driver and his or her skill to your uninsured liabilities.  What I said to the person at the party who asked me this question is that if you are taking the time to worry about this before you loan out your car, then why not  take the time to buy an insurance policy for your car before you loan it or even drive it yourself. 

If you find yourself without insurance on your car, please don’t drive it until you have insurance in place.  If you would like help with your auto insurance policy, or if you just have questions about car insurance in North Carolina, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.  We can also help you with your home insurance policy, your life insurance needs or even your business insurance.

How To Determine Who Is At Fault In An Auto Accident

Auto accidents happen every day.  Hopefully you will never be involved in one but if you are, what you do and say after an accident could have a big impact on who is ultimately found to be at fault. Here are a few tips and ideas to help you better understand the process and what you should do after an auto accident.

Call the police.  I have seen situations where people were so sure that they were at fault that they agreed to pay for all damages, only to be shocked later that the other party’s insurance paid for the damages instead.  I have seen accidents where one person denied even being in a wreck in the first place.  The police report is designed to protect you and to provide the insurance adjuster with enough information to figure out which driver caused the accident.  Make it a rule to always call the police, no matter how small the accident.  The police report will provide the insurance adjuster with the drivers names and contact information, witness information as well as a brief summary from the officer.  If you don’t think the accident was your fault, then tell the police officer why.

Gather the other driver’s information.   Even if the other driver is in a hurry and doesn’t want to wait for the police, make sure that before they leave you get as much contact information about them as you can.  Write down the make and model of the car and the license plate number as well as the driver’s name and contact information.   If it is you that is in a hurry, try to find the patience to wait for the police officer.  Recently one of our clients was hit by a driver who ran a red light.  She was in a hurry and didn’t wait around for the police officer to arrive.  She was shocked to read the police report later as it indicated that she was the one who ran the red light.  

Take as many pictures as you can.  Almost everyone has a camera on their phone.  Include photos of skid marks, debris fields as well as photos of the cars both before and after they are moved from the scene of the accident.  It is hard to know just what might become important later so the more photos you can take, the better.

Make your statement to both the police officer and the insurance adjuster.  Tell the officer what happened in logical step by step order.   You will need to record a statement later with the insurance adjuster.  When you do this, be sure to include everything you can think of, no matter how trivial it may seem to you.  The adjuster will study your statement with the summary provided by the police report and along with that and the other party’s statements and photos will then decide who is at fault.

At Clinard Insurance Group we want all of our clients to be informed consumers.  If you have a claim on any of your policies, from auto insurance to home insurance or even business insurance, we will be there with you through each step of the claims process.  If you need help with any of your insurance needs, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557.  We look forward to serving you.

Does Your Auto Insurance Policy Include OEM Parts Coverage For Your Car?

Most people buying a new auto insurance policy don’t stop to think about the parts will be used to repair their cars if they are involved in an accident.  Most of us assume that our vehicles will be fixed and put back on the road, as good as new.  But in North Carolina, the law and the auto insurance policy language could leave you with some bad feelings after the dust has settled on your claim. 

OEM stands for original manufacturer’s equipment.  This terminology is used for parts that were manufactured by the original car company for your car.  In NC, car insurance companies are not obligated to pay for OEM parts when paying for damages to your wrecked vehicle.   Since OEM parts usually cost more than non OEM replacement parts, most repairs are not done with replacement parts that were manufactured by the original car manufacturer.

Now these non-OEM replacement parts may or may not be as good or even better quality than OEM parts.  But that’s not the point.  The point is that most people have expectations that include OEM parts being used to repair their cars.  Let’s face it, many of us have personal relationships with our cars and don’t want to feel cheated after an accident and repair work.   There is a simple solution to this problem but it requires that you take action before your car is damaged.  Most insurance companies doing business in NC have an OEM parts endorsement that you can add to your auto policy to make sure that the costs of these parts is covered if you have a loss.  Some restrictions apply to the OEM endorsement on the North Carolina auto insurance policy.  For instance, most insurance companies will require that you add this endorsement within 60 days of the purchase of a new vehicle.  Usually you can only add the endorsement to a vehicle that you purchased brand new.  Also, most companies will drop this coverage once your car is over 7 years old.  One company that we represent will let you add OEM coverage at any time and will allow you keep it on the policy until your vehicle is 10 years old, so there are some exceptions to these rules.

