LEXIRX330

My $$$ is still on the ML! :D

What?

5 days and counting... :( Spend all 5 days with the family. Be safe over there and thank you for your service!

:D Well wasn't going to pick on my grandma. But what the heck. She has done this to two garage doors! Same car. Did not mess the car up to bad either time but she took out the door! My grandfather put a tennis ball on the end of the garage door on a string that hangs over the car and told her if the tennis ball is on your windshield don't back up. Works like a charm. :D

army post was in general not towards you.

I always open the door before I even get in the car for that reason alone. Now here is one that I bet most of you did not know. As far as insurance. At least the 4 or 5 claims that I have had in this situation. If you had taken down the whole garage door, and had done major damage to your car and you filed claims on your policy. You would have to pay both deductibles one on the car insurance to get the car fixed, and one on the homeowners policy to fix the garage...assuming that you owned the home. I have had this happen more than once and it always gets everyone mad. Not an easy thing to explain but you cant be liable to yourself so that is why the home owners insurance would come in to fix you home not your auto. I had a lady that did some major damage to her car so she filed the claim and she paid the deductible for it and assumed that the car insurance was going to pay for the damage to the garage too. Of course if I had talked to her before she filed the claim I could have advised her but she filed the claim first...that is one reason that it is always a good idea to call your agent before filing any claims.

NC. I love my LEXUS...But I love driving my BMW. This thing is on rails. Just run a car fax if it is a clean car it is a clean car. They are expensive as hell if something goes up but pick up an extended warranty or buy cpo. Hell I bet you can find a CPO on a dealer lot, tell the dealer you don't want the CPO to remove it from the price of the car and get it darn near thrown in free. They will tell you how much time and money that they put in the car to CPO it, just keep telling them you aren't interested in their warranty and that you can buy better ones for far less money...they will keep the price coming down. One of the big things that got my 06 X5 down was that they had the same exact X5 on the lot that they could not CPO because it had missed a service. Well kept telling them that was the one I wanted...and the price I wanted. BMW would not give the .9% on it because it wasn't CPO...so I kept insisting that they sell me the CPO for the same price as the non CPO. Well got it there took about 5 days.

That is just wrong NC. :D

I will put my money on the ML350 as well

I will 2nd that!

Well it would sure make owning a black or dark car or suv much better. :) But you know what I can't understand is if Saturn was able to make body panels that resist dents back in like the 90's why haven't BMW, Lexus, MB and every other car company out there? When my wife was in school she had a Saturn and not that it was a great car or anything but that sure was a cool thing.

Please post a pic of the $1,500 job. WOW.

Smooth. I like the ML and have a hard time "not buying it" vs. the Tahoe for all of the reasons that you have posted previously on the SW post. If the price was much...much better then I may look at a Yukon, or a Tahoe but when you are looking at almost the same price or even more for the Tahoe then I would say get the ML all day long. Yes they are much different SUVs but IMHO the MB is a far better SUV. I also like the X5's (obviously) and I think the new body style is great but then again to equip it close to how mine is it would be more than 60k and this is why I went preowned, so far so good. I like the GMC Acadia but by the time I would equip it the way I would want it over 44k...I am going to stay with a Lexus, BMW, or MB even if it is preowned. I also find the GM dealers to withhold discounts until they think that they are going to loose the sale and I think that this is crazy. I have bought both my Lexus and BMW over the internet pre owned and I am sure that this is the way I will buy my next car/suv. When I got my C class I leased it and found Mercedes to even "deal" much better than GM. Give me the price on the car and stop playing games. A few years back I fell in love with a Yukon and actually would have bought one if I could have gotten the price where I wanted it...this is saying something since I have sworn I will never have another American car in my driveway. But it was...no deal. Kept telling me they could not budge on the price and it had been discounted as much as it could be. I thought that they may just be telling me this back and forth on email so I drove to two different dealers and nope...all they wanted to do is try to get me a monthly payment that I could afford! LOL, this is a crazy way to do business in my opinion I would not talk about a monthly payment...lets just see your best price... Funny thing is after I had bought the RX the salesman from GM contacted me several times with better offers until I let him know I had bought a different car. Hell by the time he was done giving me his best deal he was $1,500 less then what I would have bought the Yukon for. Stupid...how many lost sales because of this.

