The average American overspends for the holidays, and then faces a bleak January as credit card bills pile up. Don’t let that happen this year! Better Business Bureau and Clearpoint Credit Counseling have teamed up to offer financial tips and an online Holiday Planner Calculator to help make sure your holidays are merry and bright!

Check out our holiday tips on creating a budget and sticking to it, safe shopping online, giving and using gift cards, and more. Use the Holiday Planner Calculator to determine an overall budget, decide how much to designate for each category (gifts, parties, travel, food and donations), then get into details like how much to spend on each person, budgeting for parties and travel, and more. Creating a budget and sticking to it can be a challenge, but being more conscious of your holiday spending habits will help you start the new year without a lot of new debt.

Some other ideas for sticking to a budget:

Cut down on gift-giving: For work gatherings, have everyone draw a name and give one gift. Set limits with family members and then get creative about finding something in your new, lower price range. Consider giving only to children. For the person who has everything, consider making a charitable donation in his or her name.

Do it yourself: Homemade crafts and decorations can be fun to make and to give. Consider baking or canning your gifts this year. Give gift certificates for future services (babysitting, dog walking, leaf raking) or special events after the holidays (shows, ice skating).

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Use less of everything, because little things add up. Is it necessary to gift wrap that huge box? How about putting a “clue” under the tree instead and have the recipient find the present hidden someplace else in the house. Reuse gift bags – they are sturdy enough to be used five or six times. Make your own gift tags and decorations. Spray paint old candle holders gold or silver instead of buying new ones.

Trim energy costs: Switch to LED lights and you’ll not only burn less energy, you’ll need fewer strands because the lights are brighter. Turn off your outside decorations when you go to bed. Turn down the thermostat when no one is home. Combine shopping trips and errands, and carpool to family gatherings.

Check out more BBB holiday tips on our website.

Our cars are very important to most of us. They provide transportation for work and family time. But even though we want to protect our vehicles with good insurance protection, we never want to pay too much for it. There are some simple ways to comparison shop so you can get a good deal on top rated insurance.

Sometimes the temptation to get very cheap car insurance may lead you to sacrifice some coverage. Sometimes you do not need a lot of extras in your auto insurance policy, but sometimes the decision to cut benefits can cost you a lot more money in the long run. For example, you may want to cut out the option to cover a rental vehicle while your own car is getting fixed. However, you may need transportation while your own car is getting fixed after an accident. If you do not have easy access to another form of transportation, this can cost a lot!

I just want to warn you that you will have to pay more out of your own pocket if you do need to make a claim. You can be sure you are making a good decision about the type and amount of coverage you sign up for. Your goal should be to get good value for your money, but not to just find cheap vehicle policies. Remember the old saying about being “penny wise and pound foolish?” This holds just as true for car insurance!

That said, you may be able to save a lot of money by comparing different insurers in your local area. You will find that some insurers are easier to deal with then others. Your own unique situation, and that of other drivers in your family, may determine your best choice.

A lot of drivers never bother to compare quotes because they think all of the companies will charge them the same amount. This is not true. Many insurers offer discounts that can make a big difference. For example, some insurers will never give their cheapest rates to people with poor credit. This is true even if those people are very good drivers. If you have a good driving history, but have had some credit problems, you need to find an insurer who weighs your driving history more strongly than your credit report. You could find many other examples of this. That is why it really can pay to shop around!

Some people do not bother to compare different quotes because they think it will just take too long. Many people have busy lives, and it is hard to find time to set appointments with several agents. New online quote systems make it very easy to get this done. You can use an online auto insurance quote form to find prices from multiple insurers in your area. The great thing about these online quotes is that you can get them on any computer with an Internet connection.

Many people save money on their auto policies, and they still manage to get good coverage. Informed consumers, who take the time to compare and shop, tend to get the best deals!

Your clean driving history is important because having a poor drivers record because of too many traffic fines will probably end up with extraordinarily high insurance rates and can even lose your drivers license which will make your life difficult. To keep your driving record clean can help you pay less fines and keep your car insurance as low as it is right now.

One of the better ways of trying to preserve your record is when pulled over. No matter how mad you might get, be nice to the police officer , even if you are annoyed, will help to get you off with a written warning and not the dreaded traffic ticket. Warnings do not go against your history.

