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- Why You Need a Household Inventory
- Drive Down the Cost of Your Teen’s Car Insurance
- FREE Teen Membership
- Auto Loan Review
- Brave New World of Credit
- The Tax Man Cometh
Why You Need a Household Inventory
People purchase homeowners or renter’s insurance so they’re covered in case of theft or damage to their home or possessions. However, after receiving their new policy and paying their premiums, many people think that’s all they need to do. In fact, there’s one more step in the process: creating a household inventory.
A household inventory is a record of all the items in your home, from your largest pieces of furniture down to your tiniest pieces of jewelry. It’s a valuable tool in helping you to recall items if you ever need to submit a claim.
Household inventories may be handwritten, recorded on video, documented with photographs or a combination of all three. They should also include supporting documentation such as model numbers, warranties, receipts, etc.
To create a household inventory, follow these easy steps:
- Start in a room and use a video camera or digital camera to shoot pictures of all the items. Include clothes, jewelry, furniture, kitchen items, etc. Make sure to open drawers and closet doors and include all the contents.
- Document all your items in a list. An easy way to do this is to go room-by-room and start writing down the larger items. Then work down to recording the smaller items.
- Once completed, make a copy of your video, photographs, list and all supporting records and paperwork. Put one set of documentation in a fireproof box, and place the other set in a safe deposit box or other secure location off-site.
- Don’t forget to update your inventory regularly to ensure that new household items are included.
For a downloadable inventory checklist and a sample list of items to include, please visit AAA.com/Insurance. To get reliable home insurance at an affordable rate, contact a AAA Insurance agent. Call 1-877-222-5023, visit AAA.com, or stop by your local AAA office.
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Drive Down the Cost of Your Teen’s Car Insurance
It’s a rite of passage—the day your teen driver proudly takes the car keys and drives off on his or her own. But while your teen can’t stop grinning about their new privilege, you’ve probably sprouted a few gray hairs over the cost of insuring your young driver.
It’s a fact; car insurance for teens is more costly than for adults. Teens are less experienced on the road and more prone to car accidents because they lack the knowledge and skills to handle many situations. In fact, car crashes are the leading cause of death among teens ages 15 to 19.
The good news is that there are several steps you and your teen can take to cut insurance costs and improve his or her safety on the road, including:
- Good Grades: Many insurance companies offer a discount for teens with good grades. Remind your teen that grades matter.
- Driver Training Classes: Teens who complete a driver training class often receive a price break on insurance. Check with your teen’s school about driver education programs, or visit AAA.com for discounts on online programs.
- Adding Your Teen to Your Policy: Often, it costs less to insure teen drivers on their parents’ policies because parents may qualify for other discounts that can impact the cost of adding a teenager.
- Written Driving Agreements: Download and sign a Parent-Teen Driving agreement from AAA.com. The agreement helps parents and teens work together to build good driving behaviors that, down the road, can translate into a safer teen driver with a lower insurance rate.
- Safe Driving Practices: Insist on some basic practices like limiting night driving, restricting the number of passengers in the car, staying off cell phones while driving, not eating or drinking while driving, and removing other distractions. And don’t forget to check your own driving behavior. Your teen is watching.
Get your questions about teen drivers and insurance answered. Talk with a AAA Insurance agent today. Call 1-877-222-5023; visit AAA.com or stop by your local AAA office.
A good way to protect your young driver is with a FREE AAA Teen Membership for teens with a learner’s permit. Visit AAA.com/Teens to sign up today.
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Have you bought a new car over the past few years? Last year, in the mad rush to take advantage of the Cash for Clunkers incentives, did you take the time to truly shop for an auto loan? The good news is that if you have a 2007 or newer model car, you may be able to save money with one of the best auto loan rates in the nation—2.99 percent—exclusively for AAA members.
Saving money is as easy as a simple refinance. With a 2.99 percent refinance, you could reduce your monthly payment, shorten your term, or both! A refinance could save you hundreds of dollars in interest payments, and the rate is good for loans up to 36 months (other rates and terms available).
Looking to buy a new car? The 2.99 percent rate is also available for a new (or used) car purchase. Instead of taking money out of savings for a purchase or down payment, why not keep your money in a high interest account—such as a 60 month, 3.30 percent AAA Certificate of Deposit—and finance the new car at 2.99 percent?
For more information on auto loans, visit AAA.com/AutoLoan or call 1-800-866-2111. For AAA CD and Money Market rates, visit AAA.com/Deposits or call 1-877-222-5054.
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The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 is now in full effect, and if you haven’t already, you’ll soon see some changes on your credit card statements. CARD was designed to eliminate complicated and unfair practices of credit card issuers, offering such protections as bans on unfair rate increases, prevention of unfair fee traps, greater accountability, plus additional protections for students and young people.
On your next credit card statement, you’ll see:
- Plain Language in Plain Sight: When opening an account, creditors must provide you with clear disclosures of account terms and fees you may have to pay; likewise for your periodic statements, including reasons for any fees paid.
- Real Information about the Financial Consequences of Decisions: Issuers are required to illustrate the consequences of your credit decisions, including:
- Displaying on your statement how long it would take to pay off your existing balance—and the total interest cost—if you only pay the minimum amount due.
- Displaying the payment amount and total interest cost to pay off your existing balance in 36 months (three years).
To comply with CARD, issuers have had to change some of the ways they do business. The costs of those changes may be passed to you. Watch out for:
- Annual fees. If you haven’t paid an annual fee the past few years, that doesn’t mean your card doesn’t have one. While it was common for companies to waive annual fees in years past, experts expect annual fees to become more common.
- Inactivity fees. Have a number of credit cards active even though you don’t use them? Beware of inactivity fees—the cost of maintaining your records—that may be passed on to you.
- Changes in rewards. Issuers may reduce the value of your rewards programs, which means you may have to spend more to receive the same rewards you previously earned for less.
Considering switching to a new credit card? Visit AAA.com/CreditCard to compare benefits, rewards and features.
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April 15 will be here before you know it. Quit procrastinating and get started on those taxes. Need an extra incentive? AAA members receive special discounts on the highest-rated, bestselling tax preparation software, TurboTax. With TurboTax, you simply complete an easy-to-understand interview—TurboTax automatically fills out the proper forms based on your answers. Best of all, TurboTax guarantees 100 percent accurate calculations.
If you need to file a 1040EZ return, use the TurboTax Online Free Edition. For TurboTax Online Deluxe, Premier, and Home & Business, AAA members receive a 25 percent discount. Prefer the desktop version of Deluxe, Premier, or Home & Business? Your AAA member discount is 15 percent.
Visit AAA.com/TurboTax to start your tax preparation today.
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