Car Accident and Insurance

[kthompson]

The way I understand it. The uninsured motorist coverage is for only people ( other than you'er family) riding in the vehicle with you that may not have insurance to cover madical bills. The insurance agent & I were discussing this the other day when I raised my homeowners Liability to 1 mil $

NOT so in South Carolina. It is if you are hit by an UNINSURED motorist. It is to protect YOU. Under insured is to pay you if the other drivers insurance is not sufficient. Now that is in SC. Your policy should spell this out very simply. The uninsured is required here as (get this) liability so there should be no uninsured. If you find it in simple English in your policy go to your Dept of Insurance web site and look up definitions.

 

[kthompson]

I will ask for the cost for higher coverage on the umbrella.

We have been using the Internet and phone to shop. Our problem was settling on what vehicle to get so the wifey had to test drive the three to make a decision. Now its just a question of finding THE car at the right price. I am pretty sure it will be an Expedition. We have some sales guys looking for what we want. It will be interesting to see what happens.

We looked at new cars for grins and giggles. No surprise that the car companies have money problems. They surely are not pricing like one would expect for companies with large inventories. This week some of the dealers were advertising $12,000 off some vehicles. But alot of the new cars list at 40-45K or even higher.

Later,
Dan

One more suggestion, take a trip to the Library and read over the annual Consumer Reports book (this is not their monthly magazine) on autos. Best review on autos I have ever seen. This is from REAL owners, not what a test driver thinks. They rate them on major topics. Has saved me a few times.

 

[kenmac]

Today, agent said uninsured motorist would cover me & others in my auto if the other driver ( that hits me) doesn't have insurance. Sound about right ?

 

[Bird]

Today, agent said uninsured motorist would cover me & others in my auto if the other driver ( that hits me) doesn't have insurance. Sound about right ?

Both injury and property damage are included. Here's one small part of the Texas Statute:

SUBCHAPTER C. UNINSURED OR UNDERINSURED MOTORIST COVERAGE


Sec. 1952.101. UNINSURED OR UNDERINSURED MOTORIST COVERAGE REQUIRED. (a) In this section, "uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage" means the provisions of an automobile liability insurance policy that provide for coverage in at least the limits prescribed by Chapter 601, Transportation Code, that protects insureds who are legally entitled to recover from owners or operators of uninsured or underinsured motor vehicles damages for bodily injury, sickness, disease, or death, or property damage resulting from the ownership, maintenance, or use of any motor vehicle.

 

[dmccarty]

One more suggestion, take a trip to the Library and read over the annual Consumer Reports book (this is not their monthly magazine) on autos. Best review on autos I have ever seen. This is from REAL owners, not what a test driver thinks. They rate them on major topics. Has saved me a few times.

We have looked at some of the online websites that cover the specific vehicle repairs/problems as well as "quality" numbers.

I am very suspicious of Consumer Reports and other consumer reported numbers. Too much room for bias. Years ago I was looking to buy a car. I was interested in the Eclipse/Talon/Eagle. I looked them up in CR and the Eclipse was highly rated while the Eagle/Talon was lower rated. They were all made in Normal, Ill in the same plant with the same parts. How could the be different?

We just looked up the cars we own and are looking to buy. The JD Power rating for my F350 was average or below average. Its the best vehicle I have ever had. Period. The Ford has never left me on the side of the road. But its ratings stink according to JD Powers.

We look at the numbers but take them with a grain of salt.

Later,
Dan

 

[Bird]

Yep, Dan, I'm pretty sure Consumer Reports would still say to only buy Toyota. I've figured Toyota owns a major portion of Consumer Reports for over 20 years.

 

[dmccarty]

Yep, Dan, I'm pretty sure Consumer Reports would still say to only buy Toyota. I've figured Toyota owns a major portion of Consumer Reports for over 20 years.

