Everyone wants freedom from insurance premium increases, so drive safe this holiday to avoid them.

Happy 4th of July from all of us at Car Insurance Guidebook!

Last month, we talked about how the summer holidays are the deadliest holidays in terms of car accidents. With the 2nd of 3 summer holidays here, please stay safe on the roads by paying attention to your surroundings and keeping your head about you.

If you can’t do either of these, have someone else drive for you. It will be safer for everyone, and it will save you from premium increases on your insurance policy in the near future.

Avoid Premium Increases by Paying Attention

The 4th of July is full of its own unique dangers. You have more children than normal running around in the streets, neighborhoods are full of fireworks being set off in the middle of the street, and then there are the drunks. This makes driving around on 4th of July, especially in the neighborhoods, extremely dangerous.

When you are driving you need to concentrate on controlling the car and what is going on around you. Don’t watch the fireworks going off overhead or in the street; and most off all, if you are driving, enjoy nonalcoholic beverages that day.

Don’t let celebrating our country’s freedom lead to an insurance premium increases because you caused an accident on this day.

Avoid Premium Increases by Protecting your Car

Yes, there are still some parts of the country where citizens privately set off aerial fireworks. Living in one of these parts, I can tell you from experience that 4th of July can be a scary night sometimes. You rarely get to sleep before midnight on the 4th of July and you find firework debris in your front yard the next morning.

This also means that stray fireworks put our vehicles in danger as well. A knocked over cannon can shoot a firework directly at a vehicle causing dents; and if the timing is unlucky enough, one could explode underneath a vehicle. Hot debris from fireworks can also land on or in vehicles causing burn marks or even start a fire.

To protect yourself from having to file a comprehensive claim the next day, keep your vehicle in your garage (if possible). If your neighborhood is especially firework crazy, parking your vehicle in another safer neighborhood could help prevent damage.

Avoid Premium Increases by Being Smart About Fireworks

Never, ever, ever leave fireworks in your vehicle on a hot day. This means the day you buy them, as well as on the 4th of July while waiting for it to get dark. As much as we think that we have tamed fireworks, they are still explosives and they explode when they get hot; even if they weren’t lit. I am sure you can image the damage that would be done to the interior of your vehicle if a firework were to go off unintentionally.

So, be safe this 4th of July. Trust me, one night of over vigilance about your driving will be worth saving you from having to pay on premium increases for years to come.

Grange insurance walks through the different stages of life in this commercial with an art analysis.

Summary

As we listen to the announcer during the commercial, the screen flips through different scenes of life, such as:

• Being with friends

• Spending time with our children

• Enjoying a hobby in our retirement

• Home improvement projects

Announcer: If you’re out there, doing what you do, the last thing you want is to worry about sketchy claims coverage from a cut-rate insurance company. When you go with Grange Insurance you’re working with a company that uses big, bold brushstrokes when it comes to claims. But, because we’ve made an art of handling even the smallest detail, we have a 96% claim satisfaction rate. To line up a Grange independent agent where you live, visit Grange Insurance.com.

Point of Commercial

Grange Insurance wants you to know how great their claims service is as compared to other “cut-rate” companies. They don’t talk about anything else other than this point for the whole commercial.

Because the whole point of having insurance is to cover you in the event you have a claim, it is valid to concentrate on this point alone. In addition, with how unhappy most people are with the claims process of their own insurance company, throwing in the 96% claim satisfaction rate is a marketing draw to attract that group of people.

What They Want you to Do

They want you to visit grangeinsurance.com to find yourself a Grange Insurance agent. They also want you to consider how satisfied you are with your insurance company’s claim service because they believe they can do better.

My Opinion

After initially watching this Grange Insurance commercial I was ready to give it a thumbs down rating. It was boring and the art comparison thrown in seemed a little corny. It wasn’t until I started to analyze the commercial that I found its strong points.

One, there is an initial art term thrown in the beginning (sketchy) to describe the claims service of other companies. Once I realized that, the whole art theme made a lot more sense. The only problem is that I didn’t catch it until I had watched the commercial 4 times, typed out what the announcer was saying, and then read back through it. Is a person watching the commercial once going to really understand that witty reference?

Two, concentrating on the claims part of insurance is smart. If you can’t beat them in price, tell potential customers why you are worth paying a bit more.

Reservedly giving this Grange Insurance commercial a thumbs up.

Keeping to the smaller trucks in the Ford F-Series line looks like it could help keep your insurance down.

The F-150 is just one of the many models in the F-Series line.

There are quite a few different makes, sizes and model in the Ford F-Series line. They range from the smaller F-150 truck all the way up to the F-450. Some of these vehicles have 4WD, some are supercrew cabs, and others are regular cabs – and each comes with a different insurance premium.

When it comes to purchasing insurance for one of these trucks though, you will find the smaller the better.

Highway Loss Data Institute Ford F-Series Loss Experience

Insurance companies use the data compiled by the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) to adjust the base rates of what they are going to charge you for insurance on your vehicle. The following rates are set as anything above 100 reflects a collision loss experience that is worse than average. For example, a vehicle that has a rating of 113 has a 13% worse collision loss experience than average. Anything below a 100 represents a collision loss experience that is better than average.

The worse the collision loss experience rating, the higher the insurance premium could be for the vehicle. Ultimately though, the greatest factors that will determine your insurance rates are where you live and your own personal information.

But, because we can’t rate all of you, here’s how the HLDI rated the Ford F-Series trucks:

(For model years 2009-2011)

 Ford F-Series Vehicle Recall

You may not think that a vehicle recall would affect your insurance coverage, but it will determine who will pay your claim. If your car accident resulted from a recalled part malfunctioning, the company that made the vehicle is responsible for the accident.