SRK. You are right the person driving the car should not be doing 120 in a 60. But there is no way you can assume that a judge or jury will not find a company liable for installing a tire that is the wrong rating for a specific car or truck. Sams Club would only install the proper rated tires on my previous C class. The companies such as Wal-Mart, Sams Club...etc have a policy not to install a tire on a car or truck that is not the same rating as the manufacture recommends because they are worried about law suits...Why else would they have a policy like this???

Sorry forgot to answer the question about the Drs. I think the reason we have the best in the world is because they are paid the best. So I think it is a good thing that they are paid well, however I think that there are many things that can be done to reduce cost. Still feel that much of it is defensive medicine which who can blame them?

OK agree 110% that the govt waste too much money in everything they do. I am sorry but I am just going to agree to disagree with you on this one. There is no way that I want the govt having their hands in one more thing in my life. Obama will probbably appoint some idiot like Van Jones as his health czar. There is no way this guy should even be aloud in the white house but he is one of Obama's top advisors? Wow no wonder we are going the way we are going.

Who decides what is an unnecessary profit? President Obama and Nancy and the rest of the yahoos in there according to your other post RE: healthcare. :) I actually don't mind typing on the Iphone.

Is this right? I don't care why they do it...it is still wrong. They have no choice...they have to make a living and the insurance companies are CONSTANTLY out to lower their fees. They have to overbill to keep the % of their fees the insurance companies will pay up. You can't say on the one hand doctors have a right to make a huge living (i.e. "have you seen the pay scale for doctors in other countries?") and then on the other hand decry them for charging too much here. You can't have it both ways. Putting words in my mouth SW. I asked if you have seen the payscale meaning our Drs are paid more than others it's actually close to double than some countries with govt run health care. Now the insurance companies are trying to lower what they pay the DRs for services GOOD! What business doesn't try to lower cost? I think the DRs should get paid for what they do but come on I see the charges that get paid by insurance companies. There is so much money waisted in the drug part of healthcare alone it is sick. Who writes the scripts? Insurance companies try to lower cost by getting people to use generic drugs? I think this is a good thing? I am not saying insurance companies are perfect there are loads of things that could be run better but I will just say once more the state regulates insurance already so who should people be upset with the insurance company for filing for rate increases or the state for approving them. One last thing if the Insurance business is so great and the health insurance companies are making so much money tell me why there are so few companies that offer plans. I have been on the BD for 5 years and am President this year of our local NAIFA association we have meeting with insurance company reps, have met with senators, delegates every year about this do you know MD has one of the most mandatory benefit health plans in the country? This is why there are only 2 companies that have around 80% of the business and no other companies want to come in the state at all. There are loads of problems with this. If the federal govt would set a simple standard policy require everyone to be covered and then require open enrollment for people to enter plans there would be more competition which is good. But the govt has voted down federal regulation that is not insurance companies fault. Insurance companies get a bad rep all of the time and there are many times they deserve it, but people may soon see that just because the grass is greener on the other side doesn't mean it is easier to mow. Someone has to pay for this and Lenores post shows how well our govt spends money. And MR Obama thinks it is play money. I have never heard the term Billion dollars used so much and like it is no big deal.

:D Funny but true, it is actually sad. :(

Is this right? I don't care why they do it...it is still wrong.

