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By David on November 03rd, 2009

Looks Like Progressive Insurance Is Cheapest…

…for my car in Colorado, at least. I have had State Farm car and renter’s insurance here in New Mexico, and while they have been fine I do think that they are a little on the expensive side for Colorado. The best insurance company I have ever had the pleasure of doing business with was Wawanesa, but they are only for residents of California and Oregon (unless that has changed and I didn’t notice). So, I had to start looking around and it looks like Progressive is going to be the best combination of price/value/convenience for me in Denver. And because I am a new customer, I will be signing up online, and I am going to pay my 6 month premium in advance, I am getting a one-time discount of $69 off my 6 month rate. So for my 2008 Subaru with very decent coverage, I will pay $357 for 6 months – or the equivalent of $59.50 per month. Not bad at all.

autoinsurance Looks Like Progressive Insurance Is Cheapest...

No insurance company is complaint-free though, and Progressive is no different. There are plenty of complaints on the internet about every company, so I cannot choose an insurance company based on those alone. Several people I know have had good luck with Progressive, so I will have to trust that these guys will be OK for what I need. And that brings me to you guys – what insurance company do you use? Do you like them? Do you hate them? Maybe a few comments from readers can give me some insight I may be missing out on!

Photo from Shutterstock

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By David on November 02nd, 2009

Vehicle Tax Deductions For 2009 Tax Year.

Thinking of buying a new car in 2009 to get the tax benefits? Better act fast – you only have 60 or so days left before 2010! Because of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, any new car, light truck, recreational vehicle or motorcycle purchased between February 17 and December 31, 2009 is eligible for a state and local motor vehicle sales and excise taxes deduction on your federal tax return. To get the full deduction of the taxes, your new car must not have cost more than $49,500 and you must not have made more than $125,000 ($250,000 for joint filers) in 2009. Of course, you have to still pay the taxes due when you buy the car, but you do get the money back when you file your taxes in a few months.

Unfortunately, the deduction doesn’t apply to used cars, but then again some of you may have taken advantage of the even bigger Cash for Clunkers program which handed out $4,500 to prospective buyers. Overall, it’s been a pretty good year to buy a new car – too bad I didn’t need one!

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By David on November 02nd, 2009

After 16 Years, A Credit Card Account Gets Closed Without My Knowledge.

Since 1993, when I was still in college, I have had a credit card with a certain company. Right now they call themselves FIA/IBS, but over the years they have been called various things. Well, as I said I have had this card on my credit report for 16 years, making it the longest line of credit I still have had open – until last week when they decided to close my account without even telling me. The card hadn’t been used in about a year, as I only use my Chase Amtrak rewards card now, but I still wanted to keep the card open (due to how long I had had it) and figured I would use it every once in a while to make sure it stayed that way. But FIA/IBS did not see it that way and proceeded to just cancel and close the account…and the only way I found out was because I called to change the address on the card in preparation of my move to Colorado.

When I called the (of course) automated phone tree and entered my credit card number, the robot voice on the other end told me my account was closed. Thinking there must have been a mistake and knowing that I never canceled the card, I waited patiently for 11 minutes until a human came on the line. I asked him about this account and he confirmed that the company closed it a while back due to inactivity. I asked him when they were planning on letting me know this, and he didn’t know if they were ever going to. I was pretty pissed – not because I lost some of my open credit but because I was a customer of theirs for 16 years and they couldn’t even bother contacting me to see if I wanted to keep the card open by using it. No phone call, no email, no letter…nothing. They just decided one day to close the account and ding my credit score a little bit. Thanks FIA/IBS!

cutcreditcards After 16 Years, A Credit Card Account Gets Closed Without My Knowledge.

The moral of the story? You don’t matter – not that you ever did, really. But I did figure that a 16 year relationship with a company mattered enough to warrant a phone call, but I guess I figured wrong. So if you have any open lines of credit that you haven’t used in a while, I would call and ask about them. You don’t want to go to use it and have it be closed on you, do you? I will be sticking with my Chase card (not that they care either, but I have never had any issues with them) for now, and as for FIA/IBS/Whatever you are called, thank you for breaking up with me. I have no interest in being with a company that couldn’t care any less about a 16 year customer.

Photo from Shutterstock

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