I Really Want a Dog

             

          In the past two months, we have experienced something totally weird. First, a strange looking guy knocked on our front door in the early evening hours asking if a certain person lived at our address. We said no and he left. The second time, a police knocked on our door asking is a person with the similar name lived at our address. We said no and the he left after asking several questions. We called the local police station asking for an explanation. We mainly wanted to know if we should be concerned about our safety. I was thinking if bad people would visit us because someone used our address and was involved with illegal activities. We were assured by the police that there was nothing to be concerned about. 

                Anyway, these kind of incidents made me think of home security. I really wanted to have a dog. A big dog like a German shepherd! Our cats are not very helpful on this matter. But we do not have enough space for a dog at the moment. We may get one later though.

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What You Don’t Know about Gap Insurance

When one searches for “gap insurance”, the results are mostly about its definition, its importance, and whether one should buy it from the dealership. But it is rare to get information on how and where to buy it if one decides to get it.

People should consider gap insurance if they have an auto loan. When the car gets totaled in an accident, they still have to pay off the loan. But regular auto insurance only pays the maximum amount of the car’s current value. Because of depreciation of car value, that means the amount the insurance company will pay is often less than what one actually owes to the loan lender. The gap insurance then kicks in to pay off the difference.

Photo from My Stock Photos

          If you know what gap insurance is and decide to get one, then where and how to buy? It is widely known that it is not a good idea to buy at the dealership. So we exclude that option.

The best way to buy gap insurance is to shop together with the regular auto insurance. Here is the trick: almost all of them do not sell gap insurance independently, you have to either have your auto insurance with the carrier and add gap insurance to your policy, or have your auto loan with the carrier.

For example:

State Farm: in order to buy gap insurance from them, one needs to take its auto loan. If one has an auto loan from another lender, he/she will not be able to buy gap insurance from State Farm even if he/she already has auto insurance with them.

Progressive/Liberty Mutual: in order to buy gap insurance from them, one does not have to take auto loan from them. But one needs to switch auto insurance to them, and then add gap insurance to the policy.

Different insurance companies have varied policies regarding gap insurance. If you are going to take an auto loan and really need gap insurance, you need to be careful about from where to buy your auto insurance policy. It will be more convenient if you have the option to add gap insurance to your existing auto insurance coverage.

If you are refinancing an auto loan, you can also consider companies like State Farm, who sells auto and gap insurance all together. Unless their rate is competitive, I would not switch an auto loan just in order to get its gap insurance. 

I want to disclose that I am not familiar with gap insurance when leasing a car. I guess the theory and practice are similar. Financial wise, leasing cars is a bad idea.  

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Cats and Refrigerator

Our cats love refrigerator! They like going inside to investigate the food, they like jumping to the top to relax. 

Especially Tiger, our Bengal cat. He enjoys sleeping and lying on the top of the refrigerator. It seems he likes the view from up there. He could stay there for hours.

Sometimes Tiger would share with Snowy, our Egyptian Mau. For Snowy, most of the time when she jumped to the top was because we were doing something in the kitchen and she is a foodie. 

Almost every time when I was busy cooking in the kitchen and Snowy wanted to participate, I would point to the top of the refrigerator and asked her to go there. She understood it perfectly and would jump from the counter top to there.

Our Bengal Cat Relaxing at the Top of the Refrigerator

Our Bengal Cat and Egyptian Mau Relaxing at the Top of the Refrigerator

Why they like staying at the top of the refrigerator? Maybe they like looking at things from a high place, maybe it is cool there. Other than that we have no clue. 

Those of you who have been following my posts may find the picture on the refrigerator familiar. Yes, you are right, that is the printout our vet gave us about what food cats can eat and what can't. If you are interested to know more about cat food, read here. 

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