If grandma is more worried about getting run over by you than a reindeer, you need to pay attention to these tips.

Have a Merry and Safe Christmas

Having a safe Christmas is just as important as having a merry Christmas. This year put your safety first when shopping, travelling and being out and about. If you don’t, Christmas may not be merry at all.

Have a Safe Christmas Drive Not Overloaded

Taking Christmas gifts from one house to the other and shopping trips that fill the car can not only put us in the Christmas spirit, it can also put us in danger of getting in a car accident. When you fill the car too full of presents, they start to block the windows. If you can’t see out your windows, then you can’t see the other cars and obstacles around you to prevent from hitting them.

Anytime you cause an accident because your view was blocked by objects in your vehicle, the accident is your fault. At-fault accidents increase insurance premiums, which ends up making those Christmas gifts you found on sale much more expensive.

Pay Attention to the Weather for a Safe Christmas Drive

Spending the Christmas season injured or with your car in the body shop is not a very fun way to spend your Christmas. So when you are travelling this season, pay attention to the weather and road reports before you go.

The weather reports will be able to tell you what weather to expect while you are driving and the road reports can tell you the conditions of the roads before you leave the house. You can find road reports easily on the website for the Department of Transportation of your state. These reports will tell you if the road is dry, wet, covered in snow, etc., and some states also provide cameras in certain locations for you to view the roads, as well.

If the road is too dangerous or you don’t feel comfortable driving in the weather conditions, then stay home and do not go. If you have to go, drive slow and take your time. Don’t let other drivers that are driving dangerously or too fast for conditions push you to drive faster. Instead, pull over and let them pass.

It is always better to get there slowly and safely, than to be in a hurry and never end up arriving.

Have a Safe Christmas and Protect Your Presents

Many people don’t realize this, but anything stolen out of your vehicle is not covered under your car insurance policy. If it isn’t attached to the vehicle it has no coverage, and this means your Christmas presents.

So it is very important to protect your presents from getting taken in the first place. The best thing you can do is not let anyone see that you have the presents. Keep them in the trunk, instead of on the seats in the car, or keep them under a jacket or a blanket.

You can also protect yourself and your presents by parking in a well-lit parking lot, keeping your car locked when you are in or out of it, as well as never leaving your car while it is still running.

All of us here at Car Insurance Guidebook wish you a very merry and safe Christmas this year!

Car insurance coverages with Progressive, Santa and Flo.

Progressive Santa Commercial

Commercial starts with the doors to the Progressive store opening and Flo is greeting an elderly gentleman that looks like Santa Claus.

Flo: Welcome to Progressive.com

Gentleman: Yes, I need some insurance for my sle…um….vehicle.

Flo: Great! We insure all sorts of “um” vehicles. You also get concierge claims service, 24/7 live support, and pet injury coverage.

Flo looks down at the dog that the gentleman has on a leash.

Flo: Ah, are those real antlers?

Gentleman: Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho. I mean…um….hahaha

The gentleman is a little embarrassed and turns to walk away.

Flo (to the gentleman): I like cashmere socks.

Screen changes to white with the Progressive sign, 1-800-PROGRESSIVE, and PROGRESSIVE.COM.

Announcer: Cover you and your loved ones – now that’s progressive. Call or click today.

Point of the Progressive Santa Commercial

This Progressive Santa commercial was a cute way for Progressive to tell people about the extras that come with their car insurance packages (concierge claims service, 24/7 live support, and pet injury coverage). Having Santa with a pet reindeer dog was a good tie-in for the pet injury protection.

What Progressive Wants You to Do

Progressive wants you to get into the holiday spirit with this commercial, as well as question if your insurance company offers you these same “extra coverages” with your insurance policy as Progressive does. With tying it in with Santa and being at Christmas, people link the generosity of the season with Progressive, and it makes them think that Progressive is being generous by offering all these extras.

My Thoughts on this Progressive Santa Commercial

Okay, I did promise no analysis this month, and I am keeping with that promise. However, I do have to point something out. With Santa letting it almost slip that he needed insurance for his sled it got me thinking about Santa actually being able to insure his sled. Yeah, I know, I am probably the only one in the nation that actually took the time to think about Santa getting insurance.

But, if Santa would have actually tried to get car insurance on his sled Progressive would have probably laughed Santa off the phone. Santa’s sled is not coverable under car insurance because it is not a motorized vehicle. Damage caused to or by Santa’s sled would be covered under his homeowner’s insurance policy, instead.

Honestly though, if Santa can visit every child in the world and fit all their toys in that sack of his, he would probably be more effective in getting an insurance claim taken care of than an insurance company claims department.

The 2012 GMC Yukon is a full-size SUV that rate as average in almost all areas, except its insurance premium.

The 2012 GMC Yukon may not have the insurance premium you are looking for.

The 2012 GMC Yukon is the middle size of GMC’s line of full-sized SUVs. From the safety tests that were run on it, it scored a little above average thanks to its score being pulled down by a lower rating on one test in particular.

With its average safety ratings and average size, even if you are an average driver you can probably expect a little higher insurance rates with this SUV than with other SUVs or sedans.

Safety Ratings for the 2012 GMC Yukon

There are no safety ratings for the 2012 GMC Yukon with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gave the 2012 GMC Yukon an overall rating of 4 out of 5 stars. As far as individual testing, it scored 5 out of 5 stars for both the frontal crash test and the side crash test. The rollover test scored 3 out of 5 stars, giving it only an average rating.

These ratings make the 2012 GMC Yukon a fairly safe vehicle to drive. It is not the safest vehicle you could purchase, but it is also not the most dangerous one either.

