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 have 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.

Color and money

But is this all true? Do auto insurance rates depend on what color your car is painted in? And will the rates go down if you repaint your vehicle? No, no and no!

Some people tend to believe that the VIN contains information on your vehicle color and when the insurance company uses your VIN to set the rates for you, they include your color into the calculations as well. In reality, there’s much more to VIN than just body color and the insurance company won’t even pay attention to this factor, being interested in production year, make, model, engine size and other more important technical data for determining your auto insurance rates. And the only way you can get higher auto insurance rates for your red car is it being a Ferrari, Lamborghini or another expensive fast car that is generally quite costly to insure regardless of body color.

So if you really want to drive a red car enjoy doing it for as much as you like without worries. That is having in mind that you will be driving with respect to speed limits, less aggressively and making everything possible to avoid traffic accidents. Which applies to all car owners that want to have cheaper auto insurance regardless of what color is their car. It can be painted like zebra if you will, but if you drive safely it will still cost you less to insure the vehicle!

You may think that joining an auto club (like AAA) will give you only roadside service assistance and some discounts when booking a hotel, but there’s just a lot more to it than that. Even non-drivers should think about becoming a member of an auto club. There are just too many advantages of joining such a club to not getting into one right away.

Of course, not all stores, services and hotels will have it written about discounts right at their front desk, but it never hurts to ask. The savings you will get with an auto club member’s card are sometimes just so considerable that paying a yearly fee will look ridiculous in comparison.

Emergency roadside assistance

Probably the most beneficial feature you get with your auto club membership are the free road emergency services. Even in case you don’t have your own car, these services will definitely be very helpful when borrowing someone’s car or even being a passenger. These free emergency services include:

• Towing the car for a certain amount of miles
• Changing a flat tire
• Jump starting in case you’re accumulator is dead
• Extricating the car in case it is stuck somewhere
• Retrieving keys, if you’re quite lucky to lock them inside the car
• Adding gas in case you run out of it while being far from a gas station
• Undertaking minor adjustments and repair

Discounts rule!

Members of auto clubs usually qualify for numerous discounts (or in some cases get their cash back) on a wide range of services and products. These usully include:

• Staying at hotels, inns, motels and campgrounds
• Dining at restaurants or in bars
• Renting a car
• Booking train, bus and airline tickets
• Repairing your auto or buying spare parts
• Going to movies, parks, attractions and other entertainment facilities
• Buying computers and Internet connection
• Getting insured
• Shopping at outlet and retail shops

Insurance costs and security

You most probably are aware of the discounts and special benefits the members of auto clubs get when buying auto insurance and homeowners coverage. But the discounts are not limited only to these types of insurance, and you may opt for price cuts when getting other insurance products as well, including:

• Term life insurance for a group of beneficiaries
• Medical coverage for a short period of time
• Insurance for long-term care
• Umbrella-type personal liability coverage
• Flood coverage
• Personal possessions coverage
• Small business insurance

And there’s even more

These are just some of the advantages you might experience when becoming an auto club member:

• Road maps, travel books, atlases and printed publications
• Trip planning assistance
• Vacations and travel planning services
• Mortgage home loan services
• Auto loans and auto insurance
• Car maintainance and buying assistance from an expert car-buying process
• Legal protection and liability cost coverage
• Short term loans and cash services
• Travel checks with no fees
• Credit card services and assistance

You can get the full list of benefits and detailed information on all the discounts you are eligible for from your auto club web-page or representative so make sure to learn what you get with your membership when signing up.

The hard times many of us had to face with the recession have made some people think of “special” ways for getting some extra money. And when every dollar counts, any measure will do. Insurance companies report records in claims these days, typically for small amounts, and there’s a growing number of frauds the carriers have to deal with. Having overwhelming numbers of claims may seem like the perfect way to get a fraud unnoticed, but fortunately for insurance companies it is not so.

Every insurance company has its own special investigation unit, which is usually comprised of people who have experience working in law enforcement domain. And as you’ve guessed it, this unit is dealing with cases when fraud is suspected. Taking into account that fraud is illegal, these guys are just as serious as police detectives and FBA agents – when there’s a crime, they are bloodthirsty for finding out the truth. And that’s what they typically see people trying to get away with:

1. Leaving the car unlocked and the keys in place.

Missing a set of keys when your “car” gets stolen and having no signs of forced entry when it is found will make the investigation unit suspect that you’ve just decided to get rid of your car and get money for it.

