In these days of sheltering in place, the roads have been deserted compared to normal. That means fewer chances for car crashes.
You may have heard many of the big auto insurance companies are giving money back to their customers. The paybacks range from 15 to 25% of premiums.
There is some fine print though, so check with your individual carrier.
Here is what some of the bigger companies are offering:
- Allstate: Customers will get 15% on average in April and May, and that money will be direct deposited back to the account or card used for payment
- Farmers: Reducing April auto insurance premiums by 25% as well as pausing cancellations through May 1
- Geico: Is giving customers 15% back if they renew their policy between April 8 and Oct. 7. For example, a $1,000 policy renewed for six months will receive a $150 credit
- Liberty Mutual: Customers will receive a 15% refund on two months of their premium based on their premium as of April 7. This refund will happen automatically.
- Progressive: Will offer 20% credits in April and May for anyone with an active auto policy, and may extend the credits to future months
- State Farm: On average, customers will receive a 25% policy credit for March 20 through May 31. These credits will be applied against their bill as early as June
- USAA: Every customer with an auto policy as of March 31, will receive a 20% credit on two months of premiums
Updates on unemployment
If you are one of the many languishing endlessly on hold as you try to reach the Texas Workforce Commission by phone, hopefully seven really will be a lucky number. Starting Monday, TWC will expand its call center hours to seven days a week, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
If you recently tried to get unemployment, but were denied because you didn’t have enough earnings in what they call the ‘base period,’ you may now qualify for benefits.
Prior to this week, TWC had been looking at your wages from part of 2018 and part of 2019. Now that we’ve completed one quarter of 2020, the agency just switched to looking only at your 2019 wages when determining eligibility.
So, if you were denied recently because of base period wages, it might benefit you to apply again.
And remember, if you applied for unemployment with the TWC, starting Sunday they plan to start scanning everyone who has applied to see if they’re eligible for the federal unemployment benefit of $600 per week.
More on WFAA:
- What you can do if you’re among millions left out of stimulus payments. And how to defer housing and electricity payments
- Updated: Even more of your Texas unemployment questions answered
- Working from home? Consider yourself lucky
- Here's how renters could save a little money right now
- Here's how to apply for unemployment benefits in Texas