2012 GMC Yukon Recalls

There was one recall for the 2012 GMC Yukon and it happened in March of 2012.

“GENERAL MOTORS (GM) IS RECALLING CERTAIN MODEL YEAR 2012 CHEVROLET EXPRESS AND SUBURBAN VEHICLES, AND GMC SAVANA AND YUKON XL HEAVY DUTY VEHICLES. THE STEERING GEAR PITMAN SHAFT MAY NOT HAVE BEEN ADEQUATELY HARDENED AND COULD FRACTURE.” National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

If your Yukon was one of the ones that was recalled you should have been contacted by the manufacturer already. If you are not sure if you were or you purchased the vehicle after the recall date, you can contact the manufacturer or your dealer to find out if you need to bring your vehicle in for the recall.

Insurance Thoughts on the 2012 GMC Yukon

Insurance on the 2012 Yukon is more than likely going to be on the more expensive side, as compared to other SUVs and sedans. With its price range between $40,000 and $50,000 the payout for a total loss or for repairs is going to be higher; which in turn will make the premium for comprehensive and collision coverage higher.

Medical Payments and PIP coverage are going to be decent because of the decent safety ratings.

The liability coverage can go either way. The vehicle can cause a lot of damage and injuries if it were to cause an accident, making the price of the accident higher for the insurance company. On the other hand, the 2012 GMC Yukon fits the profile of being more of a family SUV than other full-size SUVs, so the liability coverage could be lower because of the driver statistics.

Watch Out Falling Mayhem Trees From Allstate!

Commercial

Commercial opens with a family walking through a Christmas tree lot. The little girl that is leading the way is excited and is the one that finds the “perfect tree”, which just happens to be Mayhem.

Little Girl: That one daddy! It’s beautiful.

The whole family gathers to admire the Mayhem tree who is standing there smirking.

Mayhem: I’m the world’s greatest Douglas fir. I’m the perfect shape. I’m the perfect color. My scent? Like making love to lumberjack.

They gather up Mayhem, put him in a tree net and attach him to the roof of the family’s vehicle.

Mayhem: I’ve got about 20 minutes before big Don Olson here shoves me in a stand and covers me in tinsel.

Commercial shows family singing Christmas carols in their vehicle as they are driving home.

Mayhem: But halfway home my twine gives loose and that makes me – your problem.

The family’s vehicle goes around the corner and Mayhem rolls off of the roof and on to the street.

Mayhem: And if you have cut-rate insurance you may not be covered for this.

Mayhem rolls across the street and into the path of an oncoming car that swerves out of the way to miss him, and end up smashing into a snow bank.

Mayhem: So get Allstate where you can save money and be better protected from Mayhem, like me.

Commercial ends with family still singing and completely oblivious that they no longer have a tree. Mayhem takes the net off of him and walks down the street.

Point of This Allstate Commercial

Just like with all of the other Allstate Mayhem commercials, Allstate is just making the point that anything can happen at any time. And they are saying that any of these events that cause “mayhem” in your life may not be covered if you purchased car insurance that promised you a low premium, but doesn’t have good coverage.

In other words, Allstate may be expensive, but they will make sure you have insurance coverage for almost anything.

What Allstate Wants You to Do

Allstate wants you to question what your cheaper insurance coverage is really protecting you from. They also want you to laugh because it creates positive feelings and you will relate those positive feelings with Allstate next time you look for insurance.

Laughter is a powerful, psychological selling tool.

My Opinion

I am refraining from offering my opinion this month. The commercials I picked out for the holiday season are more for your entertainment than for me to analyze.

I hope you enjoyed this little bit of Christmas Mayhem entertainment.

J.D. Power Claims Department satisfaction results

What you can do if you aren’t one of the many that are satisfied with their claims department.

In part one of this article, I introduce something about insurance claims departments that may be completely inconceivable (any Princess Bride fans out there?) by many of you. But unless J.D. Power surveyed a completely biased group of 12,508 people, overall satisfaction with the claims department of the car insurance companies has indeed improved.

So what if you are not one of those that feel the same way about the claims department at your insurance company?

The Results of the Claims Department Survey

When wondering why everyone else is satisfied with their claims department and you’re not, it might be because of the specific company you are with. Insurance companies all ranked differently in satisfaction, and there were some that just didn’t do well at all. Your insurance company may be listed on the bottom of the satisfaction list; which would explain why you are not as happy with them as others are with their insurance companies.

Click on picture to your right to find where your insurance company landed on the survey.

What Can You Do if You Are Not Satisfied With Your Claims Department

Regardless of where your insurance company falls on the above survey results, the claims department that you are working with due to an accident has the responsibility to treat each claim fairly and reasonably. If you find yourself not receiving either, there are steps that you can take to correct the situation.

First, if you are not working with the claims department of your own insurance company it may be time to contact them. Yes, filing a claim under your own insurance policy will make you subject to your deductible, but you will get that back in the end if you are found not at fault for the accident.

By filing with your insurance company, you are no longer fighting the other insurance company alone you now have the legal power and claims experience of your insurance company behind you. In fact, once you file with your insurance company and they start taking care of your claim, you may never have to talk to the other insurance company again.

Second, if you are already working with your insurance company and not getting anywhere with your adjuster it is time to talk to someone else. First, ask to speak to your adjuster’s manager to try and resolve issues. If that does not work, ask for their manager and continue to move up the ranks until there is no one left. When you have reached a dead end in your claims department and still have no resolution, it is time to contact the Insurance Commissioner or Department if Insurance in your state.