1) If you’re getting married, review your policies and discover how you can save money.

You can almost always save money then, because:

• rates usually drop for men under age 25 when they marry and
• you now qualify for a multi-car discount.

So, pull out both policies, pour yourself a cup of coffee or tea, and then review each of the policies to see which one works better for you as a couple. Contact your insurance agents with specific questions.

2) Marrying but keeping your maiden name? How does that affect your auto insurance coverage?

If you decide to keep your maiden name, be prepared to show proof of your marriage to your insurance agent. He or she will most likely want to verify your new status before issuing a policy.

3) Be sure to include both names on your Virginia auto insurance policy.

I hope that you never need this advice: if you were to divorce, and your name was not listed on the auto insurance policy, you will most likely begin paying much higher rates because you will have no history of insurance. Drivers without this history generally pay much higher premiums.

Stop by RK Chevy / RK Toyota Virginia, any time, to ask me your questions about auto insurance!

Or, post your insurance questions below.

According to Timothy Smith, author of Crashproof Your Kids: Make Your Teen a Safer, Smarter Driver, six million teens will begin driving this year, with 58% of them involved in an accident within 12 months of receiving their licenses. Parents who set reasonable limits for their teens, though, help prevent a significant number of accidents from happening.

Two ways to keep your teens safe: quality auto insurance for teens and reading the book recommended by RK Chevrolet / RK Toyota Virginia.

This book provides parents and teens with a wealth of valuable information that will help keep everyone safe, including these safe driving tips:

• “Take advantage of the time you might spend driving them back and forth by using it as part of your supervised driving time.
• Have your teen do the driving with you to his or her activities and to your regular circuit of the grocery store, pharmacy, and dry cleaner.
• If you can find consistent days and times to set aside, you’ll be much more likely to stick with the Crashproof Plan and make good progress.
• Sit down with your calendar and your teen’s schedule, and plot out the time slots that will be the most available.
• Mark it on your calendar to reinforce the commitment.
• As competing events arise, treat the time you’ve set aside with the priority it deserves.”

Read more safe driving tips for teens from RK Chevrolet / RK Toyota Virginia today.

Find valuable information about the best auto insurance for teens and discover the RK Chevrolet / RK Toyota Virginia tips on talking to teens about safe driving.

Starting July 1, Virginia drivers who go over the speed limit may face a:

• fine up to $2,500, plus a
• mandatory $1,050 tax, along with
• six demerit points on a driver’s license (eight for a second offense) – and
• even a year in jail.

Virginia judges are not allowed to waive or reduce these fees.

You can also receive significant points on your license for:

• failing to give a proper signal,
• passing a school bus or
• driving with an obstructed view.

Virginia auto insurance premiums increase for drivers with speeding tickets and other driving offenses.

Under Virginia’s new law, speeding tickets remain on your driving record for five years, while a ticket for passing a school bus stays on your record for eleven years. Imagine what that can do to your insurance premium!

So, to save money, drive carefully. You’ll save on fuel and insurance premiums and you won’t have to pay fines and taxes for driving offenses. Even more important, you’ll help keep yourself free, and moving, with money in your pocket!

For more information, read these safe driving tips by RoadTripAmerica and stop by RK Scion, any time, to talk about safe driving tips.

Keep your cool – plus pen, paper and disposable cameras in your vehicles to defeat auto insurance scam artists.

In staged rear end collisions, drivers slam on brakes to cause accidents and fake injuries. Some deliberately create extra damage to their cars, afterwards, to collect more insurance.

Here are safe driving tips:

• Be aware. Observe drivers who are watching you closely.
• Leave plenty of room between your car and the one ahead of you.
• If a car waves you over to a lane – but it looks tight – don’t switch lanes. They may be collaborating with another driver.
• If an accident occurs, write down all you remember.
• Take photos of your car and the other vehicle.
• Tell your insurance agent about your suspicions. They’ve heard this before and can help you.

Stop by RK Chevrolet and ask me about more ways to keep yourself safe from auto insurance scams!

Or, post questions below.

1) Auto insurance rates are highest for red cars.

According to a 2005 study, 25% of people believe that car manufacturers use a VIN on each vehicle to indicate color – and that auto insurance companies use that information to set rates.

Busted! Not true.

2) Insurance on vehicles is something fairly new.Actually, the oldest record of transportation insurance is over 4,000 years old! In Ancient Babylon, people owning ships that carried cargo paid a 20% “bottomry” fee to insure their goods. So, vehicle insurance is not new.

3) I can get discount auto insurance coverage by driving a hybrid car.