If you are turned down for health insurance in the state of MD you can get MHIP and it is subsidized for low income. It is true there are plans for people. I help people sign up for it. I am not saying it is the best plan out there. COBRA is a option for people that have lost jobs but it is not cheap. The dumb thing is in MD small groups 2 to 50 there are no medical questions so there is no underwritting on individual basis. That's why rates have shot up. As NC said HMO's offer great plans. My sister has a PPO had to pay over 2k when she had her baby. My bill from the birth of my son is a 20 copay. That is a HMO and a good one that works. The main problem with the drs and HMO plans as you have said is reimbursement for the DRs. I can understand the frustration with having to deal with billing and claims forms but check out what some of these DRs are charging the insurance companies too. My neighbor just told me that a Dr that he has seen for years has stopped accepting his insurance so he told him it is ok he will pay cash. Saw him for 3 mins. Showed the dr what was bothering him dr said don't worry about it. Got the bill $210.00 for 3 mins, neighbor said he is glad that his insurance is not paying this guy. He is finding a new Dr. This is why HSA plans are working people start asking what things cost and why the need things done not just 10, or 20 co pays.

First off I did not say that I pay 1 k per month, I said my plan cost 1 k per month. That is for me and my family. The average age of our group is high so that is the main reason it is so expensive. I could actually buy a much better plan on my own if I wanted to but since the company pays a large portion of my health care it is not worth it. Group rates will almost always be higher on a young healthy person vs. individual in MD that is a fact. I run quotes all of the time for people. The group plan may be better but when you add the total cost paid out in premiums it would not be worth it. You get what you pay for and that is the same with everything. I do however feel terrible sorry for people that can not qualify to get a plan do to health conditions but most of the time states have plans that will take them. Sorry but I am not alone in regards to the people living off of the system. It is getting old. Punish everyone for the actions of a few. SW what is insurance all about? Spreading risk. The more people that have it the lower the premiums should be. If the younger people today decide to go with out insurance then it causes all of us to pay higher premiums. Competition is good but when the govt enters it is not competition it is take over. Is there any incentive for you to have health insurance? Well if you don't want to loose everything that you have then yes. But if you rent a home, don't have any assets then is there any penalty or reward for having health insurance? NO this is a problem. When your car is uninsured the state will fine you but no penalty for not having health insurance? DUMB. Why not preach to you about responsibilities. I am not saying that you are not responsible but the sense of entitlement in this country is. We have a few colleges around us and it is sad seeing these kids come in when their parents plans will no longer cover them because of age. They get a quote of maybe 125/month for a base plan and they are like well I aint paying that much but they are driving new cars, have iphones, etc. They have no clue. If everyone carried some form of health care we wouldn't be in this situation? I talk to hundreds of people each and every year that do not have health insurance. Sure they "can" afford some type of plan. As you just said something is better than nothing. Go ahead tax the businesses and the people making 250k, or 200k, or 150k...see where I am going. A better solution is to create an incentive to have insurance, or a penalty if you don't have it. If you want proof of the Canadian system starting to run out of money I would suggest watching the news. The head of the Canadian run health plan was on FOX, and CNN talking about the problems with their plan and it running out of money. I saw it a couple of days in a row. I can try to find it on youtoube! :D J/k Did not know we needed to post sources though. As far as BCBS they are the largest health insurance co in the state of MD. There are not to many DR's that will not accept Carefirst if you want to do a search it is easy www.carefirst.com By the way BCBS is a non profit, what OBAMA wants to use now. So what does that say. As far as the client that has a HMO that was discharged I am sure he was not thrown out on the street. I am sure he is still getting follow up treatments. Better yet if he did not have health insurance in this country they still would have treated him. So what is your point. Should the plans have no caps, no limits. Do you think the GOVT option will have no copays or deductibles or limits. Check Medicare...all kinds of copays deductibles and such. That is why people like your dad have to buy supplemental plans. And he should also have long term care another expense that this GOVT option is doing little about. You think that your visit to the DR is going to be better with everyone covered under a cookie cutter plan, why do so many people with money come into this country to get surgeries and procedures from other countries that have single payer systems or govt run health care. Canada takes appox 6 months to get tonsils removed. Saw that on fox news too. Now SW. I am not saying that you did, but there are many, many real estate agents that have sold people homes that they could not afford. It is the fault of the realtor as well as the mtg company. That is like me selling a Umbrella policy to someone working at Wal-Mart making min wage, that has no need for it. The reason I have said anything about this is how would you like the govt to jump in and take over a part of your business? It is not right so I will say one more time. INSURANCE is regulated already by the state that it is sold in. If they want to change it to a federal regulation by all means go for it. Would make my life much easier. This has been proposed year after year and it is kicked out. Make a standard plan and let the federal government regulate it but the only way it will work is to make it mandatory. Hey SW. Are you still my "friend" J/k

