Global Market Reviews

Holy cow, Batman, it’s winter again. Sadly, Robin probably never said this to Adam West’s Batman and the lyrics from the song by The Band are not quite right. Which brings me to a Scottish group appropriately called Snow Patrol and their lyrics to Holy Cow include the fabulous line, “The telegraph pole knows where you live.” Yes, friends, it’s that time of the year again. Let’s start with a fact you do not want to hear. Claims arising from traffic accidents in snow are 40% higher than from the accidents when the road conditions are dry and the visibility is good. As you sit behind the wheel of the vehicle with that sense of absolute powerlessness, remember Holy Cow. You can turn the steering wheel this way and that. You can pump the brakes for all you are worth. But if that telegraph pole wants to get you, it will.

So what can you do? Let’s start with pre-snow planning. One of the worst things to happen is walking to your vehicle at night and finding it will not start. Always have your engine retuned to improve cold weather starting. Otherwise you can find yourself stranded waiting for help to arrive. This brings up several pointers. Is your cell phone always charged? You need to be able to make calls for help. Have you programmed in the numbers of your garage and a towing company? Or have you joined a club like the AAA. There are some good emergency roadside assistance packages out there. Look for the best value given the number of times you are forced to drive in poor weather conditions. Is there an emergency kit in your vehicle. You need a blanket to keep you warm and hazard flares to warn other drivers. Finally, check the windshield wipers to keep maximum visibility in sleet and snow and either fit snow tires or have good all-season tires with chains to clip on to the wheels if conditions worsen unexpectedly. Read the rest of this entry »

Is it true that red car owners have more speeding tickets than people whose cars are colored differently? Does your insurance company set rates according to the color of your car’s body? Have colors have anything to do with the likelihood of car accident occurrence? These are questions you asked yourself at least once.

Is the red car really fast?

You have definitely heard numerous stories telling about red cars being ticketed far more often and costing more to insure than cars of any other color, even if there’s no statistical proof of such information. Because there’s no official data on that matter it’s really hard to say what color is riskier, however insurance companies and police officials state that they never link the color of the car to actual claims or tickets.

Of course, the best idea is driving within speed limits regardless of your car color. Even if you have a red car, respecting the speed limits will prevent you from getting tickets. And chances of your insurance being costly are the same as the other guy driving his green SUV in the next lane.

Color and character

It may be irrelevant to speeding tickets and insurance rates, but what does the color red tell about you as a person? It may not affect the number of tickets you receive, but what does your car color say about your personality? Many psychologists of various schools that work with colors tend to attribute the color of red to aggressive behavior, describing people who like this color as risk-lovers and very active persons. That’s probably where the whole red car insurance story comes from – red means more risk, and more risk means higher premiums. Read the rest of this entry »

We love to save. It is a fact that doesn’t need to prove itself right. Sometimes we want to believe something that doesn’t seem too real. It is crazy and unbelievable how TV or advertising in general can influence one’s mind. Commercials are made so that it blanks off our conscience completely – we trust every single word said if we see a good picture that matches our expectations. Nothing can stop us once we set our mind into something that we wanted to do for a while. TV and advertising is that “push”…

Since early 90s, back when people started to get more and more used to internet, advertising and online searching has become very popular in society. Practically millions of people became addicted to it and dependent on it overnight. With the help of web-sites that would allow you to advertise your services for free, companies that are dealing with cars and property started to earn more than ever. People received free quotes on subjects that they were interested in, companies became popular and talked about. Everybody benefited from it.

It is fair to mention that competition between companies that provide services such as insurances it is very easy to benefit from. They try to get more and more clients and reduce prices for their services in order to get people to use their company instead of the other one.

But cheap doesn’t always mean good. So can how you find a non-pricy deal and not have nightmares about it at night?

First of all, you never have to lose conscience about any decisions that you are about to make. We all know that sometimes we are blind to see reality because we want to hurry with a problem that is hanging above our head, but when we rush into something; we are more likely to trip and fall than to do it correctly.

We all have connections. We are social people that communicate with each other. This helps a great deal as we are able to give and share opinions, help with advices. Most of us like the support family and friends are able to give therefore we address them for help. When it comes to insurances, automobile, for example – we have to remember that 70% of people in the world do have cars, they drive them everyday. This means the automobile insurance deal is a part of their life every single day. These people could do us a favor if they shared their points of view with us from time to time. Read the rest of this entry »