The cost of this protection is usually about 5% additional on your comprehensive and collision insurance premiums.  Now, keep in mind this other issue:  Even if you buy OEM coverage for your car, if you are hit by another person and that person is at fault, then your claim will be handled by the other person’s insurance company.   Letting them settle the claim with you will mean your OEM protection will not apply.   You can get around this by filing a collision claim with your insurance company so that you can benefit from the OEM endorsement on your policy.  If you do it this way, then you will have to pay the collision deductible on this claim out of your pocket and wait to be reimbursed by the other party’s insurance company if and when your insurance company files a subrogating claim against them and collects.  This may take some time or might even never happen, depending on the size and complexity  or the claim.

This is just one illustration of how complex North Carolina auto insurance really is.  There are many things for you to consider when buying your auto insurance policy.   From just this one example you can see that do it yourself car insurance is a bad idea.  Here at Clinard Insurance Group,  we write thousands of auto insurance policies for our customers located all across the state of North Carolina.  We will take as much time as you need to make sure that you understand all of your options and that you are completely comfortable with your choices.  Please give us a call for help with your auto insurance or your home insurance.  You can reach us toll free, at 877-687-7557.

Facebook And Your Personal Insurance Policies – Is There A Connection?

Most of us would agree that what you say and do on Facebook should have no effect on your insurance policies or your rates.   But the truth is more complicated.  Your Facebook actions can have an effect on your insurance rates and coverages in some circumstances.  And my guess is that the impact will only grow over time.

I want to begin by assuring you that as of this moment, I am not aware of an insurance company that using Facebook as an underwriting tool for personal insurance policies such as home insurance and auto insurance.  There may come a time when they automate that process and if so, will begin to use it if they can.    Insurance for businesses though is a very different scenario.  Businesses want to attract people to their FB pages and so their Facebook information is easy for anyone to see.   Commercial insurance underwriters will routinely study a business Facebook page to be sure that they are comfortable insuring that enterprise.  Here is a list of some of the things you want to consider vis-à-vis your personal insurance and your safety on Facebook.

Start by understanding that Facebook data is a rich source of opportunity for crooks and thieves.   Once again, one bad apple spoils everyone else’s fun.  But you can still have a great time but not give up the information so easily.  The thieves are out there looking for the easy targets.  So here are some ideas to help keep you from being the low hanging fruit for the bad people out there who are looking for ways to steal from you. 

You should start with a very strong password.   Obviously you don’t want to share that password with anyone.   The strong password will help prevent a thief from guessing your password based on the information that can be publicly obtained.  Also, while it is ok to show your birthday, don’t show the year you were born.  That is just an invitation for identity thieves to go to work on you. 

Take the time to understand just how the privacy controls work  and try and limit as much access about yourself to just your friends.  Restrict access to photos, birth date, family information and religious views.  Remember, the more pieces of the puzzle you give out, the easier it is for a crook to steal from you.  It is also a bad idea to post your children’s names in photos as tags.  If someone else does this, you should ask them to delete the tag.    Your children are the weakest link in the information protection game and letting a thief link your information to theirs just makes their job all the easier.

This next reminder should be obvious but people break this rule all of the time.  Don’t post the dates you will be out of town.  If you must share the pics from your recent trip, just wait until you get home to share them.  If you are talking about a future trip online, be as vague as possible about the actual dates you will be gone.

Right now, my experience tells me that the things you say and share on your personal Facebook page are not a threat to your home insurance rates or your auto insurance rates.   I hear rumors out there, which I cannot confirm, that some life insurance companies may be trying to track applicants on Facebook to help decide, based on lifestyle choices, which applicants should get the preferred rates and which should be charged more.  However, at this point in time, I think the biggest threat to you at this comes from theives.  Please use good common sense with your Facebook account.

