No Car Insurance? Look out! The Towing Law Has Changed.

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Dean Basse

Just a little more than two years ago, Louisiana passed a law restricitng the towing of vehicles for no proof of insurance, and other violations, on the first offense to only cases where the police officer determined that the vehicle or driver were a danger to others on the highway.  Now that law has been repealed and your car or other vehicle may once again be towed on the first offense.

The reason for the change is that the state Office of Motor Vehicles has no reliable way to track if a driver or vehicle has been ticketed in the past for no-insurance.  As a result, the police never know when it is a first offence, and when it is a second, third or greater offense, making the prior law unworkable.

What does this mean for you?

This change means that police once again may have the car you are driving towed and impounded whenever you cannot provide proof-of-insurance on the vehicle, regardless of your previous record.  It means that you can quickly be liable for hundereds of dollars in fines, towing charges, storage fees, and license reinstatement fees.  And, on top of all of this, you will still need to purchase a car insurance policy to provide the proof of insurance to the authorities required to get your car out of impoundment and remove the flags from your license.

With this change in the law, it is obviously cheaper to just carry the required insurance and avoid all the extra hassles and expenses.  Dan Burghardt Insurance can provide the coverage you need quickly and at a price you can afford.  Our large selection of companies, downpayment options, and payment plans make it easy and affordable for you to stay legal and avoid the worry of having your car towed and impounded.  And you always get your ID Card immediately when you buy from us.  You can even buy over the phone–no office visit required!

Call us today at (504) 441-7283 for the peace of mind knowing you are driving legally and do not need to worry if a police oficer stops you!

Posted in Car Insurance, Louisiana law, mandatory coverage, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

What Is The Most Important Thing You Need To Know About Your Car Before Calling For Insurance Quotes?

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Dean Basse

Shopping for car insurance is something I don’t think anyone enjoys.  Having to answer what seems like an endless number of questions, whether over the phone or filling out online forms, is probably NOT your idea of a fun way to kill a couple of hours.  But it’s even worse when you find a price that saves you money and rush down to the agent’s office only to find out the price went up because the car or truck you received a quote for is not the one you own.

Let’s look at a common car like a Ford Taurus.  Ford has been making this model for decades with almost every combination of features and accessories possible. You bought yours 2 years ago because you liked the design, color and great surround sound stereo system.  The first thing you did when you took it home was remove that ugly sticker from the side window.  If you thought about it at all, you put the sticker in a safe place (exactly where you don’t remember), and then went to show the car off to all your family and friends.

Now, 2 years later, you’re trying to lower your insurance bill, and this lady on the phone is asking you about ABS, the kind of airbags, the number of cylinders and size of your engine, and on, and on, and on.  You know the salesperson told you all of this, but you were busy listening to your favorite radio station on that great stereo and thinking about how impressed your mom and them would be.  Why does this lady need to know all this anyway? So you guess, and the lady guesses, and, WOW, she’s gonna save you $87 a month!

You zoom over to the office, cash in hand, thinking about that new outfit you’ve been wanting (or fishing rod, sorry guys), only to find out the insurance is going to actually cost you $8 more each month than what your were paying because your car has only 1 airbag and the V6, 3.o litre engine instead of the V4, 1.8 litre.  How were you supposed to remember all that?

You don’t have to.  The most important thing you should know about your car is the Vehicle Identification Number, or VIN. It can be found on your title, registration, on the car’s driver’s door jamb, or the dashboard on the driver’s side at the windshield. This one 17-digit number should allow an agent with an advanced auto insurance quoting system, like Dan Burghardt Insurance, to determine all of the following about your car:

  • year;
  • make;
  • model;
  • engine type and size;
  • safety features included; and,
  • the exact body design.

(I don’t think it tells us what color the car is yet, but regardless of what people tell you, the price of insurance for a red Corvette is no higher than for a white Corvette – they are both expensive.  On the other hand, the color may determine how many tickets you receive, which WILL make a difference in the price of your insurance!)

Many car models are made with different engines, transmissions, luxury options and safety devices. The latest manufacturing processes allow car companies to assemble each car with a different mix of features.  The “SE”, “GXE” or “LS” after the name doesn’t tell us much about those things these days.  The VIN answers most of these questions.

Not knowing what options your car has, or getting it wrong, can mean a difference of $100 to $500 or more in the price of your insurance.  Yes, it could differ that much!  Knowing this number means you will get the price for the right car and save you the time of answering all those questions.  This makes it much easier for your Dan Burghardt representative to find the right coverages for your car with the right company, and avoid the “sticker shock” that could happen when you are ready to buy your policy.