2. Blame vandals for setting your auto on fire after spilling some gasoline somewhere near the engine.

You may think that the fire will destroy all the evidence. Well, there are things like computer simulations, pattern analysis and other ways to investigate such cases that will get you red-handed.

3. Visit your doctor after the accident too often.

Some doctors will be quite nice to you and provide medical attention even when it’s not needed anymore, for a special price of course. Needless to say that there are medical experts in investigation units, who clearly now how much medical attention does the person need in every particular situation. Besides, insurance companies keep track of the doctors and attorneys who encourage more medical bills to be paid by the carrier.

4. Filing a claim for an accident that didn’t happen.

If there’s no damage to your car, but you claim to have been hit, insurance company investigators will analyze all the data and clearly see if you are telling the truth or not. And you’d better be telling the truth, otherwise expect to get sued anytime soon.

5. Add some people to the car, claiming they were there during the accident.

Remember that accident reports and accounts are analyzed thoroughly and if the information differs, investigators will get very suspicious. It’s not only your report that is read when the claim get filed, the police report, witness report and the other party’s report are also taken into account.

6. File old damage as a new one and get paid for it.

Your car insurance will pay for that old dent you always wanted to repair. Well, not so fast, because thorough analysis will allow the investigators to state whether it’s a new damage or not.

7. Ask your repair shop to add the deductible to the final bill.

Having your car insurance pay for the damage to your car also means that you will have to pay a deductible first. Some people may think, that it’s better to negotiate with the repair shop and see if they can bill you with a higher price so that you won’t have to pay upfront first. However, insurance ivestigators will know if the service is too costly, or it takes too much time to repair your car after the accident.

No-one said life ever has to be fair but, as parents, you quickly discover the world is not set up to make things easy for you. There are challenges at every turn. Of course, all the healthcare needs can be put on the back burner if you or your partner have a family plan provided by your employers. Now all you have to do is read the small print to see what coverage is provided for children while they are at elementary school or high school while still under the magic age of 18 years. After they pass the threshold of their eighteenth birthdays, the coverage gets more patchy. They are still family members but the extent of the coverage may change. If you have not been fortunate to find an employer offering health coverage as part of the pay package, the world has been less welcoming. It’s entirely possible that you and your family are one of the growing millions who are uninsured or underinsured. This leaves a number of options to explore for the children.

For some years, the federal government has recognized that children are the future of our country. If they do not grow up strong, the future may not see the US remain so dominant internationally. So, with federal encouragement, states have been offering a safety net for children. The alternatives are Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) which was established by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 to expand health insurance coverage to uninsured children in families with income too high to qualify for Medicaid. For the record, Congress has provided about $40 billion to fund SCHIP through 2007. Federal funding is currently available. Outside the federal and state programs, some elementary and high schools group together to offer health coverage for their students where the families are uninsured or underinsured. Some states have not set generous criteria for access to their SCHIP and the group policies help the modestly well-off families bridge the health plan gap.

Once children turn adult at 18, they are mostly on their own. If you as parents provide private coverage, this can represent the best outcome as they work their way through college and university. Otherwise, this leaves the young adults to live with the risks of no cover, or accept one of the “affordable” policies offered by their college or university. It’s a sad fact your children will consider themselves invincible. Many are lucky and survive the education part of their life without accident or illness. But if anything serious goes wrong, they will add significant medical expenses to the burden of loans and credit card debts. Local community clinics can only provide basic care. The college or university policies are often highly affordable. More importantly, starting a health insurance policy at low student rates gives them track record when they later seek coverage as an employee. But one word of caution. These are not comprehensive policies and they often limit or exclude serious injuries or disease. As parents, you may feel it wise to top up the basic cover. Get multiple health insurance quotes to find the best value additional cover. Even if your children are enrolled as medical students, they cannot expect anything more than routine treatment from the medical professionals in their area. They will be treated as “ordinary” students when it comes to paying the deductible and any copayments.