While Christmas trees are one of the most treasured items of the holiday season, they are also the cause of auto insurance claims across the country.

No, they don't drive without a license or run out in front of traffic, but they do fall off roofs more often than you'd think. And the car directly behind the driver who failed to secure his tree is usually the victim. Unfortunately, some drivers don't notice the tree has slipped off the roof until they arrive home, meaning the victim stopped, but the culprit kept driving, and guess whose insurance footed the bill?

But another dangerous situation arises when drivers who notice their tree has dislodged try to retrieve it from highways or freeways. Don't ever do this. Sure, it's an obstruction in the road, and someone may hit it if he or she isn't paying attention, but is it really worth your life to skip out into traffic and drag the thing over to the shoulder? No, it's not. 

The real lesson here is being sure to secure the tree to the roof. If you don't have tightening straps, go out and buy a couple. They are inexpensive and very useful. Two or three will hold the tree tight to your roof rack. Don't have a roof rack? Open your doors and run the strap along the ceiling of the car, then back out over the tree. 

Have a safe holiday.

Bread trucks, party busses, and big rigs can all leave you looking like the Elephant Man on a bad-hair day, permanently, if they hit you. This is why we have auto insurance, not just for the little dings and scrapes that are relatively trivial cosmetic marks on our car, but for the serious injuries that can sometimes happen when driving.

There are almost as many types of insurance policies and plans as there are drivers, so it may get a little confusing when you go out to get insurance on that sweet new ride of yours. If you live in a state where no-fault insurance is available, you may want to consider looking into it.

Traditionally, insurance is slow on the draw when it comes down to paying you, and sometimes they don’t even pay you the proper amount of what you really need for your claim. This is where no-fault auto insurance picks up the pieces. By using a system that doesn’t pin driver against driver and doesn’t get hung up on the he-said, she-said circus of who was the one that caused the accident, no-fault insurance makes the assumption that regardless of who actually caused the wreck, you still need to be covered and compensated.

No-fault insurance coverage also works well when dealing with those sketchy individuals that are out on the road with no insurance whatsoever. In a traditional system of insurance, you may get hung out to dry by your insurance company in the event of an accident with an uninsured motorist, especially if you’re the one who caused the accident. By adopting a no-fault auto insurance policy, you are much more likely to get the help you need in a situation like this, because no-fault insurance grants you the luxury of being able to make a claim based more around the damage done, not who was at fault.

At any rate, the world of no fault insurance is turning a lot of heads when it comes down to costs, efficiency, and popularity. Additionally, recent studies have shown that no-fault auto insurance plans reduce transaction costs, match compensation more closely with economic loss, reduce the amounts paid in compensation for noneconomic loss to less seriously injured people, and speed up compensation.

—AJ Register