Make Sure that Your Car Insurance Company Gets Honored

However, since car insurance policies can be very complicated, you may not even be covered by your policy if something happens to your car. If your car’s wheels get destroyed and the wheels are not covered by your cheap auto insurance policy, then the car insurance company will have nothing to do with your repair or replacement expenses. This can be a waste, especially since you pay a hefty monthly fee to the insurance company to keep your insurance policy going.

To minimize the chances of you getting a bad deal for your money the next time you run into an automobil accident, be sure that you get the best car insurance rates and ins policy that you can possibly get. The best insurance may not mean the most expensive or most loaded policies, because not everybody can afford to pay such hefty fees. What you do need on the other hand is the best automobile insurance company and quote that your own money can buy and pay for every month.

More than getting the most affordable deal, you should also sign up with an auto insurance company or agent that is ready to help you whenever you find yourself in a tight spot. In this case, cheap doesn’t always mean good because just because insurance is offered to you at an extremely low price means that the company is sure to help and pay what is due their client when the time comes.

When people get into accidents, their insurance agents (if they’re that sort) make it very hard on them and try to wiggle out of paying by arguing that they are not covered by the car insurance policy or that the insurance company should only pay part of the expenses. Ask around with family, friends and people you trust on who they believe the best and most trustworthy companies are before signing.

How to Collect on Lost Life Insurance Policies

A relative has just died. He had a life insurance policy with you listed as the beneficiary. There's just one problem: the life insurance policy is missing. You have no idea which insurance company wrote it.

If you find the missing life insurance policy in the future, are you still eligible to receive the death benefit?

Hope they paid their insurance bills

If you're a beneficiary and you find the lost life insurance policy shortly after the insured dies (within six months to a year, for example), claiming the death benefit should be trouble-free.

First, determine if the insured had term or permanent life insurance. If the insured held a term policy, you'll receive the death benefit if he died before the end of the policy term. If he died after the policy expiration date, you would get nothing.

If the insured had a permanent life policy, you'll receive the money if the death occurred while the policy was "in force," meaning all premium payments were made up until the time of death. If the death was a while ago, you'll receive the benefit with interest from the date of death.

If the life insurance policy lapsed — meaning the insured stopped making premium payments before he died — there's a chance you might get nothing. When a permanent life insurance policy lapses, most insurance companies switch its status from permanent insurance to one of two options:

"Extended term" — The insurance company uses the cash value of the policy to buy a term life insurance policy for the same death benefit using the cash value of the policy. The death benefit will continue for the longest period the cash value will purchase.

"Reduced paid up" — The insurance company will keep the policy in force permanently, but will reduce the death benefit.

Gerry Brogla, an actuary for State Farm, says in the majority of the cases at his company, the permanent policy continues as extended term if it lapses. At State Farm, extended term is the default option for most permanent policies.

If the policy lapses, and the extended-term period expires before the insured dies, the policy is worthless and the life insurance beneficiary will get nothing. If the insured dies before the extended-term period is up, the beneficiary will receive the death benefit. If the policy lapsed because the insured died (thus ending premium payments and causing the insurance to be placed in extended-term status), the beneficiary will still collect the full death benefit, regardless of when the extended term was up. The beneficiary always needs to supply the insurance company with a death certificate to verify the date of death.

There is no time limit during which a life insurance beneficiary must step forward to collect the money, according to Jack Dolan, spokesman for the American Council of Life Insurers. "If a person shows up 30 years after [the insured's] death, the company still makes good on it," Dolan assures.

What happens if no one ever reports the death?

If the insured dies and the insurance company does not learn of the death, the policy lapses. Insurance companies will take steps to find out why a policyholder stopped making payments.

When an insurance company stops getting payments, it sends letters to the insured informing him the policy may lapse as a result of unpaid premiums. If the letters go unanswered, the company might initiate a search to find the insured. If that comes up empty, the company will then lapse the policy.

If a beneficiary to a policy never steps forward, it unfortunately means the insured paid money to a policy throughout his life and his beneficiaries never see a penny. This is why its a good idea to make sure beneficiaries are aware of any life insurance policies you have.

If you're lucky, the state may have your money

In some cases when a beneficiary fails to claim a death benefit for several years, the money is transferred to the state where the insurance policy was purchased under the escheat laws.

