Moving to Pomona, CA? You need great auto insurance options

Pomona, CA is a beautiful place to live, work, and play. There’s so much to enjoy, and plenty of things to see and do in the city and the nearby area. When you have a car to drive around in, you’ll want to get out and explore. But you also want to make sure you’re being careful with your finances. That way you can protect your car and still have plenty left over for all the fun you want to have. With the right insurance policy from THINK Insurance & Financial Services, you can explore different options for protecting your car, truck, or SUV at a fair cost.

Because there’s so much going on in Pomona, CA, you want to be able to rely on your vehicle. If you do happen to be involved in an accident, though, you want to be able to rely on your insurance agent, company, and policy to be there for you. That’s why you want to work with an agent who can give you quotes from multiple companies. You’ll be able to get help if you need it, get your questions answered, and make sure you have the right coverage as your needs change throughout life. Periodically checking with your agent and updating your policy is a good idea, as well.

You can spend plenty of fun times in the sun when you choose THINK Insurance & Financial Services. A knowledgeable agent will help you get what you need and will answer all your questions. That way you can get the policy that’s right for you and move on, so you can get back to your life. Don’t let a bad insurance policy hold you back, when you could have great coverage at an affordable price.

What Kind of Auto Policy Is Perfect for You?

Not all auto policies are the same and that means they are not always ideal for every person. There should be specific things that you look for when shopping around for auto policies but there are many people who don’t. To help you find the right auto policy for your needs and wants, there are a few extra steps you need to take before signing up for a policy. continue reading for some basic tips to get you started and find the perfect auto policy for you. 

  • Take a look at some recent company reviews. Not all companies are created equally and just like there are some awesome auto insurance providers out there, there are also some terrible ones that you do not want to get stuck with. To know what you are getting into beforehand, take some time to read some company reviews. It can tell you a lot about how they deal with claims and their customers. 
  • Do not just sign up for the lowest cost plan that you find. There are usually a lot of gaps in these plans or you can end up signing up with a terrible company. These prices are usually too good to be true.
  • Take a look at the policy before you sign up to make sure there are no gaps in coverage and that you are getting exactly what you were wanting out of your plan. Even if you discuss the specifics with the agent during sign up, make sure you sign off on the final policy so you can be sure it is accurate.

If you want to take a look at your current auto policy for any gaps or if you want to get a quote for a new auto policy, feel free to contact us at THINK Insurance & Financial Services today. 

Cutting Down on Clutter: Cleaner Cars Make Safer Drivers

You know taking care of the interior in your car is important because you don’t want to break down on the side of the road or have your car fail to start on important days. What you may neglect is picking up the trash out of your car or wiping down the windows. Surely that’s not important enough as changing your oil? Dirty cars can mean emergencies just as damaging as engine failure. Here are a few tips to keep Pomona drivers safer through cleaning. 

The Beauty of the Open Road 

Long road trips call for fun songs, rolled-down windows and lots of stops to see the sights. They also call for meals on the go. Keep your meal in a shower caddy, so you won’t have to try to grab your burger out of the bag. To avoid that same burger wrapper flying into your face by an unexpected breeze (or worse, flying into another car’s window), keep a trash bag in plain sight of you. Remember to keep drinks in cup holders until you throw them away.

More Tips 

For a cheaper alternative to an air freshener, you can keep a box of dryer sheets at the ready to keep your call smelling great. That won’t save your life, but it will make your drive more pleasant. You should also be sure to clean your windows frequently — even when you think you can see just fine out of them. You may not have the visibility you think you do, especially if the weather changes.  

Going the Extra Mile 

Pomona, CA has THINK Insurance & Financial Services for when you need help on the road. If you need a new policy, or are buying a new car, we can get you the coverage you need. Call for a quote today and see what we can do for you. 

 

4 Driving Habits All Safe Drivers Possess

Safe driving habits can go a long way in preventing accidents, especially in areas with a lot of traffic. If everyone drove defensively accident rates would plummet, however in the real world this is not the case. While you will never be able to prevent every accident, there are a few things you can do to make yourself a safer driver, such as:

1. Do Not Drive Distracted

This means using a hands-free device in order to call people while you drive, and never texting while you’re on the road. Cell phones cause people to think more about who is on the other side of the line as opposed to what is happening on the road.

