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Why Do You Need Disability Coverage?

I read an interesting article on the Fortune magazine website: Don’t Let Illness De-rail Your Retirement. I thought I would share some of the information with you.

Everyone knows about the importance of planning for retirement, and most people underst and the importance of having life insurance in case the unthinkable happens. But many people don’t give much thought to what might happen if they are injured while still working and saving toward retirement. They can’t work, so obviously investing is on hold, and they weren’t killed, so life insurance is of very little help. It’s a difficult qu andary to be in.

According to the Society of Actuaries, one in three American workers will suffer an injury which will prevent them from working for three months or longer. If this was you, how would you replace that income? And don’t think that just because you don’t perform dangerous activities like skydiving or motorcycle riding excludes you from this statistic; according to the Consumer Federation of America and Unum, 90 percent of those who miss work do so due to health issues such as cancer and back problems.

So what can you do to keep you family from suffering what could be a catastrophic loss? Long-term disability insurance can help bridge the income gap. Most employers offer long-term disability coverage to their employees, but those policies only offer 10 percent of the covered person’s income. Purchasing a individual long-term disability policy can get you coverage of up to 70 percent of your pre-tax income. And you can opt to select “own occupation,” which will allow you to collect disability even if you could work another job. For example, if you were a airline mechanic that could work a desk job, you won’t be forced to take a job you don’t want while you recover enough to go back to the job you loved.

So contact us and let’s get you started with the coverage you need.

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Road Rage

Road rage. You hear about it, you know what it is, however when is the last time you actually were involved in it? Being in the insurance industry, you can bet that I hear about road rage, its effects on driving habits, premiums for auto insurance and so on. I’m a trained professional, so I would never fall into that trap I know so much about and take it out on another driver, or would I?

I’m driving home from the office, minding my own business. The street I’m driving on begins to narrow, well it always does that after all. However today there appears to be some parties in progress. There are rows of cars parked on both sides of the street and I immediately notice no less than ten valet scurrying up and down the street picking up and dropping off cars. Being the careful, well trained vehicle operator that I am, I slow down for safety.

After a few moments, I’m at a complete halt; not really much of a choice with cars on both side of the already narrow street and people walking around and valet personnel hopping and jumping about. Soon I’m inching my way up, taking turns with cars coming down the street, I pull to the left, the car passes, I migrate up a car length while the opposing traffic does the dose-e-do with me. This is the safe, polite and in all truth only way to slowly crawl up the street and we’ve all done it before. Haven’t we?

From what appears to me as out of the blue, a car whips around the corner and I would have sworn connected its front bumper to my rear bumper. As I’m inching my way along, this car is for all intense and purposes, attached to me. After a few duck and cover operations trading space to let oncoming cars go by and then moving along myself, this car, or more accurately this driver starts honking at me. It’s a shame that a car horn only signify objects in front of you and not behind, because if I had the ability to honk back at him, I would certainly have opted to do so.

After honking at me for a solid minute give or take, I would have loved to let him pass, however alas, there is barely enough room for one car to get by let alone one car pass another. So, I do what any conscientious law abiding driver would do – I stop. Completely stop and wait for my little attached to my bumper tumor to take a few breaths and relax. Sure, in hindsight, I can see how this would probably not accomplish that at all, and in fact it didn’t. It royally pissed this guy off.

Being the uber-social fella I am, I figure if I roll down my window and wave to him, smile, perhaps make the “calm down” gesture, he will get my drift and actually, well, calm down and relax. After rolling my window down I do just that and wouldn’t you know it, I can hear him, well, saying, cursing at any rate, trying to communicate back to me. Ok, so maybe I should just keep moving then. So I keep moving up, stop, pull to the right let a car go by, go up a little more, rinse and repeat.

