You may not think you have the time to call your car insurance company and make sure that you are getting the best rates.  Maybe you think that you won’t get your car insurance quote lowered or that the amount will be piddly and not worth your time.  Tara Siegel Bernard’s New York Times article, “Car policy for less, but only if you call,” highlights the story of a man in Arizona who was disappointed he waited so long to look for cheaper car insurance.

After retiring, the AARP suggested he get a car insurance quote from The Hartford.  He did, and they quoted him less than half of what he was already paying another company for the same exact coverage.  The man called his current company, Liberty Mutual, and they said that they could offer him a policy less than that of The Hartford because they had changed their underwriting standards.  He spoke with a manager to try and understand why he had been paying more than double and was basically told that he just had to ask and his rates would have been lowered.

Companies are unlikely to proactively call all of their customers eligible for lower rates, but let this retiree’s story show you how important a simple call to companies with which you do business can be.  Car insurance rates are based on many factors and the fact that this retiree had a good driving record, had been with Liberty Mutual for three decades, and held other policies with the same company helped his lower rates.  But everyone should check with their car insurance company and other providers and just ask if they can pay less for the same coverage.

I’ve written about car insurance for rental cars before, but it seems to be all over the headlines today so I thought I would revisit this topic.  Whether or not to add the car rental company’s car insurance is one of the biggest stressors you will face at the car rental counter.  The best advice, according to Fox News’ Jonathan Weinberg, is to do your research before standing at that rental counter.  It is very possible that your personal car insurance policy or even the credit card with which you rented your car will cover you in the case of an accident.  Weinberg’s article, “Secrets to unraveling car rental insurance,” offers some pointers.

The first thing you should do is check with your own car insurance company and see if the coverage you already pay for includes rental car insurance.  Keep in mind that you may have added expenses with your own company if you do actually need to use their car insurance.  You’ll have to go through the claims process, pay your deductible, and your car insurance rates could increase.  Many credit card companies offer the perk of car insurance coverage for your rental cars.  This is another case where you really need to do your research up front and see what they cover.  Some exclude SUVs and vans, others only offer secondary coverage meaning that they only pay for what your primary coverage does not.  You may even be charged a deductible.

It’s important to make sure that you have liability coverage as well, especially in case you get into a bad car accident with another vehicle.  Credit card car insurance does not cover liability in the United States.  Car insurance through your rental car company offers basic liability coverage, but you have to pay more for supplemental coverage which you’d need in the case of a major accident.  Your personal car insurance policy will likely cover liability as long as that is part of your overall policy.  While you will not be getting cheap car insurance if you purchase through the rental car company, you can rest assured that you will be covered and won’t have to worry about extra paperwork filing claims and paying for deductibles.  Weigh the benefits and see what coverage is best for you when renting a car.

In a devastating car accident last October, 13-year-old Charlie Kho was killed after being struck by a vehicle in Olmsted Township, Ohio.  Charlie was walking home to his dad’s house with some friends around 7:00 pm.  The driver was later found to be an 80-year-old woman who fled the scene for an unknown reason.  Helen Fettes was charged two months after the homicide because a body shop manager recognized the car she brought in to fix as one police were looking for.

She pleaded not guilty this week to the counts against her; vehicular homicide, tampering with evidence, and failure to stop.  She could face more than ten years in prison if she is found guilty of the charges.  This information comes from Dan Jovic’s article “Not Guilty Plea Entered by 80-Year-Old Charged in Hit-and-Run Death,” on the Fox 8 Cleveland news website.  Fettes’ bond is $10,000, but the news site was not sure if that had already been posted to release her or if she was still being held in jail.

Vehicular homicide is devastating, and the fact that someone would drive away from the scene leaves many unanswered questions.  This kind of accident is one of the worst fears for car insurance companies and will likely make it extremely difficult to insure someone found guilty of such a crime.  That isn’t a concern of course if the driver spends the rest of their life in prison.  Prayers go out to the young boy killed and the families of everyone involved.  Drive safely out there and watch for pedestrians and other vehicles to keep everyone safe.

