You may be already be a winner!

Okay, there's nothing to win here, but read on and you might save a few hundred bucks...

I switched to a new car insurance company a few years ago after my then current company raised my rate to a level that seemed to me unreasonable. I switched to CAA since I was a member (I believe it is the same as AAA in the U.S.), and got an unbelievably lower rate. If memory serves, it was in the order of $450 per year less.

It's up for renewal next month and although the new rate isn't unreasonable, I was thinking of maybe checking out Grey Power whose ads (in this area) can be seen everywhere. It is for safe drivers over 50 and promises savings of $300 or more. I mentioned this to my daughter as we were driving one day and she told me about (How about that--a "Grey Power" commercial has just come on TV at this very moment.) a website that will do the insurance comparison shopping for you.

As soon as I got home, I went to the Kanetix website, entered my information in about two minutes and immediately got quotes from about seven insurance companies. There was only one quote that was lower than the one from CAA, and get this--they provided one from CAA, also, and it was right on to the dollar as the one on my renewal form. The sole lower quote was only about $13 less--not enough for me to go to the trouble of changing. Just so you know, the Grey Power quote was exactly $299 more than what my insurance company is asking.

There are two sister websites--one for Canada and one for the United States. You just enter your Zip/Postal code and off you go.

Click here if you are a resident of Canada.

Click here if you are a resident of the U.S.

I hope it saves you some money. Let us know how it goes.

Dumber and dumberer

I spotted this ad on my screen one night. Apparently, the six years spent in university didn't do much for the person who composed this ad. Nor anyone else associated with it. It should read "smarter than", not "smarter then". Nothing like making a fool of oneself whilst explaining how stupid someone else is.

And while we're on this topic, I was flipping through my newly arrived CAA magazine yesterday, and I came across this page. Minutes after I spotted the "glaring" error, I thought to myself "My god, I am so anal". But I swear to you, I don't go looking for this stuff. It jumps right out at me like someone is shining a halogen spotlight on these errors. Click on it to enlarge. Do you see what I'm talking about?

If your spotlight isn't working, or more likely you have better things to do with your time, in the coupon on the right it says "From Feb 1st to April 30st, 2009." Technically, maybe legally, you could hold them to this offer indefinitely since April "30st" never arrives, hence the sale never ends. Oddly enough, the coupon on the left reads "From Feb 1 to April 30, 2009"

The results are in

I entered the CAA (Canadian Auto Club) contest for the greenest driver with this entry:

Hi. I’m Vinny’s car. Yeah, that’s me in the photo--the one who’s red with anger. Back in the good, old days, Vinny and I were pretty racy, going between traffic lights like jack rabbits. Boy, that was fun. Now, he's so boring, driving all sensible-like. Says it saves gas and wear and tear on the brakes. Where’s the fun in that?

He used to take me out a lot more, too. Now, he works from home and we live across the street from a mall and I have to practically beg him to go anywhere. Even going out for drinks (of oil) has gone from every 3 months or so, to only twice a year, even though it’s less than 4,000 kilometres in between.

Vinny’s been very cold toward me lately, considering he hardly ever turns on my air conditioner. Last week, I replaced my droopy tires with nice, firm, new ones and he didn’t even notice! Sure, he’s getting on in years, but my odometer is barely over 100,000 Kms. One of these days, Vinny will come outside and he might just see a “For Sale” sign on this gal.

It seems it wasn't good enough for even an honourable mention. The first place prize of an all-expense paid eco-trip for two to Costa Rica was awarded to (surprise, surprise) a couple who have been CAA members for 28 years. Okaaaaaay. I'm just kidding--I'm not the least bit upset. I wish the lucky winners a great trip and all the best.