Smart Auto Insurance Blog

There are some great tips on defensive driving to help keep you safe on the Encompass Car Insurance website.  Their Plan & Learn section on their site says that drunk drivers are the most dangerous violators on the road and half of all highway fatalities are due to drinking and driving.

They offer some tips to keep your eye out for potentially drunk drivers when you are on the road.  Some of these include unusually wide turns, weaving, swerving, sudden stops, tailgating, no headlights at night, drifting, slow response to traffic signs, or driving on the wrong side of the road.

If you happen to notice such a driver on the road it’s important to maintain a safe distance.  Allow the traffic violator to pass you, and do not try to pass them.  If the driver is coming head-on move into the nearest shoulder and use your horn and lights to try and get them to realize they are driving the wrong way.  If possible, get the driver’s license and report the situation to the police.  The quicker this person can get off the road, the safer everyone will be.

According to the article “Regulators Shy Away From Imposing Emissions-Cutting Auto Insurance” by Evan Lehmann on NYTimes.com, key insurance regulators recently said they won’t require the auto insurance industry to offer auto insurance policies that help reduce emissions by rewarding drivers who are on the road less.

The regulators also weren’t keen on the new plan to make those policies standard across the county.  This plan is often known as “pay-as-you-drive”.  Joel Ario, Pennsylvania’s insurance commissioner believes they will never require the pay-as-you-drive concept.  Ario and other researchers have promoted the drive less mentality over the years.  They believe drivers will stay off the roads more if they know they will pay less on auto insurance quotes because of it.  This will lead to less environmentally unfriendly emissions from automobiles.

The concepts are similar to other movements such as the Energy Star appliance standards, and the green building code called LEED, or Leadership Energy and Environmental Design.  Auto insurance companies such as Eastwood Insurance, would have to offer some type of policy that rewards drivers for driving less, but in a way this already makes drivers less risky which often translates to lower rates.

Infinity Auto Insurance, which is a leading nonstandard personal auto insurance company, places community service as a high priority.  Their community service organization called Infinity Cares partners with many local charities to give back to their community.

The Infinity Cares team helps in many ways including back-to-school drives, festivals, parades, health fairs as well as other neighborhood events.  They have promoted safety programs at schools while encouraging parental involvement.  They’ve participated in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk”, which included many employees and their family members. 

Other programs have included a back pack program for needy students, Big Brothers Big Sister participation, and contributions to Mentora Hispana which is a segment of Big Brothers Big Sisters dedicated to Hispanic youth mentors.

According to the article “New York Releases Auto Insurance Rankings” from insurance journal.com, The New York State Department released their annual report which looks at complaint ratios of all New York auto insurance companies or groups with 10 million minimum in average premiums in 2007 and 2008.  If a company has less than 10 million premiums but had 10 or more complaints against them, then they are also included in the report.

In total, there were 38 companies included in this list.  Amica had the least amount of complaints.  There were 6 other auto insurance companies with no complaints upheld in 2008.  These included The Main Street America Group, QBE Insurance Group, LTD, American Express Group, Balboa Life and Casualty, Electric Insurance Group, and Everready Insurance Co.  Amica writes the most premiums, at about 86.7 million, so this is why they top the list.

One of the most common types of complaints was the delays in payment for no fault claims.  The average complaint ratio for insurance companies was .10 per $1 million in premiums.  Twenty seven auto insurance companies had complaint ratios that were average or better.  This is some information to think about as you are shopping for New York auto insurance quotes.

Auto insurance companies warn that a new bill in the Colorado state legislature could increase rates for motorists, claims Bob Mook of the Denver Business Journal. In 2003, the state switched to a tort system (where insurers pay a percentage of costs based on whose fault the accident was, going to court to settle disputes), but the Colorado No-Fault Motor Vehicle Insurance Act would reverse that change.

Governor Bill Ritter says that the tort system saves drivers about $322 per year on average, a 35% decrease from auto insurance rates under the no-fault system. A representative of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association claims that Colorado auto insurance premiums have dropped from being the ninth-highest in the nation to 23rd-highest since the reform. According to Bob, insurance companies believe that no-fault insurance, where each insurer pays all expenses for their driver without assigning blame, is easily defrauded.