Detroit’s North American International Auto Show starts on Saturday, but in previews this week the 2012 North American Car of the Year Award was announced.  This year’s winner is the Hyundai Elantra, which has a starting price of $16,445.  With an estimated 33 mpg, fuel efficiency might have been one of the factors helping the Elantra win this award.  The Ford Focus and the Volkswagen Passat were runners up for Car of the Year.

Hyundai is thrilled with the award, but doesn’t see an increase in sales because of it.  Their facility in Alabama is already running at full capacity, partly because more than 186,000 Elantras were sold last year.  The company does believe that the Elantra’s Car of the Year award will help their brand solidify its name in the marketplace.  This information comes from the Associated Press article, “Hyundai Elantra wins car of the year,” by Jeff Karoub and Tom Krisher.

Since car insurance quotes are based partly on the type of car you drive, it is possible that cheap car insurance will be easier to come by for the Hyundai Elantra.  Since it is Car of the Year, it is valued with high safety features, less depreciation, and other factors that look good to car insurance companies.  The judging of this award was performed by fifty automotive journalists.  To be included, cars had to be new or have significant changes in the past year.

The Truck of the Year award went to the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque, which was the first win for the company in the nineteen-year history of the awards.  With a starting price of $43,995, the Evoque will have higher State Farm car insurance quotes that some other trucks.  The runners up in this category were the BMW X-3 and the Honda CR-V.  If you are a car lover, check out the Detroit Auto Show starting next weekend.

Some women may have been flattered to be asked out on a date by the police officer who issued them a speeding ticket.  Especially if he said that he couldn’t stop thinking about you and went to the trouble to find your address and leave a note taped to your windshield.  This was not the case for a Chicago area woman who filed a lawsuit against the officer who asked her out.  According to the ABC News article “Cop Issues Speeding Ticket, Asks Driver for a Date and She Sues Him,” by Lauren Sher, the police officer issued a $132 speeding ticket in October to the woman.  Maybe finding cheap car insurance after her speeding ticket became impossible for her or maybe she just doesn’t like to be flattered, but she sued the officer.

Her lawsuit says that she suffered from “great fear and anxiety” because he had tracked her down and left a note on her car.  Although it seems to me the stuff romantic comedies are made from, the plaintiff is seriously upset about the love note and believes the officer tried to “manipulate” her into dating him through his position of authority.  Speeding is dangerous for many reasons.  You could get in an accident and hurt someone or yourself, you could get a ticket which may increase your State Farm auto quote, or you could get asked out on a date.  That last one doesn’t seem all so bad, but I guess it’s all relative and someone could feel threatened by just about anything.

For a multitude of reasons, people co-sign someone else’s car loan all the time.  Parents sign for their kids, kids sign for their parents, and significant others sign for their partners.  If you have ever worried that your car insurance rates will increase if you co-sign for someone’s car loan, don’t worry.  According to Tara Baukus Mello of Bankrate, “Co-signing a car loan won’t hike (your) insurance.”  Finding cheap car insurance will not be more difficult for you if you’ve co-signed for someone else’s vehicle.

A reader sent in a question asking if her car insurance rates would increase after co-signing a loan for her boyfriend to buy a new car.  Sometimes co-signers are not even listed on the title of a car as an owner or co-owner.  In this case, you surely wouldn’t need to be insured on the car.  Unless you are planning to be a regular driver of this vehicle, you don’t need your insurance to be involved.  The person that you co-signed the vehicle for should have insurance from a company like Donegal Insurance that will cover the car in full.

You likely would not be named as an insured on a vehicle that you co-signed for because you are not going to be the driver of that vehicle.  Your insurance company, if different from the co-owner of the vehicle, has no interest in this car for which you have co-signed.  Even if you may drive the car once in awhile because it is your boyfriend or child’s car, your insurance and the co-owner’s insurance likely cover others driving the vehicle or you driving other vehicles.  You do want to make sure that they are paying their loan however, because you are responsible for that!

An organization in Utah is making Christmas very merry for some Utah moms and their kids.  Cars for Moms is a non-profit organization which gives cars to single mothers who don’t have transportation for them and their kids.  This information comes from “Cars for Christmas: Non-profit gives cars to single moms,” by Lori Prichard of KSL TV.

