Chevrolet has finally unveiled the details of it’s Cruze world car in U.S. spec along with some crisp HD photos. Of course I haven’t driven the damn thing, but half the fun of talking about new cars is speculation. Will be better than the old dog Cobalt it replaces? What’s up with the smaller displacement engines? Will they be any good? Is this Cruze going to end up being another awful rental car? Well only time and some proper test driving will tell. But we’ve got specs and pics and i think that’s enough to have a nice conversation over, so let’s get to it!!
The Cruze is an all new car Chevy has come up with. From the outside, the Cruze looks like a proper step towards modern for Chevy’s compact sedan offering. The front looks like it means business. The headlights are sort of this angular Nike swish that come come away from the grill and shoot back into the bodywork. A subtle line streaks beneath the belt line for the length of the car in sort of a BMW 5 series kind ofway until you get to the taillights…which again remind me of a BMW 5 series. Really, it’s a compliment…I swear. The dimensions of the car are a bit bigger everywhere. It’s been lengthened to give more backseat leg room, widened for better handling and more shoulder room, and heightened for more headroom. All in all, this Cruze is quite handsome and loads more interesting to look at than that defunked Cobalt and should give you the feeling of being in a bigger car than you really are.
Chevy intend for this to be a world car, so I’m sure they’ve done their homework. At least I hope they have because they really can’t afford to be wasting anymore [of our] money. But let’s not forget that they have developed a habit of tuning their chassis’s on the Nurburgring in order to compete with European offerings, something Dodge/Chrysler still hasn’t caught onto *shakes head*. So it should handle crisply and that’s promising. I drove a Cobalt for a week and i couldn’t wait to get back in my 93 Honda Accord. Yeah, that’s right. A 93 Accord was a damn blessing.
In the power department, the Cruze will be offered up with two engine choices as well as two transmissions. We get a turbocharged 1.4 liter flat 4 cylinder engine making around 138hp and 148 ft-lbs of torque or you can level up and get the 1.8 with a bit more horsepower, but not as much torque. Personally, I’m not sure I like these. I’m not sure how much the car weights, but wouldn’t a 2.0 liter or 2.4 have been more appropriate? Oh well, this is all a game of fuel economy anyhow. the 1.4 turbo is supposed to get 40 miles to the gallon. Nice! Both of the tranmissions offered with these engines have 6 gears and will come in manual or automatic. If I do get the opportunity to review the car for you guys, I’ll get the auto box since that’s what most will likely buy.
The interior is a quantum leap ahead of the Cobalt. The Cruze just looks cool inside. It’s the best way I can describe it from the pictures. I’m not counting on all the materials to be of the highest quality, but it all does give the appearance at least of being more upscale than its predecessor. I would, however, count on more soft touch materials on the arm rest, doors, steering wheel and dashboard. The silver plastics against the glossy piano black plastics is a nice contrast. All of the controls look like they have been laid out in an ergonomic fashion against an interesting center stack and the LCD display screen doesn’t look like it’s based off of a something built during the 80’s
There’s still a lot that we don’t know about the Cruze. But, on paper, it looks like it should be an interesting and refreshing entry into it’s respective market. I imagine direction competition coming from Mazda3, Ford Focus, Kia Forte and Honda Civic(good Lord they need to come out with a new one of those!!!). The Cruze is slotted to hit showrooms in the third quarter of 2010. I’ve got my eye on you, Government Motors.
To see an annoying promotional video for the 2011 Chevy Cruze, check below!!
HONG KONG, JUMAT – Benda berharga rupanya tak hanya sebatas emas dan berlian. Di Hong Kong, plat nomor pun menjadi barang yang bernilai tinggi.
Atas nama sebuah peruntungan, para kolektor rela merogoh koceknya berjuta-juta bahkan bermiliar-miliar demi plat nomor yang dianggap bisa membawa hoki. Pada tahun 2006 lalu, Jackie Chan, aktor Hong Kong yang namanya berkibar di Hollywood, misalnya, rela merogoh koceknya sebesar 1,5 juta dolar AS atau sekitar Rp15 miliar untuk plat nomor 123.
Chan sengaja membeli nomor tersebut lantaran sesuai dengan tanggal ulang tahun istri dan anaknya. Sang istri lahir pada 23 Januari, sementara anaknya pada 3 Desember.
Plat bernomor unik dan cantik memang kerap menjadi incaran para kolektor di Hong Kong. Tercatat, nomor-nomor seperti I LOVE U pernah terjual dalam sebuah pelelangan dengan harga 180 ribu dolar AS dan mengalahkan harga untuk plat nomor: HANDSOME, BABYFACE dan MR DVD.
Di Hong Kong, pemerintah wilayah rutin setiap tahunnya melelang nomor-nomor “unik” untuk mengumpulkan uang yang akan disumbangkan untuk kaum miskin.
Belum lama ini, sebanyak 280 plat-plat nomor unik ditawarkan. Sayangnya, proses penjualannya tak terlalu menyenangkan. Sebanyak 30 plat nomor tak bisa mencapai harga pembukaan. Resesi yang kini tengah dihadapi, disebut-sebut sebagai penyebabnya.
Namun begitu, sebuah plat nomor dengan angka 1234 berhasil terjual dengan harga 46 ribu dolar AS (sekitar Rp460 juta). Dari kegiatan tersebut setidaknya berhasil terkumpul dana sebesar 345 ribu dolar AS.
Hingga saat ini, plat nomor yang mungkin termahal di dunia adalah plat nomor 1, yang terlelang dalam suatu acara amal di Abu Dhabi, Uni Emirat Arab, tahun ini dengan harga 24 juta dolar AS . Pembelinya adalah pengusaha properti terkemuka di Abu Dhabi. Wah…wah…
————————————————————————————————–
wew,,sbenernya sayank juga yah kluar dwt segitu gede bwt plat doank…
hahahahahhahahahhaha
tapi toh tujuan nya bwt amal,,bagus juga caranya…. moga2 aja bner2 bisa bantu yg m’butuhkan…
kayanya di Indo lom bisa kaya gini x yah???? mxud nya bwt niat amal nya itu loh,,jadi kn dari orang2 b’ada yg “diminta” dwt nya… hehehehehehehehehehehe
Erede della fortunata Matiz di Giugiaro, la nuova Chevrolet Spark si prepara a debuttare nel mercato delle «piccole» cittadine, unico a navigare indenne tra i flutti dell’industria automobilistica mondiale. È un momento inusuale e da ricordare, in cui la city car diventa bella e politicamente corretta. Un fenomeno che non sembra dipendere dalle nuove vocazioni alla mobilità pulita e intelligente. A pesare è soprattutto il sostanzioso contributo economico degli incentivi statali che ha consentito l’acquisto di alcune city car a prezzi da scooter.
Il debutto della Spark, in ogni caso, è accompagnato da ottimismo e forti ambizioni. «La nuova Spark—conferma Cesare Prati, responsabile vendite di General Motors Europa — sarà il modello portante della rinnovata gamma Chevrolet.».
«Spark punta sul design—spiega Federico Sanguinetti, presidente di Chevrolet Italia—Trasferisce su una city car l’immagine e lo status dell’auto di classe superiore, ma con un listino contenuto». A ben guardare il design della Spark centra l’obiettivo. Sia il frontale accattivante, con i fari lunghi e profilati a punta di lancia, che la zona posteriore dominata dalle grandi luci tonde ispirano simpatia. All’interno domina lo stile del blocco strumenti. Solidale al piantone dello sterzo raccoglie in poco spazio un tachimetro circolare e un contagiri digitale, illuminato da una luce azzurro ghiaccio, su cui leggere le informazioni essenziali.
Al centro della plancia, pulita e di buona finitura, un unico modulo raggruppa i comandi del climatizzatore e dell’impianto stereo, completo di Cd, Mp3 e di prese Usb/Aux-In. Con 364 cm di lunghezza, 159 cm di larghezza e 155 cm di altezza (rispettivamente +14 cm, +19 cm e +2 cm rispetto alla Matiz), la Spark offre un’ottima maneggevolezza tra i meandri del traffico cittadino, con un’abitabilità confortevole per 5 passeggeri e un capiente e modulare bagagliaio che parte da 170 litri di volume. Piacevole da vivere, la Spark è un’auto sicura, progettata con una robusta struttura in acciaio, il controllo della stabilità Esc, disponibile a richiesta, 6 airbag di serie e un sistema di sgancio che allontana la pedaliera in caso di incidente. I due motori a benzina 1,0 e 1,2 litri di cilindrata, erogano rispettivamente 68 e 81 cv di potenza, 93 e 111 Newtonmetro di coppia per una velocità massima di 154 e 164 km/h. I consumi medi, per tutte e due le motorizzazioni, sono contenuti in 5,1 litri/100 km (19,6 km/litro e oltre 690 km con un pieno). Già in regola con gli standard Euro 5, la Spark contiene le emissioni in 119 g/km.
