Blog

To Have a Little Something Left in the Tank

July 8, 2020 By Forrest Dailey

Did you know that during the hot summer months, just being outside in the heat, your car can lose gasoline through evaporation? It’s not something you think about a lot. Luckily there are ways that you can conserve gas to offset the loss.

Secure Your Gas Cap. Keep the heat from seeping into your gas tank by always making sure your gas cap is on tight after each fill-up.

Minimize Idling. Think of it this way. Saving gas is about getting as much mileage out of the gas you pay for, right? When you idle, you’re getting nothing for the gas you’ve paid for. If you are not moving for more than a minute you should switch your engine off, assuming you’re not in traffic that could start moving again at any time.

Accelerate and Brake Steadily. Quick acceleration or braking will inevitably gobble up gas more quickly than a measured, steady approach to the gas pedal. Generally, the faster you drive, the worse your gas mileage will be. Ideally you want to drive just below the speed limit to maintain reasonable fuel consumption. We all know that on the highway with the flow of traffic, it is not often possible to do that. You can at least maintain steady speed with cruise control.Less acceleration reduces strain on your vehicle, which equals less gas used.

Keep All Your Car’s Parts Doing Their Part. Just like any interconnected system, if one part isn’t functioning properly other parts are overworked and break down. If your filters aren’t clear, your engine is going to be heavily burdened, and it will show in your miles per gallon. Every make of vehicle has different manufacturer’s recommendation for how often the filters should be replaced. Pay attention to your owner’s manual! In the same way, if your tires are not properly inflated that is going to create a significant drag on your engine.

Keep Your Vehicle Light and Aerodynamic. You don’t want to use your trunk as a storage closet or drive around with a recreational vehicle strapped to the roof. While you’re at it you may want to remove the racks on the roof if you don’t use them. Also, driving over 35 miles per hour with your windows down creates drag, and causes you to burn more fuel.

Minimize Use of Air Conditioning. So there you are, then, on the highway driving over 35 miles per hour, hopefully. You’ve got the windows up. But it’s hot. You’re going to put the air conditioner on. Practice moderation! Using the AC on low is better than having the windows open, at highway speed.

Don’t Fill Up Your Tank Just Off the Highway. This is one of those “that’s how they get ya!” things. If you’re on a long stretch of open road and you finally come to a town somewhere, you’re going to want to go to the nearest gas station or convenience store to use the facilities, perhaps get a snack, and while you’re there you might as well fill up. But such places situated “just off the highway” tend to be the higher priced ones. Whether it is because they know that most people are going to stop there is debatable. But so long as you still have enough fuel in the tank, be picky. Wait it out. Shop around.

Use the Right Motor Oil for Your Vehicle. Speaking of being picky, your vehicle very likely has a type when it comes to motor oil. You can find that information in the manual or the manufacturer’s website. That may sound like a great length to go to, but if you aren’t using the right oil for your vehicle, you may as well be driving 60 miles per hour with the windows open, a canoe strapped to the roof, a set of barbell weights stowed away in your trunk with your tires low on air.

Is Your Way Really the Best Way? Your morning routine is called your morning routine because it is something you just do every day. And this can extend to the route you take to get to work, or wherever you go regularly. But what if you are doing a ton of stop-and-go driving, or chugging up a hill when you really don’t have to, just because you always have, or because it is shorter? Even if it is shorter it may not be the most fuel-efficient way. And because you always have is no reason to continue to do anything. Map it out, see if there are some appealing alternatives.

Happy travels this summer, whether you’re getting away from it all, or just putting on a lot of miles and living life to the fullest in your own neck of the woods.

When You Are Really Communicating With Your Insurance Agent, Really Good Things Can Happen.

June 12, 2020 By Forrest Dailey

June is Effective Communications Month, a good opportunity to talk about an area of communication that is important to us, and even more important to you. When you meet with your insurance agent, or with a new agent giving you a quote, it is infinitely important that updated and complete information is provided about your home, auto, place of business, or about yourself depending on what line of insurance you are there to discuss.

Providing that updated and complete information can have a notable effect on the quote that you receive and therefore the insurance premium you end up paying. Sometimes people are hesitant to be completely forthcoming with their agent, for fear that it will cost them, but it is often the other way around. A thorough examination of your situation can save you money.