Clinard Insurance Group is an independent insurance agency located in Winston Salem, NC.  We try very hard to pull back the curtain on the insurance industry so that you can be an informed insurance buyer.  If we can help you with your home insurance, your life insurance, your auto insurance of even your business insurance needs, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557.

Does Your Credit Score Match Your Insurance Company’s Appetite?

There is an awful lot of talk these days about credit scores. You see the ads with the people walking around with a number over their head, indicating their particular credit score. While these ads really have more to do with borrowing money or protecting your credit, a little known fact is that these scores also have a huge impact on your auto insurance policy rates and your home insurance rates.

Now, to clarify, most insurance companies don’t work straight off of your credit score, but rather a more complicated formula that is called your insurance score. They pool data that includes but is not limited to your credit score from database companies like Experian and Equifax. And your insurance score can actually vary from company to company. Add to this the fact that your rates are directly affected by your credit score. Insurance companies now have so many different rating tiers that it is almost as if they have a specific rate for you that is different from the rate that any other customer might receive.

So why is this important? I was recently at an annual meeting for a very large insurance company that specializes in auto insurance and home insurance. One of the graphs that came up on the overhead showed the percentage of policies that they wrote in many different insurance score bands. I guess that is no real surprise, but then they showed which bands of insurance score they wanted to grow in next year. And guess what, it wasn’t the highest score band. Now what that should tell you is that most insurance companies are not just trying to write all the policies they can, far from it. In fact, they are trying to write policies for people who fit their niche in the insurance score universe.

So this got me thinking. If every insurance company has a sweet spot in terms of insurance score, and almost every insurance buyer has his or her own unique insurance score, how in the world can the two match up so that the insurance company gets just the consumer that it is targeting and of course the consumer, by being in that company’s sweet spot, gets the best possible rate? There is no place where people can go and have their insurance score run and then plug those numbers into a data base that sorts them to the best insurance company. So, at best, this is an inexact science. But it does underscore the need for you to have an experienced advocate working for you in the process of buying your auto or your home insurance. And if you use an independent agent, then their access to and experience with the multiple insurance companies that they represent will give you a huge edge over the direct writers who only have access to one insurance company. So, who are the direct writers who are not independent? Well, they will be names that you recognize, State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide, Progressive and Geico. These companies spend a lot of money on TV talking about saving money and low prices, all designed to steer the conversation away from their weak point, the fact that they have only their one product to offer you and thus they minimize your chances of making a good match between your insurance score and your insurance company.

At Clinard Insurance Group, Inc, in Winston Salem, NC, we want insurance consumers to be informed consumers, whether or not they choose to buy from us. We believe the independent agent gives you the best possible chance to purchase the most coverage at the lowest price consistently over the long term. If we can help you with your NC auto insurance or your home insurance, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557, or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

You can read source information for this article among other articles at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Clinard Insurance Group Named Rough Notes E-agency Of The Month February 2011

In this blog, I usually try to focus on insurance policy and coverage help that will allow insurance consumers out there to become more informed buyers of the insurance product they need. In this article, I want to deviate from that tack just a bit and take a moment to sing the praises of Clinard Insurance Group in particular.

The occasion for this change in approach on this blog is that Clinard Insurance Group, an independent insurance agency in Winston Salem, NC has been named the e-Agency of the month by Rough Notes magazine. Rough Notes is a national insurance industry magazine with over 40,000 subscribers. So this is a big honor and we want to let all of our readers know about it.

The Rough Notes article focuses on our digital marketing efforts in particular but does give a lot of other information about our agency and our more traditional marketing methods as well. This is an important marker for those of you out there considering an agent for your business insurance. The reason this is so, is that we take our digital and traditional marketing expertise and we use it help our business insurance clients grow their businesses as well. We understand that if your business grows, then so does ours. One of the ways you can see us working hard for our clients is through our partners page that is a place where our business clients can offer coupons to the online world to help increase their client base.

If you would like to read the rough notes article and see photos of some of the people behind the scenes at Clinard Insurance Group, just click here. I hope you enjoy this inside look at our agency.