Will a parking infraction go on my driving history?

Check your local county to be sure if they do or do not. But in the vast majority of areas it won’t go onto your history. Get unpaid parking violations taken care of and they should not be on your driving record.

How long will a ticket stay on your record?

This varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, Be aware that in a lot of places a ticket can stay on your record for seven years. Even a ticket or two per year can put you at risk of losing your driving privileges.

How to keep traffic tickets off your driving history and tips to guard your points.

Of course driving safely and obeying the rules of the road will keep your driving history clean. Sometimes you may still end up with a violation. There are a couple of strategies.

Realize that if you decide to contest your infraction in court you will not receive anymore points on your history. You never know, the infraction just might get dismissed. Or it might be reduced to a lesser violation. The worst case scenario is that you’ll have to pay the ticket like you thought you would in the first place. It is a no lose alternative to go to traffic court to try and get your citation either reduced or taken care of altogether.

Another defense strategy if you have a good driving record is to ask for driving school. This can essentially turn out to be the actual punishment for the citation and keep your driving record clean.

Paintwork repairs: look at the overall paintwork, the texture should match all over, all the sides of the car etc should look the same in lustre, the colour should be the same all over too. Look at each panel in turn, check every feature line to see if the body lines have been roll masked off. Open all the doors, bonnet, tailgate and check the edges between the outer and inner panels, have they been rolled masked off? Look to see if any bolts on the car have been touched in. When a car has had accident repairs the panels will be re aligned so the paint on the bolts will be disturbed and then touched back in. If all looks good on the edges, look over the body for hazy patches, these patches are often ‘blow ins’ or ‘fade outs’, they are signs of minor accident repairs.

Body panel alignment: walk around the car and just eye up all the gaps, all the door gaps, bonnet & boot gaps should be equal and centralized. A good car body repair centre should have attention to detail and gaps are a classic tell tale sign of work being done. Lift the bonnet and check the engine bay, look at the flinches and chassis legs, all should look untouched. Look for marks where bolts have been undone and panels re-aligned, I call these ‘witness marks’ as they show something has been moved. Lastly, look at the cars sill. The lip part of the sill where the sill joins the floor pan should be covered in stone chip protector and painted. If there are pitted marks about twelve inches long and two patches on either side. These are ‘clamp marks’ and it shows that the car has been on a pulling machine to be re-aligned and accident repairs have been performed at an auto body shop.

There are many other ways to assess if a car has had accident repairs, these are my ‘must do checks’ list. Finally, there is nothing wrong with an accident repaired car as long as it has been repaired right. If you do notice a few little things on paintwork etc or you just want the car regardless, use what you have seen to bargain the price down. Car sales guys will hate me for telling you that but hey, I’m here to help you and up you right.

I hope this article has given you a few things to think about.

By: Robster66

The guard rail came through the right headlight, engine compartment, firewall, glove box, passenger seat, rear seat and exited out the driver’s side of the rear window. That is 120 ft of guard rail that threaded through the suburban.

No passengers and the driver was not injured.

California insurance regulations contain specific requirements that insurance companies must follow when they direct a consumer to a company recommended repair shop. These requirements are contained in section 2695.8(e) of the Fair Claims Settlement Practices Regulations:
“(e) No insurer shall:
1) require that an automobile be repaired at a specific repair shop;or,
2) direct,suggest,or recommend that an automobile be repaired at a specific repair shop,unless,

1. such referral is expressly requested by the claimant;or
2. the claimant has been informed in writing of the right to select the repair facility;and,
3. the insurer that elects to repair a vehicle or directs,suggests, or recommends that a specific repair shop be used,shall cause the damaged vehicle to be restored to its condition prior to the loss at no additional cost to the claimant other than as stated in the policy or as otherwise allowed by these regulations.

3) require a claimant to travel an unreasonable distance either to inspect a replacement automobile,to conduct an inspection of the vehicle,to obtain a repair estimate or to have the automobile repaired at a specific repair shop.”

Car camera is your driving warranty   by Winne

in Autos (submitted 2011-03-10)

About the Author

car camera