Chicago Car Insurance Claims increase, are they part of a Worldwide Trend?

It is clear that America is not the only place where a rising number of law suits are having an impact on auto Insurance rates. In these Hard financial times, more people are under great financial pressure, This can often lead people to take actions that their conscience would not permit in less difficult times. It is interesting to see that Chicago, nor Illinois is not alone in this matter, but that is a part of a worldwide trend....



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Is my son insured to drive my Ferrari

Is true Christmas is the season of giving, and is also true that during this season your children deserves special attention, but still... This is what might happen when you borrow your Ferrari to your child. And we have two examples to make you think twice.

The first accident happened in Newport Beach, CA on Christmas Eve. The father (in his 90’s) gave his son (in his 70’s) a brand new Ferrari F430. The grandson was driving the car with his cousin in the passenger seat when the car lost control and crossed over onto oncoming traffic. The Ferrari crashed head on into a tow truck. The passenger was killed instantly, the driver was in critical condition.
The other accident happened in Romania and involved a Ferrari F430 Spider. The kid driving the car lost control and crashed into an oncoming car. He was unhurt.

Why dads shouldn't borrow their Ferrari to sons originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 28 December 2009 09:52 EST.

Woodard Dream Cruise 2009
Ferrari Enzo
Dream Cars (Carrera GT)
Will 2013 look like this for Porsche?
BMW 850i and 850CSi 1989-1999

White Gold !

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A Mercedes has always been a status symbol, associated with wealth, power and a sense of class. The SLR McLaren is the flagship of the Mercedes line of cars. Mercedes-Benz has gone on record stating that they would limit the production to 3500 SLRs over a span of 7 years. The idea is to keep a level annual production of 500 cars. I understand that qualifies as a "limited- Production auto, but with the car's base price at $495,000, and the realization that we are in a World-Wide recession, that seems like a sufficient quality.

The more a car weighs, the greater the power needed to move the auto forward. The idea is to join a powerful engine with a lightweight body, to ubtain the greatest BHP to Weight ratio. The SLR uses carbon fibre for its entire body construction in an attempt to keep the weight to 3,898lbs.
With 600 + Horse-power, the SLR has proven can achieve a 0-100 km/h (62 mph) under the claimed 3.7 seconds and climb to a top speed of 334 km/h (208 mph). If fact Car and Driver achieved a quarter-mile time of 11.6 seconds.

I think most people would find the half a million dollar SLR qualified as a "Status-Symbol" with-out any customizing; but what do you do if you need to turn the status control up to eleven?

Build the car out of White Gold -



This Mercedes Benz,SLR is owned by an Abu Dhabi oil billionaire.
Featuring the newly developed V10 quad turbo with
1,600 horsepower and 2800nm of torque, it does
0-100km/h (62.1mph) in less than 2 secs, or 1/4 mile
in 6.89 secs, running on biofuel.

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One could ask why an Oil Sheik is searching for alternative fuels, You could also use this car as an example proving that cars, yes even "Fast Cars" can run on just fine without the use of gasoline.

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Just like in the Wild-West there was always a man with a "Faster-draw", well I guess there is alway some nut willing to spend more money on a car.

Corvette Karma

Imagine your 29 years old. You make plans with friends to meet up at a favorite bar. You get dressed, and climb into your 5 year old Corvette, turn the key and revel and the throaty-roar as you pull of on your way for a night on the town.
Young and single, you park the car, head inside, maybe with a pen in your pocket, just incase your lucky enough to find a woman willing to hand-over her phone number.

Life is great, or at least it is till you go outside a find your car is gone. That pen you were hoping would record the number of some "Future girlfriend"; instead is used to mark down a Police report number. You end up catching a ride home from a friend.

This is what happened to Chance Mayfield; sad as the story is, as an Insurance Agent, I have the duty to tell you this is not all that uncommon. In fact a car is stolen every 28.8 seconds, that's more than 1 million cars stolen in an average year in the U.S.—.No what makes this story so unusual is that the theft took place in 1970 and now 39 years later received a call, on his 68th birthday, no less, saying his car has been found. I'm sure that Mr. Mayfield was happy to get the call and see his old car. Imagine his further surprise, and stroke of good luck when he found out his old car had been completely restored.

It seems a collector who recently bought the 1965 Corvette for $65,000; stopped by the Arizona department of motor vehicles for inspection and to get plates; only to find after a routine serial number check, that the Hot Car he had purchased was literally a "Hot Car". I can only assume that the man, that laid-out $65,000 for the auto; believing he had legal title, had his day-in-court with business that sold him the car.