At long last I make it to a place where there actually is room for a car to get around me, apparently a spot a valet didn’t yet fill and my little growth takes the opportunity to speed right around me. I’m expecting “the look” or worse, so I put on my best and most friendly smile. Instead of any communication human to human, he instead pulls infront of me and slams on his breaks bringing me and all cars behind to a halt. I can’t say screeching halt, as much as that would make this sound so much more dramatic, after all we are only going a few miles an hour at best. I sigh and say to myself, ok, get it out of your system and we’ll all move on. Sure enough, after a minute or so and people behind me begin to honk, he starts moving along. All is forgotten and we’re all moving along again, same pace, just a new leader in the pack, him.

Uh oh. Now he pulls over and waits to be passed. I exhale and just drive on past, not even turning my head to engage him. Sadly, he is not ready to live and let live. Tires smoking leaps behind my car, almost hitting the car that was behind me and again re-attaches his front bumper, fugitively speaking, to my rear bumper. Now I’m spooked. I’m not going to let this dude follow me to my front door, so I take the first opportunity to turn on to a street, hoping he will pass. Nope. No dice, he turns with me.

With my luck for the day, I have turned onto a cul-de-sac and have no choice but to turn around and head back and surprise surprise he has pulled over and rolled his window down to have a little chit-chat with me. So be it. I slowly pull up, with no other option, and our two driver windows are only a foot apart. I stop and open my window.

He asks what I was doing, and although I think it was pretty self evident, I decide to give him an honest answer. I tell him I was driving carefully up the street. He says I was holding up all the traffic, and I explain to him that I was really going as fast as was physically possible and he really should just relax, it’s always better to drive and error on the side of caution. Next he wants to know why I had the “audacity” to stop in front of him. Again, I smiled and gave him an honest answer, “to give you a few seconds to calm down.” He tilts his head to the side studying me to see if I’m serious and then smiles and says, “ok, well take care and have a great day.” Not even the slightest hint of sarcasm in his voice either, oddly enough. I pay him the same respect back and we both pull away.

I notice he drives the other way, back down the street, meaning he actually was following me, at least for a while to follow me, not to get to anywhere specific in the direction I was traveling. That won’t give me too many nightmares.

At the end of all of this, I’m left in my driveway thinking it all over. What did I do wrong, where did I go wrong? Leave a comment below and you tell me who you think was in the right, or wrong.

Karl Susman, Agent

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Southern California Fire Season is Back

An Early Fire Season Follows a Dry Winter For the State

According to Mike Rosenberg’s June 11, 2012 article, “Dry Winter Has California Nervous About Fire Season,” on the MercuryNews.com website, fire season officially began May 28th in the Bay Area when seasonal fire stations were staffed. Usually delayed until late summer to the mid-fall, this year’s highest fire risk comes at least a month earlier than usual. Craig Clements, a Fire Science Professor at San Jose State was quoted, “Everything’s already dried out. We might bet to the point in June where we would be usually in July.” Based just on one area of Cal Fire patrols, almost 1,800 brush fires have burned almost 10,400 acres as compared to last year’s figures of almost 950 fires that burned close to 6,000 acres.

A Year-Round Fire Season For Southern California?

That’s better news than what’s been repeated for half a decade in the Southern California. As early as 2007, the Los Angeles Times website was printing articles warning of a fulltime fire season in the area. In one piece, “Malibu’s Fire Season Now Year-Round,” staff writers quoted still-serving Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. “We don’t have a fire season anymore. We have a year-round first season, and it has profound implications for how policymakers … are going to plan for the future, because you can no longer plan for a September-through-November fire season.”

The Formula For a Bad Fire Season

According to Professor Clements, wildfire prediction is “tricky.” Most fires start secondary to accident or negligence, although a not insignificant number are attributed to arson and lightening causes a number as well. Generally, the first part of the equation starts with dry vegetation usually from drought, although some years of above-average spring rains can incongruously produce bumper crops of potential fuel loads which dry from the combination of the hot summer months and competitive overgrowth.

