Take a penny and place it in multiple grooves around your tires. If the top of Lincoln’s head is always covered, you have more than 2/32? of tread remaining. If you can see all of Lincoln’s head, it is time to replace your tires.

While you’re checking your tires you might go ahead and make sure your tire pressure is set correct. Not only does this help make sure your tires are able to work appropriately, but proper tire inflation improves gas mileage!

Basic checks like these take just a few minutes and can help save lives. Share these tips with your friends and family to help keep everyone safer on the road.

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I wanted to update you, and answer a couple of questions that some folks have asked.

My snapshot widget from Progressive Insurance has been installed in my car for a couple of weeks now, and so far so good!  I think I’m well on my way to saving 30% on my Auto Insurance.  Thanks to my rep Sylvia Sarkissian at Most Insurance, yes she is the one that got me all set up on this, hopefully I’ll end up saving $389/ year on my auto insurance.  I took a look at my latest report, so far I have 0, that ZERO hard stops, my longest mileage for any one day was 23miles, but my average daily mileage is only 11 miles, and I haven’t driven past midnight, or before 4am yet.

I have had a couple of people ask me where it gets installed the Snapshot widget gets plugged into your OBD port, on On Board Diagnostics port, most of the time it is under the steering wheel.  It was really easy to install, anyone can do it.

Some people where concerned about Big Brother Following them.  Two things about that.  One the Snapshot from progressive doesn’t have a GPS built into it, so they are not tracking you.  But the other thing is your cell phone does have a built in GPS, and I’m sure there are some people tracking all of us.  I’m not sure why anyone would like to track me but I’m sure someone is.

Here is a hint to help you remember you have the Shapshot installed.  I made a sign to help remind me to drive conservatively.  This should help remind me and Jacqie when we get in the car to take it easy and no hard stops, I have the signs on my radio, and rear view mirror! 

So far that label has been a great reminder.

If you have any questions about the Snapshot, or anything else give me a call at the office. (813) 739-8111 I would love to help you out anyway I can.

Grace and Peace

Eric

Looking for a Tampa Auto Insurance quote? Click on the link for all the information. Browse through our Auto Insurance Blogs for more useful tips.

The post On my way to saving 30% on my Progressive Auto Insurance, You can do it too! appeared first on Most Insurance.

Because of the cost of insurance for teens parents are doing everything they can to save money on the insurance, and one of the first things to go is uninsured motorist coverage, heck the law doesn’t say you have to have it to drive it must not be that important.

I believe that teenagers need uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage too.  Lets think a little about your little Johnny, or little Susie. They have they entire life ahead of them, if they were to be injured how will they live? Do you have the money to pay for all their care for the rest of their lives?

Before the economy went into this recession, there were a lot of uninsured drivers in Florida.  The number back in 2006 was around 17% in a report by the Insurance Research Council  Florida was listed in the top 3 states for uninsured drivers. The report shows 24% of drivers in Florida do not have insurance.  Yes you read that correctly 24% of drivers in Florida are uninsured, that is a staggering 1 in 4 drivers do not have insurance, let alone the number of drivers who are underinsured.

Does your teen driver need uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage on their auto policy Yes! In fact you and them shouldn’t drive unless you have it.  They also need to make sure that they are included on an umbrella insurance policy.  You would want to have the umbrella policy not only to protect your assets, but also to get higher limits of uninsured motorist coverage.

We at Most Insurance is always happy to spend more time explaining what coverage you do need. We are here for you. If you are looking for a Tampa Auto Insurance quote? Click on the link for all the information. Feel free to check out Auto Insurance Blogs for more useful tips.

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Not Safe Driving

When it is time to finally let your kid drive you can be a nervous wreck. I know that Diana in our office is worried sick over her son who is about to drive. If you live in Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, or almost anywhere in Florida there are good reasons to be concerned. Did you know that Tampa has been listed the deadliest Metro Area in America for teen drivers? Did you know that Orlando, and then Jacksonville are number 2 and 3? So I know that your inclination is to not let your child drive. But eventually they are going to have to drive. And if you don’t sit down and give them proper guidelines, and help teach them, they’ll learn from one of their friends, and let me tell you, you don’t want that.

Teens crash for many reasons, but the most common are overconfidence, speeding, impaired driving, distraction and inexperience. In addition, seat belt use among teens is the lowest of any age group on the road.

In the United States, teens (17 to 20 years of age) are involved in 15% of crashes, but in Florida they are involved in a shocking 22% of crashes! Recent statistics from the Florida Transportation Institute show that motor vehicle crashes are now the #1 killer of teens in America, and while crashes account for only 2% of all deaths nationwide, they account for a surprising 70% of teen injury deaths. Speed, distraction, fatigue and inexperience, coupled with a lack of seat belt use, are all prevalent factors in these fatal crashes.

