Date:  Saturday, March 13, 2010
Time:  6:30 pm to 11:30 pm
Location:  Deerfield Golf & Tennis Club, 507 Thompson Station Rd, Newark, Delaware 19711

For more information, please visit the Kay’s Kamp or Kaylyn Elaine Warren Foundation websites.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:  Teresa Hurt
(540) 831-5324

RADFORD, Va. – Lauren Reinhard of Newark, DE, has been named to the fall semester Dean’s list at Radford University.

Reinhard is a sophomore interior design major.

To be named to the Dean’s list, a student must have taken 15 or more credit hours and have a grade point average of 3.4 or above with no grade below a C.

Radford University recently was named one of the nation’s “Top Up-and-Coming Schools” in the U.S. News and World Report’s 2010 Guide to America’s Best Colleges and one of the “Best in the Southeast” in Princeton Review’s 2010 Best Colleges: Region by Region. RU is also recognized as a Top 20 Public Master’s University in the South by the U.S. News & World Report. Located in the heart of the New River Valley, Virginia, RU features a student body of approximately 9,200, nationally recognized faculty-student collaborations, and a dynamic curriculum of more than 140 undergraduate and graduate programs. RU has recently opened a state-of-the art visual and performing arts center and added doctoral degrees in nursing practice, physical therapy and psychology, and a master’s in occupational therapy.  Outside the classroom, RU supports a culturally diverse student population through a wealth of co-curricular activities and events, outstanding NCAA Division I athletics, a commitment to environmental sustainability, and a beautiful campus.

Where:  The DuPont Country Club, 1001 Rockland Rd, Wilmington, DE 19803

When:  November 10 to November 12

Time:  Tuesday, 11/10 - 9:30 am to 8:00 pm; Wednesday, 11/11 - 9:30 am 8:00 pm; Thursday, 11/12 - 9:30 am to 1:00 pm

For more information, please visit The Christmas Shop Foundation website.

Delaware Military Heritage Day

Date:  Saturday, November 7, 2009
Time:  10:00am to 4:00pm
Where:  Fort DuPont State Park, Delaware City, DE
Sponsored By:  Delaware Military Museum and the Delaware Military Heritage and Education Foundation Inc.  For more information, visit the Military Heritage website

Veterans Day Ceremony

Date:  Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Time:  10:30am
Where:  Memorial Plaza, Delaware Memorial Bridge, New Castle, Delaware
More Information:  Delaware Commission of Veteran Affairs website

If you are aware of any other Veteran’s Day activities in Delaware, please comment below. 

Don’t forget to make a special effort to thank a vet!

It is presented by the Home Builders Association of Delaware and sponsored by Stover Builders - a premier Delaware Home Builder.

Where:  Chase Center on the Riverfront, Wilmington, DE
When:  October 17th & 18th
Time:  Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

For more information, please visit the Delaware Home Show website.

When:  10/12/09
Where:  Brandywine Country Club, Shipley Rd, Wilmington, Delaware
Time:  Registration: 11am, Lunch: 11am, Golfers Start: 12pm, Drinks: 5pm, Silent Auction: 5pm, Dinner: 6pm

For more information, please visit the Be Positive website or register online.

For more information, please visit the MS Bike to the Bay website.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Light The Night Walk is the nation’s night to pay tribute and bring help and hope to people battling blood cancers. 

Funds raised by walkers provide:

• Lifesaving blood cancer research
• Financial assistance to cover patient expenses for transportation, medication and testing
• Free educational materials and events for patients and their families
• Local programs such as Family Support Groups and First Connection, a peer-to-peer counseling program
• Comprehensive, personalized assistance through our Information Resource Center

Delaware Light The Night Walks Information:

New Castle County:

Date:  Saturday, September 26, 2009
Where:  A.I. duPont Hospital for Children, 1600 Rockland Rd, Wilmington, Delaware  19803
When:  Check In: 5:00 PM, Memorial Service: 6:00 PM, Walk Start Time: 7:00 PM

Sussex Country:

Date:  Saturday, October 17, 2009
Where:  The Village Improvement Association, Boardwalk & Grenoble Place, Rehoboth Beach, DE  19971
When:  Check In: 5:00 PM, Memorial Service: 6:00 PM, Walk Start Time: 7:00 PM

For more information, please visit the Delaware Chapter Light the Night Walk website.