If a company knows an insured died and it cannot find the beneficiary, it must turn the full death benefit over to the state comptroller's department within three to five years of the insured's death. The money is transferred to the state where the insured bought the policy. The money is considered "unclaimed property" and gets lumped in with dormant bank accounts and uncollected rent deposits. The comptroller's department maintains a database that lists the names and addresses of lost life insurance beneficiaries.

Many states will try to contact life insurance beneficiaries in an effort to pay the death benefits. In Texas, for example, the names and addresses of the beneficiaries are published annually in each county in the state. In New York, the Web site of the New York State Comptroller's Office of Unclaimed Funds has an online search to find any unclaimed death benefits owed to you. You can find out the procedures in your state by contacting the office of your state comptroller or treasurer.

Keep in mind your chances of finding the policy with the state are slim. The insurance company has no obligation to hand the money over to the state if it's unaware the insured died. In most cases, it's the beneficiary who contacts the insurance company.

Also, the insurer only transfers the money to the state three to five years after it cannot find the beneficiary but knows the insured died. If the state doesn't have the death benefit, it's likely the insurer is still looking for the beneficiary or doesn't know the policyholder has died.

Unclaimed death benefits are rarely transferred to the state. Dave Potter, a spokesman for Hartford Life, says less than 1 percent of his company's death benefits go unclaimed.

Del Chance, a life insurance claims manager at State Farm, says, "Turning over life policy benefits to an individual state after the death of an insured is extremely rare. State Farm utilizes their own search techniques as well as outside vendors to locate lost beneficiaries in the event of the death of one of our insureds. By and large these procedures have always located the beneficiary.

Tips for making sure your life insurance beneficiaries get your death benefit:

1. Give your beneficiaries your policy information. It can be a difficult and awkward conversation, but an important one.

2. Keep all your financial records (especially your life insurance policies) in one place. Don't force your beneficiaries to search your house from top to bottom after you die.

Tips for looking for lost life insurance policies:

1. Go through canceled checks or contact your relative's bank for copies of old checks. Look for checks made out to insurance companies.

2. Ask those who may have known about your relative's finances. Speak with the relative's lawyer, banker or accountant. Also contact the relative's insurance agent.

3. Contact your relative's past employers. They might know of possible group life insurance. The insured might have also purchased supplemental life insurance through work.

4. Check the mail for a year. Premium bills and policy-status notices are usually sent annually.

5. Look at income tax returns for the past two years. Check for interest income from policies or expenses paid to life insurance companies.

6. Contact the Medical Information Bureau. If your relative bought life insurance fairly recently, there might be a trail of the companies to which he applied. The Medical Information Bureau (MIB) maintains a database that might show if insurers requested your relative's medical information within the past seven years. Record searches can be requested through the MIB's Policy Locator Service and cost $75. The MIB says that nearly 30 percent of searches turn up leads.

Car Insurance – How to Compare Rates From Multiple Companies Instantly

The reason we compare car insurance quotes from multiple car insurance companies is to make sure we‘re getting the best rates possible. Of course nobody wants to pay more money than they have to, but in the other hand we also want to make sure that our car insurance company is going to respond quickly and fairly in case of an accident.

What is unknown to many is that there is not one single car insurance company that is cheaper than others. One particular car insurance company can be the cheapest for one person but the most expensive for another. Each car insurance company has a certain category of drivers they want to insure. If you fit their category they will offer you a cheap rate, if you don’t, they will offer you an expensive rate. That is their way of filtering the people they want and do not want to insure. That is the reason we need to compare insurance rates from multiple car insurance companies, to find out which company will offer us the cheapest rate. The key is to find the company that offers the cheapest rate for you, but of course, it is important to compare rates from quality companies only.

There are many quality car insurance companies out there; however, some of those quality companies also have a high price to go along with them. How do we find a quality company for a cheap price? That, my friend, is the key question.

The traditional method of shopping for car insurance is to call around which we all know can be a long process. Another drawback of shopping for car insurance by phone is the probability of getting caught with the old “bait and hook” trick. That is when someone gives you a low quote by phone and hikes it up on you when you go into their office to purchase the car insurance policy.

In today’s world, luckily, we have the internet. The internet makes life a lot easier for all of us. Using the internet, we can shop for many types of things we may need which include shopping for car insurance.