Clements continues our wildfire lesson in his interview. In addition to dry fuel, high temperatures and a low humidity are necessary to set the stage with for the event, providing dry, hot fuel loads that lack sufficient moisture that might have conceivably dampened a spark enough to put the tiny fire out. Finally, wildfires that spread beyond their original area of ignition after exhausting available fuel require “gusty winds” to transport the fire and flame to new fuel and acreage. Large fires create their own weather and wind due to the enormous oxygen deficit produced by the inferno.

The Unique Stage For Malibu Fires: A Natural History

Long before Malibu became synonymous with the good life and desirable real estate, Mother Nature had devised other plans to periodically keep the area clean and well kept, at least from a natural perspective. As the website MalibuComplete.com remarks, “[f]ires in Malibu are an ancient phenomenon, part of a natural cycle of vegetation growth, drought, and fire.” The unique geography and flora of the area sets the stage for this cycle perfectly. The canyons of Malibu run north-to-south and are covered with “dry chaparral brush,” the extent and depth of which depends upon the ancient fire cycle described above. Combine the Santa Ana winds, enough available fuel, dry conditions, high temperatures and a spark or two and you have the beginning of the natural Malibu fire cycle.

Further, the details “designed” into the system all contribute to ensure that a fire of near-Biblical proportions will roll through the area every “15 to 45 years.” Chaparral is a near-perfect fire fuel: small enough to catch fire quickly, woody enough to produce a significant fire, infused with volatile oils to ensure the fire will burn long and hot enough to catch adjacent fuel on fire. The dry Santa Ana winds first gust through the area, leeching away available humidity out of the soil and plant life and then act to spread fires already ignited.

A Brief History of Modern Malibu Fires

According to the website MalibuComplete.com, the area’s “first major fire disaster” took place on October 26, 1929. While most of the Malibu Colony was obliterated, there was no reported loss of life and very few residents were even home. Reportedly, most were attending the Cal State and Stanford football game — “the state’s premier annual sports event” — in Palo Alto that evening. The stock market crashed as the residents returned to find their homes in ashes. “Luckily” for some of the newly homeless and penniless, there were no remaining structures to leap from in order to commit suicide.

The Malibu-related website provides the following list of modern fires in the area that destroyed multiple residences:

  • Malibu fire in 1956
  • Malibu fire in October 1958
  • Malibu Canyon fire in September 1970
  • Malibu fire October 1978
  • Malibu fire in 1982
  • Malibu fire in October 1985
  • November 2, 1993 Old Topanga Malibu fire
  • Malibu fire in October 1996
  • Malibu fire in January 2003
  • Malibu fire in January 2007
  • Malibu fires in October-November 2007

The Lessons of the 1993 Old Topanga Malibu Fire

The 1993 Old Topanga Malibu is of particular to note. It killed three and destroyed almost 400 houses and ancillary structures. Among the reasons cited for the enormity of the destruction included homes that did not meet the newer fire-resistant building codes, roads that fire trucks could not maneuver, uncleared brush that and water lines dating from the 1930’s that failed. Although an enormous amount of damage and loss resulted from the Old Topanga fire, reasons that allowed the fire to spread or prevented authorities from properly fighting the fires were addressed via new building codes, new road regulations, replacement of water mains and regular brush clearing, among some aspects.

A Christmas Eve Scare in 2009

Despite the regulatory and infrastructure changes m andated and put into place by the 1993 Old Topanga fire, a Christmas Eve firestorm roared through Malibu in 2009 frightening residents and bringing back memories of the infamous 1993 event. Kim Devore of The Malibu Times wrote in her article, “Deju Vu: Malibu Firestorm Brings Back Painful Memories of 1993 Fires,” of the community’s response to the fire and its potential. She quoted long-time resident Pete McKellar on the situation with the wisdom of his then 49 years in the community:

“There’s no comparison. That one started way back near the freeway so it had a chance to fuel and get rolling,” he said. “The winds were at a higher speed and more sustained. It came over the hill and in five hours 200 homes were gone. This is more protracted, but that was a real firestorm.”