Ya know, CR surprised me. I was in the Chiropractor's office waiting for an appointment due the accident and he had a stack of CRs. Sit down for this. CR liked Ford products for the most part and dissed a Toyota product! They did not like the Tundra. What is interesting is that the Sequoia is based on the Tundra scores well.

I look at CR's number, JD Powers, etc and see if the ratings are at one extreme or the other.

Later,
Dan

 

[Bird]

That really is surprising, Dan. I thought they only advertised Toyotas. From 1952 on, my Dad was a GM fan and always drove General Motors products. I was a bit partial to GM products myself for a lot of years, but now I've owned nothing but Ford products for over 25 years. I now live on "auto row" I guess, just off I-35E where there are dealers for just about every make and model you can imagine within 12 miles up and down the Interstate. A Ford dealership is one of the closest and is just the kind of people I prefer dealing with. The old gentleman who has owned the dealership for something over 50 years died last month, but he has a son and daughter who also run Ford dealerships in other towns.

We tell TBN members that the tractor dealer is as important as the brand, and I guess I feel the same way about car/truck dealers. I don't necessarily believe a Ford is "better" than a Chevrolet or Dodge (or Toyota), but I think the Ford's as good as the others, and this particular Ford dealership is one of the very few I know, in which I trust the service department to do what's needed and only what's needed.

 

[dgl24087]

I agree on the dealership. I bought a new Ford Taurus in 2005. When I was in the market for a truck I returned to that dealership as I had gotten a great deal on the car and had gotten good service when taking the car back for routine mainteneace. I went to the dealership 3 days in a row to look at trucks. First time I was just checking physical inventory, went home and pulle dthe dealer site up and compared trucks until I settled on one. I went back and stood beside the truck for 20-30 minutes each of the next 2 evenings. The truck was in plain view from the showroom, not a single sales rep bothered to come out of the building. This was late May, 2007. Needless to say, I was not impressed. The next evening I was running errands and passed a small Chrysler-Dodge dealership. I decided to see what they had on the lot, and proceeded to drive away with a 2007 Ram 1500. Very low key salesman, no pressure to buy at all. I got the Ram for $9000 off sticker PLUS a very generous trade on my truck, $1500 more than I was seeking. I drove the Ram back to the Ford dealer the next evening and pulled right up to the doors leading into the showroom and asked to see the Sales Manager. When he came out I pointed to my truck and asked him if he knew what it was. He replied it was a Dodge. I told him "No, it was a lost sale" and proceeded to tell him what had happened, rather loudly and in front of a few prospective buyers. Strangely enough, I had began having issues with the service dept. shortly before this, and things deteriorated so badly that I won't take the car back to them for service. Sorry if this rant is overly long or off topic. Just relating a bad experience with a large dealership to a great experience with a small dealership.

 

[GreenWannabe]

Yep, Dan, I'm pretty sure Consumer Reports would still say to only buy Toyota. I've figured Toyota owns a major portion of Consumer Reports for over 20 years.

Actually, Consumers Reports does not accept any advertising and has never since it's start in the 1930s, although there are some other publications with confusingly similar names which do. I always relied pretty heavily on Consumer Reports pre-internet, and still will read them when I am contemplating a purchase. However, in recent years, I have found that my experience doesn't always mirror theirs. I now consider their opinion to be just that, their opinion -- much like the opinion of anyone else. I have added in the reviews and opinions published on several internet sites in my evaluations now. I don't take any of them literally but try to establish what the consensus of them are.

That being said, I have had several domestic and foreign cars over the past 25 years, and my experience with Honda, Toyota, and Nissan has been better reliability and longevity than Ford and GM. I have been wanting to go back to a 4x4 pickup in the past few years, and both Consumer Reports and Truck Trend rated GM as the best full size pickup a couple of years ago. I am disappointed to find that manual transmissions are practically gone, as well as manual transfer cases. I wanted to get back to something simpler like the Chevy and IH I bought in the 60s - no such luck. Bummer.