Posted by admin on May 3rd, 2011
Despite Johnny Depp appearing in a film and finding the fountain of youth thanks to the help of some mermaids, there’s no sign of a miracle in the real world. We all grow old and, despite all the efforts of the medical profession to make the outside appear less wrinkled, the inside bits start to wear out. Most importantly, our eyesight gets less sharp and our reflexes slow. What’s automatic to a 20-year old who’s just seen The Fast and the Furious, swerving in and out of traffic, avoiding crashes by a hair’s breadth, is an invitation to the ER for any senior. We all have to come to terms with our age and learning defensive driving is a sensible investment, often rewarded by a discount.
Keeping this real, we all need our cars. While working, we commute. Over the weekends, we go to the mall and fill up the trunk with enough food to keep us supplied for the next seven days. Why drive? Because in almost all cities, public transport is a joke. Only the desperate wait for a bus and our train services between cities are an international joke. Without private transport, we can’t get around and do the stuff we need to survive. This doesn’t change when we get old. For the first decades of the last century, there was no problem. There was not much traffic and older people either died or were like Miss Daisy and rich enough to pay a driver. But as we got into the 1950s, car ownership expanded and life expectancy began to rise. Now both sexes have a reasonable expectation of living into their 80s, and everyone has at least one car (families often have a small fleet). This is creating an interesting social problem. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by admin on May 3rd, 2011
You’ve definitely seen many of those cars that the TV show “Pimp My Ride” and many other love to highlight. It has become a real fad among car owners, especially the younger ones, to customize their vehicles for the purpose of reflecting their individuality through the car they drive. Sure, in such an individualistic society as we all are there’s nothing wrong or bad about such a fad. However, quite often when it comes to insuring such vehicles their owners tend to overlook the changes their car has be subjected to, believing that their policy will cover it in case of an accident. And it’s such a bitter feeling when they actually file a claim and get covered partially or denied coverage in general. What’s wrong with custom cars that insurance companies are so picky about them?
First of all let’s take a look at what the insurance company covers in the first place. When you purchase a policy the company is obliged to cover the losses to your car in its form as the policy was signed according to its market value or independent evaluation. What happens when you decide to customize it? You change certain parts of the car from original to custom and effectively alter the market value of your vehicle. Let’s agree that installing a stereo system worth of 6k to your 3k Honda Civic is actually altering its price in a drastic manner. And in case you end up filing a claim for the altered value and configuration of your vehicle the insurance company has the right to deny you with coverage simply because you’ve altered the value of the insurance object without informing the insurer. It’s like buying a cheap computer, upgrading it with the most advanced parts, and then trying to get a refund for the final value of your PC because there was a short circuit in your flat. Read the rest of this entry »
