Day: February 23, 2014

If your car has become damaged in an accident, through vandalism or from another cause, filing a claim with your auto insurance company isn’t always the best course of action. For example, if your deductible is more than the cost of the damage, it’s a good idea to pay for the repairs yourself and not report the claim. Each time you do decide to file, even if the damage is less than your deductible, the report goes on your insurance record. Although small claims don’t affect your individual premium, insurance companies use information from policyholders to establish the overall premium rates they charge their entire customer base. The more accidents reported, the higher the premium rates the company charges.

Legally, you aren’t required to report an accident to your insurance company. The reason your company requests that you report every accident is so that it can protect itself against possible fraudulent claims. Documenting each accident helps an insurer spot a current claim for damages that really happened in an earlier accident.

If you already have a speeding ticket on your record, and your car is damaged at a later time, you have another reason to think twice about filing a claim with your insurer. That’s because in some states, if you file a claim for an at-fault accident and you have been previously ticketed, you may not be able to renew your auto insurance policy.

However, if there’s another car involved in the accident, or someone else in the car with you at the time, it’s important to report the accident. You never know if the passenger or other driver will file a claim on your insurance, and you should report the accident to make sure that your side of the story is documented with both the police and your insurer.

Another reason to report an auto accident involving another car or passengers is that injuries are not always immediately apparent. Your carrier should have a report on file in the event you, or someone else involved in the accident, sustain injuries that show up the next day and which require medical treatment.

While you should always consider carefully before you file an auto accident claim, you should never stockpile comprehensive claims. It may seem logical to file a number of small damage claims together; however, insurers watch for excessive repair estimates for comprehensive claims and your carrier may question the validity of the claim.

There is a growing trend toward nonrenewals and tighter restrictions on what is covered across the industry. Save your car insurance for expensive damage, and plan ahead so you can pay for the smaller repairs yourself.

With winter’s arrival, most people find themselves spending more time driving in the dark with decreased visibility. While you can’t change the fact that there are fewer daylight hours, you don’t have to be hampered by poor visibility.

Protect your night vision by wearing a hat and sunglasses during the day when exposed to bright sunlight. The retina in the human eye contains photoreceptors, which have pigments that change shape when struck by light. This change process is called “bleaching.” Very bright light, like sunlight, may bleach so many of the pigments in a photoreceptor that it cannot respond to any other visual stimuli for a while, which means your eyes can have trouble adjusting to the dark. The longer your eyes are exposed to the sun, the worse your night vision gets.

Consider taking a daily multi-vitamin to enhance your vision. In numerous studies and clinical trials antioxidant vitamins, such as vitamins A, C, and E, have been linked with eye health. They help to maintain healthy cells and tissues in the eye.

There also are things you can do to your car, and steps you can take while driving at night, to enhance visibility-

·   Clean your windshield at least once a week. Light is refracted through a dirty windshield, which intensifies glare. In addition, a clean windshield will have less reflection. Wash your headlights as well. Even a thin layer of grime can reduce the light headlights emit by as much as 90%.

·   Dim the dash lights. The dimmer the light inside the car, the better you can see outside. Your instrument panel should just be bright enough for the instruments to be readable.

·   Adjust your outer (side view) mirrors. Sit in the driver’s seat, and tilt your head until it rests against the window. Adjust the driver’s side outboard mirror until you can see the rear fender at the edge of the glass. Then tilt your head to the right until it’s at the center of the car. Adjust the passenger side outboard mirror until you can see the rear fender at the edge of the glass. These adjustments will reduce blind spots, and prevent the bright spots in trailing cars’ headlights from shining directly into your eyes. 

·   Avert your eyes away from the lights of oncoming cars. When oncoming headlights shine into your eyes, look at the white line marking the edge of the pavement.

·   Fill your gas tank with one eye closed. This helps you recover from “flash blindness,” the condition that results when a few seconds of brightness temporarily interfere with your night vision. Closing one eye preserves night vision in that eye, and you can use it when you resume driving while your other eye adjusts to seeing in the dark.

Though nighttime driving is a time of reduced visibility, you can make it a safe driving time by following these suggestions.