Il cambio di velocità è manuale a 5 marce, ma sembra sia allo studio un automatico destinato all’Europa. In Italia saranno disponibili anche le versioni Ecologic, equipaggiate con il sistema bi-fuel Gpl (CO2 = 110 g/km). Su strada la Spark si è rivelata stabile, maneggevole e facile da usare persino per chi è «fresco di patente». Ad un motore da 1,0 litri, con un tiro eccellente per la guida in città, risponde un brioso 1,2 litri più efficace nei percorsi extra urbani. Disponibile con 4 livelli di allestimento, Spark, Spark +, Ls e Lt, la nuova Chevrolet sarà in vendita dal primo dicembre con un prezzo di attacco contenuto in 8.950 euro.
So, the question is: What is the most economical (i.e. cheapest) way to get around Europe and the UK for 6 or more months?
There are a few options, which basically boil down to a car/van, bus, train and plane (and possibly boat/ferry, too).
We’ve been thinking about the Pros and Cons of each, and this is what we’ve come up with so far…
Bus
There are a few great hop-on hop-off bus companies throughout Europe, like Busabout.
Pros: Reasonably flexible; inexpensive; meet new people.
Cons: Limited to bus routes and times; possibly boring/annoying; not the cheapest option; need to pay for accommodation.
Plane
These days, there are heaps of low-cost airlines throughout Europe that make a short plane trip economical.
Pros: Frequent flights to most places you could want to go; relatively inexpensive; fast.
Cons: Lots of plane journeys add up; need to pay for accommodation.
Car
You can either rent a car short-term, or, if you’re not an EU resident, participate in a buy-back scheme for longer trips.
Pros: Freedom to go where and when you want; comfort.
Cons: Slower than flying; need to drive yourself; paying for petrol; need to pay for accommodation.
Campervan
Again, the options are to rent or buy.
Pros: Freedom to go where and when you want; comfort; an on-board hotel room (and possibly bathroom); (if you buy, rather than rent, you can go for as long as you want).
Cons: Slow; need to pay for petrol; need to drive yourself.
Train
The classic Eurail pass is on the cards here.
Pros: Relatively fast; flexible and frequent; comfortable.
Cons: Expensive; limited to train lines; need to pay for accommodation.
After much discussion, we’ve decided to go for the Campervan/motorhome option for the European leg of our trip. We plan on staying a long while in the UK/Europe, and having a form of transportation that doubles as our accommodation will save us a lot of money in the long run. We also plan to buy our motor home rather than renting, as this means we can travel for as long as we want without having to worry about extra rent.
Of course, buying a camper brings in other costs such as insurance and road-side assistance that those travelling for a shorter period of time may not want to have to organise – but for us it will be worth the extra effort.
The Aussie leg of the trip will be a bit different – I’ll blog about that a little later.
What did bad girls do in the 1960s? Smoke cigarettes and drive really fast. She’s probably called Mary, Linda or Barbara (they were the most popular girl’s names in the 1940s). She may look really hot, pouting, behind the wheel of a sports car in 1962, but sadly in 2009 she’s more than likely to be a slightly overweight, divorced, volunteer canteen assistant living in a bedsit on the fringe of the London Home Counties…..you should see the state of her ex-husband!
As a Rancho Palos Verdes Accident Lawyer with millions of dollars in settlements and multiple million dollar or larger settlements from over thirty years of experience in or around Rancho Palos Verdes, other nearby cities and internationally, I know many of you are attempting to settle your own personal injury, dog bite and wrongful death cases by yourselves for the maximum and the biggest settlement you can to save the cost of an attorney.
In this article I’ll tell you the secrets of how attorneys negotiate for top dollar and I’ll also tell you why insurance companies lick their chops and rub their hands together with glee when individuals try to settle their claims without an attorney and why, in most cases, you’ll receive a larger, much greater amount in your pocket or in the trust fund you set up for any children injured in the accident, even after an attorney’s fee and costs if you hire a reputable and experienced personal injury attorney.
If you’ve been the victim of a car, motorcycle, bike, truck, pedestrian, bicycle or auto accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or been the victim of a dog bite or animal attack, you can visit our website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com for more information and call us at any of the numbers easily found on our website.
First, you need to know that insurance companies evaluate cases two ways. As soon as you begin negotiating with the insurance company yourself, they evaluate your case, unfortunately, in terms of a nuisance value matter. They’ve settled tens or hundreds of thousands of cases with individuals before for paltry amounts and they will expect they can settle your case for a measly amount as well.
Why do they look at you as if you’re chopped meat? As soon as you tell them you are negotiating your own settlement, they know you’re trying to save money. To them, that means you may even be desperate. They also know you won’t be as knowledgeable about their tricks and tactics and like those tens or hundreds of thousands of people before you, they know how they can play you until you either become so frustrated you settle for their bad offer or become panicked that your time is running out.
The second way they evaluate a case, namely one presented by a lawyer, is an analysis of what the case’s true settlement value is based on the attorney’s skill and experience, how prepared the case is for litigation in the event it doesn’t settle, and the actual value of the injuries and associated pain and suffering, wage loss and other out of pocket expenses.
To settle your case for the largest amount possible, which may be the policy limits of the insurance policy, depending upon the severity of your injuries, you need to get the insurance adjuster to evaluate your case in the same manner they would as if an attorney were negotiating with them. While most insurance companies, unfortunately, simply won’t do that, here’s what you need to do to try to obtain the maximum settlement value.
First, you need to obtain all of your medical records and bills. You can’t rely on the insurance company to do this. As soon as you tell the insurance company you want them to do this or agree to having them do it and tell you how much your medical bills come to and what your medical records say, you are giving up control of the situation. I can’t stress this enough.
You will need to sign authorization forms to obtain your medical records and bills and pay the cost of obtaining those medical records and bills (the cost of which can range from $15 to hundreds of dollars) from each hospital, ambulance company, doctor, chiropractor, radiologist, emergency room billing service, etc. Some medical providers require you to use their authorization forms. Some require you to agree to their using a photocopy service to copy your records at a higher cost. Some medical providers require one fee for your bills and another fee for your medical records.
Just obtaining all of your medical records and bills is one of the most time consuming aspects of handling personal injury cases. And, to make matters worse, you’re still not through with your medical providers. When your treatment is complete and you have all of your medical records and bills and the first settlement offer is made to you, you’ll need to call each of your medical providers or their billing offices again to learn if you have any balance owing (and you can expect to be on the phone repeatedly and for long periods of time to learn this information) and in many cases you will need to send them another authorization form before they’ll tell you this information.
You will need to obtain a copy of the police report. This is a much simpler process. Some police departments charge between $10 to $40 for a copy, while other departments provide them to you for free. You can pick it up at the police or CHP office yourself or request one by mail with an authorization form and a check for the proper fee.
You’ll also need to obtain your wage loss information on a wage loss form from your employer if you suffered any wage losses or had to use up valuable sick time, personal time, or vacation days.
You should obtain witness statements if there is any issue as to the liability of the other driver for the accident and you should take photos of the scene if there was something wrong with the road conditions or other unusual circumstances.
You will also need to obtain a number of good photographs of your car damage, copies of the vehicle repair bills and estimates and receipts for any items damaged in your vehicle.
Here’s a secret. In California you are entitled to the cost of a replacement child seat if one was in the accident. It’s automatic. Just tell the insurance company the make and model or find out the cost for the make and model child seat and the insurance company will send you a check for a new one, even if the old one wasn’t broken. Why? It’s in the California insurance code. The insurance companies, however, don’t volunteer this information. Why? They’re in business to make money, not pay it out.
Finally, when all your treatment is done, you will need to put together a demand package with a demand letter reviewing the facts of the accident and the negligence of the other driver that made him or her at fault, a summary of your injuries and medical treatment (from your medical records), an itemization of your medical bills, a discussion of your pain and suffering and how the injuries impacted your life, a discussion of your wage loss and how you determined the amount, and finally the amount of your demand and a time limit (40 days – the time allotted under the insurance code) for the insurance company to respond with their offer. The demand letter should be a minimum of four pages in length. Some of ours have been close to twenty pages. Accompanying the demand letter should be copies of all of your medical records and bills, color copies of the car damage photos, copies of the repair bills and estimates, any wage loss documentation and any other relevant items such as witness statements, etc.
If all of this is too much work for you to accomplish (and it is a lot when you are just trying to get better, get on with your life, raise a family and still go to work to put food on the table) you may want to hire our law firm to represent you.