2. Always Keep Your Eyes on the Road

In the same vein as not texting and driving, keeping your eyes on the road is essential to being a safe driver. Looking away even for a second may cause you to not see a vehicle stopped ahead, resulting in an accident. Rear-end collisions are almost always the fault of the rear-ending vehicle, which, according to the professionals at THINK Insurance & Financial Services, can result in your insurance premiums going up.

3. Be Aware of Your Surroundings

Someone trying to speed through a red light and hitting you may be entirely their fault, but you can avoid an accident completely by just seeing what is going on. By just knowing what is going on in the area around the road, you can avoid many accidents.

4. Watch Out for Bad Road Conditions

Always drive a little slower when it is raining, or if there is fog since you may have a hard time seeing anything go out into the road, or the vehicle ahead of you stopping. 

 

Tools Every Driver Should Have

Emergency situations can happen at any time while you’re driving. For instance, you could find yourself stranded on a back road with a flat tire or with a dead battery. The professionals may have a boatload of specialty tools for any situation, but you only need a few staples to fix some of the less complicated problems. 

1. A Light

Your car has many spots that aren’t very well lit or don’t have any lighting but are still important to the function of your vehicle. Not to mention, when it’s dark outside, this makes matters even worse because there isn’t natural light to work by. Always have an inspection light in your vehicle. It can help when you’re inspecting your car or when you’re working on it and need some extra light. 

2. Screwdrivers

You may not want to carry around your entire screwdriver set, but you should at least have one Philips and one flat-head screwdriver. You may even want multiple sizes of each variety of screwdriver. Add a Torx screwdriver if you have one. This is the star-headed screwdriver.  They aren’t used frequently, but they are used in the car and may be the difference between you fixing your truck and not having a way home. 

3. OBD II Code Reader

An OBD II Code Reader aids in the diagnosis process of an engine. When the check engine light comes on or your vehicle fails an emissions test, you can use it to find out the code for what’s wrong. Nowadays, they’re compatible with your smartphone. You might not be able to fix the engine problem, but at least you’ll know what could possibly be wrong and if it’s worth it to fix it. 

4. Jack, Socket Set and Wrench Set

Another tip is to always have a jack, socket set and a wrench set. 

Contact THINK Insurance & Financial Services to learn more ways to be a safe a driver or to purchase insurance. 

Things to Know Before Letting Someone Borrow Your Car

Letting someone borrow your car is a big deal. Because it is something that you should not take lightly, there are a few things that you should consider before you ever let someone else drive your car. This is true even if they are a friend or family member. Consider these things before you let someone else take the wheel of your personal car. 

  • Make sure that the person who is asking to drive your car is currently licensed to drive. Make sure that their license isn’t expired or suspended before you give them the keys.
  • Understand their driver history. You will want to know what their driving history is. It will tell you a lot about how they will drive your car today. If they have speeding tickets or a lot of accidents, you should reconsider if you really want them to borrow your car. 
  • Check your current policy to ensure that it is up to date as well as if it will cover another driver for your vehicle. These are two things to make sure of before you let another person drive your car. 
  • Ask them how long they plan on using the vehicle. Using it one time is one thing but using it a lot in the future can be an entirely different ballgame. You may not even be able to let them use the car that frequently but it is also something to consider for insurance purposes. If they need to use it a lot, you may even want to consider adding them to your policy or seeing if they will add your car to theirs. 

Before letting someone else drive your car, it is important to know these things. Contact THINK Insurance & Financial Services serving Ponoma, California to take a look at your policy. 

4 Reasons to Keep Your Car Clean

Even people with very organized and clean homes sometimes forget to keep their vehicles clean. In fact many people find their car to be a major clutter point. This is may seem inconsequential, however it may have more of an effect than you think. 

Reasons to Keep Your Car Clean

  1. Cleaning the exterior of your car increases visibility out the windows, and even a small obstruction in your vision can cause a serious collision.  You may not even notice the film around your the swath made by your wiper blades any more but it is still reducing your safety while driving. 
  2. People who regularly wipe down the interior of their car get sick less. Areas in the car that are touched often are likely to be overlooked when cleaning to avoid flu germs, however wiping the steering wheel, radio dials and handles often can go a long way in illness prevention. 
  3. Saving money is an unexpected side effect of keeping a clean car. Dirt build up can damage the paint job of the car over time, as can ignoring small damages. Fixing a small scratch and keeping a vehicle clean and waxed can preserve the paint job and decrease repair costs while increasing retail value. 
  4. Keeping the interior of your car clutter free actually increases your safety while driving because of decreased distractions and no chance of items rolling under the gas or breaks. It also increases your safety in an accident because flying debris can be deadly. 

