subject: Is This Service With A Smile? [print this page] Pet insurance is a growing service, with there being 11 providers in 2012. The majority of providers offer different levels of coverage. Basic plans protect against accidents and illnesses and cost approximately $15/month. The most comprehensive plans include annual exams, blood work and vaccines and cost approximately $75/month. Whether basic or comprehensive, most plans reimburse 80%-90% of the claim. Interestingly, in the U.S. dogs are insured 4 times more often than cats. Perhaps more interestingly, only about 1% of U.S. pets are insured compared to 20% of pet" in the U.K. Obviously, Brits are more willing to spend "petty cash".
Rear-view cameras will be federally mandated in all new vehicles by the end of 2014. Between 2006 and 2010 drivers in ever-bigger vehicles killed 448 children in backing-up accidents - more than double than in the previous 5 years. It's called "bye-bye syndrome". When children run out to say goodbye to relatives and friends, drivers don't see them. For a five-foot-8-inch driver the average rear blind zone is 13 feet in a mid-size sedan, 19 feet in a large SUV and 24 feet in a pickup truck. By installing rear-view cameras we can look forward to saving 112 lives a year.
"Wheelz" is a peer-to-peer, car sharing company on Stamford University's campus. Car owners set the price for strangers to "borrow" their car and receive at least 60% of that price. Customers are screened to make sure their driving records are clean and sign up through Facebook to prevent anonymity. A card held to a windshield sensor gains access to the car and keys are in a box in the glove compartment. In 2012 there's a growing shift among Americans from owning assets to purchasing a service that achieves the same goal. That's why founder Jeff Miller continues to "Wheelz and deal".
"Taxis on Patrol" is a program in Denver, Colorado in which taxi drivers work with police. After drivers for Metro Taxi are certified via a safety-training program, they are notified via a bulletin system on their fare screen to keep an eye out for specific vehicles. The drivers also report assaults, drunk drivers, hit-and-run's - any crime they see. In the 14 months since the program was started in 2011, more than a thousand reports have been made to the police. Because the program is spreading to other cities, cabs we try to catch may be trying to catch criminals.
