How Technology Can Help Trim Auto Insurance
Plans Cut Rates for Drivers Who Use Devices That Track Their Habits at the Wheel
For years, drivers paid less for auto insurance if they reported low mileage. Now, insurers are using high-tech devices to track customers’ habits, and offering deep discounts to those who not only drive less, but also cautiously.
In the U.S., Progressive Corp. and GMAC Insurance, a unit of GMAC Financial Services, are the first and the largest companies to roll out this type of plan. At least two smaller companies, including Unigard Insurance Co. of Bellevue, Wash., a unit of QBE Insurance Group of Australia, also are poised to start similar ones soon. Companies in Canada and Italy also have programs, and Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. is testing the same technology in Connecticut.
Drivers who participate in these plans have devices installed in their cars that, depending on the technology used, can Read more
Car Recalls You Should Not Ignore
Imagine parking your car in the driveway after a long day at work. In the morning, after a shower and some coffee, you step outside to go back to the office–and the car isn’t there. It burned to a crisp overnight.
Crazy as that might sound, there was a recall issued last year on certain Ford Motor, Lincoln and Mercury models built between 1993 and 2003, in which a defective cruise control switch could spark a fire–even when the car was turned off and parked. The 12-million-vehicle recall was the largest one issued to date by any automaker.
Crazier still: Nearly 5 million of those vehicles haven’t been fixed–they’re still out on the road, putting people at risk. It is out of this concern that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a third consumer advisory in September urging owners to take these vehicles in for repair.
While ignoring a recall notice for cosmetic blemishes or malfunctioning radios is understandable, safety recalls–like the faulty Ford cruise control switch–should never be ignored. The NHTSA only gets involved with safety-related consumer complaints, a signal that the recall is worth heeding. In the end, however, it’s up to the driver to bring the vehicle back when it’s recalled; the best way to find if a recall is important is to check the NHTSA’s Web site, nhtsa.gov.
Driver Insouciance
The problem with recalls is that they happen all the time. The NHTSA recalls cars for everything from malfunctioning window wiper systems to defective car jacks that collapse when a user raises the car to change a tire. As a result, car owners aren’t nearly as responsive as they should be. Read more