The reason why, in most cases you will receive more, even after an attorney’s fees and costs are taken out, is that insurance companies offer much more to an attorney handling your case than when you are attempting to settle it yourself. In addition, an experienced and reputable lawyer can also obtain reductions from your health insurance company and from any medical providers with a balance with regards to what amount has to be paid back to them out of any settlement.
When you rely on the insurance company to pay your medical bills, and then simply pay you a skimpy amount on top, you are giving them the right to determine what bills they think were “reasonable” and to obtain any reductions in the bills to save themselves money. When an attorney obtains a reduction in your bills or your health insurance company lien, the amount the attorney saves increases the amount of your net settlement.
Keep in mind that as soon as you start negotiating your claim by yourself, it’s almost impossible for an attorney to persuade the insurance company to evaluate your case in the higher category type of claim. At our law firm, while we’ll take on a case that may be months old where the injured victim has simply been receiving medical treatment, we won’t take on the case in most cases if the victim has already received a bad offer from the insurance company. At that stage it’s usually too late for an attorney to make much of a difference.
Hopefully, this article has provided you with some insights as to how to obtain the maximum settlement from an insurance company for an auto, car, motorcycle, bicycle, pedestrian, truck, dog bite, or wrongful death claim. There is much more that an experienced attorney does, especially in the negotiation stage to maximize the settlement and this is where an attorney’s experience kicks in.
An attorney such as Sebastian Gibson who has been negotiating these cases with many of the same adjusters for decades, knows the tactics and negotiating style of them and their companies and knows how refute the talking points their insurance companies train their adjusters to use in negotiations.
What causes many attorneys to be unable to settle their cases and who then find themselves with no alternative but to file a lawsuit in court and face two to five years of litigation before the matter settles or goes to jury, is to get angry (some even scream and yell) with the adjuster, box themselves into a corner and tell the adjuster something along the lines of, “If that’s the best you can do, we’re filing suit.” The adjuster’s response to this is naturally, “go ahead.”
An insurance company doesn’t really care if they have to dump your case onto the case load of their attorneys who are already handling tens of thousands of such cases. One more case, makes no difference to them at all. They also know, you may give up or settle for even less when you learn from an attorney how much just the court costs will be. Just to file a lawsuit in most courts alone incurs a $350.00 or larger filing fee. Depositions can cost over a thousand dollars if they are lengthy. And all such court costs come out of your settlement, even if you have a contingency fee attorney handling your case.
Sadly, many of these same lawyers take this step or let their improperly trained staff members (secretaries and clerks) force the matter to such an impasse and then file suit without properly informing the client of the negotiations that took place and led them to that point.
If you are negotiating with an insurance company yourself, there’s no need to be unpleasant. Yes, you are probably going to hear that the insurance adjuster has evaluated your case to be worth much less than you think it’s worth. But you’re forgetting that, that’s just their first offer. Communicate with the adjuster. Tell them how the injuries affected your life and tell them what you still go through today with the pain you still have. You’ll be surprised how many adjusters will actually relate to what you tell them.
Unfortunately, just as there are bad attorneys out there, there are also some lousy insurance adjusters and insurance companies to deal with as well. They’re supposed to get back to you in 40 days with an offer after you present them with your demand package. Some take longer. Some will sound unpleasant, even snotty. And once they make their first offer, it can take weeks sometimes to reach the adjuster again to make your counter-offer. Sometimes the negotiations can take months. If you want to get the most you can for your case, you need to be patient. Your job, just as it is the job of your attorney, is to get these unpleasant insurance adjusters to warm up. I ask them how the weather is, how they’re doing, if their busy, anything to get them to open up to me. You’d be surprised how far a little kindness goes.
We wish you good luck and a speedy recovery from your injuries. You’ll find that your health, in many cases, will drastically improve, once you remove yourself from the stress of handling your case and resolve it either yourself or with the assistance of our law firm by way of settlement. If on the other hand, your case goes into litigation, as do the cases of many lawyers who don’t have the settlement experience or negotiating tools to settle their cases advantageously for their clients, your stress level will almost certainly rise.
The law firm of Sebastian Gibson handles personal injury cases in Rancho Palos Verdes, and throughout Southern and Central California and handle wrongful death cases throughout the state. To learn more about Sebastian Gibson and the other areas of law handled by the law firm, visit the Sebastian Gibson website.
We invite you to visit our website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com and call us if you’ve been seriously injured in a personal injury auto, motorcycle, car, truck, pedestrian, or bicycle accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or been injured in a dog bite or animal attack in Rancho Palos Verdes.
Who can’t smile at someone who swoops in and saves the day? I know that I will never turn away someone who decided to come to my rescue. Everyone needs a little bit of saving now and then.
I was saved today but a couple of people and it definitely gave me a smile in a not so happy situation.
When I arrived at my college this morning I was looking for a place to park. Sometimes parking can be tight and a bit short in supply. I was maneuvering my way through when I heard crunch. I stopped and got out to see just how bad the damage was. I had scraped up the front bumper a bit, leaving some of my paint behind, but no dents. I left my contact information, grabbed his license plate number and parked my car. Turns out, after asking at the front desk, that the owner of the car is in one of my classes. So we go across to figure out how we’re going to solve the situation.
Through everything I was so shaken up (and yes, I’ll admit it, pretty emotional). This was my first crash dealing with another car. The only other crash I had was in the winter and it was just my car that was involved in the situation.
Anyways, the reason I was able to smile in all of this? There was a girl who also went to my school that came in after I hit the car and offered paper and a pen. She also caught up with me later to make sure everything was okay.
My other reason to smile would be my boyfriend, who is so much better in situations like this than I am! He’s definitely calm and comes up with solutions that are much more practical than how I was dealing with things to begin with.
So, thank you to both of you who saved me today.
Don’t forget to smile at those who save the day for you too. : )
As a California Wrongful Death Accident Insurance Lawyer with millions of dollars in settlements and multiple million dollar or more settlements from over thirty years of experience in California and internationally, I know many of you are attempting to settle your own personal injury, dog bite and wrongful death cases by yourselves for the maximum and the biggest settlement you can to save the cost of an attorney.
In this article I’ll tell you the secrets of how attorneys negotiate for top dollar and I’ll also tell you why insurance companies lick their chops and rub their hands together with glee when individuals try to settle their claims without an attorney and why, in most cases, you’ll receive a larger, much greater amount in your pocket or in the trust fund you set up for any children injured in the accident, even after an attorney’s fee and costs if you hire a reputable and experienced personal injury attorney.
If you’ve been the victim of a car, motorcycle, truck, pedestrian, bicycle, or auto accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or been the victim of a dog bite or animal attack, you can visit our website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com for more information and call us at any of the numbers easily found on our website.
First, you need to know that insurance companies evaluate cases two ways. As soon as you begin negotiating with the insurance company yourself, they evaluate your case, unfortunately, in terms of a nuisance value matter. They’ve settled tens or hundreds of thousands of cases with individuals before for paltry amounts and they will expect they can settle your case for a measly amount as well.
Why do they look at you as if you’re chopped meat? As soon as you tell them you are negotiating your own settlement, they know you’re trying to save money. To them, that means you may even be desperate. They also know you won’t be as knowledgeable about their tricks and tactics and like those tens or hundreds of thousands of people before you, they know how they can play you until you either become so frustrated you settle for their bad offer or become panicked that your time is running out.
The second way they evaluate a case, namely one presented by a lawyer, is an analysis of what the case’s true settlement value is based on the attorney’s skill and experience, how prepared the case is for litigation in the event it doesn’t settle, and the actual value of the injuries and associated pain and suffering, wage loss and other out of pocket expenses.
To settle your case for the largest amount possible, which may be the policy limits of the insurance policy, depending upon the severity of your injuries, you need to get the insurance adjuster to evaluate your case in the same manner they would as if an attorney were negotiating with them. While most insurance companies, unfortunately, simply won’t do that, here’s what you need to do to try to obtain the maximum settlement value.
First, you need to obtain all of your medical records and bills. You can’t rely on the insurance company to do this. As soon as you tell the insurance company you want them to do this or agree to having them do it and tell you how much your medical bills come to and what your medical records say, you are giving up control of the situation. I can’t stress this enough.
You will need to sign authorization forms to obtain your medical records and bills and pay the cost of obtaining those medical records and bills (the cost of which can range from $15 to hundreds of dollars) from each hospital, ambulance company, doctor, chiropractor, radiologist, emergency room billing service, etc. Some medical providers require you to use their authorization forms. Some require you to agree to their using a photocopy service to copy your records at a higher cost. Some medical providers require one fee for your bills and another fee for your medical records.
