Sunday, June 10, 2007

5 Ways to Locate Parts for a Mercedes Benz

You own a Mercedes Benz, a car that makes most other drivers on the road jealous and you love that car. You would not think of putting second-class parts into your first class vehicle, but you don't know where to look for parts. Follow these tips to find the parts you will inevitably need for you Benz.

1- The first place that most people think of when its time to replace a part in their vehicle is the dealership where they originally purchased it. While this is an excellent choice, it is also the most expensive. Its expensive for a reason, the parts are genuine and the mechanics are experienced. If you happen to be a hands on type of owner, you may want to install the part yourself; however, if you are not, there is no one better to install a replacement part than the dealer.

2- The next place that people turn to when looking for parts is the internet. The internet has so much information floating around that it can be difficult to pinpoint the information you are searching for. The best place to start your search for parts online is to look for Mercedes Benz specific sites these sites often contain forums. Forums are generally populated with like-minded people, each with varying degrees of expertise with Mercedes Benz. One thing that most of these people will have in common is the willingness to help you locate what you are looking for; they may even be able to provide instructions on how to install the part, if you are the hands on type.

3- Mercedes Benz specific sites also offer other advantages. Most sites will have at least one photo of the item you are looking for as well as reviews from past purchasers. Some of the sites will have directions regarding the installation of parts as well as their removal. Some sites will offer merchandize at a discount or with free shipping in exchange for your business.

4- Salvage yards are generally not on the top of the list when an owner starts the search for a needed part. However, a salvage yard can be a goldmine, especially if you are not the type to pay more than you need to and you like to work on your car yourself. Salvage yards deal with working parts that were pulled from vehicles that are no longer running for one reason or another. These businesses generally, do not offer a warranty, but they do run on reputation. If a salvage yard sells non-working parts, you will be able to find out.

5- If there is a car club in your area, they can also be a great source of knowledge. The people in the clubs are car enthusiasts; they love to help people out when it involves a vehicle. The club members may even be willing to help you, if you want to do part replacements on your own. Happy hunting!

What Kind Of Boat Insurance Coverage Do I Need?

Deciding what kind of boat insurance coverage you need depends on many variables. To start off, the type of insurance you need depends on what kind of boat you have. Being familiar with boats you would need to look at the different variations between the various types of boats that are in the world.

For instance, a speedboat capable of high speeds requires a much different type of insurance than a small fishing vessel would because of the potential liability for the insurance company that comes with a speedboat compared to a fishing boat.

Another consideration is the value of the boat. Insurance rates covering a highly expensive craft are going to be higher because the amount that could be lost is much higher. If instead you are watering a small, low cost boat and you want coverage against damage to other boats that you may come in contact with, then the rates would be much lower,

There are many similarities between boat and car insurance. Risk assessment for an insurance company is based on many factors with car insurance just the same with boat insurance. Before an insurance company will offer any kind of coverage for a water craft they will make sure to determine all the possible ways that the coverage could cost them money. To do this they will take the age of the boat, the record of the owner and primary driver, the value of the boat and the area where the boat will he housed for at least six months out of a year.

Just like automobile insurance, there are two distinct types of boat insurance. Full coverage insurance is just like it sounds, it covers pretty much everything including loss due to theft, fire, accident, and many other types as well. There are several clauses involved in full coverage insurance that work to limit the liability that the insurance company will need to cover that these are par for the course with an insurance company. Full coverage insurance is normally mandatory when you finance a boat or a car for that matter. This is in place to protect the bank against loss should anything happen to the boat before it is paid for. Full coverage insurance is the most expensive of all insurance plans as the risk to the insurance company is the greatest with this type of policy.

When financial loss will not be great and a budget is stretched a little thin then you may want to consider liability only insurance. Under a liability only policy, the insurance company is responsible to pay for only damage to other persons or property and the owner of the boat receives nothing. This is the basic insurance required by law for cars and in some areas it is required for boats as well depending on the size and usage of the craft. This type of insurance does not protect against loss of any type and will pay only a specified amount for injured persons in the case of an accident.

You should check your local laws requiring insurance on watercraft to be sure that you are staying within the parameters.

Short Term Disability Insurance

Short-term disability insurance (also known as STD) is a branch of general disability insurance policies. This type of insurance covers potential disabilities only for a short period of time. That is, if you happen to be unable to work for a limited period, the insurance will cover a percentage of your salary; this continues until you are again able to work or until the deadline of the coverage expires.

Specifically, short-term disability policies are designed for people who do not have the financial background that would enable them to make it through a temporary disability situation. This means that those policies are only designed to cover a period of time that lasts no longer than one year. A typical example is a woman who is about to give birth. She is going to be unable to attend her job for at least three months. If she were not financially strong enough to handle a loss of salary, then short-term disability insurance would definitely help her.

Disability policies will cover injuries caused by accidents as well as illnesses that prevent you from being able to work. Again, the coverage will only be valid for a pre-specified, short period of time; as soon as that period of time is over, your short-term disability policy is no longer obliged to support you.

As a side note, this type of policies never supports you with your full salary; they will only provide you with a percentage of your original salary. Percentages usually range from 45% to 60%, and they never go above 70%. This is a factor that someone who seeks such a policy should consider very well before he chooses.

One important thing to know is that when you claim temporary disability, depending on the reason that you present, the payment may come earlier or later. Although first payments usually come after two weeks, injury disabilities are paid almost immediately. On the other hand, it takes a few days in order to prove that an illness is really preventing you from being able to work.