Valentines contest from Kristopher Brown Insurance Agency

I

My Fans

Submit a referral and be entered into the “I Love My Fans - Valentine Contest”

3 drawings for a $25, $15, or $10 Visa gift card

Submit a referral for both a home and car insurance quote and you’ll be entered twice!

Contest Period January 22, 2010 – February 12, 2010

Call: 469.358.3851
Email: kris@kbrowninsurance.com

Thank you for choosing Kristopher Brown Agency and good luck!

Official Rules and Regulations

1. Participation: in the contest constitutes full and unconditional agreement and acceptance of the Rules, which are final on all matters relating to the Promotion.
2. Start and End: The contest begins on 12:01a.m Friday January 22, 2010 and ends at 4:00 p.m. (CST) February 12, 2010.
3. How to Enter: No purchase is necessary to enter the contest.
Upon receipt of a free home and/or auto insurance quote and upon acceptance of the Rules, individuals will automatically be entered into the drawing. Entries are limited to the number of home and/or auto insurance quotes received within the contest start and end date. For purposes of these Rules, "receipt" of a quote occurs when a Kristopher Brown Agency representative verbally or electronically provides the individual with a quoted premium for his/her auto and/or home insurance. Kristopher Brown Agency does not assume any responsibility for incorrect or inaccurate capture of entry information; technical malfunctions; human or technical error; lost, delayed or garbled data; or transmissions, omission, interruption, deletion, defect or failures of any telephone or computer lines or networks, computer equipment, software, or any combination thereof. This contest is subject to all Federal, Provincial, and Municipal laws Eligibility: The Promotion is open to legal residents of Texas,. The Promotion is NOT open to employees, representatives or agents of Kristopher Brown Agency, its subsidiaries, affiliates, associates, advertising and promotion agents, and members of their respective families and persons with whom they are domiciled.
4. Prize: Three Prizes will be awarded to the winning referrers consisting of either a $25, $15, or $10 Visa gift card ("Prize"). The Prize must be accepted as awarded, and cannot be exchanged or substituted.
5. Selection of Winner: Three winners will be randomly selected on Friday February 12, 2010 (draw date).
6. Chances of winning: depend on the cumulative number of qualified entries submitted by the draw date. Entrants will be automatically entered into the contest upon receiving a home and/or auto insurance quote until the contest ends. All entries are subject to verification and confirmation that the entrant has accepted the rules.
7. Privacy: Kristopher Brown Agency respects your right to privacy. Unless otherwise indicated, any information provided will only be used to provide no obligation insurance quotes, assess the entries and execute the contest. By providing personally identifiable information, you consent to the collection of this information by Kristopher Brown Agency for the purpose of providing an insurance quote and for administering this contest.
8. General Rules: The Contest is void where prohibited by law and is subject to all applicable federal, provincial and municipal laws and regulations. All incidental costs and expenses not specifically referred to herein, including (without limitation) taxes, are the sole responsibility of winners. Kristopher Brown Agency reserves the right to disqualify any person who it believes has failed to abide by the Contest Rules and conditions. Kristopher Brown Agency is not responsible for theft, defects, and human errors including negligence that may result in the failure to award the Prize. Kristopher Brown Agency reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value and/or to terminate, modify or withdraw the promotion, in whole or in part at any time, without prior notice for any reason including errors, technical failure, fraud or other causes beyond Kristopher Brown Agency control which affect the administration, security, fairness or proper play or conduct of the promotion.

Insure Your Love

Just Say NO to Forced Place Escrow

Friends don't let their friends get forced place insurance.

I recently received a referral from a banker who called me with a client sitting at her desk. The client was paying a ridicoulous amount of money for her homeowners insurance because the banks mortgage department added their own version of insurance to her mortgage (escrow) account. In about 30 minutes I reduced her insurance over 50% and saved her over $2,000 a year. All while providing her with better coverage.

If you do not provide evidence of proper homeowners insurance coverage, most mortgage companies place ("force") insurance coverage and pass the cost along to you. This is typically VERY expensive compared to you getting coverage on your own. Generally 2-3 times the rate of a normal homeowners insurance.