Just obtaining all of your medical records and bills is one of the most time consuming aspects of handling personal injury cases. And, to make matters worse, you’re still not through with your medical providers. When your treatment is complete and you have all of your medical records and bills and the first settlement offer is made to you, you’ll need to call each of your medical providers or their billing offices again to learn if you have any balance owing (and you can expect to be on the phone repeatedly and for long periods of time to learn this information) and in many cases you will need to send them another authorization form before they’ll tell you this information.
You will need to obtain a copy of the police report. This is a much simpler process. Some police departments charge between $10 to $40 for a copy, while other departments provide them to you for free. You can pick it up at the police or CHP office yourself or request one by mail with an authorization form and a check for the proper fee.
You’ll also need to obtain your wage loss information on a wage loss form from your employer if you suffered any wage losses or had to use up valuable sick time, personal time, or vacation days.
You should obtain witness statements if there is any issue as to the liability of the other driver for the accident and you should take photos of the scene if there was something wrong with the road conditions or other unusual circumstances.
You will also need to obtain a number of good photographs of your car damage, copies of the vehicle repair bills and estimates and receipts for any items damaged in your vehicle.
Here’s a secret. In California you are entitled to the cost of a replacement child seat if one was in the accident. It’s automatic. Just tell the insurance company the make and model or find out the cost for the make and model child seat and the insurance company will send you a check for a new one, even if the old one wasn’t broken. Why? It’s in the California insurance code. The insurance companies, however, don’t volunteer this information. Why? They’re in business to make money, not pay it out.
Finally, when all your treatment is done, you will need to put together a demand package with a demand letter reviewing the facts of the accident and the negligence of the other driver that made him or her at fault, a summary of your injuries and medical treatment (from your medical records), an itemization of your medical bills, a discussion of your pain and suffering and how the injuries impacted your life, a discussion of your wage loss and how you determined the amount, and finally the amount of your demand and a time limit (40 days – the time allotted under the insurance code) for the insurance company to respond with their offer. The demand letter should be a minimum of four pages in length. Some of ours have been close to twenty pages. Accompanying the demand letter should be copies of all of your medical records and bills, color copies of the car damage photos, copies of the repair bills and estimates, any wage loss documentation and any other relevant items such as witness statements, etc.
If all of this is too much work for you to accomplish (and it is a lot when you are just trying to get better, get on with your life, raise a family and still go to work to put food on the table) you may want to hire our law firm to represent you.
The reason why, in most cases you will receive more, even after an attorney’s fees and costs are taken out, is that insurance companies offer much more to an attorney handling your case than when you are attempting to settle it yourself. In addition, an experienced and reputable lawyer can also obtain reductions from your health insurance company and from any medical providers with a balance with regards to what amount has to be paid back to them out of any settlement.
When you rely on the insurance company to pay your medical bills, and then simply pay you a skimpy amount on top, you are giving them the right to determine what bills they think were “reasonable” and to obtain any reductions in the bills to save themselves money. When an attorney obtains a reduction in your bills or your health insurance company lien, the amount the attorney saves increases the amount of your net settlement.
Keep in mind that as soon as you start negotiating your claim by yourself, it’s almost impossible for an attorney to persuade the insurance company to evaluate your case in the higher category type of claim. At our law firm, while we’ll take on a case that may be months old where the injured victim has simply been receiving medical treatment, we won’t take on the case in most cases if the victim has already received a bad offer from the insurance company. At that stage it’s usually too late for an attorney to make much of a difference.
Hopefully, this article has provided you with some insights as to how to obtain the maximum settlement from an insurance company for an auto, car, motorcycle, bicycle, pedestrian, truck, dog bite, or wrongful death claim. There is much more that an experienced attorney does, especially in the negotiation stage to maximize the settlement and this is where an attorney’s experience kicks in.
An attorney such as Sebastian Gibson who has been negotiating these cases with many of the same adjusters for decades, knows the tactics and negotiating style of them and their companies and knows how refute the talking points their insurance companies train their adjusters to use in negotiations.
What causes many attorneys to be unable to settle their cases and who then find themselves with no alternative but to file a lawsuit in court and face two to five years of litigation before the matter settles or goes to jury, is to get angry (some even scream and yell) with the adjuster, box themselves into a corner and tell the adjuster something along the lines of, “If that’s the best you can do, we’re filing suit.” The adjuster’s response to this is naturally, “go ahead.”
An insurance company doesn’t really care if they have to dump your case onto the case load of their attorneys who are already handling tens of thousands of such cases. One more case, makes no difference to them at all. They also know, you may give up or settle for even less when you learn from an attorney how much just the court costs will be. Just to file a lawsuit in most courts alone incurs a $350.00 or larger filing fee. Depositions can cost over a thousand dollars if they are lengthy. And all such court costs come out of your settlement, even if you have a contingency fee attorney handling your case.
Sadly, many of these same lawyers take this step or let their improperly trained staff members (secretaries and clerks) force the matter to such an impasse and then file suit without properly informing the client of the negotiations that took place and led them to that point.
If you are negotiating with an insurance company yourself, there’s no need to be unpleasant. Yes, you are probably going to hear that the insurance adjuster has evaluated your case to be worth much less than you think it’s worth. But you’re forgetting that, that’s just their first offer. Communicate with the adjuster. Tell them how the injuries affected your life and tell them what you still go through today with the pain you still have. You’ll be surprised how many adjusters will actually relate to what you tell them.
Unfortunately, just as there are bad attorneys out there, there are also some lousy insurance adjusters and insurance companies to deal with as well. They’re supposed to get back to you in 40 days with an offer after you present them with your demand package. Some take longer. Some will sound unpleasant, even snotty. And once they make their first offer, it can take weeks sometimes to reach the adjuster again to make your counter-offer. Sometimes the negotiations can take months. If you want to get the most you can for your case, you need to be patient. Your job, just as it is the job of your attorney, is to get these unpleasant insurance adjusters to warm up. I ask them how the weather is, how they’re doing, if their busy, anything to get them to open up to me. You’d be surprised how far a little kindness goes.
We wish you good luck and a speedy recovery from your injuries. You’ll find that your health, in many cases, will drastically improve, once you remove yourself from the stress of handling your case and resolve it either yourself or with the assistance of our law firm by way of settlement. If on the other hand, your case goes into litigation, as do the cases of many lawyers who don’t have the settlement experience or negotiating tools to settle their cases advantageously for their clients, your stress level will almost certainly rise.
The law firm of Sebastian Gibson handles personal injury cases in Southern and Central California and handle wrongful death cases throughout the state. To learn more about Sebastian Gibson and the other areas of law handled by the law firm, visit the Sebastian Gibson website.
We invite you to visit our website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com and call us if you’ve been seriously injured in a personal injury auto, motorcycle, car, truck, pedestrian, or bicycle accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or been injured in a dog bite or animal attack in California.
As a Thousand Oaks Wrongful Death Insurance Attorney with millions of dollars in settlements and multiple million dollar plus settlements from over thirty years of experience in or around Thousand Oaks, other nearby cities and internationally, I know many of you are attempting to settle your own personal injury, dog bite and wrongful death cases by yourselves for the maximum and the biggest settlement you can to save the cost of an attorney.
In this article I’ll tell you the secrets of how attorneys negotiate for top dollar and I’ll also tell you why insurance companies lick their chops and rub their hands together with glee when individuals try to settle their claims without an attorney and why, in most cases, you’ll receive a larger, much greater amount in your pocket or in the trust fund you set up for any children injured in the accident, even after an attorney’s fee and costs if you hire a reputable and experienced personal injury attorney.
If you’ve been the victim of a car, motorcycle, truck, pedestrian, bicycle, or auto accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or been the victim of a dog bite or animal attack, you can visit our website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com for more information and call us at any of the numbers easily found on our website.
First, you need to know that insurance companies evaluate cases two ways. As soon as you begin negotiating with the insurance company yourself, they evaluate your case, unfortunately, in terms of a nuisance value matter. They’ve settled tens or hundreds of thousands of cases with individuals before for paltry amounts and they will expect they can settle your case for a measly amount as well.
Why do they look at you as if you’re chopped meat? As soon as you tell them you are negotiating your own settlement, they know you’re trying to save money. To them, that means you may even be desperate. They also know you won’t be as knowledgeable about their tricks and tactics and like those tens or hundreds of thousands of people before you, they know how they can play you until you either become so frustrated you settle for their bad offer or become panicked that your time is running out.
The second way they evaluate a case, namely one presented by a lawyer, is an analysis of what the case’s true settlement value is based on the attorney’s skill and experience, how prepared the case is for litigation in the event it doesn’t settle, and the actual value of the injuries and associated pain and suffering, wage loss and other out of pocket expenses.