Shopping for car insurance online is the best way to compare rates from multiple car insurance companies. Online, you can also read about a company’s history and make sure they’re a quality company. Most companies offer instant online car insurance quotes thorough their websites which makes obtaining car insurance quotes a lot easier than the traditional method of shopping by phone. Better yet, there are some websites that offer online car insurance quotes from multiple companies with one simple process. You can even purchase your car insurance online if you like the price. One such website is OnlineAutoInsurance.com. There, you can obtain quotes from quality companies such as Progressive, AIG, Infinity, GMAC, Bristol West, and several more. All with one simple process!

Rent to Own Homes - A Tactical Approach!

Our ultimate destination is to find a land of peace that we can call as home. Home represents our perspective towards life and society at large. Homes are supposed to be our favorite shelter under the sky and there are no fixed rules attached to it. There are times when we would like to be away from home but then all things are transitory in nature. And the good thing about homes is that it is fixed and an immovable property.

Rent to own homes could not have come at a more striking time. Economies are shrinking, lifestyles are changing and the whole view point towards society has been under the clouds of shadow and smoke. It facilitates the candidate to buy some time. And that amount of saved time period can be used in checking various options like neighborhood, credit or to gather necessary emotions that are ever so required while buying a house. Lease purchase is becoming more and more favorable among the audience as it provides multiple options to the subject in question.

The ideology in practice is simple and straight where two different individuals, owner and the person who would take it on rent, decide on an agreement to lease the house first and a further point is also added to buy the house. In an ideal world, any payments made as rent would be considered as a part of actual amount to be paid later on as the total price of the deal or property. So, the person who is availing the first benefits of rent to own homes is asked to pay a bit more than the normal rental amount. The noticeable point is that prices are negotiable.

Monetary funds have an intriguing nature to follow. The more we try to save it, and the faster it runs away. While buying a house, we certainly try to not think about it because some things are better left unsaid. House is an investment that we make once in a lifetime and consistent shall be our efforts and approach in particular. Rent to own homes, gives us an edge while our mood is swinging in both the directions.

It seems that we have covered good enough points and nothing is left. Except one, and that is neighborhood. Lease purchase option is filled with prosperous opportunities and one gets enough time for introspection of people in and around neighborhood. There are no strings attached over here and if still doubts are persistent, technically sky is open and free. And the last determined point to be made is to check all the documents well in time and count your chances before. Rest is just debatable and lengthy as how eventually comes out to be a winner- the owner or the other.

Discount Auto Insurance - Car Insurance Tips to Save a Lot of Money on Your Cover

Making sure you are protected against car accidents and the unknown on the road is important. Car accidents may happen anytime. That is why discount auto insurance is needed to help you protect your car.

Car insurance can be expensive though and you need to make sure the cover you get is what you need and at the right price.

#1 The amount you are required to pay for insurance depends on what type of car you have. If you are planning to buy a car look at it carefully. Then call the insurance company or get on the internet and find out how much the cover will cost you.

#2 Improving your car is good. However, the insurance company may charge you more for doing this if you add new parts to it. If you are looking for discount auto insurance ask the insurer if these changes will affect your cover.

#3 If you own a cheaper car you may want to get the minimum coverage the insurance company has. There is no point to pay more for the insurance than the car is worth.

#4 If you accidentally bump into a car it is advisable to pay the amount of damages from your pocket rather than filing claim if the repair bill is low. This is because the premium rate will increase if you file more claims.

#5 There are instances when you can get different types of insurance from the same company. One example is home insurance and auto insurance. If this happens, you can get discount auto insurance.

#6 Some car owners do not really drive that much, that is why there is low-mileage discounts offered on their car insurance. The insurance company lowers you premium because there is less risk for you to have a car accident.

#7 it is better to pay for your insurance in annual instalment rather than monthly instalments. Administrative fees and interest are included every time you pay your insurance. You can save more if you will pay annually.

#8 Increasing your deductible lowers your premium and helps you get discount auto insurance.

#9 You may get insurance discounts by enrolling in a defensive driving school. The insurance company gives you discounts if you complete the course. You must make sure that the insurance company offers this kind of discount.

Following these tips above can help you to get huge discounts on your cover whatever your circumstances or car.

The Benefits of Being a Low Risk Driver

The best way to lower the price of your car insurance is to be the ultimate insurable driver (someone that every insurance company will literally fight each other to insure). You'll be so in demand that you'll actually be given the lowest car insurance prices that they can possibly offer you. Insurance companies spend their time looking for people like these, and I'll show you how to become one.

