Archive for October 2011
5 Car Insurance Tips
1. Know Your Coverage Types
What is your car insurance actually insuring? Although you’re buying a single insurance policy covering a specific vehicle, a number of components make up the final cost:
- Bodily injury liability: Covers injury and death claims against you, and legal costs, if your car injures or kills someone.
- Property damage liability: Covers claims for property that your car damages in an accident. Because liability coverage protects the other party, it is required in all but three states.
- Medical payments: Pays for injuries to yourself and to occupants of your car. This is optional in some states. In “no-fault” states, personal injury protection replaces medical payments as part of the basic coverage.
- Uninsured motorist protection: Covers injuries caused to you or the occupants of your car by uninsured or hit-and-run drivers. “Under-insured” coverage also is available, to cover claims you may make against a driver who has inadequate insurance. In some states, as many as 30 percent of drivers are uninsured.
- Collision coverage: Covers damage to your car up to its book value. Collision coverage carries a deductible, which is the amount per claim you have to pay before the insurance takes effect. The lower the deductible, the higher the premium. While it is legally optional, a lending institution or leasing company usually requires collision coverage.
- Comprehensive (physical damage): Covers damage to your car from theft, vandalism, fire, wind, flood, and other non-accident causes. Comprehensive also carries a deductible. Read the rest of this entry »
How To Paint A Car – So You Want To Be A Painter?
One of the most time-consuming and expensive projects you’ll ever perform on your Mopar is to either paint it yourself or have it painted. Paint and bodywork have long been considered an art more than a mechanical procedure. a good paint job is certainly the result of many hours spent welding, sanding, and preparing the body for paint. In fact, rather than the common misconception that a “paint job” is a single step process, painting a car is really a multi-step process that leads up to the actual painting of the car. Being a good painter requires a lot of patience and a certain amount of perfectionism because that new, glossy paint job will reveal the slightest blemish underneath, but what’s necessary to perform proper bodywork? We visited J.D.’s Paint and Body in Mulberry, Florida, to find out exactly what it takes to produce show-quality paint jobs, and to get hints about what you can do yourself to help the process.
The first step to a great looking paint job that will last is having a solid, rust-free foundation to work from. Rust is a common term for the process of steel oxidizing and is normally caused by unprotected metal being exposed to water or water vapor. Adding salt to the process, as in salty roads in the winter or beach driving in the summer, only expedites the process and can quickly turn sheetmetal into an ugly, flaking, rusty mess. The worst issue of rust is that once the oxidation process has started it’s very hard to stop. Even taking away the source of the moisture won’t stop the metal from rusting in a self-destructive manner, so the only choices are to remove the rust completely or to stop the process of oxidation chemically. Either way, the rust must be completely removed or treated or it will return under the paint, causing unsightly bubbling. Read the rest of this entry »