Ten Easy Tips for Defensive Driving

You’ve heard the term defensive driving tossed around a lot, but what does it really mean? Many people conjure up images of a slow, hesitant driver that only drives in the right lane and signals a block before turning. In reality, defensive driving is a set of good habits on top of your existing driver skills.
Read more

Understanding a Vehicle History Report

As a follow-up to our earlier article on Ten Reasons to Get a Car History Report, we’re now going to walk you through the process of actually reading and understanding vehicle history reports. You’ll quickly learn how to spot the good, bad and the ugly, so that you can be one step closer to buying your used car.
Read more

Washington Cracks the Top 10 in Uninsured Motorists!

‘What do you mean you don’t have any insurance?’

If you’ve ever uttered this phrase after a car accident, chances are you weren’t happy about it. Surprisingly this happens a lot in the state of Washington.

According to the Insurance Research Council, in 2007 Washington had the 10th highest uninsured motorist rate in the entire country. The national average for uninsured motorists was at a rate of 13.8% in 2007, with the state of Washington owning a rate of 16%. Read more

Top 5 Speeding Ticket Cars

Nothing ruins a day faster than a seeing the blue and red lights of a police or highway patrol car in your rearview mirror. Little did you know the car that you’re driving has something to do with it.
Read more

Seattle Passes on the Salt for Snowy Streets

The city of Seattle is taking a stand and NOT using salt on the snow and ice. Many large metropolitan cities like New York and Chicago still apply it after a heavy snowfall, because it works.

However, Seattle’s department of transportation will go green on the white stuff. The belief is the salt isn’t good for the environment and is corrosive for streets and cars.

Instead sand and rubber plowing has been the major method of clearing road ways. It isn’t the most effective way, just the cleanest way to deal with snow/ice. Even the Seattle police have to live with this decision, and will respond to many calls on foot, rather than drive up a snowy hill.

There’s a debate brewing about the uses of salt on Seattle roads, and if the method is truly madness.

Reporter Kathy Mulady and Robert McClure of the Seattle PI covered the unsalty streets on Seattle.

 In the mid-1990s, the city decided not to use the more corrosive salt, and instead it uses GeoMelt C, a liquid blend of calcium chloride in a soy base. The de-icer is thought to be gentler on the environment and considered better for the Puget Sound waterway, where eventually much of it will end up.

 

In that same Seattle PI article, a 2005 study found that some streams were one-quarter as salty as sea water, and were killing animals and fish. A second study, that year found that the use of rock salt to melt street ice had increased a hundredfold nationally since 1940.

Will salt less on Seattle streets hurt or help more when everything melts?

Don’t be at Fault: How to Prevent Insurance Hikes

Next to a visit to the dentist, getting into a car accident ranks as one of the most aggravating experiences to be in. Police reports, repairs, injuries and even court appearances make life miserable enough, but the coup de grace is learning that your insurance rates have been jacked up. Read more