Up late too. Not saying that people that can't afford health insurance are deadbeats. But there are many living off of the system. Sure you can afford to offer a group health plan, you pay 50% and the empolyees pay the other 50. Our company still pays 100% for the empolyee but you have to pay for kids and spouses. Maybe you have to take a higher copay or a HSA but there are plans that people can afford to have health insurance. I bet mist if the people that work for you have cable tv, cell phones, etc it is called responibilities. Now if Medicare is so good why does your dad need a supplemental plan? Why are your parents spending so much money? they choose a better plan same thing. The govt can not run these plans and less and less drs are accepting the plans. You have to insure your car right? Why shouldn't everyone have to have at the least a major health plan. My health plan cost 1k per month for my family. I am glad that I can pay for it, but on top of paying a sh it load of taxes now I should pay for someone elses health insurance. Wait I already do. Taxes. Why is Canadas system running out of money? Have you seen the pay scale fo drs in other countries? TORT Reform. Other countries don't have these bs law suits. Why is it that they the govt won't take this plan themselves? Yes many many people are suffering right now because of people in the real estate and mtg industry. I am just saying the govt regulates the insurance industry anyway. They approve the plans rates carriers that are admitted what else do you want. They have done a *BLEEP*ty job doing it so far. There have been people that have lost everything and the mtg companies made billions of dollars too. I would never want to be President but I also never would want to lie for a living either. The one thing that something needs to be done about in regards to healthcare is pre existing conditions. But the states already regulate this so what Obama should be doing is pointing his finger at the state insurance departments to make better regulations. Hell they are regulating insurance anyway. Everyone acts like these companies have been doing whatever they want all along. No accountability.

I have tried to stay out of this one. Oh well. SW how is Mr Obama planning on paying for this? How is the govt doing running SS, Medicare, Medicaid, uh the post office or anything they touch? Talk to most Drs and they will tell you malpractice insurance is running them out of business but it seems tort reform is not even in this bill? Pay back to the trial attorneys....Mr O. What a joke. What is this bill doing to address the problem with the illegals? Not a thing. Obama just wants more govt. The problem with the healthcare industry is simple young people don't think they need it so most don't carry it and the old and sick can't afford it because the younger people are not in the pool to bring down the premiums. Not to mention that we are all paying for the uninsured. By the way if his plan is so good why shouldn't all govt state and federal including him and his family sign up for it? Never it is ok for you and me but not them. Why is the Canadian system running out of money? By the way why is the govt allowed to pick and choose what businesses are allowed to make money and which ones are not? Health insurance companies should not be allowed to make money, but the drug companies are allowed? The govt should not be involved they regulate the insurance industry anyway you do realize that every rate increase has to be approved by the state that the policy is written in. How would you like it SW if Obama said that real estate companies made too much money and that the govt is going to fix the housing market so they will take over all real estate transactions and people could use them not realtors? The nonprofit companies such as bcbs that he is promoting which I do business with files rate increase after increase. Why is a business making a profit a bad thing uncle Sam sure wants his share of the taxes. I could keep on but I am tired of typing on my iPhone. One last thing. There are some people that will never have anything, never work for anything the founding fathers would not have let them have a free ride. People need to wake up.

NC. That is so true. Sometimes it would be nice to go back in time and live in a "simpler world" We all take for granted all of the new latest and greatest stuff that is out there but WOW it can be a real pain in the A S S. I mean how on earth did people live with out Iphones, IPods, Laptops and all this stuff? As you know with a little one running around "free time" is limited now. :D