IGS has just published our new Taxi Insurance Buyer's Guide. This helpful guide was created for taxi owners and operators and explains the basics of searching for affordable taxi insurance. Please check it out and let us know what you think. We are always a call or an e-Mail away to answer your questions.

We've also published a list of all the Department of Insurance websites by state.

Yes, it is possible to get compensated for lost (down) time resulting from an accident that isn’t your fault even if you do not have that as part of your general insurance coverage! How can that be?

Through a legal procedure called “subrogation”, which is defined as “the right of one party to put themselves in the shores of another” and thus able to collect monetary damages from the at-fault party(ies) who caused the damages in the first place!

The large fleet owners have been using this legal maneuver successfully for many years to collect for damages resulting from the “down time” of their equipment, but the small operators have generally not made the same efforts to collect for their down time since they are not familiar with the technicalities that are involved in making a successful claim for damages resulting from an accident not of their fault, that caused them to lose the use of their equipment and thus resulted in a monetary loss that results in a valid claim!

The loss of income resulting from the inability to use the equipment (out of service) due to the accident is a legitimate claim and should be acted upon when it happens! Because of the accident, the owner/operator has lost income and should be “made whole”! If that happens to you, you should act immediately to find a law firm that specializes in this type of legal action and that is willing to work on a contingency basis, without up-front fees or retainers. There are law firms that are willing to work to help the driver that has been “injured” due to this type of situation!

As is always the case, while some segments of an economy are getting clobbered, other areas are benefiting from the problems of others! We have good evidence of this situation from the information we are getting about the explosion in applications at driving schools for Commercial Driver Licenses!

With the national unemployment rate about 9-12 % depending on whose statistics you decide to use, the situation has resulted in a lot of people, men and women seeking different career paths in order to get work and support their families, pay their bills and avoid foreclosure on their homes! The people that are actively searching for new opportunities make up a wide spectrum of people with very diverse experience who decided that driving a truck could be the answer to their problems a a lot better than sitting around waiting for something to happen.

The trucking business seems like a good opportunity since the BLS projects a growth in employment of about 9% for truck drivers over the next ten years! That translates into about 290,000 new jobs, a pretty attractive situation to people out of work for 1-3 years on average.

During the past several years, most trucking companies took advantage of the downturn in the economy to hire top notch, experienced drivers to fill their rosters. However, that has all changed now, the pool of experienced drivers has dried up and they have no alternative but to consider new drivers who have completed the required demanding CDL courses offered by the leading driving schools across the country. The typical course requirement is 150 hours of training in order to obtain a CDL in most states. Research suggests that the average driving school graduate is in their early to mid 40s with a wide range of prior work experience, and mostly not in the blue collar market area!

Typical comments from men who have managed to break into the business of driving a big truck:
“It’s a good way to make a living, but it is hard work”!?

Dear friends and clients:
I certainly hope you enjoyed the holidays and are ready to start the New
Year with new energy and determination to make 2011 a memorable year
for success!

I am pleased to report that there are positive signs in the transportation
industry that are trending to keep us in the black this year. This progress is
modest, which is probably a good thing, because if it comes too rapidly
we might not be able to meet the demand.

The message I would like to convey to the independent owner/ operator
and the fleet managers, is to keep close tabs on your cost of doing business
and learn from the mistakes of years past. Determine where you are
today and "spoon-feed" your actions and ideas to improve your business
one day at a time. Good ideas come from within and are usually formulated
by the knowledge we acquire from past experience, both good and not
so good, and reading about it.

There is one major ingredient that by some accounts is 90% of the outcome
of our endeavors and that is “attitude”, which is our disposition to
resolve problems with a positive outcome every time we put our minds
and ideas together for answers.

Many years ago in Chicago, I had the opportunity to meet the writer and
radio commentator Earl Nightingale; this man impacted the lives of many
people in his syndicated daily radio programs. One of his many quotes
which I remember is: “You become what you think about”! When we
stop and think and feed our minds good thoughts, goods things will come
out from within. The same thing happens when we feed trash to our
minds. Garbage in-- garbage out!

Make a resolution for the coming year to use your time wisely while you
are on duty and write your thought down when you are resting and finally
put them into practice to have a successful 2011 year.
God Bless and God Bless America!

Sincerely,
Jack de la Cova
President

Hello World! IGS now publishes our newsletter online in our blog. Check back often for updates!