Auto Insurance

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Finding a car that is reliable, fuel efficient, sterling, and financially wise, is often no easy task for the unusual consumer. It seems that car owners and buyers end up having to sacrifice in one way or another, whether it is monetarily or security wise. In order to find the best car, consider this list when narrowing down your options. Also, proper insurance goes hand in hand with automobile safety and security. 

The Ford Fusion scored well in Consumer Reports’ annual new car reliability survey; in fact it even beat out the traditional top quality cars of the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. However, Japanese brands still rate the highest in automobile standards.
Of the 47 vehicles on the list, 39 are Japanese and they are hard to beat. Toyota and Honda in particular are the winners of the highest ratings world wide. 

The good news for American Motor companies is that American vehicles are continuing to improve in reliability and many other ways. 

Six of the most reliable vehicles are from General Motors or Ford. 

The Ford Fusion, in fact, scored especially well and beat out many brands of Japanese cars. Also, the Mercury Milan and Lincoln Zephyr made the list along with GM’s Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon. The Pontiac Vibe Wagon from GM also made the list. 

Only one European car made the list, the Mini Cooper. Unfortunately for European car companies, 19 of the 45 least reliable cars come from Europe. The least capable list also contained 5 models from Nissan. The best of the best is strikingly different from the worst of the worst. The owners of Mercedes-Benz M-class SUVs were said to query at least 10 times as many problems as the owners of the top rated Toyota Highlander Hybrid. 

What makes the Toyota Hybrid so superior? They have shown excellent reliability in the past and are continuing to remain reliable. The reliability is based on survey data from approximately 1.3 million vehicles owned by subscribers to the magazine and website of Consumer Reports. 

The reliability scores are based on the past three years of surveys. Also, for the newer models the predictions are based on any data available. 

Concerning smaller vehicles, the most reliable is the Honda Fit. The Toyota Yaris, Honda Civic Hybrid and Toyota Corolla were the next three inline. The least fine car listed was the Chevrolet Cobalt, closely followed by the 2006 Nissan Sentra, the Volkswagen Jetta (5 cyl.) and the Chevrolet Aveo. 

The Most Reliable Family Car was the Honda Accord Hybrid, followed by the Toyota Prius, Honda Accord (4-cyl), Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan. 

The least reliable family car included the Volkswagen Passat (4cyl.) It is apparently not a trustworthy year for the Volkswagen Company when it comes to surpassing reliability standards. 

The most reliable Upscale/Large car is the Lexus ES350 followed by the Lincoln Zephyr, Hyundai Azera, Acura TSX and Acura TL. The least reliable family car is the Jaguar X-type, followed by the Chrysler 300 (V8) and the Saab 9-3. 

So just how much does the Honda Fit cost? Is its reliability rating worth the financial commitment? The starting price for the vehicle is $13,850. This includes standard front, front side and side curtain airbags; plenty of storage compartments, 109 horsepower, 1.5-liter, VTEC engine and four distinct interior configurations. This five door vehicle also has a 60/40 split 2nd-row magic Seat. The Fit Sport is available at a starting price of $15,170. 

The Toyota Yaris, which made the number two position on the list, is available as a hatchback or sedan. The Yaris is noted for its outstanding fuel mileage and safety features. The first generation of the Yaris won 2000 car of the year. 

The Ford Fusion was also highly rated for its reliability. 

This vehicle is well known for its All-Wheel Drive option available with the V6-powered Fusion SE and SEL. The vehicle has options for 4-way manual driver and front cloth bucket seats in the 14 S. The 14 SE and SEL also have front cloth bucket seats with a 6 contrivance power driver height adjustment and fold-down front passenger seat back as well as seat back map pockets.
Also, the Fusion has side impact air bags, 1st and 2nd row air curtains (side impact) and unibody construction with energy-absorbing design and side-impact door beams available in all models. The Belt-Minder system is also included with the driver and passenger. 

LATCH system and rear door child safety locks as well as emergency glow-in-the-dark inside trunk release is also included in all models.