At Clinard Insurance Group we want all insurance consumers to be informed buyers. We work hard to try and disseminate information to the public about insurance issues that affect their lives and their businesses. If we can help you with your home insurance, your auto insurance, your life insurance or business insurance, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com. Also, keep in mind that we also specialize in used car dealer insurance, auto repair and body shop insurance, restaurant insurance, and insurance for small contractors and landscaping companies.

The source information for this article was originally posted to a blog at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com and you can find the full version at that site.

North Carolina Auto Insurance – Here’s a Nice Add-On

Your North Carolina auto insurance policy is pretty much regulated by the NC Department of Insurance. They regulate the rates and the policy language as well. As such, the policy language is the same from one insurance company to the next. But, within that framework, you can find groupings of coverages or special endorsements that add protection or extend protection to your policy that are created or packaged together by a specific insurance company.

A good example of this type of coverage diversification is the add-on coverage that State Auto Insurance Company has available for its auto insurance customers. Let’s take a quick look at this special endorsement.

This endorsement adds some protections that are not automatically included in your NC auto insurance policy.

Rented Vehicle Coverage – provides physical damages protection (comprehensive and collision coverages) and related expense for rented vehicles.

Emergency Travel Expense – If you are over 50 miles from home then they provide up to $600 for travel expenses such as lodging, meals and transportation back to your residence if your vehicle sustains a covered loss.

Pet Coverage – Here’s an unusual item. State Auto will provide up to $500 coverage if you pet is injured or killed while riding with you in your covered auto.

Additional Transportation Expense – Provides an additional $10 per day for replacement vehicle over the limit already provided by your transportation expense endorsement if you have that on your policy.

Cellular Phone Coverage – Covers loss to your cell phone with no deductible regardless of location.

GPS Coverage – Pays up to $500 for loss to your GPS system in your car.

Locksmith Services – Provides Electronic Key Replacement up to $250 per incident.

Death Indemnity – Subject to a maximum of $10,000 per person and $20,000 per incident, but if the person is wearing a properly fastened, factory installed seat belt, the limit is increase to $25,000 per person and $50,000 per incident.

Of course, the above description is for informational purposes only. You should actually take the time to read and understand this endorsement carefully should you choose to purchase it. But it is important to understand that there are many types of extra coverage endorsements out there that can add or extend the coverage of your NC personal auto insurance policy. You should take a moment to check them out carefully to see if any of them fit your needs and your budget.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we want all insurance buyers to be informed consumers. If we can help you with your auto insurance, your home insurance, your business insurance or even your life insurance or retirement accounts, please call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

You can find the basic source information for this article at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

I’ve Been Robbed – Now What Do I Do?

For most people, their home is their sanctuary. According to the Department of Justice, about 9.5% of homes in the US are broken into by thieves each year. Discovering that a thief has broken in and stolen from you can be very upsetting. Most people make the first call to the police. The second call should be to your insurance agent. This blog will discuss what you the claims process on your homeowners insurance should be like after a theft claim.

When you call your agent to file the claim, they may transfer you to the company claims department or they may take the claim information directly for you. Either way should be fine, we give our customers the choice. Generally speaking, if a company has a claim number that you can call, then your claim should proceed a bit faster as the agent will simply have to turn around and file the claim by fax, email or some other electronic system to the company claims department.

Here is a list of the information that your agent or claims processor will need from you.

· When did the loss occur?

· How did the thieves get into your home?

· Is your home currently secured?

· If not, what are you doing to secure the home now?

· What items were stolen?

· What authority or police department did you contact and have they made a report?

· What is the police report number?

· Did the police come out to the scene?

· What phone numbers are best for the company to contact you?

Ok, so what should you expect next? Well, you should expect that a claims adjuster will come out to your home and inspect the premises to better understand the claim. This is normal and your cooperation here will speed up the process. Also, the adjuster will want to take a recorded statement from you. This too is normal and to be expected as the claims adjuster needs to have a complete understanding, from your point of view, about exactly what happened at your home.

The insurance adjuster, and very often the police department, will require that you complete an inventory of the personal property that was stolen. This may seem difficult to do and you may need to amend this list as time goes on and you discover more items that are missing. One thing you can do in now, before you have a loss, is walk around your home with a video camera, opening cabinet doors and drawers and talking to the camera describing the property and when you got it and what you may have paid for it. This video can be very helpful later for remembering what you had so that you can better determine what might be missing.