For example:

Defensive driving classes – Taking defensive driving classes is one of the most common ways people lower their auto insurance rates. Surprisingly people don’t always remember to let their agent know that they have done it.
New alarm system in your home – Often people get new alarm systems solely because it will lower their insurance costs. But sometimes you get them because it is just time for an upgrade. You may not even think about telling your agent, but you really ought to.
New roof – Yes, insureds have been known to make major renovations on their home up to and including a new roof and not tell their current agent. If that new roof makes your home less susceptible to hail damage, you could save!
Lapse in coverage history – There very well may be reasons why you appear to have a lapse which, when explained, will help keep your rates down. For example, if at some point after getting your own health insurance, you went back on your parents’ policy, tell your agent so it will not appear like a lapse.
Usage of your vehicle – Driving less frequently recently due to change in employment or personal habits? If your current rate is based on you having previously driven your car for business, Monday through Friday, and you now either do not commute or you carpool, that may have an impact. Know, though, that there is usually a miles threshold you have to be under before you see a discount.
Change in employment status – A change in profession can affect your rates. If you recently went from a delivery job wherein you used your vehicle to a new desk-oriented job then you may receive a discount for decreasing the amount of time you spend on the road.
Education level and grades – Have you earned a diploma or a new college degree since your last renewal or review with your agent? Just going from a high school diploma to an Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree can take a good chunk out of your insurance. In the same way if you are earning high grades in school you can potentially also be earning yourself lower insurance rates. Don’t be modest! Mention it to your agent.
Military service – Some companies will give a discount for active duty military personnel, veterans and members of the National Guard. Active duty may be able to get a discount for a vehicle in storage or kept on a military base while they are deployed. Some insurance companies allow you to temporarily cancel the policy and re-instate it when you are back home with no penalty for the lapse in coverage.
and finally…
Having your insurance quoted or requoted in the first place – It is often as simple as that. Many people just leave their insurance the way it is year after year never thinking to check on the savings they may be entitled to.

So before getting a quote, be sure you do personal inventory of any such changes that could work in your favor. We will go over it with you, but it is always good to be pro-active. Always be willing and prepared to ask questions about your policy. Sometimes in doing so, helpful information comes up that otherwise would not have.

Our agents at Horihan Insurance look forward to having that conversation with you, whether you are a new or existing customer. Give your local Horihan office a call today and we’ll get you started toward the most complete and affordable insurance package we can get you.

How To Be Cool

May 7, 2020 By Forrest Dailey

After a long winter, once the temperature gets consistently above even 50 degrees, it’s easy to kind of jump to conclusions and officially declare summer started. With the memory of the cold winter still lingering, one tends to find oneself feeling unseasonably warm.

We’re all trying to cut costs right now, and even though we are right now in the middle of a cold spell for this time of year, soon we’ll be looking for ways to keep cool. There are a lot of electric bill-friendly ways to do so. Here are a dozen of them.

1. Using a programmable thermostat – You can save a great deal of money by programming your air conditioner to turn off when you leave, turn back on just before you return, or when you go to sleep and wake up, if you live on a set schedule. You want to schedule it to come on a bit before you come home, so it is already cool when you arrive. Even people who only use the air conditioner when they are at home and awake often spend more because they crank it up to make up for it being so warm. Make it a gradual change. Big, abrupt change in temperature cost more than you’d think.

2. Leaving your bathroom fan on overnight – You’re still using electricity but not quite as much as air conditioning, and it will suck the hot air out of your living space.

3. Reversing ceiling fan rotation – Switch your fan to run counter- clockwise during warm weather months. This causes air to flow directly downward, cooling your home. When turned clockwise in the cold weather months, it pulls the rising warm air up toward the ceiling where it recirculates back down into your living space. In either season, if set correctly, you may find you don’t need it on as much. Just leave yourself a reminder to switch it back again with the change of the seasons.

4. Other fans – Maybe you don’t have a ceiling fan. If you do use a smaller electric fan though , put it in/near a window at night to really get your money’s worth. Better yet, put a bowl of ice in front of the fan for some extra frosty breeze. If you don’t have any kind of electric fan, you can either fan yourself, bribe your kids into doing it, or create some sort of elaborate mechanical fanning device. Necessity breeds invention, right?

5. Just opening a window – There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned open window, screened to keep the bugs and the birds out of course. Fresh, night air has a calming effect too, so long as you are not sleeping too close to the open window.

6. Keeping your blinds or curtains closed during the day – If you’re lucky you’ve got a curtain that will allow a good amount of light in, but not the heat.

7. Keeping unnecessary lights off – Do not deprive yourself of light to the point where you feel like you’re in a cave. Keep a light on. Just don’t keep all of them on. It makes a difference.