Confirmed! Stop by RK Chevy and ask to test drive the 2007 Toyota Camry. With fuel efficiency of 43 mpg in the city and 38 mpg on the highway, you’ll save money on insurance and fuel.

Thanks for playing RK Chevrolet “Bust that Myth!”

• Review your credit report for free and clean up any errors. Auto insurance coverage is more costly with negative ratings on your report.
• Call your insurance agent if you add a garage to your property. This can reduce your premium.
• If you car pool to work, ask for a lower mileage discount.
• If you work in a low risk industry, premiums are often reduced. Ask if you qualify.
• Put anti-theft devices on your vehicles and let your agent know.

RK Chevy pledges to go above and beyond the call of duty to help you reduce your Virginia auto insurance rates.

To use another cliché, I’ll now put my money where my mouth is – and offer you a bonus tip. Call your long time insurance agent and ask for a loyalty discount. You’ve been a loyal customer and, many times, your agent will repay the favor. Also stop by RK Chevy, where we appreciate our customers.

• Ask if it makes sense to raise your auto insurance coverage deductible.
• Take a defensive driving course from AARP or another certified agency. Insurance agents often give a discount upon completion. Even if yours doesn’t, you’ll become a better driver and a clean driving record also helps you get a lower rate.
• You can often reduce your auto insurance coverage simply by belonging to AAA.
• If you’ve recently retired or found a job closer to home, call your insurance agent and ask for a rate reduction. Your rate is partially based upon the miles that you drive.

RK Chevy helps you find the most discounts possible on your Virginia auto insurance.

Feel free to post a comment, call me or stop by RK Chevy to discuss how to save money and find quality auto insurance. Watch here for four more great money saving tips!

• Insurance agents use an insurance score to determine your financial risk as a customer. The more carefully that you pay your bills on time, the better chance that you’ll get a favorable score – which leads to more opportunities to get that cheap auto insurance!
• You can find out your insurance score by going to www.choicetrust.com; there is a small fee involved, but it’s worth the $12.95 if it helps you get discount auto insurance.

Integrity matters as much as the auto insurance price: an extra tip from RK Chevy.

Discount auto insurance is a good deal only if you go through a reputable company. To investigate the reputation of insurance companies and to ensure you’ve chosen an outstanding one, go to Standard & Poor’s website.

• Loss Payee/Lienholder
• Additional Interest/Additional Insured
• Lessor

Basic definitions are detailed below. It is important to note that these are general definitions and each insurance company’s exact endorsement provision and definition may vary.

Loss Payee/Lienholder*

This is usually a financial institution that loaned money to purchase/lease a vehicle. If the vehicle were damaged in an accident, any payments from the insurance company would be made to you (borrower) and the loss payee. This protects the lender’s financial interest in the vehicle.

To illustrate – if the bank/credit union were NOT listed as the loss payee, the insurance company would be obligated to pay only the insured for the vehicle damages. The insured then may or may not use that money to have the vehicle repaired.

Remember, the bank/credit union wants to be certain the vehicle is made whole again, because it’s their investment. The only way to accomplish this is for the financial institution to be listed on the insurance policy via a Loss Payee endorsement. The check for damages would then be made out to the insured AND the Loss Payee, reducing the possibility that the check would be spent on anything other than vehicle repairs.

Lienholder essentially means the financial institution holds onto the “title” of the vehicle, showing ownership until the loan is paid in full or until the end of the lease term.

Loss Payee and Lienholder are sometimes used interchangeably.

Additional Interest/Additional Insured**

This is usually a financial institution that loaned money to lease a vehicle. In this case, it has to do with an accident that may have damaged another person’s vehicle or property AND/OR injured another person(s). The bank/credit union would want to be listed on your auto insurance policy as the Additional Interest or Additional Insured via a policy endorsement. This protects them by providing the same limits of liability to the additional insured/additional interest in the event of a lawsuit.

To illustrate – Your vehicle is involved in an accident that damages another vehicle and injures its occupants. The part of your policy that handles this is your Liability coverage. If your limits are $100K/$300K/$50K, your policy will pay up to $100,000 per person for the other person’s injuries, but only up to a grand total of $300,000 for any bodily injuries as the result of THAT accident. Your policy also will pay up to $50,000 for the repairs of the other person’s property damaged in the accident.

If the bank/credit union is listed as the Additional Interest/Additional Insured, those same limits of liability apply to them. The $300,000 limit will protect both the insured and the Additional Insured up to $300,000. After that amount has been exhausted (paid out on behalf of the injured party or parties), you (the insured) and/or the bank may be held responsible for damages exceeding $300,000.