Posted in Car Insurance, FAQ, Pricing, Quotes | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

How to be a smart insurance buyer?

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Dean Basse

Probably the single most important thing you can do is have all of your information in front of you before you call.  A lot of customers call Dan Burghardt Insurance and don’t know what kind of coverage they have, the exact car they own, what’s on their driving record, the year their home was built, or the type of roof they have.  Without the correct information it becomes a guessing game, and that’s no way to shop for insurance.  A phone quote is never guaranteed – the person on the other end can only price your insurance according to what you tell them.  If you don’t know, they will make a best guess, and each person you talk to will guess differently – and this is hardly ever explained.

We find that customers will call around and get all sorts of prices.  When they finish shopping they run out to buy the lowest price, only to find out that the exact model or year of the vehicle is wrong, or that their driving record is not as good as they remembered, or that their home was built in 1960, not 1980.  They end up paying more for their insurance because, with the right information, another company had a better price.

Your representative at Dan Burghardt Insurance help you by being open about all parts of the process and advising you on the exact information needed to get an accurate price.  If you are not sure why we need to know something, just ask and we will gladly explain how it helps you get the best value in insurance.

Once we have the correct information, we check all the many companies we work with and provide you with multiple rate comparisons, not just one price.  With the right information your Dan Burghardt Insurance representative can provide you with not just the best price, but can also tell you what company has the lowest down payment, the most affordable monthly payments and the most complete coverage.  Knowing all of your options always makes you a smart insurance buyer.

Posted in Car Insurance, Homeowners | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A Long Time Coming!

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Dean Basse

Welcome to The DBI Blog! Yes, it has been a long time coming. This first post is about why.

At Dan Burghardt Insurance we take great pride in the Dan Burghardt Difference, the things we do for our clients that set us apart from other insurance agencies. At each stage of our growth we have taken the time to think about the changes to come and how they could be done in a way that improves the service and experience delivered to the people who made our success – our clients!

Client-Centered Improvement is the Dan Burghardt Difference

When the number of calls we received each day started to interrupt us while serving clients who were in our office, we could have installed an answering system like everyone else did. Our clients told us they hated pushing buttons and talking to a machine. Instead, we hired a full-time receptionist to personally greet each caller and make sure calls went where they were supposed to.

Later, we attracted enough loyal clients to overload the ability of our agents to both write new clients and assist existing ones. We could have done what everyone else did - either set up a voice-mail system (we call them “call-avoiding systems”) or contract an independent call-center. Again, our concern for people told us that callers wanted help immediately from local people who cared about them and the local community. Instead of doing the easy quick-fix, we assembled a dedicated in-house customer service team to provide the assistance our clients wanted. (They even understand and speak Yat!)

When the internet became popular many agencies ran out and hired the first website company they could find, never thinking about why an insurance agency should have a website and what value it should deliver to the public. As a result, most still feature the same cookie-cutter websites used by many agencies that provide little information and even less real-time service.

At Dan Burghardt Insurance we took the time and invested the effort necessary to create a truly unique, custom site providing the depth of information you need to understand this complex thing called insurance. But we didn’t stop there!

We knew that anyone who wanted to learn about insurance would surely want the two most important questions answered: what do they offer and what will it cost me. So we searched long and pushed hard to bring together the technologies needed to answer those questions, in many cases immediately online!

With The DBI Blog, we are doing it again.

You’re probably asking: what’s new and different about having a blog on a website? After all, doesn’t everyone? Yes, but most insurance blogs offer the same packaged advice found all over the internet. Many even pay people who have never worked in insurance to “research” topics and write their blogs for them. But that’s not us.

We have spent months learning what you really want and need to know:

  • what insurance is;
  • how it works; and,
  • most important, how to get the best price.

As you follow this blog, you will find timely articles written by experienced insiders that cover these topics in a useful, informative and (hopefully) entertaining way. With the significant changes that are now re-shaping how insurance will work, what will be covered, who will provide it, and how much it will cost, we think you will need all of the guidance you can find. Our goal is not to just provide reasons to buy from us, but to help you become a truly smart insurance consumer in this constantly changing industry. We believe that the more you know the more you will come to appreciate the Dan Burghardt Difference.

We invite you to visit often, or subscribe to our postings, and take advantage of all we have to offer. As always, all of us on the Dan Burghardt Team value your business and comments. Thanks!

Note: For those from outside Southeast Louisiana, “Yat” is a native New Orleans area dialect that tends to pronounce and combine words in uniquely interesting ways, such as “Where y’at?”, “How’s ya momenem?”, and the now famous “Who Dat?”.

Posted in About Us, Why we are different | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment