Car Insurance Deals

Guidewire Software, a provider of software solutions to property/casualty insurers, has expanded business intelligence capabilities with IBM Cognos for underwriting and policy administration, claims management, and billing.

Guidewire InsuranceSuite provides the core systems essential for the mission-critical operations of Property/Casualty insurers competing in today’s market: underwriting and policy administration, claims management and billing.

The suite was designed using a modular approach, enabling insurers to select individual applications — Guidewire PolicyCenter, Guidewire ClaimCenter, and Guidewire BillingCenter — or a pre-integrated set, driven by their requirements and priorities.

InsuranceSuite provides the flexibility insurers need to deliver insurance the way they want to by rapidly delivering better products and service to their policyholders and agents, while improving underwriting discipline and lowering operational costs.

IBM business analytics & optimization, worldwide insurance industry executive Craig Bedell said together the solutions provide insurers with powerful, flexible reporting and analytics capabilities in order to optimize performance, financial benefits and ultimately customer satisfaction.

Umbrella Liability Insurance Coverage

For many policyholders, the highest-available payment limit on the liability coverage of their home or auto insurance is still insufficient. On most policies, the largest limit offered is $300,000, which would only suffice if the value of policyholder’s assets fell below that figure. Otherwise, one costly money judgment against the policyholder could jeopardize his/her assets once the liability coverage is exhausted. To avoid winding up in such a situation yourself, you might consider augmenting your auto or home insurance with umbrella insurance coverage.

What Is an Umbrella Policy?

The best way to explain umbrella coverage is by way of example. The following scenario is illustrative of both the nature and necessity of umbrella insurance coverage. Imagine you lose control of your car and crash into a late-model Jaguar driven by a wealthy surgeon. He’s injured so badly in the accident that he is unable to work ever again. He sues you, and the jury returns a verdict in his favor with a multi-million-dollar award.

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LATHAM, N.Y., Aug. 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — While Hurricane Irene is carving her destructive path along the East Coast, the Emergency Claims Team from Mercury Insurance has been mobilized in New York and is ready to assist policy holders who suffer property damage, according to Joanna Moore, Mercury’s chief claims officer. Moore says claims can be reported round-the-clock to the Mercury Claims Hotline at (800) 503-3724.

“The first step for Mercury customers is to call our hotline ASAP to get assistance, report losses and begin putting their lives back together,” says Moore. “Our Emergency Claims Team has been activated, and as soon as local authorities allow, we’ll move into the field. Our goal is to help our policyholders as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

To accelerate the claims process, Mercury suggests claimants consider the following tips:

When filing a claim

• Contact Mercury immediately to report your loss.
• Do not remove debris or damaged property that may be related to your claim.

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A major car accident can result in serious injury and, at the most extreme end of the spectrum, loss of life. Even a car accident which people might think of as ‘minor’, though, such as a low speed rear end collision can have a drastic effect on the people involved, involving either physical harm or psychological damage.

In the event of you being unlucky enough to fall victim to a car accident for which someone else was to blame, then you may be fully entitled to put in a car accident claim. It’s true that no amount of money can fully compensate for the distress and shock caused by a car accident, but car accident claims can help in the immediate aftermath on a practical basis, and, perhaps more importantly, a car accident claim can also feel as if it’s the first move towards a longer term recovery. There are many factors which can lead to car accident claims, such as:

• A negligent driver
• A pedestrian
• Poor road surface
• Faulty traffic signals

No matter what the cause, you can pursue a car accident claim on a no win no fee basis if you strongly feel that you have suffered as a result of someone else’s negligence. The injuries whic Full Article…

A coalition representing everyone from safety advocates to auto insurance companies and the alcohol industry is asking Congress to approve $60 million for a five-year research program aimed at outfitting cars with automatic alcohol-detection devices that could keep drunken drivers off the road.

About two dozen groups and companies signed a letter sent last week to leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, calling on them to include the program in the next round of funding for surface transportation programs.

The bill would authorize $12 million a year to fund research conducted jointly by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and automakers to equip cars with systems that could sense whether would-be drivers are under the influence and not allow them to drive.

The Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) program is studying “in-vehicle” technology that would measure a driver’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) through means such as touch sensors on the steering wheel or sensors that monitor a motorist’s breath or eye movements.

More than 10,800 people died nationwide in crashes involving a drunken driver in 2009, the most recent year for which statistics were available, according to NHTSA. Those d

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Children may be far safer with Grandma or Grandpa driving than with their parents behind the wheel, according to a new study that is raising eyebrows nationwide.

Researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia found that kids’ odds of being hurt in an auto accident were reduced by as much as 50 percent when a grandparent was driving, rather than their mother or father.

The study—which analyzed insurance claims data from accidents involving nearly 12,000 child passengers under the age of 16 that occurred between 2003 and 2007—focused on injuries resulting from crashes rather than which age group crashed more often.

Researchers found that about 1.05 percent of children in the sample were injured while riding with parents, as compared to 0.7 percent who were injured while being driven by grandparents, a 33 percent reduction in risk. The dis

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Auto thefts in the US have reached the lowest levels since 1967. There had been a drop of 7.2% during 2010. It is the 7^th consecutive year that there has been a decline in auto thefts and this is largely due to the safety features as well as measures taken by the police force. This has acted as deterrents state experts in the auto insurance sector.

The number of thefts has declined steadily. The figures were at 794,616 during 2009, but there has been a decline of 7.2% during 2010, as per the preliminary reports from the National Insurance Crime Bureau. The non-profit trade group stated that Dallas, New York City region, Los Angeles, Miami, and Detroit were among the 257 urban areas that reported fewer thefts in recent times.

Almost all auto insurers including State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. and Allstate Corp. offer motorists discounts if they install safety features in their vehicles. Installing anti-theft devices and other built-in security features will help avail discounts in auto insurance premiums.

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Your car insurance isn’t solely determined by your age, driving record and the type of vehicle you own. Where you live also plays a huge role in how much you’re going to end up paying. The premiums your insurance company calculates come from many risk factors, but none is as easy to understand as your zip code.

Geography

Zip codes correspond closely to the geographic regions of the United States, mirroring and including the cities and towns that dot the country. As a result, each zip code provides your insurer with a good indicator of the local level of urbanization. Drivers who live in zip codes associated with major cities and large population centers are at high risk for accidents.

Traffic

Increased traffic levels raise the likelihood of collisions, as do the number of traffic signals and pedestrians. Driving in cities can be insanely hazardous, and insurance companies routinely rely on assessments based on zip codes to determine the threat to their clients and their vehicles. In

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