It’s titles to articles that really get people annoyed. It would probably be OK to say Mercedes-Benz make better cars than BMW. Somehow, it’s acceptable to compare the strengths and weaknesses of brands. But once we get into the area of individual skills, passions are involved. There would be hours of argument on whether Dario Franchitti is a better driver than A.J. Foyt. Most adults know how to drive and, as fans of Indy heroes, they will appreciate an everyday skill raised to the highest level. All this is safe territory. No one feels threatened by talk of the best, particularly when one is now retired. But start talking about whether you or your partner is the better driver, and egos are on the line – tempers are likely to get frayed very quickly. We are all proud of what we do. That’s a part of what gives us the confidence to keep doing it. Accusing A of not being as good a driver as B is entering a potential war zone.

Yet, if you go to the people who collect evidence about traffic accidents – that’s a range of people from the ambulances that carry drivers to hospitals, to the police and courts who decide whether anyone should go to jail, to the insurers who have to pick up some of the bills – they will all tell you the same story. Ambulances carry fewer women drivers. They are less likely to be injured because they drive more slowly than men. Women are less likely to break the law than men and so pick up fewer tickets and rarely commit offenses serious enough to justify jail time. Insurers prefer women drivers because they are rarely in serious accidents as drivers. They are injured seriously as often as men because, in most cases, they are being driven by men who ignore the basics of safe driving.

The result of this statistical reality is that insurance companies offer lower premium rates to women and that more women drivers qualify for discounts than their male equivalents. So, on both counts, women usually pay less than men for driving the same makes and models of vehicles. This is rubbing salt in the wounds. Men usually argue that all drivers should be treated as a single group. This would mean everyone pays the same premium to drive and so force all the good drivers to subsidize all the bad. Not surprisingly, there are more good drivers than bad and they have voices. They can and do complain if they are victimized by insurance companies in this way. Indeed, many insurers offer women-only policies. The cheapest rates are for women in the 50s. So when you are collecting those vital auto insurance quotes, look around the field as a whole. Get quotes from insurers who mix the sexes. Just because a women-only specialist may give a good rate this year, does not mean the competition will not match prices. But also get auto insurance quotes from the specialists as well. That way, you guarantee finding the cheapest coverage.

It may be the recession, but that never gets in the way of a good party. Whether it’s the traditional blow-outs like Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year, or just a cookout with a few friends standing around the BBQ nursing cans of beer, there’s a potential problem if you are a little too generous with the alcohol. And, let’s face it, we all need a little sustenance to be able to face each new day. Not as a slippery slope into alcoholism, of course. But just to unwind, shooting the breeze and nibbling on a chicken wing (hopefully dead).

Now, as if there wasn’t enough to worry about, those activist judges have started to get at us partiers. Those Brits used to have something with the idea of their homes as castles. High walls to keep out the local sheriff, his deputies and any passing members of the DEA. So, what’s the problem? Well, let’s suppose you are passing around the cans or pouring into glasses. Everyone is getting gently mellow. Are you going to let them all drive home? What happens if one or more of your guests is involved in an accident on the way home?

Decades ago, states decided that bartenders should start to care about whether their drunken customers drove home. Across the nation, the Dram Shop Acts made any bartender liable if he or she had served obviously intoxicated customers, knowing they were going to drive. But there was no mass movement to extend this principle to the home where you give the booze away. Lawmakers said it was reasonable to make a commercial organization liable – bars can insure against this liability. What people do in their own homes is their private business. Well, that was then. Now bars across the US are feeling the pinch. It’s cheaper for people to buy their booze in Wal-Mart or Target, and drink at home. So the courts are extending the principles of the Dram Shop Acts to you as social hosts. Courts are holding you negligent if you let an obviously drunken guest drive away from your door.

In some states, lawmakers are offering some degree of protection to social hosts, but the trend is spreading fast. So, if you are planning a feast with alcohol flowing, you should build in a period for sobering up before letting folk attempt to drive home. Plenty of black coffee should be on offer. If that’s not working, call for cabs to take your guests home. Why? Because the policies coming from the usual car insurance quotes don’t cover you when third parties have an accident. It’s possible your homeowners policy has some coverage, but check it out. Assume the worst. Assume you have no insurance against this risk. If one of your guests does get into an accident and only has cheap car insurance, the victims will come after you for damages. Now that’s a real sobering thought. So, before you get all generous with the Christmas spirit this year, think about everyone else on the road and have a safe New Year without claims against you and your family.