To settle your case for the largest amount possible, which may be the policy limits of the insurance policy, depending upon the severity of your injuries, you need to get the insurance adjuster to evaluate your case in the same manner they would as if an attorney were negotiating with them. While most insurance companies, unfortunately, simply won’t do that, here’s what you need to do to try to obtain the maximum settlement value.
First, you need to obtain all of your medical records and bills. You can’t rely on the insurance company to do this. As soon as you tell the insurance company you want them to do this or agree to having them do it and tell you how much your medical bills come to and what your medical records say, you are giving up control of the situation. I can’t stress this enough.
You will need to sign authorization forms to obtain your medical records and bills and pay the cost of obtaining those medical records and bills (the cost of which can range from $15 to hundreds of dollars) from each hospital, ambulance company, doctor, chiropractor, radiologist, emergency room billing service, etc. Some medical providers require you to use their authorization forms. Some require you to agree to their using a photocopy service to copy your records at a higher cost. Some medical providers require one fee for your bills and another fee for your medical records.
Just obtaining all of your medical records and bills is one of the most time consuming aspects of handling personal injury cases. And, to make matters worse, you’re still not through with your medical providers. When your treatment is complete and you have all of your medical records and bills and the first settlement offer is made to you, you’ll need to call each of your medical providers or their billing offices again to learn if you have any balance owing (and you can expect to be on the phone repeatedly and for long periods of time to learn this information) and in many cases you will need to send them another authorization form before they’ll tell you this information.
You will need to obtain a copy of the police report. This is a much simpler process. Some police departments charge between $10 to $40 for a copy, while other departments provide them to you for free. You can pick it up at the police or CHP office yourself or request one by mail with an authorization form and a check for the proper fee.
You’ll also need to obtain your wage loss information on a wage loss form from your employer if you suffered any wage losses or had to use up valuable sick time, personal time, or vacation days.
You should obtain witness statements if there is any issue as to the liability of the other driver for the accident and you should take photos of the scene if there was something wrong with the road conditions or other unusual circumstances.
You will also need to obtain a number of good photographs of your car damage, copies of the vehicle repair bills and estimates and receipts for any items damaged in your vehicle.
Here’s a secret. In California you are entitled to the cost of a replacement child seat if one was in the accident. It’s automatic. Just tell the insurance company the make and model or find out the cost for the make and model child seat and the insurance company will send you a check for a new one, even if the old one wasn’t broken. Why? It’s in the California insurance code. The insurance companies, however, don’t volunteer this information. Why? They’re in business to make money, not pay it out.
Finally, when all your treatment is done, you will need to put together a demand package with a demand letter reviewing the facts of the accident and the negligence of the other driver that made him or her at fault, a summary of your injuries and medical treatment (from your medical records), an itemization of your medical bills, a discussion of your pain and suffering and how the injuries impacted your life, a discussion of your wage loss and how you determined the amount, and finally the amount of your demand and a time limit (40 days – the time allotted under the insurance code) for the insurance company to respond with their offer. The demand letter should be a minimum of four pages in length. Some of ours have been close to twenty pages. Accompanying the demand letter should be copies of all of your medical records and bills, color copies of the car damage photos, copies of the repair bills and estimates, any wage loss documentation and any other relevant items such as witness statements, etc.
If all of this is too much work for you to accomplish (and it is a lot when you are just trying to get better, get on with your life, raise a family and still go to work to put food on the table) you may want to hire our law firm to represent you.
The reason why, in most cases you will receive more, even after an attorney’s fees and costs are taken out, is that insurance companies offer much more to an attorney handling your case than when you are attempting to settle it yourself. In addition, an experienced and reputable lawyer can also obtain reductions from your health insurance company and from any medical providers with a balance with regards to what amount has to be paid back to them out of any settlement.
When you rely on the insurance company to pay your medical bills, and then simply pay you a skimpy amount on top, you are giving them the right to determine what bills they think were “reasonable” and to obtain any reductions in the bills to save themselves money. When an attorney obtains a reduction in your bills or your health insurance company lien, the amount the attorney saves increases the amount of your net settlement.
Keep in mind that as soon as you start negotiating your claim by yourself, it’s almost impossible for an attorney to persuade the insurance company to evaluate your case in the higher category type of claim. At our law firm, while we’ll take on a case that may be months old where the injured victim has simply been receiving medical treatment, we won’t take on the case in most cases if the victim has already received a bad offer from the insurance company. At that stage it’s usually too late for an attorney to make much of a difference.
Hopefully, this article has provided you with some insights as to how to obtain the maximum settlement from an insurance company for an auto, car, motorcycle, bicycle, pedestrian, truck, dog bite, or wrongful death claim. There is much more that an experienced attorney does, especially in the negotiation stage to maximize the settlement and this is where an attorney’s experience kicks in.
An attorney such as Sebastian Gibson who has been negotiating these cases with many of the same adjusters for decades, knows the tactics and negotiating style of them and their companies and knows how refute the talking points their insurance companies train their adjusters to use in negotiations.
What causes many attorneys to be unable to settle their cases and who then find themselves with no alternative but to file a lawsuit in court and face two to five years of litigation before the matter settles or goes to jury, is to get angry (some even scream and yell) with the adjuster, box themselves into a corner and tell the adjuster something along the lines of, “If that’s the best you can do, we’re filing suit.” The adjuster’s response to this is naturally, “go ahead.”
An insurance company doesn’t really care if they have to dump your case onto the case load of their attorneys who are already handling tens of thousands of such cases. One more case, makes no difference to them at all. They also know, you may give up or settle for even less when you learn from an attorney how much just the court costs will be. Just to file a lawsuit in most courts alone incurs a $350.00 or larger filing fee. Depositions can cost over a thousand dollars if they are lengthy. And all such court costs come out of your settlement, even if you have a contingency fee attorney handling your case.
Sadly, many of these same lawyers take this step or let their improperly trained staff members (secretaries and clerks) force the matter to such an impasse and then file suit without properly informing the client of the negotiations that took place and led them to that point.
If you are negotiating with an insurance company yourself, there’s no need to be unpleasant. Yes, you are probably going to hear that the insurance adjuster has evaluated your case to be worth much less than you think it’s worth. But you’re forgetting that, that’s just their first offer. Communicate with the adjuster. Tell them how the injuries affected your life and tell them what you still go through today with the pain you still have. You’ll be surprised how many adjusters will actually relate to what you tell them.
Unfortunately, just as there are bad attorneys out there, there are also some lousy insurance adjusters and insurance companies to deal with as well. They’re supposed to get back to you in 40 days with an offer after you present them with your demand package. Some take longer. Some will sound unpleasant, even snotty. And once they make their first offer, it can take weeks sometimes to reach the adjuster again to make your counter-offer. Sometimes the negotiations can take months. If you want to get the most you can for your case, you need to be patient. Your job, just as it is the job of your attorney, is to get these unpleasant insurance adjusters to warm up. I ask them how the weather is, how they’re doing, if their busy, anything to get them to open up to me. You’d be surprised how far a little kindness goes.
We wish you good luck and a speedy recovery from your injuries. You’ll find that your health, in many cases, will drastically improve, once you remove yourself from the stress of handling your case and resolve it either yourself or with the assistance of our law firm by way of settlement. If on the other hand, your case goes into litigation, as do the cases of many lawyers who don’t have the settlement experience or negotiating tools to settle their cases advantageously for their clients, your stress level will almost certainly rise.
The law firm of Sebastian Gibson handles personal injury cases in Thousand Oaks, and throughout Southern and Central California and handle wrongful death cases throughout the state. To learn more about Sebastian Gibson and the other areas of law handled by the law firm, visit the Sebastian Gibson website.
We invite you to visit our website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com and call us if you’ve been seriously injured in a personal injury auto, motorcycle, car, truck, pedestrian, or bicycle accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or been injured in a dog bite or animal attack in Thousand Oaks.
Cheap Car Hire and Car Rentals in Bulgaria Discount Car Rental in Bulgarian
Known as the City of Lights, Sofia is a destination every traveler must visit at least once. With cheap car rental pick up locations at numerous locations throughout the city and the country, renting a car with Val & Kar is the best way to travel. We offer a variety of inexpensive car rental types so you can be sure that you have found the vehicle that is right for you. Val & Kar for its trend setting fashion, art, cultural ambiance and distinct charm, Sofia is one of the top cities in Bulgaria to visit. Get your vacation started with a cheap flight to Bulgaria here. Rent a car with Val & Kar and see it all!
For more information you can to looking our site http://www.valkar.bg
We thank you for choosing us, and we wish you all the best!