In the end the Scottsdale, police returned the 65 Vette back to Mr. Mayfield.

I would like to think they attached a Happy Birthday card.

Will 2013 look like this for Porsche?

Posted on 12.4.2009 16:00 by Terence Keon

Forward thinking automotive designers are getting younger and younger these days. At age twelve we were exploring the world of middle school, girls suddenly became less icky and the homework started piling on. However there is one such 12 year old who has put down the PlayStation controller long enough to come up with a few rendering of what Porsche’s lineup of high performance sports cars will look like in 2013.

What is so amazing is that these renderings look good enough to have come from a drafting table in Stuttgart. For the 2013-2014 model year, according to our up and coming designer, the 911 will be a few inches longer thanks to a new nose inspired by the GT3 race cars with larger air intakes and a more pronounced smile. Porsche’s latest entry level model will be a Spyder based on the rebirth of the classic 356. A few other drawings reveal a future 928 that is in fact a two door Panamera coupe and the Roxster that as far as we know won’t go into production. However these are some really good renderings that we feel will be right in line if not spot on as to what the German sports car builders will be rolling off the assembly lines a few years from now.

Woodard Dream Cruise 2009

Turn on the news or watch a car commercial, and all you seem to hear is about "Cash for Clunkers." Well over the weekend, centered in Birmingham, Michigan, the streets were filled with old cars, but none were "Clunkers"

http://www.woodwarddreamcruise.com/
Detroit has always been the home of the American Auto industry, and the annual Dream Cruise is the Mecca of the classic car world. Not only does this event feature the best examples of classic American cars; It also does so it a particularly American fashion. This is not a show where priceless cars sit behind red-velvet-ropes, while their aloof owner's sip Champagne from
Waterford Crystal goblets, while waiting for the "Workers" to load the autos back into the trucks that brought them. No, the Woodward Dream Cruise is about driving the cars in an unscripted parade. It is part car show, part "Tail-Gate party.

If the film "American Graffiti" was about the tail-end of the Saturday night cruising culture, then this is the event for those that refuse to let those day die.

To think of this event as a celebration of "Old Cars" is to miss at least half of the true reason for the event. this is not just about cars, it is a part of Americana. It is about our youth, both individually, and as a society. It is about the power of the engines; but also the power of the US.

Nowhere is that more true than in Detroit. Has NASA got us to the moon; but the astronauts, were driving Mustangs and GTOs.

In 1969, Made in Japan, was not something anyone wanted stamped on the back of their car. Detroit muscle was the only way to go! They were making cars that people "Wanted," today they are fighting to make cars that people will think are a practical alternitive to a Toyota or Honda.

After spending a few hours wondering around Woodward, I can't help but ask if Deroit will ever get back to making cars that people truely desire, or has that role been left to only $100,000.00 + Super-Cars?

The SuperBird was a car that was put into production just to please NASCAR.

If you were going to put a car onto the track, you had to actually have a production car available to the public. In 1970, NASCAR raised the production requirement to one car for every 2 Manufacturer's dealers in the United States; this required Plymouth, to build 1,920 Superbirds.

1970 would be its only production year.
The Superbirds came fitted with the 426 Hemi engine, the 440 Super Commando with a single 4-barrel carburetor, or the 440 Super Commando Six Barrel with three two-barrel carburetors. Only 135 models had the 426 Hemi under the hood.

The 1958 Edsel came in two sizes - big and bigger!

230 Miles per Gallon?

General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson announced that GM was going forward on the Volt and that they are going to be advertising the car with a MPG of 230.
Yes that's right I said 230!
Personally, I own two cars, neither of which gets 23 miles to a Gallon; so excuse my exclamation point after the number 230. Truth be told, that number is in large part based on combined electric only driving and charge sustaining mode with the engine running. We are all use to advertisements saying "Your mileage may vary", but usually that variation is just a few miles. Because this vehicle is designed to run principally on electric power stored in batteries charged from your home current; GM is free to pick almost any number they want.
The EPA had to determine a method to calculate fuel economy standard for extended-range EVs. The difficulty is trying to get an average that combines both time the car is running on stored battery power as well as burning fuel. Based on the EPA's new guidlines, the Volt will have a composite urban fuel economy rating of 230 mpg! This figure is reach because while running on the electric, the Volt will consume 25 kW/hours per 100 miles. That allows GM to claim that the Volt is the first car ever to get a triple digit fuel economy rating.

Wow, that makes the Toyota Prius look like a Hummer.