Andrew Vick

The holidays are a joyous time, filled with family, friends, parties, food and fun. But with all that festive jolliness also comes a few risks. The Christmas season may be all about giving and gratitude, but holiday thieves, drunk drivers and winter weather can really put a damper on an otherwise happy season. That’s why, before we sing carols and deck the halls, we want to ask an important question: Do you have car insurance, Las Vegas?

Time For Car Insurance, Las Vegas Drivers

If you don’t have insurance or it’s been a while since you checked your policy and got familiar with your coverage, now is a great time to really assess your needs. Here are three reasons you need car insurance in Las Vegas today:

Thieves: While you’re bustling around a busy mall or picking produce for a perfect holiday feast, your car could be at risk. With all the chaos that comes with the most “retail” time of year, thieves often take advantage of the constant diversions by grabbing a vehicle full of newly purchased holiday gifts. If you’re a victim of theft and you don’t have a current auto insurance Las Vegas policy, you may be out of luck.

Drunk Drivers: You may be an excellent driver, but that doesn’t mean that those around you are. The holiday season is the time of year when drunk driving increases substantially, putting you, your vehicle and your health at risk. Make sure you have adequate car insurance to help you heal and start anew if you’re the victim of a drunk driving accident.

Winter Weather: While we’re pretty lucky in Las Vegas, you may be off to grandma’s house for the holidays. And other states aren’t quite as seasonally blessed as we are. Winter weather can wreak havoc on freeways and roads, and drivers unaccustomed or unprepared for the conditions could pay a hefty price. Make sure you’re insured before taking off on your holiday road trip.

Ready to talk insurance? Give us a call today!

We get it; shopping around for the right life insurance policy can be intimidating; you’ll need to decide between a whole life policy or a term life policy, the amount of coverage you need, which carrier to use. . . need we go on?

But one thing you shouldn’t stress about is the inevitable physical exam that comes along with most life insurance policies. Why not stress? Sure, it’s important, and will generally effect your life insurance rates, but stressing out will raise your blood pressure – which is exactly what you want to avoid at your life insurance physical.

In fact, high blood pressure can be a good excuse for insurance carriers to give you higher rates than you’d otherwise receive, as it’s an indicator of current or future health problems. So when you’re ready to secure your policy, follow our tips for lowering your blood pressure.

Avoid Caffeine: Sorry, coffee fiends; consuming caffeine before your insurance exam can give you artificially high blood pressure. Schedule your exam for first thing in the morning, or else plan to have your “morning coffee” after your appointment.

Calm Down: Just being in a doctor’s office can be stress enough to spike your blood pressure. While you wait, take some deep breaths and practice some quick meditation. Staying calm will help the nurse get an accurate blood pressure reading.

Kill the Smokes: A smoking habit will give you higher life insurance premiums anyway, but you can at least help improve your blood pressure score by nixing the cigarettes for a day before your exam. We suggest nixing the habit altogether, but that’s just us.

Follow the instructions: Many doctors will suggest fasting prior to your exam. This is a great idea, especially because several types of food can contribute to higher blood pressure.

Time it right: Some studies indicate that your blood pressure is the highest during the early afternoon, so try to schedule your appointment first thing in the morning or later in the afternoon for the lowest reading.

Don’t let the stress of life insurance get your blood pressure up! We’re happy to help you find the policy that’s right for you.

If you are over 55 years old, chances are you’ve heard of an AARP classroom course you can take to lower your car insurance premiums.  If you live in Nevada, you should really consider taking the course for a few reasons.

Shortened classroom time- The first big advantage to taking the AARP course in Nevada is we are one of only a handful of states where the DMV has worked closely with AARP to encourage 55+ drivers to take the course.  One complaint they were hearing from many attendees is the standard time the course takes is 8 hours, taking up your whole day.  Nevada worked with AARP to create a shorter 4-hour course, half the time required for most other states.  I took the course myself and the format is surprisingly fun and passes the time quickly.

Nevada Insurance Companies required to give discount-  This was interesting to me to learn that in most states while insurance companies may offer a discount for taking the course, they are not bound by law to do so.  Nevada insurance law requires companies to provide a discount.  From what I’ve seen with our own companies, the discount is usually between 5 – 10%, which can definitely help with your insurance payments.

Best Place in town to take the course-  Here at AMS, we volunteer to host courses here in our office the first Wednesday of each month.  The cost is $14 per person and $12 if you are an AARP member, all of which goes back to AARP.  I am proud that the Nevada director for driver safety courses came to our last class and mentioned that it is by far the best venue she has been to for taking the course.  We limit the number of attendees to 10 to encourage participation.  It is also held in our conference room overlooking Lone Mountain to hopefully provide a comfortable and relaxing setting.  And last but not least, we bring Dee’s Donuts!  If you’ve never had one, then what better reason is there to come?

To RSVP for our next class or if you have any questions at all, you can call me at 702-965-3685.