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Onlia Winter Safe driving Week Kit

Why Are We All In Such A Hurry?

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*Thank you to Onlia.ca for sponsoring this blog post. Read on to find out how you can win $1,000 just for getting your car ready for winter!*

I’ve been sitting on this post for a while, wondering if I should wade into these waters, but the more I see it, the more frustrated I get and want to get it off my chest. So, here it is. What is happening on the roads these days?! I’m serious. At least three times a day I see someone either blowing through a stop sign in our residential school zone, driving while staring at their phones, not clearing the snow off their car, flying passed stopped city and school buses, and 100 other dangerous maneuvers. In an effort to what? Save 3 minutes off your trip? Is that really worth the possibility of hitting another car, or worse, a child on their way to school?

The truth is that I don’t like waiting at lights or behind buses either but guess what? That is a part of the deal when you get behind the wheel! I know what you’re thinking and the answer is, yes, I did just create a catchy new rhyming slogan for drivers everywhere, and yes, you have my permission to spread it far and wide!

Look, my point here is that we need to take a step back and evaluate if we are doing the best and safest job we can while we are behind the wheel of our cars. I’m certainly no exception and am constantly striving to better my driving skills, especially when the kids are in the car with me as they have grown accustomed to pointing out every tiny flaw in my game.

With December 1st to the 7th being Safe Driving Week here in Canada, Onlia, a brand new and innovative digital insurance company, is changing the game when it comes to promoting and rewarding safe driving habits. Onlia’s safe-driving mobile app, Onlia Sense, rewards users for being a safe and distraction-free driver by providing gift cards and other incentives! The Onlia Sense app uses telematics and GPS to assess your driving habits and gives you a report after each trip. You can get all the details and get your free online quote by visiting Onlia.ca today!

Onlia Winter Safe driving Week Kit

Onlia is also calling on all Canadian drivers to ensure their vehicle is properly maintained and prepared for safe winter driving this season so that together we can help ensure our roads and communities are a safer place. Share your tips and suggestions for how you have prepared for safe winter driving by uploading a photo or video to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, tagging Onlia and using the hashtags #OnliaCA & #SafeDrivingWeek for your chance to win a $1,000 shopping spree!! That’ll get you a very nice new set of winter tires!!

Don’t forget to visit Onlia.ca to get a free quote and to read more about how Onlia is changing the way insurance is done by giving you all the tools you need to be as safe as possible while you are on the roads!

Pulling Hair

Life Is Complicated Enough. Why Stress Over This, Too?

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Let me tell you a little story. Two summers ago, while picking my kids up during the last week of school, we decided to stay at the school park for a bit. When I returned to my vehicle I noticed a huge dent in my van door and scratches all the way down the side of it. In the school parking lot! There was no note left on the windshield and no witnesses, so I spent the last few days of the school year acting like Sherlock Holmes at each day’s pick-up, to no avail.

I then spent months dealing with multiple people from my insurance company over the phone and through email to try and get everything resolved, which was frustrating and archaic. Only recently did I find out that steps were missed in the process, causing more headaches for my family in the form of a collections notice for something that should have already been dealt with. Needless to say, we are moving on from that group because everything always seemed so complicated.

After doing our research, we landed on Esurance as the best option for us moving forward and were excited to see that they now offer home and auto insurance in Ontario! I was impressed with the way Esurance leverages technology to create a more streamlined and simple experience. I’m also a huge fan of the fact that you can manage your policy and claims right on their website, which is something I couldn’t do, you know, before.

It’s not even that I don’t like talking on the phone, it’s just nice to have the option to take care of the little things to do with my policy on my own time. For instance, Esurance offers a DIY Home Inspection app that enables me to self-inspect my home for further discounts. We’re all just looking for the best value for our money and the way Esurance uses technology seems to be the way of the future when it comes to creating savings.

We’re definitely going to try it out for a bit and I’ll report back with my experience. That said, an insurance review is tricky because my hope is that I won’t have to report anything to you, other than the extra dollars in my bank account! You can head over to Esurance.ca for more information and also to get some great tips and tricks on the Esurance blog!

Disclosure: I was compensated for my participation in this program, however I am looking forward to seeing what Esurance can do for my family.

My Top 5 Summer Driving Songs & Your Chance At $500

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The good people at KANETIX asked me to write about my Top 5 Summer Driving songs and when I couldn’t think of a good reason not to, I immediately got to work. After 6 days of deliberation, my list was finally complete!

KANETIX, an online comparison site for insurance, mortgages and credit cards, recently commissioned a study to find out how music impacts your driving. The results weren’t terribly surprising, but they were certainly interesting! Turns out Talk Radio listeners like to put the pedal to the metal and Hip Hop listeners are more likely to be charged with stunt driving.

This is where I come in! KANETIX wanted to know what songs get me and a few other bloggers fired up in the Summer time and I was happy to share. Here are my Top 5 Summer Driving Tunes:

1. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor – Arctic Monkeys – I perform this song in my band and it is the most electrifying thing I have heard in a while. If you haven’t heard it, I highly recommend it.

2. Rockin’ In The Free World – Neil Young – Neil is my musical idol and my top 5 list could have easily been Neil Young songs. His music is graceful and never fails to calm my stress.

3. Wheat Kings – The Tragically Hip – It’s the Hip, need I say more? For my American friends who have no idea who the Tragically Hip are, please start at the album “Up To Here” and continue on from there.

4. MoneyGrabber – Fitz and the Tantrums – I have no idea what it is about these guys but every time I put this song on, I find myself drumming and singing at the top of my lungs. That means they are doing something right!

5. Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town – Pearl Jam – Last but certainly not least, this song has been a staple in my top 5 songs since the day I heard it. The first time you belt out the line “Me you wouldn’t recall, for I’m not my former”, you will be hooked like I was.

That’s it for my summer play list, I hope you enjoyed my selections. You are also invited to head over to the KANETIX blog to vote for your favourite playlist. If you vote before August 23rd, you’ll be entered to WIN $500!

I’m also curious to know, What are YOUR Top 5 Summer Driving Songs?