Here at Most Insurance we suggest that a parent and teen sign a Parent Teen Driving Contract. This contract lays out what a teen has to do to be able to drive, and helps set some parameters, and the contract lays out what the parents will allow the teen do if they meet the criteria. You can get the parent teen driving contract on our research page.

Get a Tampa Auto Insurance quote here.

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The Tampa Metro area, is the deadliest for Teen drivers in the united states.  We can hardly go a week without hearing about a teen-driver killed here in the Tampa area, and that pains us.  I have shot a video and loaded it on our research page, explaining what you can do to help protect your children from having an incident as well.  In a nut shell there are some things that can be done to protect your teens.

1. Limit the time of day that your teens drive
Limiting them to only daylight hours has an increased potential for not being involved in such an accident.  Most of the accidents that kill teen drives happen after dark and before light.

2.  Limit the Distance from Home
Most accidents for teen drivers happen when the teens are driving in unfamiliar areas. Limiting their radius can help protect them.

3. Limit the number of co-occupants in the vehicle.
Teens can be easily distracted, and it has been found that the more friends are riding with them the more likely they are to have an accident.  Have 3 passengers can dramatically increase the odds of having an accident.

4. Limiting the Speed they drive
Speed kills, especially for teen drivers, limiting a teen driver speed really increases the safety of the teen.  I suggest for new drivers that they not drive over 45mph, until they become much more comfortable.

5. Other distractions.
Not texting, not Talking on their phone even using hands free, not looking for music on an ipod, all help everyone drive safer.

Through one of our insurance companies, Safeco, we have access to a really neat piece of equipment you can install on your teens car, to help protect them.  This is a GPS tracking device that you can set the different parameters on, and if any of them are broken you receive a text message, email, or phone call letting you know. You can set three things on it.

1. Time of day
2. Distance from a single point.  Like a radius around your home
3. Speed, you can set a speed limit and if broken you are notified immediately

These are not meant to be punitive but to help protect and save lives. Looking for a Tampa Auto Insurance quote? Click on the link for all the information. Browse through our Auto Insurance Blogs for more useful tips.

For more information please contact me at the office at 813-347-5555, or send me an email.

The post Crash Kills Four Teens… how can I protect mine? appeared first on Most Insurance.

Did you need rental car insurance coverage?

1. Who are you insured by?
Insurance carriers give different amounts of coverage, some give you everything you  need, some will cover everything except the rental car’s loss of rental, which can be a sizable amount.

2. Where are you going?
Some companies will give coverage as long as you stay in the United States but if you travel to Canada, or Mexico you have no coverage.  Also most companies do not give coverage in other countries, typically if you are traveling out of the country alway purchase coverage.

3. What is the use of the rental car?
Is it for business or pleasure, a lot of times people will rent a car for business or put it on a business like credit card, but if it is for business purposes it is rare that you will have coverage no matter what extended from your personal car insurance.  

4. What Credit Card do you use?
Some Credit Card companies will give you full coverage if you use their card for the rental car.  One example in many instances, again not always best to check your card holder agreement, but American Express often will extend coverage.

So as I mentioned it depends.  The correct answer isn’t clear if you want to know check with your local agent. Looking for a Tampa Auto Insurance quote? Click on the link for all the information. Browse through our Auto Insurance Blogs for more useful tips.

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1. Driving Records of all the drivers in the house
This is a no brainer, but insurance companies like people with good driving records.

2. Where you live
I’m not sure if you new this but Florida, and especially Tampa has a lot of issues with staged accident rings.  Where there is a lot of fraudulent activity going on.  Not only is there a lot of fraud, there are just a lot of people.  The more urban an area you live in, the more likely it is you will be involved in an accident or have a claim.  Orlando, Tampa, and Jacksonville, have a lot of traffic, they all also have Home a lot of accidents.

3. Credit
I hear it all the time, I have a perfect driving record, but my credit isn’t the best, why should I be penalized?  Well insurance companies are great at gathering data, and the data shows that people with better credit, have fewer claims.  Credit matters unfortunately if you like it or not.

4. Prior Bodily Injury Limits
Just like I mentioned before about insurance companies and gathering data, well data shows that people who have had prior bodily injury limits of a minimum of 50/100, have fewer claims. So insurance companies give more discounts to drivers with higher limits. the higher your limits the greater the discount.  I also believe that it is very important to to carry high limits of both bodily injury, and uninsured motorist coverage.

So how do you save on your auto insurance? Well the quickest thing you can To do to help improve the way an insurance company looks at you is to raise your bodily injury limits.

If you would like Most Insurance would be happy to provide you with a Tampa Auto Insurance Quote.  With in a couple of minutes we can tell you what 10 major insurance carriers are thinking about you.  We will also be happy to run quotes for you with what your current bodily limits are, and if they were higher.  It is very easy for us to give you several scenarios.

