According to the National Crime Information Center, New Year’s Day is a hotbed of car theft activity—more than any other holiday.

Analysts believe this phenomenon is due in part to drivers who drink too much on New Year’s Eve, then leave their cars at public parking lots in urban areas.

Only comprehensive coverage can protect you from having your car stolen—more precisely, the coverage can’t prevent the theft, but it will be a safety net, and provide funds to replace your vehicle.

In order to avoid all that unpleasantness, simply arrange for a taxi both to drop you off and pick you up if you plan on getting loaded on NYE. Two cab rides are almost certainly cheaper than your deductible.

Filing car insurance claims is never a pleasant experience, even when they are for a reasonable amount. Insurance companies aren’t excited about paying them, and waiting around for the check can be stressful. Now imagine the claim you filed was for $2 million.

A Texas judge is currently presiding over such a claim, filed my Andy House, a driver who took out a loan to buy a $1 million Bugatti Veyron, insured it for twice the amount, and then drove it into a swamp.

Seems like an open-and-shut case, right? Unfortunately, a passerby was filming as the crash happened. The Veyron is an extremely rare vehicle (only 300 made), so an enthusiastic driver sharing the road with the Bugatti was filming as House drove into the swamp, and posted it to YouTube.

Not only does the movie show that House encountered no obstructions in the road, but it appears that House didn’t even apply pressure to the brakes, which was confirmed at the crash site by police who found no skid marks.

Needless to say, the judge has his hands full.

It's official. The snow is here, and with it comes fender benders, hit and runs, and insurance claims. 

But don't let it make you feel helpless. There are a few things you can do as a driver to ensure a safe Winter behind the wheel.

First, make sure you have comprehensive coverage. Many claims during the snowy season involve downed  tree limbs due to heavy snowfall. Collision coverage will not cover your vehicle against tree limbs, icicles, and the occasional clumsy snowplow driver, who sideswipes your car and leaves a nice dent under a wall of freshly plowed road slush.

Second, buy some snow tires. Many accidents are caused from losing traction and rearending the car in front of you, something that can be easily avoided by increasing your car's ability to grip the road. Snow tires are pretty inexpensive and can usually be purchased used.

And third, drive carefully. This one's a no-brainer, right? Wrong. Many people think all-wheel drive, for some reason, means "invincible." It doesn't. If there's snow on the road, and you're driving the speed limit as if it's business as usual, then you are taking a major risk. 

So buckle up, bundle up, and stay safe.

On the heels of devastating fires in Texas a couple weeks ago, Online Auto Insurance released a report saying that an estimated 215,500 vehicles nationwide were damaged by fire last year, which resulted in about $1.4 billion in economic losses.

And rest assured, no drivers were able to see a penny of that back unless they had sufficient insurance coverage.

OAI released the report to underscore the fact that people should have certain insurance policies in place if they live in at-risk places, but even if they don’t. No one expected a fire to roll through Texas and destroy over 1,500 homes this month, but it happened.

The report is being used to inform drivers who are buying car insurance online that getting a policy that only covers the minimum state insurance requirements is not enough.

Without a comprehensive insurance policy, drivers aren’t protected from fire, hail and water damage. And with all the weather peculiarities this year, make sure you think twice about getting additional coverage next time you get a car insurance quote.

With two of the most devastating tornadoes in United States history slamming the Midwest, insurance agencies are having to deal with a surge of claims over personal and property damages.

According to the risk modeling company AIR Worldwide, between May 20 and 27 alone the thunderstorms that have been battering the Midwest have caused an estimated $4 billion to $7 billion in losses to residential, commercial, and industrial properties as well as automobiles.

Home and car insurer State Farm announced in late May that, even before being able to factor in all of the claims from the most recent string of tornadoes, it already had paid out nearly $916,000 to compensate for storm-related damages.

The severity of the Joplin, Mo., tornado is a grim indicator of the massive influx of claims. Only two weeks after the tornado touched down and utterly destroyed the humble town, there had already been over 17,000 claims filed, and that's only from companies accounting for 72 percent of the state's homeowners coverage market.

However, even though the damage to homes and the loss of shelter is what has been emphasized in the news, of those almost 17,000 claims, the largest proportion was filed under personal auto coverage. Almost 9,000 claims, about 53 percent of the total number of claims filed, were car-related.

Another twister that gained a lot of attention in the national headlines was the St. Louis tornado that touched down in late April. Residents in that city had filed a total of 6,795 claims, about one-third of them being filed under auto policies.

Unfortunately, we are only reaching the middle of the severe weather season, and according to the Insurance Information Institute (III), when it's all said and done this year will be, "among the most deadly and expensive for tornadoes [and severe weather] in history," bringing an estimated $4 billion to $10 billion or more in economic loss.

—AJ Register