Most homeowner policies have an endorsement providing replacement cost protection for the personal property that is covered. People are often surprised to learn that in most states this endorsement to the policy will not pay the replacement value unless and until you have actually replaced the item. Until you replace the item, the company will only pay the actual cash value which is determined by subtracting the depreciation for the age of the item from the replacement cost of the item. Knowing in advance how the replacement cost provision works for your personal property on your homeowners insurance can help you plan ahead.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we want all insurance consumers to be informed buyers. If we can help you with your auto insurance, your home insurance or your life insurance or retirement planning, please feel free to call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

Safety Tip - How To Extinguish a Grease Fire In Your Kitchen

As an insurance agent working directly with customers to help them with their home insurance and auto insurance, I see lots of accidents that turn into insurance claims. The most common type of kitchen fire that I see in this business is the fire that is started by grease catching on fire in a pan on the stove. The danger of this kind of fire is often exacerbated by the way people attempt to put it out. This blog will show you a safety tip that you should share with all of your friends and relatives. This knowledge could save a life or at the very least, might save a kitchen or a home from total destruction.

Grease fires are a special type of problem. And the ways in which you approach this fire can make the difference between a small isolated event in your kitchen and the loss of your home and your personal possessions. If you throw water onto a grease fire, the water, which is heavier than the oil, will sink to the bottom, then become superheated and the steam will push its way up and out of the pan. The force of this kind of explosion can be quite stunning and worst of all, this explosion will smear burning oil all over the kitchen from the ceiling to the walls. After this has happened, the best course of action would be to get out of the house and call the fire department.

Often people unknowingly spread misinformation about how to put out a grease fire. These include throwing flour or sugar on a grease fire in a pan. Both of these are very dangerous strategies, in fact it is estimated that throwing one cup of flour or sugar on a burning grease fire in a pan can create an explosion with the force of up to two sticks of dynamite.

Fortunately, there is a simple and low tech solution for putting out this type of fire.

Step 1 – Turn off the heat on the burner.

Step 2 – Rinse a dish towel fully in water and then wring it out.

Step 3 – Carefully place the wet dishtowel over the burning pan of grease and wait for it to cool down.

I have found a short video on youtube that you can watch to see a demonstration of this technique. Please take 30 seconds to watch this short video and then teach this to your children and those you love. This knowledge could save the life of someone you love. To see this 30 second video, please click here.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we want all insurance consumers to be informed buyers. But beyond that, we want people to have the safety knowledge that can save lives in an emergency situation. If we can help you with your auto insurance, your home insurance, or your business insurance or life insurance, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

Source data for this article was pulled from other articles which can be found online by visiting www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Replacement Cost Protection - Is It Missing In Your Insurance Policies?

Almost any type of insurance policy that you purchase that has a property insurance element will either include or exclude replacement cost coverage. This article helps you understand what it is and isn’t and where you may want to double check to be sure it is there for you when you need it.

Let’s start with a definition of replacement cost coverage. This is essentially a valuation clause that determines how your lost or damaged property will be covered under your insurance policy. The common choices are either replacement cost or actual cash value. There is also a functional replacement cost coverage but it is rarely used. For more information about functional replacement cost, please click here. Replacement cost is usually defined as the cost to replace the lost or destroyed item with a new one of like value and construction. For example, if lightning ran in on your 45 inch flat screen television, and you had replacement cost coverage on the contents on your homeowners insurance policy, then the replacement value would be what it would cost to purchase a brand new 45 inch flat screen TV. When policies don’t carry replacement cost protection, then the claim is usually settled using the actual cash value of the damaged or lost item. Actual cash value is usually defined as the replacement cost of the item minus any depreciation based on the age and past use of that item.

It is important that you take the time to review your insurance policies that include coverage for property to determine if you have bought replacement cost coverage or actual cash value (ACV) coverage. The difference in the size of the claim check that you will receive after a loss can vary a great deal, depending on which of these you chose. Most homeowners policies provide replacement cost coverage on your home automatically and allow you to choose RC or ACV coverage on your contents. There may be an additional charge for the RC coverage. Business property insurance policies rarely charge extra for replacement coverage, you just need to be sure that you are carrying high enough insurance limits to avoid any coinsurance penalties that might result from your policy form.