Now that President Obama has signed the healthcare reform bill into law, the dust kicked up by the battle is now slowly starting to settle. There is still fighting, but it has moved on to different ground. In this time of calm, we have the chance to reflect on what has been achieved and to speculate on how the insurance market will change. As we set out on this brief survey, we should remember it was the insurers raising their rates that gave the final encouragement to the lawmakers. Without that, they might have lost their nerve in this year of the midterm elections. The new insurance exchanges are to be in place by 2014. Once they are in operation, the premiums people pay will be capped. For those who earn less than four times the poverty level (at current dollar values, this is $88,000 for a family of four) the maximum will be 9.5% of their income as a premium. For those on or below the poverty level, the maximum will be 3% of their income. The government will subsidize people above their capped level of payment. This creates an interesting dynamic. With the government paying the difference, will the insurers try to hike the premium rates?

The answer is difficult. The premium is supposed to cover the medical costs, run the business, and leave a reasonable profit for the investors. In theory, the Administration has made a deal with the pharmaceutical industry to keep down the cost of drugs. Groups of hospitals have also promised some restraint. This should stabilize the medical costs. Now it all comes down to controlling the insurers’ greed. This is attempted through a few rules. Insurers cannot charge older people more than three times the rate for younger people. The insurers must give rebates if they spend more than 20% of your premiums on non-medical costs. And there are reviews of premium increases with states having the power to exclude health plans where the increases are not justified.

Why is the answer difficult? Because no matter what it says on paper, we have to wait to see it working in the real world. Naturally, the President expects premiums to be stable or fall over time. But the insurance companies have never been completely rational when it comes to pricing their cheap health insurance plans. Their philosophy has been to maximize the profit from both individual and group health insurance. Indeed, their greed was all too clearly on display early this year with major premium increases announced. Ironically, this proved a misjudgement because the President used these increases as a justification for pushing through the reform measures. If the insurers had held off or only asked for modest increases, the Democrat lawmakers might have lost their nerve and the bill would have failed. This opens the possibility the insurers might continue an aggressive policy to increase premiums and challenge the government to intervene. Since the Administration has been slow to take on the bankers over their bonuses, the politicians may be similarly reluctant to take on the investors in health insurance companies. In Ancient China, the words, “May he live in interesting times” was a curse. Sometimes, we seem to be living in interesting times today.

Many words have been said about the importance of the car in our life. It has become like an accessory that you just can’t imagine yourself without especially in our modern world. We drive here and there and we can’t think of anything that would turn our life into a complete nightmare more than the absence of the car. But having enough money and being able to pay for car services together with an urge to drive is not enough to become a good driver. There are many details that should be taken into consideration by those who want to become professional skillful drivers. You have probably heard about quotes on car insurance sites. And you probably wonder what those things are, how they work and what good are they to us. Let us explain the deal with car insurance quotes to you. Let’s imagine you logged on to some insurance site. There should be a variety of deals available to anyone on car insurance. There are different plans, different policies. How do you know which one to get and will the chosen one be suitable for you? This is the major question. Costs and rates may vary from one company to another. Some companies are willing to compete and offer better prices. But price is a secondary thing. The important part is getting the right insurance. You have to be a precise as you possibly can be while giving information about your car to the company. If you are not a newcomer to automobiles, you surely know that good driving record, credit history; location of vehicle, safety features on a vehicle as well other details lead to discounts. There are also some things that can increase the payment – those things are tickets, accidents, low credit score, high mileage on the road, gaps in coverage and so on. The insurer has a full right to set high rates on premiums if you have all of those in your history check.

If you are well experienced driver and your financial situation is more or less stable, you surely will be able to find a good quote. So what is necessary for the driver to do while being on the road? A good driver will always keep his eyes on the road while driving. It is also not permitted to use mobile phones or any other equipment while driving. If you are a considerate driver, you won’t eat or drink on the road as well. Posted speed limits are there to indicate the allowed driving speed – please always remember this. The road is not the right place to show what you are about. Don’t try to show any dangerous stunts – don’t be irresponsible. Stop at red signs that are placed to indicate danger and prevent you from any accidents that may happen. Your bills and all checks need to be paid on time. There should be no gaps in your coverage. You may think they are not a problem now, but later on they may be a big deal. Driving less that people normally do will benefit the rate payments and having more than one car will give you a possibility to enjoy some discount available to multi-car owners. The rest can be found on any insurance company’s sites. Don’t forget to get your car insurance quotes now!