Nonetheless, Las Flores Canyon was under a m andatory evacuation order on Monday, December 21 prior to Devore’s article. Subsequent news coverage indicates that damage was “minimal” in comparison to past fires and especially the 1993 inferno.

Resources for Property Owners

According to its website, “the Southern California Geographic Area Coordination Center (OSCC) is the focal point for coordinating the mobilization of resources for wild l and fire and other incidents” in Southern California. It provides predictive information, wildfire status information and links to many government and private resources.

Prevention Tips to Avoid Wild Fire Threats When Camping or Outdoors

According to Mike Rosenberg’s article of MercuryNews.com:

  • Don’t keep a campfire smoldering. In fact, try to avoid this option entirely. “Use portable gas stoves when cooking away from home.”
  • If you do need to use a campfire, ensure that all ashes are cool to the touch before departure.
  • Don’t toss cigarette butts out of car windows. Use your ashtray.
  • Don’t drive or park your car over a high grass or high-brush area.

According to a June 16th article in the Lake County News:

  • Equip All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs), off-road vehicles and chainsaws with spark arresters.

Prevention Tips to Avoid Wild Fire Threats to Your Home and Property

According to Mike Rosenberg’s article of MercuryNews.com:

  • Be particularly careful when using power equipment, “a primary source of fires, particularly when grass is higher than normal.”
  • Avoid using a lawn mower to cut high grass.
  • Wait until mornings or cool days before beginning the chore of cutting dead grass within 100 feet of your home.
  • Keep your roof clear and clean of leaves in the event of area wildfires and floating embers.
  • Be careful when grilling out at home using charcoal. Be certain to fully extinguish flames and embers after cooking.

According to a June 16th article in the Lake County News:

  • Equip all chainsaws for around-the-home use with spark arresters.

According to a 2007 National Public Radio (NPR) transcript interview between hosts Robert Siegel, Melissa Block and Dr. Max Moritz, a fire ecologist at the University of California at Berkeley:

  • “[T]he most effective thing to consider is the wooden roof aspect, to rule that out. And we’re not seeing that as much on a new construction. The other is the venting. A lot of the new vent design looks more or less like a typical vent, but it has actually a screen over it to keep embers from getting in. Windows – double-pane windows, for example, the siding on homes and so on, these are all aspects of fire-resistant construction that need to be considered.”

According to Firewise.Org website for homeowners:

  • Trim overhanging branches;
  • Remove dead leaves from around your home and other structures;
  • Remove tall, dry grass from around the house using an electric weed eater, on a cool, humid morning;
  • Remove or trim back overgrown shrubbery with electric pruners or h and pruners;
  • Remove dead leaves from the roof and gutters;
  • Remove the lower limbs of trees to prevent a grass fire from igniting trees in the yard
  • Keep hoses, fittings, spigots and sprayers in good operating condition.

The Firewise website has a number of additional resources homeowners may find helpful, including construction tips, l andscaping guides, remodeling hints and construction of fire wise homes.

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Life Insurance – live forever

The human quest for immortality has led us down many roads–religion, science, exploration, meditation and just about anything else we could think of that might give us some glimmer of hope that we might manage to miss our final destination. Maybe we’re missing the obvious answer, though. Maybe we just need to buy life insurance.

Have you ever walked around downtown in a major city? The next time you do, look up at some of those big, beautiful, expensive buildings. Notice the names on them. You’ll see a common theme, with names like Prudential, AIG and Kemper appearing on some of the biggest. Insurance companies can’t build modern day palaces like that if they’re losing money. Since the idea behind life insurance is that you pay the insurance company until you die, then they pay your family the only way for the insurance companies to be making so much money is for the insured to be staying alive, right?

Oh sure, you could make the argument that the insurance companies just charge more to offset the cost of paying out death benefits, but the fact is that life insurance rates have actually been coming down over the last several years according to an article in USA Today. Perhaps a better argument is that people are living longer, meaning that insurance companies get to collect your premiums for a few more years before they have to pay up.

