How You Can Help Reduce Insurance Premiums

A lot of the United States has been experiencing successive bouts of violent thunderstorms. These storms have included so-called microbursts and derechos; but, bottom-line, they've been severe storms, with high winds and often hail.

The hail no doubt has damaged a lot of cars. The high winds have uprooted trees, which in turn have often damaged cars as well as houses by falling on them.

This damage to cars and houses must have resulted in a large number of claims to insurance companies—which in turn will raise insurance premiums for all of us.

Many of these cars were located in suburban and small-town locations. They belong to people who live in houses, not apartments. Therefore, the car owners have garages. I'll bet the insurance companies wish that the cars had been safely parked in their owners' garages.

Of course the original purpose of garages was to house cars (and carriages, before people started owning cars). But cars today often do not spend most of their time in garages. Why?

I can only judge from what I observe in my own area. (I live in an area technically suburban, but I like to describe it as edge-of-city.) Nearly everyone here has a two-car garage. Yet, their vehicles sit in front of their garages or on the street. Again—why?

There are several answers. One is that families actually own too many vehicles to keep all of them in their garage. There might be a sedan, an SUV, maybe a pickup used for business.

And nowadays the garage has myriad uses aside from parking your car. A garage may be holding a boat or a lot of family "junk." A garage might be used to hold merchandise used in a business (I believe some of my neighbors do this). Garages even may be used as exercise rooms, or for entertaining. (A neighbor of mine apparently used their garage, not long ago, for a wedding reception—presumably theirs!)

So, folks, protect your car and other vehicles from hail and storm damage. Make room for your car. Get the garage cleared out and park your car where it belongs.

Copyright © 2012 by Richard Stein