Information to keep you safe physically and financial while driving in Reno, Nevada.

Reno car insurance isn’t your only avenue to protect yourself when you are traveling through Reno. Defensive driving and awareness of the dangerous driving areas of town can also help you stay out of an accident.

Reno Car Accident Statistics

From the Reno police department, the below chart is all the car accidents that happened between January and November of their respective years. These statistics are just for the City of Reno and are not county or state statistics.

 Dangerous Reno Intersections

The Reno Police Department identified the following 10 intersections in the city that have the most accidents and have stepped up law enforcement efforts at these locations in the hopes to make them safer. When approaching these intersections, don’t automatically assume that others will always yield the right-of-way to you.

And for those that have the “world revolves around my car” attitude, expect an increased likelihood of a ticket if you choose to drive like you are the only one on the road.

1. Clearacre Lane @ McCarran Blvd N
2. McCarran Blvd N @ Mae Anne Ave
3. Virginia St. N @ 8^th St.
4. 7^th St. @ McCarran Blvd N
5. Keystone Ave @ 7^th St
6. McCarran Blvd N @ IR80E On Ramp @ McCarran Blvd N
7. Evans Ave @ 6^th St
8. Moana Lane @ Kietzke Lane
9. Plumb Lane @ Harvard Way

Safety after the Accident

Some car accidents just can’t be avoided. Sometimes the weather makes it impossible to control your own vehicle and other times another driver’s negligence draws you into a car accident.

This is why it is so very important to have car insurance. You just never know when or why an accident will happen, and you especially never know how bad the accident will end up being.

Car insurance is there to protect you from the financial fallout that can happen after one of these accidents.  It is there to pay for medical bills, damage to property, time missed from work, and lawsuits; all of which would have to be paid for out of your own pocket if you didn’t have insurance.

Also in the State of Nevada, Reno car insurance is a requirement that has to be satisfied if you wish to drive.  The minimum amount of Reno car insurance that you are allowed to get away with is $15,000/$30,000 in bodily injury liability coverage and $10,000 in property damage liability coverage. However, this minimum amount of coverage may not be enough to fully protect you as it is only coverage to pay for damages you cause to another person.

To make sure that your property and passengers are protected, talk to you Reno car insurance agent about additional coverage beyond the state minimums.

Car insurance may not be what you want Easter morning, but its benefits last longer than candy sweetness.

Happy Easter from Car Insurance Guidebook!

Purchasing car insurance is just like filling an Easter basket full of treats. What goes in the basket depends on not only what is wanted, but also what you can afford. Some Easter baskets are large and full of all types of different goodies, and other basket aren’t quite as full.

And all baskets are tailored to the individual the basket is meant for, just like a driver’s car insurance policy is.

The Basket

All Easter baskets start with a foundation that holds all the goodies together. It can be a traditional basket, a beautiful box, or even a bag that can be used for something else later. It doesn’t matter what it is, all Easter baskets have to have something that holds the rest of the Easter treats.

This is the same with your car insurance policy; the foundation for your car insurance policy is the mandatory car insurance that is required by the state that you live in. These required coverages can take on many different forms from state to state, but for 95% of the drivers in the country these mandatory coverages are required before other car insurance can be added. The required coverages are what hold the rest of the policy together.

The Goodies

Once the basket is all set up, it is time to fill it with goodies. This could be different candies, toys, books, trinkets, bath and body items, or whatever fits the recipient of the basket.

With your car insurance basket, once the required minimum coverages are set it is time to select the other insurance coverages that fit your lifestyle and budget. You could fill your car insurance basket with coverages for your vehicle (comprehensive and collision coverage), rental car coverage, medical payments coverage, personal injury protection coverage, towing coverage, GAP coverage, and whatever else your insurance company offers.

If you aren’t sure what to put in your car insurance policy, that’s what your insurance agent is for.  They can help guide you to put in the coverages that you need for your situation, so don’t hesitate to contact them.

Q: I have heard that Bear River Mutual coverage limits default to the state minimum when you have an accident? Is there any truth in that claim?

A: That sounds highly illegal to me. An insurance company cannot change your auto insurance coverages without your consent, except in regards to your insurance premium.

In my experience though, an insurance company will jack up your premium or drop you completely before they would decrease your coverage. First of all, they are going to want to recoup the money they just paid out for your claim, so by keeping you at your current coverage level and increasing your premium they will make that money back faster than if they were to decrease your coverages with a lower premium. Second, if you really messed up and they are afraid of you doing it again, they aren’t going to want to keep you around at all and will just give you the boot out the door.

If there are any changes to your insurance premium or policy, most states have strict timelines that the insurance companies have to follow so that you have plenty of notice of any upcoming changes.

Criminals that commit Hialeah car insurance fraud lay in wait for their next victim, just like an alligator.