But maybe there is a link between owning life insurance and living longer. A life insurance company will use a number of factors to set your premium amount. An article on CNN.com explains that insurance companies will look at your health, lifestyle, occupation, family history and more, basically with the goal of determining exactly how likely you are to die at a young age. Really, if you want to know when you’re going to die, don’t talk to a fortune teller; talk to an insurance adjuster–they’re far more accurate. Anyway, the more likely you are to die young, as determined by the insurance adjuster, the higher your premiums will be. The logical conclusion would be that if you were really likely to die soon, your premiums would be so high that you couldn’t afford them. Therefore, the fact that you can afford life insurance might mean that you are not very likely to die soon. And if you can still afford your life insurance 50 or 100 years from now–so be it.

So the bottom line is that life insurance companies are in the business of knowing when you’re going to die, so if they’re willing to offer you life insurance as a decent price, the odds are that your number is going to be up for quite awhile. As for immortality, well, make friends with an insurance adjuster and I’m sure they’ll do what they can.

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Does Bluetooth Cause Cancer?

We have all seen them. The allegedly super busy executive, walking though the grocery store, putting beer, salad fixings and various sundries in a cart, all the while talking to himself. He’s on a bluetooth,of course, but you can’t help but be amused at watching someone seemingly talking to themselves.

Yes, the Bluetooth — that little h andy device that fits inside your ear and makes your cell phone practically h ands-free. Practically, because there isn’t a bluetooth out there that can always accurately underst and the voice comm ands. But it’s pretty close to perfect technology.

Well, except for the whole cancer thing. For years, there have been discussions and concerns about cell phone and bluetooth devices causing cancer. Recently, the World Health Organization declared that cell phone could “possibly” increase the risk in brain cancer. And since a bluetooth isn’t just next to your ear, it’s IN your ear, it’s possible that it poses an even greater risk.

Sure, it’s possible to get cancer from your bluetooth device, it does emit radiation, which is proven to be cancer-causing. However, the Federal Comminication Commission and the Food and Drug Administration have determined the acceptable radiation levels for cell phones and bluetooth devices. The acceptable specific absorbtion rate (SAR) for a cell phone or bluetooth device is 1.6 watts per kilogram of body weight.

A bluetooth device has an SAR value of around 0.001 watts/kg. Can we say very little chance? Perhaps if you wore your bluetooth 24/7, it might be an issue. In 30 years. But for the typical user, it’s fine.

Now, I know that cancer is a scary topic, and many people are fearful of finding out they have it so they make sure they avoid as many cancer-causing issues as possible. But don’t you sometimes ask, “What doesn’t cause cancer?” Can you get cancer from eating a flame-broiled burger or steak? Studies suggest that you can. Can you get cancer from playing soccer in the sun for too long? Yep. What about the celebratory cigar? Definitely. So, it’s underst andable why people would question the safety of taping a mini microwave to the side of one’s head. But still, the chances of you getting cancer from using a bluetooth headset are less than the chances of you having an accident if you are trying to talk on your cell phone, or worse, trying to text while you drive. So, to answer the original question, it hasn’t been proven that you can get cancer from using a bluetooth, but it hasn’t been disproven, either. However, if the Magic 8-Ball were answering the question, the triangle die in the blue liquid would most likely state, “More than likely, no.”

Or look at it this way: Even if you ate a steak with one h and, and a burger with the other, and while smoking a cigar you completed a scissor kick and won the soccer championship your chances of getting cancer are still extremely low.

But wouldn’t you pay to see that?

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Where to get Health Insurance

With so much talk about Health Care, I can’t help but still be surprised when I read articles like this one about Adults joining their parents insurance policies to obtain coverage.  This so called Health Care reform, which so far as allowed children to stay on their parents’ insurance policy through age 26 is, well, happening, working, call it what you will.  This seems to be the one single most popular part of the Affordable Care Act; ironically not doing much other than forcing existing plans to cover dependents longer.  The Supreme Court will be h anding down its decision about the Constitutionality of the so called Obama Care plans later this month.