One oddball policy when it comes to RC versus ACV coverage is the auto insurance policy. If you carry collision coverage on your auto insurance, then you might have an opportunity to purchase replacement cost coverage on your newer vehicles. This form often allows you to replace your old, totaled vehicle with a brand new one even if the wrecked car is up to 5 years old. For more information about replacement cost coverage on the personal auto insurance policy, read my blog on that topic by clicking here.

If you are unsure about where you do and don’t have replacement cost coverage on your insurance policies, please take a moment and pick up the phone and call your agent. This could make a huge difference in the amount you might receive after a large loss and it is always easier if your expectations more nearly match what will really happen if and when you have a large property claim.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we strive to help all insurance buyers become more informed consumers. If we can help you with your auto insurance, your home insurance, your business insurance or even your life insurance, please feel free to call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

You can find the source article for this document at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Crash Taxes – They Could Make You A Double Victim

Imagine you are cruising on the interstate in a driving rain and you lose control of your car and slide into the guardrail. Thankfully you are ok and you don’t feel any pains as you get out of your car to see the new shape you created out of your front bumper. A passing motorist sees your accident and dials 911 as he drives on through the rain. 5 minutes later a police car, a fire truck and an ambulance arrive to check on you. 3 weeks later you receive bills from each of these organizations for their time and trouble checking on you. You turn in the $2763 in emergency response bills to your auto insurance company and they decline to pay them. Welcome to the brave new world of crash taxes.

Crash taxes have been on the books of many local governments for years but until this recent economic downturn, they have not been used. Now we are seeing a trend sweeping our country to apply these charges for emergency responders to those involved in the accident. While there are some creditable arguments in favor of crash taxes, I see more running against.

First of all, let’s start with who pays. In most cases your auto insurance is not going to pay for these crash taxes. That could leave you holding the bag and if you don’t pay you can damage your credit or possibly even face misdemeanor charges. If we do choose to have our insurance companies cover these costs, then the costs of insurance will go up and we will have just one more expense being paid by an entity with little control over the costs that go into this expense.

Another possible problem with this approach is that some people may become reluctant to call for emergency services if they know they will have to pay for them. This failure to call or even a delay in calling may cost us dearly in lives lost as well as property damaged, the latter especially in the case of chemical spills on our highways.

I also have a fundamental problem with this approach in that some cities are amending their program to only charge the out of state, at fault parties. While this is politically expedient for the local politicians, it has a ring of unfairness to it and leads to a lot of uncertainty for travelers as they leave their home territories.

Last of all, is the idea that local taxes already go to pay for these services and those are controlled, if distantly by the voters in that area. Why should they be charged again?

Currently, 10 states have banned crash taxes, so you can travel safely in them. They are: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Tennesee.

So, what should you do if you get billed for an accident response of some sort after an accident? First of all, contact your insurance agent and forward on the bill to determine if there will be coverage for the charges. Then get a copy of the police report detailing what medical assistance was actually provided. Last of all, if your insurance company declines to pay for these charges (and in most cases they will), check with an attorney to understand what criminal liability you may incur should you decide not to pay the bill yourself.

My sense is that crash taxes are generally going to be disliked by most of the public. This will probably mean that they don’t last long and of course if the economy gets better they should go away. A rising tide floats all boats after all. In the meantime, as you travel, be aware that this trend could catch you in its trap.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we work hard to help our clients become informed insurance consumers. Knowing about crash taxes before you get a bill in the mail is just one small example of our knowledge outreach program. If you need help with your NC auto insurance policy, your NC home insurance policy or even your personal umbrella or life insurance, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

The source information for this article was pulled from articles which can be found in their entirety at www.insuranceanswerguy.com.

Teen Driver Insurance – Watch Out For The Bias Against Your 19 year old.