8. Not using the oven – Many of us are probably cooking food at home more than normal lately, but using the stove top rather than the oven, or even the microwave a little more will keep you from turning your home into a sauna. Or don’t cook in the house at all. Use your grill as much as possible without having to invest too much in lighter fluid and charcoal, that is.

9. Drinking cold drinks – Crack open a cold one. Your preference. Stay hydrated. When trying to keep cool, what better place to start than cooling yourself from the inside out?

10. Taking a cold shower/using spray bottles – Cold showers are invigorating. Hot water tends to make people tired anyway, especially when the room temperature is also warm. Put them on hold for the summer. In between, if you’re just sitting at home trying to stay cool, get yourself a spray bottle full of very cold water, set it to mist, and give yourself a spritz.

11. Switching to lighter bed linens – I don’t know what it is about fresh linens on a bed but unless they are straight out of the dryer, they just tend to feel cooler. More so if you go from a flannel or fleece sheet to something like cotton sheets. If you really want to go the extra mile, put your sheets in the freezer for a short time, then make the bed just before you get in it.

12. Sleeping downstairs – Again, we all know heat rises. If your bedroom is upstairs, you may want to consider camping out on the sofa downstairs, especially if you have a pullout. If you have kids, you can make a family camp out of it.

Stay cool, everybody.

But What Else Can I Do?

April 1, 2020 By Forrest Dailey

As the
concern over the spread of COVID-19 lingers, most of us have heard many times
over what we can do to avoid contracting the virus. Wash your hands, social
distance, stay home. Cover your cough. And there are endless fundraisers that
one could donate money to in a time like this. The only problem is right now
the biggest concern is allocating our income to pay our bills. But there is a
great deal of good we can do to help others cope with the pandemic that won’t
put us in a pinch.

1. Manage
your stress – The old aphorism that you are not able to help anyone if you
don’t take care of yourself first could not be more relevant right now. This applies to our interaction with co-workers
if we are still at work, our spouses, but especially for those of us with kids.
We all know kids follow our lead, so if we stress out, they will too. Teach
them that it is okay to be afraid, that you can’t have courage without fear. As
for managing your stress when it inevitably comes, exercise, any calming
practice of your choice, and taking time alone however you can get it, will do
wonders.

2.
Check in on people – Loneliness is the most overlooked “unseen danger” in
situations like this. Check in with your elderly loved ones, and with those who
are home bound by choice or otherwise. Brighten their day with a joke or a
story. Ask if they need anything. There are ways to get them the supplies they
need while maintaining social distance.

3.
Donate blood – While blood drives are shut down in compliance with the
guidelines against large gatherings, one can and should donate blood if they
are healthy and qualified to do so. Especially those with a rare blood type. While
COVID-19 dominates the news cycle, people are still coming to the emergency
room every day with unrelated illnesses and serious injuries, and they need
blood.

4.
Donate non-perishable food – Since traditional food drives are pretty much off
limits right now, the local food shelves are struggling to meet the needs of
our communities. That being the case, it is infinitely important right now for
individuals to pitch in even a little at a time when we can. If you are the
type of person who always has stocked up for just such a situation, and if you
find yourself with more than you need, this is good news!

5. Shop local – This was important even before the shelter in place order came in Minnesota. But now, with going out for food and medicine the only real acceptable reasons to visit most places of business, it is crucial that when we do spend, we give our business to local establishments. When the restrictions are lifted, the economy begins to re-stabilize, and the other small businesses re-open, they are going to need us more than ever.

6. Identify scams and minimize misinformation on social media – There is unfortunately a lot of misinformation out there about the virus itself, its spread, the government response to it, etc. Some of it is easy to spot. If your friends and family are sharing things that you know to be misleading or incorrect, show them where they are mistaken, so long as the conversation remains constructive. Misinformation in the age of social media tends to have a domino effect, but so does correct and reputable data.

7. Advocate
for individuals, groups and organizations that need help – This is another very
constructive way social media can be used to fight against the spread of the
virus. Maybe you don’t have the money to donate to any of these organizations,
but you can always raise awareness among those who do.

Remember this. You can only do what you can do. People are depending on each other more than ever in many ways right now, but it is important that no one puts too much pressure on themselves. Take care of yourselves. Keep others in mind. The rest will take care of itself.

To Have a Little Something Left in the Tank

When You Are Really Communicating With Your Insurance Agent, Really Good Things Can Happen.

How To Be Cool

Rochester, MN

Winona, MN

Rushford, MN

Lewiston, MN

Lanesboro, MN

Mabel, MN

Horihan Insurance is licensed to do business in Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Dakota, and Iowa