When it comes, dvd, to traveling and you want to travel with style, you should think about a CAR GPS DVD. You might find that car DVD’s have always been a lifesaver when it comes to traveling with your children. Car GPS is the best thing that, dvd, has been made for traveling, which means no more maps that could get damage. When you purchase your GPS, you may want one that can tell you accurate readings on your travel. That means telling you to take left or rights and not confusing the driver, dvd, .
If you want a GPS in your car, you can find one, dvd, online. Online retail stores can give you the best prices and shipped to you within the week depending where you shop.
When searching for that right DVD player for the back of your car, you should search online stores as well. DVD players have always been kids favorite car ride thrills when traveling.
GPS have come a long way since the first few that was first introduced to the world. Now they are linked, dvd, to the Internet and can tell you the recent roadblocks. That can help you in the morning going to work. Work is one place that needs to be on time, dvd, or the worst scenario can happen. GPS can help you find better routes to getting to work on time.
If you have a portable DVD player in your car, you should think about how you are going to mount them in your car. You can buy straps that tie the DVD player to the back of the seat or even hang them on the roof. Many people prefer SUV’s for traveling and using DVD players.
The one thing you should know when you get your DVD player is to find one that is battery, dvd, powered and can be recharged, dvd, .
GPS units can be purchased in almost any store and at a low price of one hundred dollars or above. The GPS can help you make work easier, if you are a pizza driver or even delivery truck. Many companies use GPS, dvd, in order, dvd, to get good accuracy on their services and delivery.
To choose a good brand of GPS, you may search online reviews about certain brands. If you’re also looking for a DVD player that’s long lasting and play, dvd, videos for the whole trip, dvd, you can also look up review on brands. Car GPS DVD has always been necessary have for traveling and to get yours look online.
When it comes to travelling and you want to travel with style, you should think about a car GPS DVD. Get the inside scoop on car dvd’s now on http://www.bigboxstore.com/car-accessories/car-dvd/car-gps-dvd-players
It’s funny that I’m in the same exact spot I was a little over 18 hours a coffee shop doing some writing. Only last night, I was unaware of it being open-mic night. Instead of the local beer that is occasionally on tap, I’m drinking a coffee that I have put very little sugar in and a douchey professional is on the other end of my four person table. It’s like returning to the scene of the crime.
I was unsuccessfully attempting to do some work when a long strand of teenagers warbling tone-deaf versions of Katy Perry, Oasis, Ryan Adams, Bright Eyes or any other song you’ve probably heard while confined in karaoke or open-mic night. Eventually, this cute little hipster girl comes up to me and asks if she can borrow my chair. And a lightbulb goes off.
Now the chair line was introduced to me by one of my best friends. And how it works is like this. A pretty girl comes up to you and she asks “Hey are you using this chair”, you reply with some variation of, “Oh no, I’m sorry you can’t have this one, I’m attached to it, but you can have that one”…Sadly this works every single time. I never understood why it worked for him, but this project is about doing things I wouldn’t normally do. So I use the line. And, like always, it elicits a giggle and a half-smile. Works every single time fellas.
So I sit there and I keep attempting to write in vain, since I constantly steal glances at this bird, only to look away when occasionally caught. I’ve you have gone to middle school you are entirely familiar with the practice.
Twenty minutes goes by and this girl steps up to the mic, and I’m intrigued enough to not even pretend to be writing anymore. I close the laptop. She’s not half bad, not amazing. When she comes over again, I tell her that she wasn’t half bad.
“Is that supposed to be a compliment”
“Well you took the chair from me, I’m still a little hurt”.
Insert another giggle and some more talking. I asked if she wanted to get some fresh air. She asked me if I had a light. I mentioned I had one in my car, we took a little walk. I give her the light and she took a puff and then started to kiss me. This proceeds for a few minutes and were going on some variation of a warm temperature and a weight that isn’t light. Then it happens.
She stops. She tells me that she should probably get back. Her friend is waiting for her, and she hopes to see me back at the coffee shop, but I kind of already gathered my stuff…and didn’t want to walk back. I just asked for her number. I’m not sure if I should go for the encore.
Protection Connection understands your needs a proud motorcycle owner. Make sure you are covered before an accident happens. Call Protection Connection today. We’ll help you build a policy that fits your lifestyle.
Protection Connection
“Insurance that fits your lifestyle” http://www.pcinsureme.com
800.925.0759
1. The #1 reason bikers crash is because motorists don’t see them.
That’s it. Not because bikers are hotheaded and aggressive. Not because they’re on two wheels instead of four. But because motorists often can’t spot a biker.
2. Bikers can easily disappear in your blind spots.
The only way to prevent this is to always be aware of traffic all around you and to look twice before changing lanes or turning at intersections.
3. Bikers may be closer than they appear.
They are smaller than cars, so it’s difficult to judge their speed or how far away they are. A good rule of thumb when seeing a motorcycle: Assume that the bike is closer than it looks.
4. Bikers don’t always use their brakes to slow down.
Sometimes it is safer for a biker to downshift than apply brakes to slow down. When a biker downshifts to brake, there will be no red brake light to alert you. So always allow yourself a little more following distance when behind a bike.
5. Bikers use all of the lane to be safe, not reckless.
When you see a biker adjust lane position, they’re not showing off or inviting you to share the lane with them. They are reacting to road debris, wind, or to be better seen by other vehicles.
6. A biker’s turn signal doesn’t always click off automatically like yours does.
Some riders might forget to manually turn their turn signal off. So remember to make sure a biker’s turn signal is for real.
7. Don’t expect that a biker can get out of your way.
Motorcycles are highly maneuverable at slow speeds with good road conditions, but it’s always beller to not put them to the test.
8. Bikers have a hard time stopping quickly on wet roads.
Allow for more follOWing distance when behind a bike.
9, Bikers are people like you.
They could be your family, friends or neighbors. Only they don’t have seat belts or airbags to protect them.
10. Hitting a biker will be something you regret.
80% of motorcycle accidents result in injury or death. They could be prevented if all of us just paid a little more attention while driving.
Two small stories that all started within five minutes of each other.
I try to tell the kids that I am the “smartest man alive,” but they don’t really get it…
Today, the other homeschool mother that has been helping me with the kids was going to take the my kids on an excursion to a homeschool group schooling event.
Even though we had spoken on cell phones previously, I made sure she had my cell phone number because…”I am sure nothing bad will happen, but just in case you lock the keys in the van and need me to come and unlock it for you…”
At 7:30 this morning, she took the paper and left with the kids.
At 7:35 am, I went out to my van. As I was getting in, I looked at the Sentra in front of me and remembered that I needed to get the 12V air pump out of the trunk. I keep one in each vehicle and noticed that mine was missing when I cleaned it out before I started my new job.
I opened the truck, and there were two of them in there. I grabbed mine and left. Mine is unique because I have a compartment in the side that hold a tire plug kit.
A few hours later, as I was driving in a construction area, I heard a clicking from the passenger side front tire. There is a lot of gravel on these sites and it would be normal to get a rock stuck in the tread. I figured that the rock would come out when I got on the highway.
As I hit the on ramp, my phone rang.
It was the woman with my kids.
She locked the keys in the van and needed me to unlock the it for her.
Weird.
WE laughed.
As I got to the locked van I pulled in slowly, I was still hearing the “clicking” noise from my van.
I pulled in and left it running so I could check the tire….having to roll it back twice to get the whole tire exposed.
There it was…
I 1 1/4″ hex head screw.
I was astonished that I had, just this morning, put my plug kit and pump in the van that had just picked up a nail.
On Aug. 31st 2009, Geico underwriting companies requested an increase in automotive insurance rates for their New Jersey Policies with the NJ department of banking and insurance.
The the rate increase could affect 170,000 Geico auto insurance customers for New Jersey. It’s reported that some people may be looking at an increase of more than 17% !!
Geico’s recent request for raising their rates falls after the settlement of a class action law-suit in which NJ customers who purchased online didn’t receive adequate personal injury protection to meet state laws.
Are you worried you may not have enough coverage to uphold New Jersey insurance laws? Or maybe you just want to see if you are getting the best rate available? Contact Eastern Insurers, we have the best service at the rates you deserve! 800.269.3203
A YouTube video from the crew at Waterloo Labs tells you everything you need to know
Photo: Waterloo Labs
File this one under Don’t Try This at Home.
Some guys in Austin, Texas, with time on their hands and access to free equipment have demonstrated how to use an Apple (AAPL) iPhone to steer, accelerate and brake a jury-rigged car.
The video — complete with stunt driving and real-time collisions — is posted below the fold.
This is the third published video project from Waterloo Labs, a group of engineers from National Instruments (NATI), a manufacturer of embedded controllers and virtual instrumentation software.
In the first, Doug and Hunter taught us how to control fireworks with a computer. In the second, how to play first-person-shooter video games with real guns.