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Few things are quite as difficult as opening up your insurance bill every couple of months and shelling out the hundreds of dollars that have come due. Most insurance companies these days still offer customers the option to pay their insurance bill semi-annually, but now you can also pay your insurance bill on a monthly basis, too. Why would you want to? There are several reasons, and also reasons to continue paying your insurance premiums semi-annually, too. Which one is right for you? Only you can answer that quiz, but here’s the info you need to make that decision.

The arguments in favor of paying your car insurance on a monthly basis include one that specifically has to do with budgeting. Since so many other bills are paid monthly, it’s particularly easy to remember to pay your insurance bill as well, where it might slip your mind to set aside an equal amount into savings to pay a semi-annual bill. While paying monthly for the sake of budgeting might once have been a steady damage, with having to write out twelve checks throughout the year, mailing out twelve bills, and affixing twelve stamps, the computer age has allowed customers to pay their bills online, streamlining the process of paying bills.

With the pros out of the way, it’s time to look at the drawbacks to paying your car insurance on a monthly basis. Because monthly payments are considered a luxury by the insurance companies, they require you to pay for the privilege in practically all cases. The amount is generally relatively low, but still adds up. If your car insurance company charges a $3.50 fee for using the monthly payment option, you’ll pay an additional $42 per year just for that, where if you were to make the semi annual payment, you could avoid the additional cost. Aside from the additional cost of making monthly insurance payments, there aren’t really that many downsides.

Whether you choose to pay your car insurance premium monthly or semi annually, you’ll find that routine will succor to keep the bills paid on time. If you’re accustomed to paying your car insurance premiums twice a year, and you have no dependable reason to switch, don’t. If you like the idea of having the payments more spread out, then monthly billing on your car insurance just might be good for you, regardless of the additional cost.

Years before those guys at GEICO decided to go for caveman humor and Harry Potter saw his first adventure, there was one man who trumped them both. Johnny Hart was the brain tedious two long-running syndicated comic strips, “B.C.” and “The Wizard Of Id”.

Hart was the co-creator of the comic “Wizard Of Id” along with Brent Parker, a young man who met Hart shortly after Johnny graduated from high school. The main characters in that strip were the Wizard himself, the king, and a large-nosed palace guard. While it was popular in syndication, the comic that Hart was most well-known for was “B.C.”

“B.C.” was location in prehistoric times, with cavemen (and women) living side by side with dinosaurs. In spite of the wide differences in cultures, Hart’s clever wit gave his characters great rapport with modern society. At times he even managed to insert timely and relevant digs at news events, corporations, and politicians. Creators Syndicate, Inc., the comic’s distributor, released a statement saying that “B.C.” was being published in about 1300 newspapers and read by 100 million people. It was launched in 1958.

Hart, like many illustrious cartoonists, worked from a home studio, and that’s where he was at the time of his death in Endicott, New York, the town he was born in, on Saturday, April 7, 2007. His wife Bobby told reporters that her husband had a stroke, adding that “he died at his storyboard”. He was 76 years old.

After his graduation from high school, he joined the Air Force and began drawing cartoons for military publication Pacific Stars And Stripes, a magazine that was also the launching pad for puppeteer and future film stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen. Hart was discharged from the Air Force in 1954 and shortly after that sold his first freelance cartoon to The Saturday Evening Post, a publication also frequented by science fiction and fantasy writer Ray Bradbury.

Hart twice won the highly regarded Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year from the National Cartoonist Society. Richard Newcombe, founder of the Creators Syndicate, said Hart was the first cartoonist to join the Syndicate when it was formed twenty years ago and it was Hart’s leadership that made it a success.

Both “Id” and “B.C.” will continue, Newcombe said, just as “Peanuts” went on with reprints after the passing of its creator Charles Schulz in 2000. One strip that probably won’t be reprinted, however, caused a lot of furor in 2001, just in time for Easter. It showed a menorah morphing into a cross, and while Hart said the design was to honor both faiths, some Jewish groups took it to stand for the superiority of Christianity over Judaism. A number of newspapers also dropped the strip as a protest.

Mell Lazarus, the creator of “Miss Peach” and “Momma”, was a finish friend of Hart. He said that Johnny “was generally regarded as one of the best cartoonists we’ve ever had”. In the comics industry, just like in movies, there is no finer tribute than that of your fellow artists.