Firstly, you must understand that car insurance companies assess every person that gets a quote from them. Each person put into a different category depending on their lifestyle and characteristics. Remember how car insurance companies make money - by receiving more money for protection then they pay out in any given year. Every time they payout they lose money, so they want to insure people who won't cause them to payout (what you'd call 'low risk drivers').

So what is a low-risk driver, how do you identify one, and what is different between them and a high risk driver? Firstly, a low risk driver will have a clean driving record. Bear in mind that companies only look at your 3 most recent years of your driving record, so don't worry too much if you have recently had a crash. Things that go on your driving record are any incidents you have had, such as crashes, speeding tickets, and any penalties. The more that is on your record, the higher your car insurance online quote Joliet will be.

There are also several factors that you unfortunately cannot control that affect the cost of your car insurance quotes. For example, men are typically deemed a higher risk than women, and younger men especially. Also, those who live in rural areas are lower risk then those living in urban areas. Car insurance companies take a detailed look at your whole life when making a decision. They even look at your credit history. Also, taking gaps in having insurance coverage is also a risky decision, unless totally necessary. Companies will wonder why you were uninsured for this time, and you not driving means that your driving abilities might have suffered.

The final way to get a cheaper auto insurance is to ask your representative to increase your deductible, also known as your excess. If your excess is $400, then any accident you have where to total cost is below $400 won't be eligible for making a claim. This obviously means you are less covered for minor incidents, but you'll reap the benefits on your overall policy price.

David has been writing articles for nearly 4 years. Come visit his latest website about buying Kids Night Light which helps people find the best Childrens Night Light on the market.

Custom tailored jeans trends 2010

For many seasons until now especially custom jeans in dark tones were popular. The trends of today return to original coolness through the shabby details: cuts, holes, torn knees or thighs – in case of new jeans looks the models can not look used enough. The fashionable used-look seems to be secondhand-shop clothe items.

According to the combination a relaxed, romantic or rocky style is creating using it. However, to present the trendy style in the best way one should choose the right top to go with it. The new personalized jeans can be found in the form of skinny models, hot pants, jeggings, or a boyfriend-cut. These pants are presented with stains, cuts or frayed edges, decent or large surfaced. In most cases these are light blue tones, which are finished in these techniques. The look can be found both in designer collections like 7 for all Mankind and in the collections of democratic customized denim brands, like Otto or Sisley.

Wide-cut torn jeans are perfectly combined with a wide lace blouse with hole-stitching or with flower-dotted blouses to create trendy farmer-girl look. Men should best of all combine these baggy jeans with chequered shirts to create a "farmer boy" outfit. Those who can not be called the fans of such a rustic outfit should try a combination with a simple t-shirt or a rocky military-look.

This style also favors tight skinny jeans in used-look. They suit perfectly glamorous or military shirts. Combined with black color, rivets and rhinestones the outfit looks just gorgeous. Beautiful is also a combination of made to measure jeans in used look and light-brown leather – both in men's and women's wear.

Especially trendy look frayed jeans in the boyfriend-cut. Marine-tops and high-heeled shoes go well with them, completing the fashionable outfit. Also an oversized white shirt or a batik-look presents an ideal combination. Accessories like numerous long chains will give the outfit a glamorous touch.

Jeans with cuts, be it a rock-n'-roll or a country look, are certainly not suitable as a business outfit. However, decent forms of this trend could perhaps be acceptable in the companies with a free dress-code. Anyway, wearing bleached and torn tailor jeans you should always be careful in order not to look cheap.

The combinations of used look with a customized or custom jeans top require perfect taste and intuition. As a matter of fact is the allover-look rather tasteless. However, there are certain exceptions of jeans vests and jackets, which build a strong color contrast t the pants. Anyway, jeans and the top you wear together should not be both in a used-look. The contrast to noble-looking accessories like shoes and bags makes the outfit even more effective.

The good news is also the fact used look can be handmade at home. Certain places of subculture jeans can be treated with a razor blade; smaller spaces can be cut out with the scissors and then frayed by hand. To make custom jeans in a bleached look one can use special bleaching solutions. However, be aware of the environmental effect and the fact the result achieved can differ from the concept greatly. Because Domestos-look of jeans is quite often associated with the skin-heads.