Cars for Moms was founded by John Doxey after his sister’s husband was killed in a car accident, leaving her alone with eight children and no vehicle.  His goal is to get 20 vehicles donated every month.  He uses the scrap money from those that can’t be fixed to fix the cars which can be.  The need for his organization is very far reaching because there are many single moms out there in need of transportation.

The article highlights the story of Cheri, who has been helped by The ChainBreaker Foundation after leaving an abusive husband.  She has three children to support and received a Chrysler Town & Country mini-van through a partnership between Cars for Moms and The ChainBreaker Foundation.  In addition to the mini-van, Doxey’s organization gave Cheri a few months of car insurance, a gas card for $50, and the vehicle’s title.  They also included a stack of Christmas presents for her children.

Great plains states have been hit hard with snow and many holiday travel plans are changing.  This information comes from The Associated Press article, “Deadly snowstorm halts travel across Great Plains,” by Jeri Clausing and Roxana Hegeman.  A terrible car crash in Colorado killed two people and injured nine more because of the icy road conditions.  Road crews have been out in full effect, but areas of New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma have not been able to catch up with the heavy snow fall.  Many drivers have been forced to detour and stay put where they don’t necessarily want to be.  Insurers like Encompass auto insurance are glad to have drivers off the roads in these snowy conditions and away from the danger of car accidents or breakdowns.

Northern New Mexico is no stranger to closed roads during snowy weather because it tends to happen every winter.  Hotels are at full capacity in the town of Clayton, which is near the borders of New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma.  Travelers heading to Colorado for skiing are not happy about being stranded, but they are lucky to be safe.  Travel on the roads throughout the Great Plains was difficult and Clayton police reported multiple drivers stranded on the roadways.  It’s always wise to have an emergency kit in your car; top car insurance companies may provide them or give you a checklist of items to have in case you are stranded or your car breaks down.  While drivers, insurers and others may be inconvenienced by all of this snow, farmers are grateful for the moisture.

Are you one of the 70 million drivers who could be paying less for you car insurance each year because of your driving habits?  According to the Insurance Journal article “70 Million Drivers Missing Out on Car Insurance Savings: Insurer,” having your driving habits monitored could save you some money.  Our previous blog mentioned Progressive’s new Snapshot driving program, one of the first programs available.  Usage based car insurance programs give discounts for people who drive less often, are safer, and drive during the safest times of the day.  A recent phone study showed that 50% of people drive less than 12,000 miles each year, 84% of drivers believe they are cautious or defensive while driving, and 88% of drivers are hardly ever on the road between midnight and 4:00 am.

Progressive estimates that with all three of those factors taken into consideration, close to 40% of drivers could get a discount on their car insurance.  That is 70 million drivers that could be paying hundreds less for their car insurance each year, up to 30% less.  Safeco, Travelers and many other companies are also offering these usage based discount options.  Some estimates say as many as 60% of car insurance companies have the program in place.  In Progressive’s research, they determined that 63% of drivers would be willing to put a device in their car, in the event that it could lead to some savings.  They also estimate that drivers using their Snapshot system are less likely to get into a car accident and less likely to receive a ticket for a moving violation.

The great daily advertised prices of some car rental companies don’t look quite so appealing after you add in some of their extra charges.  In “Car rental fees may surprise consumers,” Nalina Shapiro of WIVB in Buffalo says that the best time to make decisions regarding a rental car is before you are at the counter.  Many agents recommend adding car insurance to your car rental, but your State Farm auto quote, and those from other insurers, usually cover your rental car in the case of damage or an accident.  If you have booked an economy car in advance and are given a luxury car when you get to the rental company, your rental car insurance could be higher as well as paying more for the larger car. If they don’t have an economy car, ask if you can only be charged that amount.

If you are renting a car somewhere that you’ll be driving past tolls, you may not want to use the EZ Pass associated with your rental car.  Instead of paying a $.25 toll, you could end up being charged up to $10 a day just for activating the EZ Pass inside your rental car.  Make sure to fill up the gas tank before you return your rental car as well because rental companies charge up to $9 per gallon just to fill the tank if you forget.  Thoroughly inspect your rental car for any scratches and dents before you get inside, because you will get charged for any new damage to the car once you return it.  The Better Business Bureau can help you find a good car rental company or help with complaints afterwards if you’ve been charged for unwanted car insurance or had another problem.