However, even though most people are familiar with the term and may consider plastic bumper repair for their own vehicle, it remains one of the most misunderstood problems a car or truck may have.
The Myths
1. Replacing an entire bumper plastic bumper is cheaper than getting an existing one fixed.
In some cases, this may be true. For example, if you have a bumper in fairly bad condition and you turn to a traditional auto body repair shop for getting the work done, you may find that their estimate for repairs is greater than your insurance deductible for entire bumper replacement. However, specialty plastic bumper repair shops focus solely on providing low-cost, quality solutions for the scrapes and nicks that plague cars going over today’s roads. Their prices may drop by as much as 50 percent of what you can expect to pay elsewhere.
2. Plastic bumpers shouldn’t need as many repairs as metal bumpers.
Most “plastic bumpers” are actually just plastic covers that go over the part of the car’s structure known as the bumper. The plastic portion is meant to deflect small impacts, theoretically bouncing back into place and saving the driver from needing repairs at all. However, plastic – like any material – can only give so much. If an impact is strong enough, it will dent just as much as metal. Plastic bumpers are also more susceptible to scrapes and tears, which may need repairs.
3. It’s cheaper and easier to do plastic bumper repair yourself.
The process of repairing a plastic bumper is actually fairly involved and complicated. It involves using fillers, repair adhesives, sanders, and paint (which must be matched exactly to the existing color). It requires a certain temperature, and quite a bit of skill, time, and patience. In most cases, those who attempt to repair a bumper on their own are required to get professional work done at a later date anyway, and these repairs can end up costing more than the original repair work would have.
Mark Carpenter is co-owner of Dings Plus Plastic Bumper Repair in San Jose, CA. For more information or to learn more about the benefits of plastic bumper repair for your automobile, truck, or fleet, please visit: http://www.dingsplus.com
Filed under Home Insurance by on Jun 8th, 2010. Comment. 
The general arguments concerning the bailout have gone something along the lines of:
Anti Bailout : “The taxpayers should not have to foot a 700 billion dollar bill to bail out Wall Street”
Pro Bailout : “But if taxpayers do not bail out Wall Street the economy will fall apart and those same taxpayers will be hurt”
If we could be sure the bailout would work the second argument has some merit. While the bailout will certainly help the banks, the problem is we have almost no guarantee the bailout will help the real estate market and the general economy.
First let’s look at some recent history of how the Fed has tried to help the troubled real estate market. The Fed usually attempts to lower mortgage interest rates to help the real estate market. By lowering mortgage rates houses become more attractive to buyers. In addition, with lower mortgage rates home buyers can buy more expensive houses with the same monthly payment.
Therefore lower rates can help stop falling home prices. So it was not surprising in early 2008 the Fed cut the Fed rate. In normal markets lowering the Fed rate helps banks and causes them to lower mortgage interest rates. And following the Fed cut mortgage rates dropped to 5.5 for a period of time. If they had stayed down we might have averted some of the problems with the current housing crisis. But instead a few weeks later rates had jumped backed up to 6.2. Basically banks said thanks for the lower fed rates but we are not going to alter our mortgage rates. In fact, over the next few months mortgage rates rose all the way to 6.6. The next big move was acquiring Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. This was one of the largest government takeovers in US history. The move was risky because the government was providing insurance for trillions in loans. And it initially had a positive effect on the housing market. But a few weeks later AIG ran into financial problems. This dominated the news cycle. It was almost as if the government takeover of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae never happened.
So the previous moves the federal government has made to stop the financial crisis have not worked. Should the 700 billion dollar bailout be different? It could certainly help the housing markets. But it might not. Lets look at why.
One of the benefits of the 700 billion dollar bailout has nothing to do with banks. It has more to do with perception on Main Street. The hope is that the bailout will restore confidence in the real estate market on Main Street.
In politics people often talk about news cycles covering up the last news cycle. Basically the last piece of news stays in people’s minds until the next piece of news comes along. The Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac news cycle (and the billions the government will spend on it) only lasted until the next piece of news, which was about a week. While the 700 billion dollar bailout should restore some confidence in the real estate market, that confidence might only last until the next piece of news. And with things happening so quickly that news cycle might not last very long and given the current market the next piece of news will probably be negative.
The other benefit of the 700 billion dollar bailout is that the government is hoping to influence banks to start lending again. The idea is that by taking billions in toxic loans off the books for banks they will start lending again. The problem is that their is no guarantee this will happen. In fact, when the Fed lowered rates banks said thanks but decided that prospects for the housing market looked negative and continued to add restrictions to lending. In a similar fashion banks could say thanks for the 700 billion but we continue to see negative prospects in the housing market and therefore we will continue to have strict lending practices. But thanks for the 700 billion taxpayers.
Escapeso real estate is a small brokerage in Austin Texas. Their realtors works with clients looking for Austin real estate. Their site offers a free search of the Austin MLS
Filed under Home Insurance by on Jun 8th, 2010. Comment.
How is property value calculated on a homeowner’s insurance claim?
I have an older laptop that was damaged during a hurricane. Shingles were torn off my roof and water got into my home. The fair market value is probably only about $200 – $300. However, I probably won’t be able to find the same make/model laptop. How will my insurance company (Farmers Insurance) reimburse me for my loss?
You should really ask your agent that question, but let me explain to you how it worked with a claim that I recently handled for a client.
They had replacement cost so it will depend on if you have replacement cost and the claim’s process at Farmers (I’m not too sure how they do it). So this case is just an example.
For my client, any items that became less valuable as time passed (depreciated) were paid out as follows:
What you paid for it (example, $800) minus the deprecation value (example, 40% or $320) = what the company initially pays you (example, $480). Now you go out and buy a like item…it doesn’t matter if it’s the same brand, speed, whatever, it just has to be like. So you buy any other laptop and give us the receipt. We pay you anything you paid over our initial payout ($480) up to what you paid for your original laptop ($320 extra).
So if you buy a new laptop for $300, we give you nothing extra and you just pocketed $180. If you buy a new laptop for $700, we give you an extra $220 and you come out even. If you buy a new laptop for $1200 we give you and extra $320 and you had to spend $400 out of pocket to upgrade to the new laptop.
I hope I explained that well for you, my client had trouble grasping it and thought she could somehow profit from the claim (albeit she has a few bolts loose).
Farmer’s may vary from the company I work for, but that’s how we handled it.
Filed under Home Insurance by on Jun 8th, 2010. Comment.