“We think our method gives us a very effective and accurate way to track not only how many miles a person drives but also how safely those miles were driven,” said Richard Hutchinson, general manager of Progressive’s usage-based insurance division. “Our experience has shown that the number of miles a person drives is mildly predictive of a person’s risk of being involved in an accident, but mileage plus driving behavior is even more so,” added Hutchinson, “we’re still evaluating how MyRate could work in California.”

How State Farm’s policy would work

State Farm’s “Drive Safe and Save” rating program establishes auto insurance rates based on actual mileage driven rather than estimated mileage.

After signing up for the program, drivers who don’t have OnStar, which comes exclusively on GM vehicles, report odometer readings online every six months when policies are renewed.

After a year, the driver’s rates will be adjusted if their mileage was low enough. According to the state, consumers who cut their driving by as little as 500 miles a year can earn reduced rates.

Although State Farm will allow drivers to self-report, the new California regulations allow companies offering PAYD policies to:

* Check the odometer themselves
* Hire vendors, such as smog check technicians, to check it
* Deploy an automatic recording device on the vehicle

Poizner proposed PAYD regulations for California in 2008 and his proposed regulations were approved a year later. Poizner said PAYD policies would reduce congestion, pollution, emissions, oil consumption and the cost of driving. The new regulations don’t prohibit companies from continuing to offer traditional auto insurance policies based on estimated mileage and other factors.

Molly DeFrank, a spokesperson for the California Department of Insurance, said state law allows consumer groups to comment on applications like State Farm’s and that final approval depends on how many groups choose to “intervene.” She emphasized that car insurance companies are required to use just three factors in setting rates: driving record, years of experience and miles driven annually.

“Tracking the location of drivers does not have a place in pay-as-you-drive auto insurance for privacy and public policy reasons,” she said.

When deciding upon where in Indiana to invest your entire savings for the home that you will live in for the next few decades of your life, it is important to scope out different aspects of the residence, including the property value of home, the surrounding area, the accessibility to your place of employment. But one key facet when deciding where you buy your home is the relative safety of that place. Is it a place where you will feel safe walking or driving back to the comfort of your driveway? Is it a place where you will constantly worry if you might have left the back door unlatched? Home security is important to think about when deciding the location of your new home.

Even if you opt to live in one of the affluent neighborhoods of Indiana, the threat of home theft exists; however, there are definitely additional obstacles in the burglars way. To reduce such risks, the idea is to implement as many obstacles as possible in breaking into your home. Fences, gates, floodlights, even surveillance cameras, among other security devices are all great ways to show the intruder that you have thought about the possibility of a burglar entering your home, and that you mean business when it comes to stopping any forced entry. In all likelihood, the intruder will probably be turned off by all these deterrents and opt for an easier option down the street. Most likely, he is targeting your home for financial, rather than personal reasons, and thus, it doesnt matter whether he targets the brick house on the corner or your two-story suburban home.

Investing in home alarm technology for your residence is a great way to further deter burglars. Even that tiny sticker that adorns the front door and window of many suburban homes can do the trick in keeping burglars away. As soon as an intruder discovers that your home is equipped with state-of-the-art security technology, they are less likely to break into your home. And if they do, you will be ready. The system wired into your home is difficult to disable and if they attempt to break into your home without disarming this system, the chances of them entering without setting off the home alarms is minimal.

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