So, just like when another driver is responsible for an accident, if you file a claim with your insurance company you will be responsible for your deductible. You will only get your deductible back once your insurance company has put the claim through subrogation and recovered what they paid to repair your vehicle. Your only other course of action is trying to file a claim directly with the auto manufacturer.

To avoid all of this, get your vehicle fixed as soon as you have been notified of the recall. It is better to be a little inconvenienced and have a recall issue resolved, instead of having to deal with the much large inconvenience of a resulting car accident.

The Ford F-Series currently has a recall for the 2011 F-150 and the F-250, F-350, F-450 and F-550 from 2012. The recall is due to a defective, brake shift interlock switch. Because this part doesn’t work like it should the driver can shift the vehicle out of park without pressing down on the brake pedal. Without this safety mechanism the Ford F-Series truck could move before the driver is ready and hit another vehicle or a pedestrian.

Paying less for car insurance coverage is enough to make any driver jump for joy.

As more technology takes over our vehicles, driving is getting safer.

Accident statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released this month show that as a result of vehicles getting safer, accidents and injuries from accidents have started to decrease. They have estimated that your chances of getting into an accident for every 100,000 miles that you drive has decreased by 5% just between a vehicle released in 2000 and one released in 2008. You also now have an 82% chance of walking away from a car accident uninjured in a 2008 model vehicle as compared to a 79% chance with a 2000 model.

With this increase in safety, your insurance coverage will be affected.

Safety Equipment Affecting Insurance Coverage

Every time a new car model is released or redesigned, it has more bells and whistles than the one before. Most of these new features are to draw consumers away from the competition, but a lot of them are also making vehicles safer.

With each new safety feature that is added to a vehicle, the odds of you getting into or being hurt in a car accident is decreased. Some of these safety features include:

• Back-up Cameras
• Electronic Stability Control
• Seatbelts
• Safer Airbags
• More Airbags
• ABS
• Daytime Running Headlamps
• Traction Control
• Collision Avoidance Technology

These are just some of the safety features that can be found in vehicles today. A good deal of them have become standard (airbags) in all new models. Others have been around for a long time, but are being used more often now because of new laws that enforce their use (seatbelts).

Exactly How Does a Safer Vehicle Affect My Insurance Coverage?

Okay, stop and think about this for a minute. Why do we have insurance in the first place?

Insurance is there to pay for the physical damages and injuries from a car accident, right? If we are getting into less car accidents and there are less injuries resulting from these accidents, then our insurance coverage is going to be affected.

When an insurance company determines how much to charge you for insurance they pull both your Motor Vehicle Report (MVR) as well as a C.L.U.E. report. Both of these reports tell them how many car accidents you have been in, and how much was paid out for claims you have filed. With driving a safer car that decreases your chance of an accident, there will be less, if any, accident surcharges that your insurance company will be able to add to your insurance coverage premium; resulting in a lower rate.

Car Insurance Coverage in the Future

A research and advisory firm by the name of Celent predicts that in the near future (2023 to 2027) that there could be a drastic decrease in the car insurance industry due to: collision avoidance technology, automated traffic enforcement and even robot cars. They believe that the combination of these three will lead to a decrease in insurance losses which will lead to a loss of revenue from insurance premiums.

What do you think about these possible changes coming? Post a comment and let us know if you are seeing cheaper insurance premium because of having a safer car or if you think that insurance coverage may eventually become a thing of the past.

Arbella Insurance Group recruits a hockey goalie to show people that they can save you money on insurance also.

Summary

Bus pulls into the screen with an ad on the side of it that says “SAVE BIG WITH TIM THOMAS AND ARBELLS INSURANCE”. The ad also has a picture of Tim Thomas, a hockey player for the Bruins. On the bus we see Tim Thomas, in full goalie gear, sitting in a bus seat.

Tim Thomas: Savin’ it (says this every time someone tries to sit next to him).

Tim blocks the seat several times with different versions of the “savin’ it”.

Announcer: Bruins goalie Tim Thomas is all about saving and with Arbella, you can be too.

Tim finally allows an elderly lady to sit next to him and he smiles at her.

Elderly Lady: Big save.

Tim Thomas: That’s what I do.

Screen changes to Arbella Insurance Group logo with “Here for your car-home-business”, “Here. For Good”, “You could save 15% | Arbella.com, and finally, the Facebook logo.

Announcer: Find a local independent agent at Arbella.com.

Point of Commercial

Arbella Insurance Group created a cute visual that they are going to save you on insurance, just like a hockey goalie saves his team from the opposing team scoring. It’s a very simple point and made very well in a nice short commercial.

What They Want You to Do

Arbella Insurance actually has a different call to action than what other insurance commercials have. They don’t want you to visit their website for a quote or to contact a local agent for a quote. Instead they want you to visit their website to find an agent. That’s all, they don’t ask for you to call for quote or to see how much you can save. I guess they just assume that you know all that.

My Opinion

Overall, the premise of the whole commercial is cute. Seeing the hockey goalie blocking the seat on the bus for an elderly lady is also something that is memorable, so it will stick in your head when you are thinking about insurance companies to call for insurance quotes.

My favorite part is the very end of the commercial where is says on the screen “You could save 15%”. This is a nice silent jab at GEICO’s “save 15% or more” phrase.

The only things that I didn’t like about the commercial were the lack of options to contact them, as well as the extremely weak call to action at the end.

With all that said, I would give this Arbella Insurance commercial a weak thumbs up.