Check out the competition. Everybody seems to have “the best deal in town.” Derive out for yourself. It would be to your advantage to get 3 quotes.
Along with price, fetch out how the prospective company is doing financially. Also, does the company have complaints against them? What is their reputation for customer service? A good indicator of this could be seen on your initial visit. For example, did they take time to answer your questions or did they try to whisk you away posthaste? Taking note of these things could save you some regrets later.
Check insurance costs for the car you intend to buy. Your premium will be based on the particular vehicle’s sticker price, repair costs, overall safety record, as well as potential theft concerns. If your car features things that reduce injury risk or theft, like daytime running lights or anti-theft devices, your insurance company may offer premium discounts for cars with those features.
Ask for a higher deductible. For example, if you were to increase your deductible from $200 to say, $500, the cost of your collision and comprehensive coverage would be reduced anywhere from 15 to 30 percent. A $1000 deductible would build you more, perhaps more than 40 percent. Of course, you’ll want to be sure you could pay the deductible if you needed to file a claim.
Sever coverage on your older car. It may not be financially sound to keep collision and/or comprehensive coverage on your old beater. Rule of thumb: Multiply your premium by 10. If your car is worth less than that amount, consider dropping collision and/or comprehensive. Checking Blue Book values will help you make this determination as well. You can check your car’s value online at http:/www.kbb.com.
Insure your home and car at the same company. Insurance companies are always looking for new business, and you might get a break if you buy two or more types of insurance from your insurer. If you have more than one vehicle, you may also fetch a reduction in your premium. Also, just recently, my wife and I received a reduced premium because we’ve been their customers a long time. Perhaps you can do the same. Still, don’t be afraid to shop around. You never know what you can save.
Establish/Maintain a solid credit history. Granted, this can be a challenge with identity theft running amuck. However, as much as it depends on you, pay your bills on time, don’t obtain too distinguished credit, and most importantly, keep your balances either low or paid off as much as possible. Check your credit report regularly to label any errors needing correction.
Ask about Low Mileage Discounts. Maybe you drive far less miles than the average driver. Some insurance companies offer discounts, even if you carpool to work.
Peep into a Group Plan. Check with your employer, any professional, business or alumni groups that you belong to and see if it’s possible to insure through a group plan through them. Some companies may offer discounts through them.
Other discounts may also be available. You can get discounts for your well-behaved driving narrate, such as no accidents or moving violations for a number of years. A defensive driving course may also get you a discount.
As long as we need to have insurance, we must pay for it. After reviewing these tips, however, you can see that we don’t have to pay too much.
Filed under Automotive Repair Insurance by on Feb 27th, 2011. Comment. 
Mike owns an automotive repair business. He is a one man operation and has one assistant. He sees 5 to 20 customers a day and completes about 6 repairs a day. He is commence 5 days a week. Closed on Saturday but spends most of his day inside his garage trying to catch up. He does great work and has more relate business than he can handle. He does not want to expand. He has 5 cars in his repair bay at any one time and carries insurance in case of shatter ins and vandalism. It has happened and has cost him dearly in the past.
But unlike large repair facilities he doesn’t have a staff to handle the more mundane tasks of running a garage. So many times a car is dropped off, an estimate is given, a deposit is unruffled for parts and the car is repaired. But the owner does not come support in a timely manner to retract it up. Usually this has something to do with finances and paying for the repairs. Mike spends his time trying to call and collect but the car just sits in his repair bay taking up well-known space and becoming a liability.
Recently Mike took a vacation. Not from work but from accepting new work. He spent two weeks doing nothing but cleaning his property of vehicles. He finished all the repairs that had been put on hold, he took in no new business and spent time collecting for old business. When he was finished there were 5 cars left on the property. These cars had all been there more than 60 days and one almost a year. They were repaired and ready to be picked up. His investment in labor and parts was over $5000. A significant sum of money to a small one man operation.
While visiting Mike one day we talked about these cars and what should be done. So a little bit of research told us that these cars could be declared abandoned and he could take title and sell them at a public sale to recover his costs. Seemed like a lot of work, cost and factual minefields to get through but it was a task he was positive to accomplish. While most states have abandoned vehicle laws and procedures for disposing of them each state is different and what Mike was able to do only applies to Alabama abandoned vehicles.
The AL statute that applies to abandoned motor vehicles is The Abandoned Motor Vehicle Act, Code of Alabama 1975, Title 32, Chapter 13. The act is designed to protect both current owners of vehicles and also those to who vehicles are entrusted. There are a number of steps involved in getting title to an abandoned vehicle and those steps must be followed in order to complete the transaction and ensure a shapely title for the eventual owner of an abandoned vehicle.
The first step has to do with determining whether a car can be declared as abandoned. For a repair facility this means either 60 days after it is left for repair when no time is agreed upon or 60 days after repairs are complete. These days are significant and must be noted by the garage in order to make sure that the vehicle will be declared abandoned by the Department of Motor Vehicles.
The second step is obtain a vehicle report from the state that shows the current owner and their address along with any lien holders on the title. Again very well-known to make sure that this characterize is obtained from the state and is accurate. Once this information is obtained the owner must be notified or attempts must be made to notify the owner and the lien holders of the vehicle’s location and the costs to recover the vehicle. You must also tell them that it will be for public sale and what date that sale will buy place.
The garage owner must also place an announcement in the local paper or in the courthouse that gives view of this sale. The notice must be posted twice at least 7 days apart and 30 days prior to the sale. Again the time and dates are very specific and must be followed to ensure a gracious transference of title to any recent owner. One the sale is complete there are several other state forms that must be completed prior to transferring title. These forms are not difficult but do require some time to make sure that they are done right.
So far Mike has gotten $3600 for his troubles and he still has 3 cars to go. He will recover his expenses and actually not get burned when all is said and done. However, this lesson has taught him one of the great lessons of any business. Keep good records, make good decisions and follow up on all your current business.
Filed under Automotive Repair Insurance by on Feb 24th, 2011. Comment.