Forced placed insurance only protects the lender's interest in the property. It does not provide protection for your personal property inside your home against damage, catastrophe, robbery, etc.

Furthermore, if you allow your homeowner's insurance to lapse over 30 days it may become more difficult to obtain a new policy. Some insurers will look at you like a high risk since you let the other policy go. 

Never allow yourself to be in the position where a forced-placed insurance policy is added to your mortgage and drains your pocket book.

Teen drivers ignore anti-texting laws

Studies suggest demographic targeted by legislation isn’t paying attention

Reuters
updated 1:49 a.m. CT, Fri., Dec . 11, 2009

LOS ANGELES - Karen Cordova, a 17-year-old high school student and part-time supermarket cashier, admits she sometimes texts friends while driving home from work late at night, lonely and bored.

The Arizona teenager knows it's illegal in Phoenix and dangerous. She once almost drifted into oncoming traffic while looking at her phone.

But would a nationwide ban stop Cordova and her friends from texting in their cars? No way, she said.

"Nobody is going to listen," Cordova said.

With momentum building in Washington for all 50 U.S. states to outlaw text messaging behind the wheel, there is evidence that the key demographic targeted by such legislation, teen drivers, will not pay much attention.

At least one major study has found that, with mobile devices now central to their lives, young people often ignore laws against using cell phones or texting in the car.

Massive increase in texts
The number of text messages is up tenfold in the past three years and Americans sent an estimated 1 trillion in 2009.

Some police agencies, while strongly in favor of such mandates, say its tough for officers to enforce them.

The California Highway Patrol has handed out nearly 163,000 tickets to drivers talking on hand-held phones since mid-2008. But it has issued only 1,400 texting citations since January in a state of 23 million drivers -- not for lack of trying.

"The handheld cell phone is relatively easy for us to spot, we can see when somebody has their phone up to their ear," CHP spokeswoman Fran Clader said.

"But with the texting it's a little bit more of a challenge to catch them in the act, because we have to see it and if they are holding it down in their lap it's going to be harder for us to see."

Already 19 states and the District of Columbia ban texting by all drivers, while 9 others prohibit it by young drivers.

Texting causes accidents
In July, Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, citing a study that found texting drivers were 23 times more likely to be in an accident, introduced a bill requiring states to prohibit the practice or risk losing federal highway funds.

Since then, Senator Jay Rockefeller has offered his own bill that would achieve the ban through grants to states.

In October, during a three-day conference in Washington on distracted driving, President Barack Obama signed an executive order barring federal employees from texting behind the wheel.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he would seek to expand that rule to bus drivers and truckers who cross state lines and called the conference "probably the most important meeting in the history of the Department of Transportation."

But a much-cited study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that usage of cell phones for calls and texting in North Carolina actually ticked up slightly after the state banned them for drivers under the age of 18.

A study by the Automobile Club of Southern California found that texting by drivers dropped after the state's law took effect, but it did not break down the data by age.

"What I would say is that texting and cell phone devices have become such a component of life for teens and for young people that it's hard for them to differentiate between doing something normal and doing something wrong," said Steven Bloch, senior research associate for the Automobile Club.

The problem is not unique to the United States. In Britain, a public service announcement on texting while driving drew worldwide attention for its extremely graphic imagery.

The spot shows three texting teen girls in a horrific head-on collision with another car, and lingers on shots of their bloodied faces shattering the windshield as a child whose parents have been killed cries for her dead mother to wake up.

In 2007, Phoenix became one of the first U.S. cities to ban texting while driving, although Arizona still has no statewide law.

Out of a group of four high school students interviewed by Reuters in Phoenix, three admitted texting while driving and a fourth said he had stopped only after his cousin caused a serious traffic accident while sending a message.

Cordova's classmate, 17-year-old Anna Hauer, says she often texts her boyfriend when she drives and doubts she or her friends would stop because of new legislation.
"By the time they pull you over, the chances are you are going to be done with your text anyway so they can't exactly prove that you were texting," she said.

Copyright 2009 Reuters. Click for restrictions.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34374269/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

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