For many commuters the car falls to the wayside after doing a great job at work all day and giving your all to your home and family in the evening. However it is important that your family car is kept tidy for safety and monetary reasons. Make sure you are saving all the money you can on insurance, while keeping your family fully covered with THINK Insurance & Financial Services. We can keep you safe on the road and financially no matter what life throws your way. 

Wildfire Damaged My Car, Now What?

With modern living in California, the risk of wildfire is becoming more and more of a reality. A home development and communities reach out further and further into areas previously just open land, the interface of high risk zones and property is becoming more of a reality. That involves all types of property as well, not just homes. The number of vehicles being caught up in fire areas as well as being damaged on affected properties is a grow reality as well. Even during an evacuation, cars will be exposed to falling ash, heat, flames, and debris, all of which cause damage small and large.

Fortunately, those with a comprehensive auto policy will find that their coverage can very well address a good amount of the exposure damage and restoration. Much depends, however, on the policy wording as well as the type of policy coverage a car owner had in place prior to the damage occurring. While some policies will deal with issues right from the start, others have deductibles that the car owner has to address first before the coverage kicks in.

For those in the Southern California area and near Pomona, CA, THINK Insurance & Financial Services is well aware of the growing wildfire issues in the general southern state area and can help. They can craft an auto policy that anticipates regional wildfire risk and keeps car owners and homeowners whole. Give them a call to find out more. Sometimes you have to run to get out of the way of a wildfire, but that doesn’t mean you need to take unnecessary losses in the process.

4 Ways to Save Money this Winter by Winterizing Your Home

Congrats on buying a new house in Pomona, CA. It is a pretty exciting time, and as you transform the house into your own home, you need to do whatever you can to make it truly yours. While there are fun ways to make it your own, including interior decorating, implementing your own color pallet and upgrades around the house, there are other upgrades you need to make designed to save you money each and very winter. Winterizing tips make it possible to do just that. 

Caulk and Weather Stripping

Look around your windows. This is especially the case on older homes (or at least dated windows). Cracks form around the windows. These slight cracks can drop the energy efficiency of your home HVAC unit 5 to 30 percent annually and especially in the winter. So, fill in these cracks with caulk. For thicker gaps or spaces around doors, pick up some new weather stripping. 

New Insulation

It is never a bad time to add new insulation to your home. Plus, the federal government provides grants and tax credits reimbursing you for up to 30 percent of the cost. From the walls in your home to the roof in your attic, this is a major money saver. 

Insulate the Pipes

Almost everyone knows someone who’s pipes have frozen, such as when they went on vacation, leading to a burst pipe. This is a major financial burden to clean up from. You can avoid this and also save money on your hot water by insulating the pipes. 

Ductwork

Like the pipes, you want to insulate the ductwork. This is more important if you have exposed ducts. It reduces heat loss and improves energy efficiency. 

From our experts at THINK Insurance & Financial Services, we want to help you save money on your home energy bills. These winterizing tips are not difficult to perform or time consuming, but each is going to save you substantially all year. 

Work On Your Winter Driving Knowledge

Living in Ontario, CA means dealing with all sorts of road conditions. In the winter, you may be exposed to snow and ice, especially if you take a trip into the mountains. Working on your driving knowledge for the winter months can help you to avoid a collision.

Learn About Traction

Traction is very important, especially when it comes to snow and ice. Your standard tires may not be capable of providing you with the needed traction. This is why many people invest in snow tires because the thinner tire is capable of providing greater through snow and ice.

Invest in Snow Chains

If you plan on traveling up to Big Bear or any of the other mountains, you may require snow chains when the winter conditions get harsh. In some instances, the roads require the chains to be on your car, so you will want to have them and know how to put them on.

Avoid a Tail

It takes longer to brake when you are driving on slippery surfaces and therefore you want to avoid a tail – don’t tail the person in front of you and don’t allow others to tail you too closely.

Read the Roads

You should always be reading the roads when you drive. Look ahead at least 100 feet in order to find out how the roads are going to change. There may be potholes, a soft shoulder, or some other kind of changing terrain that you need to be aware of. This will allow you to modify your driving style and still be safe.

At THINK Insurance & Financial Services, we look forward to helping you with auto insurance. Call and one of our agents can guide you through the coverage options, get quotes for you, and more. We work with some of the top insurance companies in California, providing you with quality coverage.