Tips from the Garage
Here you can find interesting and insightful articles about automobiles written by Dave Hamby. We think it's important that you be informed about your vehicle and the automobile and insurance industries.
Let’s look at a few opinions and beliefs that are wrong and dangerous, and the facts surrounding them. The statistical data used here comes from the web site of the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration. These statistics are compiled from reports submitted to them by the law enforcement agencies in all of our 50 states and in the District of Columbia.
Ensuring You're Properly Insured
The fact is, about 20% of the motorists driving around with insurance in effect are under-insured. Texas law requires a minimum liability of $20,000 for each instance of personal injury, $40,000 total for personal injury, and $15,000 for property damage. I’ll bet you didn’t know that when this law was written you could but a brand new Ford pickup truck for under $3,000 and a brand new Toyota for under $2,000....
As this summer wears on and the heat gets more oppressive, we’ll see more and more cars broken down on our daily commute. While some of these break-downs are inevitable, others can be avoided with just a little preventative maintenance and a little forethought
Most of the people residing in Williamson County have noticed a sharp, up-ward trend in the past few years in the cost of their automobile insurance. Anyone visiting an auto body collision repair shop for any type of collision repair can understand why insurance is getting so darn expensive.
Indeed, gas prices are up, and it looks like they’re going to stay that way. There are some folks in the know who predict that regular gasoline will cost $5 a gallon by the year 2010, and I’m inclined to believe them. If fact, if we don’t start using less gasoline the only thing we can expect to happen is to see gasoline prices continue to increase. So the big question is, "How do we go about using less fuel?"
Don’t you just love it when the dentist tells you, “This may pinch a little,” right before she sticks a foot long needle in your jaw. Heck, that’s not a little pinch, it hurts like the blazes -- kind of the way its been feeling lately when you gas up your car. The last “Under the Hood” column touched on this aching throb coming from the wallet, and offered some suggestions on how to mitigate this pain a little.