Most parents out there who have a teen driver are well aware of the additional costs on their auto insurance while their child slowly gains experience behind the wheel. In NC these extra charges go on for the first 3 years of driving and then suddenly are dropped completely from your policy. To understand exactly how North Carolina allows the insurance companies to add these inexperienced operator surcharges, click here. Most parents of course think that they are free and clear of these charges once their child reaches the 3 years of driving experience. And for the vast majority of them, this is true. But some companies have a hidden bias against the 19 year old driver and they find other ways to collect extra premium for them. Knowing the tell tale signs of these techniques can help you avoid these extra charges.

First of all, you have to have a clear understanding of the NC auto insurance marketplace and how it works vis-à-vis teen drivers. There are some companies out there that have recognized that they can make money on the teen driver family segment during the 3 year experience period. Why is this true when the risk seems so high? Well, of course they know that this is a time when otherwise stable insurance accounts go shopping due to the additional cost of the teen driver. And the surcharges that the state allows give them the extra cash they need to turn a profit. But these companies are also very shy of a 19 year old driver. They don’t believe, and rightly so I suppose, that on the day the teen has 3 years driving experience that that teen is suddenly as good of a driver as their parents. Yet the rate is the same as they can charge for the parents who may have been driving 20 years or more. For more general information about how auto insurance in NC works, visit the NC Dept of Insurance web site.

So more and more companies are suddenly seeing the newly experienced driver as a huge risk compared to the money that they can charge for that driver. So what do they do? Well the most common technique is to increase your rates, often to those above what is allowed by the NC Rate Bureau. But to do this, they must have your permission. So they will send you a consent to rate letter. If you get one of these, please do not sign it and return it. Call your agent first to understand what you are signing and agreeing to. For more information about consent to rate letters and what they mean for you, please read my blog about consent to rate letters by clicking here.

If you fail to sign and return a consent to rate letter, then the remaining option open to the insurance company would be to cancel your physical damages coverage, ie your comprehensive and collision insurance, and then to cede your policy to the NC Reinsurance Facility. If they do this, then you will see a large increase on your liability insurance rates and you may even see a reduction in coverage to go with it. At the same time you will lose your physical damages protection.

The take away from all of this is that you will do well to keep a close eye on your auto insurance policy rates as your child reaches the 3 year driving experience period to make sure that you are not treated as a sudden high risk from the standpoint of your insurance company.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we help thousands of families with their auto insurance policy and we work hard to help our clients become informed insurance consumers. If we can help you at all with your auto insurance or even your home insurance, your life insurance or your business insurance, please feel free to call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us on the web at www.ClinardInsurance.com.

The source information for this article can be found at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.

Teen Driver Safety – Summer Months Are High Risk

The Summer months are a high risk time for teen drivers. Parents must be more vigilant during this time to insure the safety of their teen aged drivers. There are several reasons why the Summer months present special challenges for parents of teen drivers.

First of all, many parents tend to raise the curfew times during Summer months. I know I have done this. This is a good thing to do as your child earns your trust and has begun to gain some experience behind the wheel, but as you do this, keep in mind that there are some tipping points where extended curfews may put your child at a greater risk. Try to decide exactly what your teen will be doing with this extra time and determine if the rewards are worth the risks.

Another reason that Summer is so dangerous is that teens now have more and more nights to do things without school in the morning forcing them to come home earlier. Over time this opportunity can lead to some dangerous behavior from teen drivers.

Even during the day the danger for teen drivers is increase during Summer. This is because teens have more time to drive around without specific purpose. While it is great for them to log more hours behind the wheel and gain experience, it is best done if they are driving for a purpose besides time wasting.

I highly recommend that each parent consider getting a GPS device installed in their teen driver’s car to help them with the temptations that driving brings on. You can find out more about these devices by visiting www.teensurance.com.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we help thousands of families with their auto insurance all across North Carolina. We work hard to help our customers become informed insurance consumers and we want all of you with teen drivers to have the tools that you need to help keep your teen drivers safe. Please visit our teen driver web site or call us, toll free at 877-687-7557 for more help with your auto insurance, home insurance, business insurance, or life insurance.

This article was pulled from source information which can be found in its entirety at www.InsuranceAnswerGuy.com.