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Taking cars

I came across an interesting article about Cars talking to each other to avoid a collision.  Imagine you are driving along and your car is always driving with you.  I’m not talking about steering or cruise control, I mean it is there, aware, talking to all of the other cars around you.  If you are at an intersection and somebody is jumping a red light, your car would know before you could even see it, because the other car is talking to your car, and in turn, your car is telling you of the danger.   What are the insurance ramifications of this?  Would you get a discount on your auto insurance for having such a safety feature in your car?  What if it failed, would you have a claim against the manufacturer of the device?  The future is coming fast and the insurance industry will, no doubt, be there with you.  Be sure to ask for your Autonomous Driver discount today!

Karl Susman, Agent

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10 Ways To Talk About Life Insurance

Hi, I’m Karl. I’m an insurance agent. I’m going to be blunt: You need life insurance. I know all the excuses. Here, let me prove it.

1. You’re too young to worry about it. I get that thinking about life insurance means thinking about your demise. But here’s the reality: You’re going to die. We’re all going to die. So, wouldn’t it be better to shove off this mortal coil knowing our family isn’t stuck with the bill?

2. It’s too expensive. How much did you pay for your clothes? How about your car? Your television? Were they too expensive?

3. You’re in great shape. People in great shape die. Accidents happen.

4. You don’t have a family. Oh, say that with your mother in the room. I dare you. I double dog dare you.

5. You eat right and exercise. You’re not dying anytime soon. I hope you’re right, but, according to statistics, 1.5 million Americans suffer a heart attack each year. 500,000 of these people die. Do you really think all 500,000 of those people died from too many Philly Cheesesteaks?

6. If you die, just stick you in the ground. How much can a funeral cost? Uh, A LOT? According to the National Funeral Directors Association, the average funeral costs about $9,000. Without life insurance, your family members would be forced to foot that bill. I supposed they could sell your suit, your watch and your shoes, but that’s not going to cover all of it.

7. You get life insurance through your job. Okay, that’s great, but what happens when you no longer work for that employer?

8. You’ve got money in the bank that will cover it. When you die, that money is part of your estate. Which means your family will have to pay estate taxes, which will decrease the amount of money you have. A lot.

9. You’ll buy it later. Okay, fine. But make sure you look both ways before crossing the street, have non-slip ducks on the bathtub floor, always wear you seatbelt, and that you are never in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

10. You just haven’t gotten around to it. Well, you might want to; otherwise, “He didn’t get around to it” will look great on your grave marker. Provided your family can afford a grave marker…

I’ve been in this business a long time. I’ve heard all the excuses. But the bottom line is, life insurance is cheap, dying is not. Also, this isn’t about you. It’s about those you leave behind. The ones who, when faced with the question, “But didn’t he have life insurance?” will be forced to shake their heads and curse you under their breath. Maybe even hold a séance, just to bring you back to yell at you. Sounds fun, huh?

So do us all a favor and cough up the dough for some life insurance. It won’t kill you!

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Why You Should Insure Your Jewelry

Everyone usually has at least one piece of valuable jewelry. Some people wear their jewelry all the time, while others have their everyday jewelry and then the jewelry they bust out on special occasions. See if any of the following scenarios apply to you:

  • Grammy Gert left you her engagement ring.
  • Your husb and gives you jewelry for every occasion. Without fail.
  • Your engagement ring cost three-months’ salary.

Don’t you think these items should be protected? Yes, you keep them in a dust-free jewelry box, and the really good stuff goes into the safe or fire-proof box, but is that protection enough? In the event of a break-in or fire, how would you repair or replace the items?

Of course, there is no replacing an heirloom such as your gr andmother’s engagement ring, but your husb and spent three-months salary on your ring. Whether he’s an investment banker or manager of an In-N-Out Burger, three months worth of his hard-earned money is worth protecting, don’t you think?