The third project is their most elaborate. The car — a late ’80s Buick — was purchased on craigslist for $300. The motors that control the accelerator and brakes were ripped from the power windows. The motor controller was borrowed from the first robotics competition. The potentiometers, digital breakout board, analog input module, power distribution board, programmable automatic controller, wireless gaming adapter, Wi-Fi router, etc. were presumably supplied by their employer.
The iPhone app they wrote themselves.
Below the fold: Two videos, one showing what they did, the second how they did it.
For ten consecutive years since 2000, Fortune has named National Instruments one of the 100 best companies to work for in America.
Hello People! This is Maki again, and today I want to share with you something that’s been around on the internet for a while already but still continues to amaze many people. Take a look at this short video:
Isn’t this totally amazing? And the thing about it is that it makes a lot of sense. Why do we continue to manufacture cars with doors that swing on hinges when there is something as wonderful as this? Hinged doors require a lot of room to swing in, and I’m sure that more than a few people (myself included!) have hit other cars or random objects while attempting to climb out of the vehicle.
I think that this is a great example of the ways in which innovative people dare to challenge something that we all consider to be normal or “common sense”, and go out of their way to accomplish something truly extraordinary.
Apparently, some folks think that the above video is a hoax. Just in case you think so as well, let me paste here a link to the website of the company that performs this customization; it has pictures and slideshows that show how they do their magic. http://www.disappearing-car-door.com/
Looks pretty real, doesn’t it?
Just think… wouldn’t it be awesome to be able to leisurely and dignifiedly climb in and out of your car at the push of a button, and watch jaws drop all around you?
I certainly hope that carmakers worldwide will incorporate innovations like this one in the near future.
I’ve been meaning to write a post about Walk’s Auto Service Center in State College PA for quite a while. Here is the story of my first experience with the fine folks at Walk’s. First, some background for the story.
During the summer of 2005, while I was living in Montgomery County (PA), my car elected not to start a few times on hot days. It would turn over once or twice, then just shut down. Since my automotive skills are on par with my nun-chuck skills (I have none), I was stumped after realizing the battery was not the problem. So I took the car to an unnamed auto shop. And that day the car ran fine, the mechanic looked at it, found nothing wrong, and still managed to charge me something. My car behaved the rest of 2005 and in early 2006, during which time I moved to State College.
In the summer of 2006 the trouble started again. Turning the ignition in my car was like rolling dice. I took it to two auto shops in State College. Both of them “solved” the problem for nominal fees. The problem was not solved.
On July 27, 2006 I went grocery shopping. It was a sunny, hot summer day (in the mid-80s). When I returned to my car with my groceries it decided not to start. Thankfully I was only a quarter mile from my apartment, so I simply made three walking trips to shuttle the groceries home. As I made these treks back and forth I decided one of three things was going to happen within the next two days:
A. I will destroy my car with a sledgehammer. While it would have been very gratifying, and good for the soul, it also would have been terribly impractical. Plus, aside from this random petulance my car had served me well. B. I will sell my car and get a new one. This was tempting and a real option. C. I will get my car fixed. The most practical option, and my first choice. However, I had attempted this option three times already and had nothing to show for it but an ill car and bills.
I decided to try option C. I looked up towing companies and found Walk’s Auto listed. They came, picked up my car, and hauled it back to their location. I described the symptoms to a mechanic, he promised to call me as soon as he had a diagnosis.
I got a phone call a couple of hours later. Diagnosis: My car was experiencing periodic failure of the PCM relay.
I’ll admit, I had little faith that the problem was solved. I’d been given diagnoses by three different mechanics in the past year, and all three of those were not accurate. I think I had a right to be skeptical.
My car was repaired and ready to go the following morning. And it was genuinely repaired. Problem solved.
And that is the story of how I became a fan of Walk’s Auto.
Their prices aren’t the lowest in town but they are fair. I’d rather pay a bit more for solid work from a mechanic that I trust than a bargain rate somewhere else. Plus they have online coupons available for many services, and they offer a discount to PSU students for labor costs.
In the past three years I’ve had two instances of extraordinary service from Walk’s in addition to The Diagnosis. On one occasion a veteran mechanic saved me a considerable amount of money by replacing a seal on a part I thought I’d have to replace (this is a story in itself). On another occasion a mechanic stayed late at the shop to finish a few minor details of my car’s inspection because he had promised I could pick up my car that evening.
Symbol
Quantity
L/S
Setup
Entry Time
Entry Price
Exit Reason
Exit Time
Exit Price
Stop
P&L
CAR
1500
S
RVSD
11/13/09
10.26
stop out
11/13/09
10.5
10.5
-360
DOW
1000
S
GAPF
11/12/09
28.55
stop out
11/13/09
28.92
28.9
-370
CAR
1500
S
RVSD
11/13/09
10.41
N/A
You guys need to know something about me: I loooove animals. Animals are a part of my family and I love each one of them dearly. I’ve had all kinds of animals including dogs, cats, birds, hamsters, turtles, degus, lizards, frogs, etc.
I had a really bad day today.
I’ve been having problems with my cat, Kitty. She’s never actually learned how to use the litter box, so there’s constantly a pile of shit on our floor and more recently, she started pissing on the floor.
She’s not allowed in Hubby’s room (this is the room we spend all our time in because the TV and computers are in there) because she chews up wires. We’ve lost speakers, Hubby’s special sound thingy, camera USB cords, etc. And Hubby doesn’t allow animals in our bedroom (his rule, definitely not mine). Well, Kitty will stand at the door scratching and meowing. Not just a little meow, but she will sit there and wail until I open the door. It’s gotten worse the past week and I’m not sure why because she still hasn’t been allowed in that room.
To make matters worse, after putting her outside, she went and got stuck in a tree. Again. I was out at 3 in the morning climbing a tree because I couldn’t sleep due to being worried about her.
I was sick with a migraine yesterday and couldn’t even throw up in peace because the cat wouldn’t leave me alone. And I need complete silence when I have one of my headaches, but the cat just didn’t seem to grasp this idea at all.
So today… let me go ahead and warn you, my depression is back WITH A VENGEANCE (and for once I actually don’t feel like discussing it, it’s that bad), and something in me snapped. I came home to a big pile of shit, a puddle of piss, and a meowing cat.
So in a stupid impulse decision, Kitty has been taken to the local shelter.
I’m devastated and can’t believe I even did this. Sure. I’ve given rats away, a degu, and my parents have my two old cats, but I gave Kitty up just like that.
And I feel so guilty. I’m sitting here wondering if anyone will adopt her, take care of her, is she’s lonely, if she knows I gave up on her… I just feel like shit, plain and simple. And with my current mood, I can’t handle feeling this way. I’ve cried all day. I never thought I would give up an animal just like that.
Consumer Reports has just released results from its annual reliability survey and the findings are clear:
Mitsubishi has made major gains and ranks ahead of Nissan, Mazda, Kia, Suzuki, Subaru and Hyundai, BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Lexus, and Porsche
Please share this great news with everyone
Also don’t forget:
Mitsubishi is offering special rates to Sam’s Club members. 0.0% APR for 60 months on 2009 Eclipse, 2009 Spyder, 2010 Endeavor and 2010 Galant with approved credit.
When people decide they are ready to get out of debt, one of the first things they try to get rid of is their nice car with the big stinking payment of $300+ a month. However, when they get ready to sell the car they realize that they owe more on the car then what they can sell it for. This is commonly known as “being underwater”. Some just assume then that they are just stuck with the car until they can pay it off but that is not true as there are some options one can take to get rid of the car loan. Below are the steps to be taken to get out from a car loan that is underwater.
Determine what the car is really worth-Sites such as Edmunds and Kelley Blue Book are two good sites to get this information. Enter your cars information such as make, model, year, and mileage and get a value. Use the private sale price instead of the dealer price. The dealer price is what a dealer is willing to give you which is at wholesale, while private sale is the retail price and will be higher then what a dealer can give you.
Determine how much you are underwater-After determining your cars value, find the loan balance from your latest statement and subtract the cars value. That is how much you will need to borrow to cover the difference.
Line up a loan for the difference from a credit union or local bank-This is the most difficult part of the ordeal and you will need to make sure this part is taken care of before you put the car up for sale. Getting a loan through the dealer that you bought the car is next to impossible so your best chance is at a credit union or local bank. If you have your car loan through a credit union or local bank already then they are probably be your best bet to get an unsecured loan because basically they already have one if the car is underwater. You might have to go to everyone in town until you find one willing to loan you the difference. The interest rate will undoubtedly be higher but you will have a loan at a fraction of what you would have owed. If no credit unions or banks will loan you the money, you can always try and put the deficit on a credit card, although that is as a last resort.