The increase behind your Hialeah car insurance premium may not be from what you think.

Florida is one of the few states where you are required to carry car insurance that protects both you and the other driver. In most other states, they only require you to carry car insurance that pays for the medical bills, injuries, and damages that you cause to another person.

Florida’s unique requirements of switching that up came not from wanting to be different from other states, but from the increased amount of staged accidents and fraudulent injury claims that were designed to get money from the car insurance companies.

Now you may think that this is not your problem, but that this is the insurance company’s problem, right?

White Collar Crime against Your Hialeah Car Insurance

A white collar crime is a crime that is committed against a corporation. Many people look the other way when this type of crime is committed because they feel that it is not harming a specific person. This is the type of crime that car insurance fraud is categorized as.

Unfortunately, this way of thinking about car insurance fraud is flawed because it does hurt a specific person – YOU. Car insurance companies are in the business of making, not losing, money. And just like any other business, if they are losing profits due to one area of the business not doing well they are going to increase the price of their product to compensate for it.

Put in simpler terms, the more insurance companies pay out in fraudulent claims, the higher your Hialeah car insurance premiums will go. This is why the State of Florida claims they stepped in.

Hialeah Car Insurance Coverage

January 2013 is when it became mandatory that Florida drivers have the following car insurance coverage:

• $10,000 personal injury protection (PIP)
• $10,000 property damage liability (PDL)

The PIP is to pay for your injuries, regardless of who was at fault for the accident, and the PDL pays for the other person’s damages that you cause.

Prior to January 2013, drivers were required to carry coverage to pay for the damages to the other person’s vehicle and the injuries that the other person sustained.

Under the old required coverages, criminals were staging accidents and then would claim fake injuries or were working with medical providers that exaggerated the treatments being provided for claimed injuries. After the insurance companies paid out on the claim, everyone involved would split the money.

Did the New Hialeah Car Insurance Requirements Help?

The jury it still out on whether the change was good or not. Yes, there was a 5% decrease in PIP fraud referrals, but this isn’t earth shattering. There was also a 31% increase in arrests and a 25% increase in convictions, but these statistics could be from the state cracking down harder on this crime and not from the change in the insurance law (Florida Department of Financial Services – Division of Insurance Fraud).

Also the changes to the law didn’t stop the crime; it only changed how it was done. So now instead of staging accidents to make it look like the victim caused the accident, criminals are now hitting each other and making the fraudulent claims on their own insurance policies.

What can you do about it? You can report insurance fraud to the authorities whenever you suspect something is not right with an accident you see. You can also shop around for your Hialeah car insurance to make sure you are getting the lowest rates you can, just in case your insurance company is passing on more than a fair share of price increases from fraudulent claims.

Being educated about traffic laws and how much Glendale car insurance you need to legally drive will help keep money in your pocket.

Don’t let your knowledge of Glendale car insurance and important traffic laws get outdated.

None of us like to give up money to the government, whether it is in the form of taxes, fines, or otherwise. Now, there isn’t anything we can help you with in regards to taxes. However, we can help you save some money in connection to driving.

Saving on Glendale Car Insurance

You don’t need to purchase every car insurance coverage that your agent suggests to be able to drive in Arizona. The State of Arizona actually only requires that you carry the following if you want to drive:

• $15,000 bodily-injury liability for one person and $30,000 for two or more people
• $10,000 property-damage liability

While this is not a lot of coverage and it pays nothing towards any injuries that you may have or any damages to your vehicle, it will save you money every month.

Children are Priceless Packages Classes

If you get a ticket for not having your young one properly secured in your vehicle, in Arizona you can avoid paying the fine for the ticket if you educate yourself. This education is in the form of a 2-hour class called “Children are Priceless Packages” or CAPP for short.

The class does cost $25 to attend, but will reduce your ticket fine to zero once you complete it.

Defensive Driving School

Defensive Driving School (DDS) is another way that education can help to save you money. DDS is a 4.5 hour class that you can take after you get a traffic citation, to prevent whatever you did to earn a traffic citation from getting on your driving record. It will also make the fine for your traffic offense go away.

You are only eligible to take the class once every 2 years, and the class is not an option if your traffic violation led to an accident that involved a serious death or injury. You are also only allowed to have one violation and its fee removed per class. So if you earned 3 citations, 2 of them will still go on your driving record and you will still have to pay the corresponding fines.

Continuing Education

To keep yourself from getting a traffic violation and having to take the above courses, keep yourself educated with the changes to traffic laws that usually happen every year. Follow up on the details when you hear about traffic law changes in the news, voluntarily educate yourself on child restraints if you are a new parent, and actually browse through the DMV book if it is time to take your driving test again.

Keeping educated is the best way to avoid issues and keep money in your pocket.