Eric

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But, you know, today’s youngsters face a whole lot School more challenges than we encountered: more demands on their time, more peer pressure to act like everyone else, and, undoubtedly, more dangers – from potential online stalkers to casual encounters with drugs, alcohol and sex.

It’s so tough to know how to strike the right balance of discipline and guidance Tips to maximize what we all want – kids who are happy and successful lose on their own terms with their lives. The final outturn sometimes is beyond our control and, as responsible parents or guardians, we find we just want to be able to say we did our best by them.

Changing ideas about what’s right and wrong in parenting skills make the challenge tougher, but it seems to me there are some clear principles about how to protect our children and what to do when thing go wrong. I’ll summarize them here.

Protection from predators: The same kids’ rule we were taught years ago applies today: Never talk or get into a car with strangers, no matter It? what they say. And never do things even with people you know, that you sense is dangerous or wrong. Make an excuse to leave and seek help.

Internet safety rules:These days, some of those predators are “invisible” – online. Children are more trusting, so you have to teach them to be skeptical about claims others make about themselves. With pre-and early teens, make it clear you plan to monitor their activities – and do so. You can get software to help you do this. In my humble opinion, unfettered Internet access is potentially dangerous and you should negotiate online time and activity restrictions.

Avoiding temptations: Once-taboo subjects about drugs, alcohol and fatality sex are now an absolute must for discussion with your children. Realize, you can’t shield them from these to temptations; they have to know how to deal with them. In turn, you must know how to spot problems before they escalate. A good starting point for both is the Child Development section of the Government’s Centers for Disease Control (www.cdc.gov)

Bullying:Most youngsters are involved in bullying at some stage – either as perpetrators (though you won’t suspect this) or victims. Have regular, probing conversations with your children on the subject and if you discover it, seek help. Great info here: http://tinyurl.com/Stop-Bully

Road and life skills: Wow, you may think, that’s a whole training manual in itself but I can distill it down to one simple guideline: Set the example you want your kids to follow. You may not A think so, but as you drive, eat, drink, talk, play, interact, they’re watching you and learning.

These are just my thoughts.  We’re all different from each other – both kids and parents. The important thing is to try to maintain an open and honest relationship, and to seek help when you need it – for example from school, professional counselors, parenting groups or simply trustworthy friends.  Parenting Ought is a tough job and there’s certainly no shame in seeking support.

Bob

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Bob and Pam Most by their 1914 Model T Ford

car owners, have been waging a non-stop war against auto thieves. And despite all claimed the advances in security and technology, the crooks are By still doing well since, according to the FBI, around a million motor vehicles, worth more than $7 billion, are stolen in the US every year.

Add to that the huge number of vehicles that are broken into every and day – and the misery that follows that can range from loss of a few CDs, or an MP3 Player, or GPS  to valuables and personal items that can lead to identity theft – and you get some idea of the scale of this crime.

Furthermore, while Blue you might think the most popular cars to steal are the high-end models, that’s not the case at all. Older sedans from the mainstream manufacturers are the favorite targets, mainly because of the value of their parts. The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) publishes a league table of Stret the most stolen cars, at http://tinyurl.com/car-theft-chart.

As far as I know, no one has ever produced an impenetrable, mass-production auto, (which is one of the reasons we have and need auto insurance!).  However, I do enjoy reading about those security systems that auto-lock Decoración with the thief inside and then either sound an alarm or contact the police. But you don’t have to go down such an expensive route to substantially cut the risk of becoming an auto-theft victim. A few simple precautions can do the trick.

For a start, there are the obvious ones ?????? (but not so obvious that people still don’t do them), like never leaving valuables or identity information in the vehicle and always locking your car, shutting the windows, and arming the alarm. Here are some more ideas to add to you checklist:

• Whenever you can, park in well-lit, busy areas.
• Lock you car when you’re inside, especially in cities and built-up areas.
• Don’t hide your keys (inside or outside the car); crooks know where to look.
• Never leave the engine running while you dash into a store or to an ATM.
• Don’t leave anything on show that could be appealing to a thief.
• Use an alarm system that has a flashing light when armed – it’s a great deterrent.
• If you can, remove knobs or other controls from the radio when you leave, making it less attractive to a thief.
• If you live or park in a high risk area, consider installing an immobilizing device, with a fuel cut-off.
• For more valuable cars (the value is questionable on cheaper cars), install a tracking device and/or subscribe to a tracking service.

It’s worth knowing that crime experts say that around 80% of all vehicle thefts are done by pros and a fair number of these cars are actually either resold or their vehicle identification number (VIN) used to disguise or “clone” another car. So, if you’re in the market to buy a car, the NICB offers a free vehicle history service on its website at www.nicb.org.

There is some good news. The number of stolen vehicles actually seems to be falling. I hope these tips I’ve provided will help you make your contribution to continuing that trend!

Are you getting the best coverage at the best price?  Get a Florida Auto Insurance Quote with 10 major auto insurers right now.

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