Sell the car-After lining up the loan you are now ready to sell. When you find a buy you will give the buyer the keys and a bill of sale. You will then take the money from the sale along with the loan money and send them to the finance company. You will then receive the title in about a week and you will then send it to the buyer.
Pay off the loan as quickly as possible!-The sooner the better obviously. You will be more motivated then ever now since you will be paying for something you do not even own anymore!
Real example-So using some numbers let us assume you have $20,000 car loan and after doing some research you find out you can sell the car for $16,000. You go to your bank where you have your financing and receive an unsecured loan for $4,000. After selling the car for $16,000, you send in $20,000 ($16,000 from the sale and the $4,000 you borrowed) to pay off the car. A week later you get the title in the mail and go ahead and give it to the buyer. All you have left then is a $4,000 loan that will be paid off very soon and will give you the cash flow you need to create wealth.
Hopefully you will never be in this position, but however if you do find yourself under water on your car, just realize that you can get out with a little patience and persistence.
I have never seen such an outrageous and a little bit crude car advert before until i was forwarded this one this morning. So Toyota really has a sense of humour! Who would have thought it? This advert works for the Hilux but you couldn’t picture cows jumping into a Toyota Corolla? Swindon cows might though. We were driving through last weekend and there was one bull that was ever so frisky. He was humping his lady friends like he was a dog in heat.
Five people were reportedly injured when an SUV crashed into a building on West Maiden Street in Washington, PA. According to reports, the injuries sustained include a possible broken back and broken limbs. See WTAE for more information on this incident.
The cause of this accident has not yet been determined but possible causes may include driving under the influence, excessive speed, or adverse road conditions such as ice on the road. For more information on car accidents, please visit my car accident attorney website.
It’s a good day yesterday when a snatch thief felt the wrath of a woman he tried to rob. I will tell this true incident in two ways: The way it actually happened and my version of how the man deserved his death.
Taman Tasik Titiwangsa was where the incident began, an Indian man on his cheap-ass motorcycle stopped a woman in her Myvi at the traffic lights near Wangsa Maju. He said he wanted compensation because she had grazed and scratched his probably already fucked up motorcycle earlier. The woman paid him RM42. He then asked for her cell phone to call his friend. She refused, he snatched her handbag at her front seat and sped off with his motorcycle.
The woman gave chase, knocked him down when he reached a dead end and he flew to his death 800m from where he had first snatched her bag. Police are now investigating if she had killed him accidentally or otherwise.
Well that’s the way it actually happened and what was said in the papers.
However here’s my version (EXTREMELY EXAGGERATED):
Man – Indian, felt this woman was an easy prey for his easy money. Robbery is all about easy money, fast cash for the drug addicts or people without jobs and have fornicated with 5 children’s mouth to feed. Of course, being desperate, and probably almost homeless because his wife must have said, “Bring back some money or I’m taking the children and moving back to my mom’s!” he decided to rob someone.
So he was thinking about fast money on his cheap-ass Yamaha scooter and spotted his first victim, a pretty lady, alone in her car near a traffic light. Something in his brain lit up and thought she was an easy prey. Little did he know, the lady had a whole string of bad luck since the morning. She had her line cut in 7-eleven by a rude teenager, knocking over her hot cup of Nescafe-to-Go all over her shirt. She had to go home to change, go in the traffic jam again to work, and got a scolding from her boss for being late.
He did not accept her excuse and gave her a final warning for her lateness. The whole day she has been screwed over for little things here and there about her work. Her boyfriend just called her to break up with her due to him falling in love with some slut, her family forgot to cook for her thinking she’s eating out and all she wanted to do was get home so she could have a hot shower and forget the day’s happenings.
So here he was trying to rob a lady who had a string of bad luck the whole day. Of course she is angry. Of course she is mad and he was trying to make her day even worse by not taking the RM42 and going away? Instead robbing her? So she chased him in that little Perodua Myvi, making sure she was really close to him. That mother F-er is not going to get away this time…
Now that stupid Indian man thought he could escape her in his cheap shit sorry excuse for a scooter and thought the woman was crazy! He did not have any idea where he was going and ended up in a bloody dead end. The woman, driving so close to him, tried to break in time but couldn’t because she was so close and ended up ramming his rear, with him flying off his bike and ended up dead.
While in flight, he was thinking to himself, “Gosh, I’ve been doing this for so long, today’s a really bad luck day. Goodbye family members who thought I had a good job. Goodbye to my children who thought I was their hero, goodbye to my teachings and my family who loved me for who they thought I was and instead of going to heaven I am now going to hell (be be reincarnated into a cockroach whichever religion he believes in).”
So he died and the lady killed somebody. Charged under Culpable Homicide not amounting to murder. She’s not even in jail at the moment. She probably will only get a slap on the wrist. And a public celebration for her bravery.
Moral of this tragedy is, “Not everyday is Sunday fuckers.”
You bloody snatch thieves think you can get away with anything. Killing old people while robbing them, robbing old people, robbing pregnant woman and dragging her on the road until her bag dislodges from her hand, killing mothers and daughters robbing them from their full of potential lives from them, robbing them not only off their money but their rational, their sensitivity chip and their trust in mankind. You all deserve to die.
I have no pity whatsoever for that snatch thief who died. And I can tell you millions of people who will applaud this lady for accidentally saving the world from a deadbeat. Now the world is one step closer to a cleaner society. The man who got beaten up so bad by a hammer-wielding tow-truck guy he was bleeding from his head and nose deserved it as well from robbing old people off their hard earned savings in the morning when doing tai-chi.
Human rights for people like this?! They don’t deserve one. You only think they deserve rights because it hasn’t happen to you or your family.
If only more news appear in the newspapers on how Malaysian policemen is able to identify and catch robbers/snatch thieves/rapists alike, then we would not have to take the law into our own hands. But unfortunately, it is not happening. More cases are happening than the police’s ability to stop them. The public needs to do something. Whether we return to our barbaric roots of entrapment and torture.
I bet if we publicly cut off rapists cocks then the world would have less rapists.
I read today about a guy, Nicolas Rapp, who is getting ready to embark on a trip around the world in his Toyota LandCruiser. Now I understand in these times of social and econ0mic unrest that people are looking for “change” and to do something different or more meaningful, but as I read the article I had to question whether we will ever see this guy again? He plans to start in New York, cross Central America, head down through South America, ship the car to Africa, and then head through Europe and Asia. Obviously he will be shipping the car through to some destinations, and flying ahead. The scary points of the trip are the Darien Gap that separates Colombia and Panama, Africa, and Pakistan. Oh and he is driving around with his American license plates! He begins on November 15, and you can follow him on his blog at http://transworldexpedition.com
The exclusively for China built Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano China, with a special paint coat, has been sold at an auction for 1,2 million euro, according to a spokesperson of Ferrari. The buyer is from Shanghai.
The Ferrari auction was held in Beijing at the Red Gate Gallery. Lu Hao, the first Chinese artist that worked with Ferrari, is responsible for the specific design. The sportscar has a porselein pattern.
The collected aution money will be donated to the Automotive Engineering-department of the Tsinghua University, at which students can travell to the Italian Politecnico di Milano University and visit the Ferrari main-office.
This is the ultimate British muscle car if ever there was one. No matter what Mother Nature throws at you, you can guarantee getting through it will be a breeze with this ferocious beast. So forget about snow, sleet, mud and ice this Christmas- this car will get you where you need to be safely and comfortably.
One of the best places if you want to rally around in your Land Rover is Scotland. Shallow bogs, Rocky Mountains, grass lands and damp woodlands all at your disposal to play with. Whatever your pleasure you’d be sure to find it there. The Land Rover likes it rough.
One man was killed and another charged with homicide related to his death after an incident early Sunday morning. A dispute arose between the two men over the ex-wife of the man killed in the incident and an altercation occurred between them, culminating in one man jumping on the hood of the other.
The driver of the car them accelerated and the man on the hood fell beneath the car, was trapped, and died due to asphyxiation. For more information on this incident, please see the Post Gazette.
There will be criminal proceedings as a result to determine the level of fault on the part of the driver of the vehicle and there may be a civil claim made as well. The interesting part of this case from the perspective of an injury attorney is whether or not the automobile insurance coverage will apply to this case. Automobile insurance policies generally include a provision that denies coverage for an incident if the injury was due to an intentional act. If this incident is determined to be the result of an unintentional act, then the insurance coverage will apply. If not, there will be no insurance coverage available, either through the defendant’s automobile insurance or the uninsured motorist coverage for the deceased.
For more information on automobile accident coverage, please visit my accident and injury attorney website. There is also information available in this blog about uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage.