Additional Insured and Additional Interest are sometimes used interchangeably.

Lessor

The financial institution to which you make your LEASE payments, but the same principle applies as above for Additional Interest/Additional Insured.

Lessor is also at times used interchangeably with Additional Insured or Additional Interest.

*When a vehicle is financed, the purchaser is the owner of the vehicle, with the financial institution having a lien against the asset to provide collateral for the loan.

**When a vehicle is leased, the lessor (financial organization) owns the vehicle and contractually gives the lessee a use interest in the vehicle and contractually requires the lessee to insure the liability and the asset (physical damage).

Reprinted from Dow Jones Newswires

DJ Insurance Customers Rank Service Ahead of Price – Survey

By Lavonne Kuykendall
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Drivers who were asked to rate their overall satisfaction with their insurance provider gave more weight to quick and easy customer service than price among the factors that influenced their satisfaction, according to the most recent J.D. Power and Associates ranking of auto insurers.

The survey asked consumers what they liked and disliked about their insurer, whether they had price shopped or changed insurers in the last year, and what drove the change.

Customers generally gave higher scores to insurers that allowed them to resolve a claim or other issue with one phone call and insurers that gave them a discount for bundling home and auto insurance into one package, J.D. Power said Tuesday.

The more phone calls a customer has to make to resolve a problem, the lower the overall score the insurer receives, said Jeremy Bowler, senior director of the insurance practice at J.D. Power. Giving customers a clear picture of any discounts they receive improves their satisfaction, as does conducting an annual policy review to make sure coverage is up to date, Bowler said.

For the fifth year, consumers overall said they were more satisfied with their insurer, suggesting that overall insurance company efforts to improve are showing some results, Bowler said. He said higher satisfaction scores correlated to higher customer loyalty, with insurers ranked near the bottom of the scale more likely to see customers shopping around for a better deal.

The top scorer in the survey was Amica Mutual, which has slightly less than 1% of the auto insurance market, but has led the survey since it was launched seven years ago. Amica’s score of 871 out of a possible 1,000 points beat second-place insurer Erie Indemnity Co., which scored 825, and third-place finisher State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., the country’s largest auto insurer, with 823.

Rounding out the top five were the Geico unit of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK), the fourth-largest insurer nationwide and the only public company of the top five, and American Family Insurance, which tied with a score of 803.

(The United Services Automobile Association scored even higher than Amica, but is not ranked with the others because it limits its services to U.S. military personnel and their families.)

Bowler said that 22% of the 14,066 respondents said they price-shopped for a new provider last year, but only 9% actually made a change. There were many reasons why a customer would shop, Bowler said, including advertising or unhappiness with price. The most likely to actually switch are those who had a service problem rather than a price concern, Bowler said.

One change Bowler saw in the results this year was an improvement in the overall performance of insurers that relied on independent agents to reach customers.

“Six of seven insurers that employ that channel wholly or in part have shown improvement, buoyed by an improvement in the independent agent channel” overall, Bowler said.

Some insurers have spoken recently of improving the deal they give independent agents in order to compete against other insurers.

One beneficiary of the trend is St. Paul Travelers Cos. Inc. (STA), Bowler said. St. Paul moved up from a 21st-place finish in 2005 to around the mid-point of insurers this year, with an 11th-place finish.

“They are compensating independent agents better than most competitors, and as an independent agent, I would have to like that,” he said.

The insurers with the lowest customer-satisfaction rankings were Progressive Corp. (PGR) with a score of 773, Allied Insurance, a unit of Nationwide Financial Services Inc. (NFS) and Mercury General Corp. (MCY), at 765, GMAC Insurance, a unit of General Motors Acceptance Corp., at 752, and American International Group (AIG) at 740.

Bowler said that some insurers, such as Progressive, which focuses on offering customers the lowest price, may attract customers that tend to price shop.

Ideally, insurers should focus on more than just price when marketing to would-be customers. “The single most important thing is to understand the customer and zero in on the few things the customer can relate to,” Bowler said.

Claim-response time and making information easily available were the two themes that customers most valued, he said.

For those who are considering changing their auto insurer, Bowler suggests shoppers first decide which factors are most important, such as the availability of sophisticated Internet services, a good customer service center or a well-known brand name for instance, and then get at least three to five price quotes from a variety of sources.

By Lavonne Kuykendall, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4141; lavonne.kuykendall@dowjones.com

08-29-06 1548ET

Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.