Oh, and think about this: According to the Jewelers Security Alliance, California had the most jewelry thefts in the US in 2010.

So, while you ponder this statistic while absent-mindedly fondling the jewelry you’re currently wearing, perhaps it is time you insured Grammy Gert’s ring and your other jewelry possessions.

It’s easy to add your jewelry to your existing homeowner’s ore renter’s policy. Just call you agent as request the rider be included on your current insurance. You will need to know an approximate value of your jewelry, and you’ll need to give a complete inventory of what you want covered. And when you get a new piece of jewelry, you’ll want to call and add it to the inventory. Jewelry is typically insured by it’s replacement cost or appraisal value, so you should also have your jewelry apprised by a professional.

Side note: go to a jeweler that you trust for the appraisal, and tell them it is for insurance purposes. Otherwise, you might get a lower appraisal value than the jewelry is actually worth, especially if the jeweler is interested in purchasing the jewelry. He’s not going to tell you how much it’s actually worth if he wants to buy it. The American Gem Society website has a search feature so you can find an appraiser near you, whether you’re in Los Angeles, Burbank or Sherman Oaks.

Which could lead to an interesting conversation with your spouse. Especially if he or she frequents auctions.

Police auctions.

Don’t laugh, it happens.

But wherever the jewelry comes from, once it is yours, you should protect it from damage and theft.

Karl Susman, Agent

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Do You Own a Classic Car?

It’s usually easy to tell who owns an antique or classic car. That’s the guy at the head of the parade. He putters along enjoying the scenery while a parade of motorists forms in his wake. He takes life a little slower—well, maybe a LOT slower—than the rest of the human race.

Ever wonder why they call it the human “race”? Kind of like the rat race…most of us speed along at sixty or seventy mph, sometimes faster. Then you come to the man in the 1912 Buick. This guy knows how to relax. Just mosey along at thirty mph tops in your antique car and let the rest of the world zoom around you. “Taking your time” attains a whole new meaning when you’re following him.

Why spend your life rushing around when you can kick back and enjoy the view from one of these venerable old machines? My friend Barb says her uncle owns a 1912 Buick painted Christmas green and red. It goes well with his long, bushy white beard. Everybody notices when he goes out on the town, and not just because half of them are stuck behind him.

If you’re tempted to fume and fuss because the clock is ticking while you crawl along, try thinking about a time when life was lived at a more genteel pace. Women wore hats and white gloves. Men opened doors for them and dealt with chores like turning the crank to start the car. There’s a lot to be said for life in the slow lane. Give it a try.

The National Motorists Association advises that newbies to the classic car field use caution when buying. Be skeptical if the car has unusually low mileage or if the seller says he’s just helping a friend get the car sold. Be sure to take a test drive, and go early so you can start the car when the engine is cold. Also make sure the car can pass safety and emissions tests. Be particularly careful if the car is sold “as is.”

Whether it’s an antique more than twenty-five years old or a classic between fifteen and twenty-five, your venerable car needs extra care and special insurance. Antique and classic car insurance covers all those things that could happen to your favorite automobile. Insurance for a classic car is far different from regular auto insurance.

One of the great advantages of antique and classic car insurance is that you get more coverage for less money. This is largely because most of these older automobiles don’t go zooming along at seventy mph. They’ve earned the right to go through life at a slower pace. Besides, people who own these wonderful classic autos don’t usually drive them on a daily basis. That lovely antique stays in the garage until it’s time to go on tour to the classic and antique auto shows.

Another benefit of purchasing special classic car insurance is the ability to set an agreed on value with the insurance broker. Special cars appreciate as the years pass instead of losing value. Insurance companies recognize this and provide for the difference in price for the automobiles and the parts and care needed when they must be repaired.

That 1912 Buick requires tires made by h and because manufacturers don’t produce them. This is just one example of the added cost of keeping a specialty car in good repair. So enjoy life with your old beauty. Take the slow lane, but make sure you’re covered with a good insurance policy. You’ll have peace of mind and a fatter wallet.