Date:  Saturday, 9/19/09
When:  12 noon to 5 p.m
Where:  Wilmington River Front, 200 Water St, Wilmington, DE 19801

For more information call (302) 658-1870 or visit Delaware Day for Kids website.

Mark Hammon from AA Auto Warranty provides some helpful tips.

Topics discussed:

• How auto warranties work
• What makes them a good investment
• Challenges within the industry
• How to find the right company
• Purchasing an extended service contract
• Why use a broker?

Question: How does an auto warranty work?

A warranty works by a customer contracting with a company, which basically says that in return for a payment, the warranty company is going to pay the repair bills of the customer. Any good warranty works in the following way:

• Customer takes the vehicle to any licensed repair shop.
• The repair shop figures out what is wrong with the vehicle.
• After that is figured out, the repair shop calls the 800 toll free claims number and tell them what the problem is. Then they get an authorization to do the work.
• The work is performed.
• The repair shop is going to get called back right after the work is done to obtain payment directly over the phone.
• The customer should not have to pay first and wait to be reimbursed.

That is the case with all the warranty companies that we represent.

Question: What makes extended auto warranties a good investment?

The reason that warranties are a good investment is simply because the cost of repairs these days.

• Transmissions are a couple thousand dollars.
• Power mirrors are in the 300 to 400 dollar range.
• Power window motors, regulators, and all sorts of exotic parts tend to be expensive as well.

All of those things add up over the lifetime of vehicle. Most people keep their vehicles now much longer because folks can’t afford a new one. It’s beyond question that paying $1500, $2500 and sometimes even more (for more expensive cars) for a warranty is going to be paid back in spades. Think about the average labor rates now, $85, $95 or even $120 an hour in some markets and on some vehicles, that’s only going to increase as time goes by.

A warranty is an excellent investment for the second most expensive purchase that people make during their lives.

Question: What are some of the challenges the industry is facing?

There’s no doubt that the warranty industry has encountered some negative news in the past few months. Some companies have been using auto-dialers. Some companies have been calling people who are on the “No Call” list. Some companies are actually being sued by the FTC for misleading customers, for not showing contracts, for misrepresenting coverage, for not giving back refunds. AA Auto Warranty does not use auto-dialers and doesn’t buy or sell lists. So, that’s why it is all the more important in this climate of negative news to get our message out that we are a long standing company with an excellent reputation who is committed to finding the right plans for customers. We think it is a positive thing that the warranty industry might come under more scrutiny and more or better regulated by states, because there are some companies out there who are making a bad name for the entire industry… an industry that we think helps millions of customers every year.

Question: How can consumers find a good company to do business with?

Reputation is important. In this business, there are a lot of companies out there and one way you can tell the difference is by reputation. AA Auto Warranty has been in business since the early 1980’s, so we’re not just an up-and-comer. We have a good reputation because we believe in a commitment to customer service and we believe in what we do. We think that warranties are a good investment and we have warranty consultants, professional warranty advisors (not just salesmen), manning the phones to help people. We can prove that we have a good reputation by something for example like our Better Business Bureau record. It shows something like under 40 complaints over the last 3 years and in that time we have had more than 14,000 customers enroll, so that is like a 99.997% customer satisfaction rate which nobody can even touch. Over the years we have built up a very good reputation, which we are proud to talk about and are definitely committed to defend.

Question: How do your customers sign up?

We do business by having a website. People come to our website looking for information about warranties. They find us on search engines or through our advertising. They go to our website and provide us with basic information about their vehicle and how to contact them. Our professional warranty advisors call the folks up and see how we can help them find a warranty that is right for their needs and right for their budget. We have hundreds of plans available in practically every occasion. What we are looking to do is to find which of our warranties best fits the customers needs. We are not interested in selling the most expensive warranty. We are interested in selling the one that fits the customer best. We don’t do business by making cold calls, by buying lists of customers names, by selling lists of customers names, using auto dialers, or any of the tools that some companies use to drum up business… we don’t use at all. We only depend on customers going to our website or giving us a call and letting us help them.

Question: Why should someone use a broker to get their warranty?

The benefits of dealing with a broker are two big ones… Variety and Options. A broker, like us, AA Auto Warranty, represents six different warranty companies that don’t offer warranties directly to the public. They simply concentrate on paying claims. That’s all they do. Our responsibility is to take the hundreds, and some cases, thousands of options that are available for certain vehicles and find the best one for our client. Now, when a warranty company sells their own plan, they are going to try to squeeze the customer into their limited selection of warranties. That’s not what any good broker, like AA Auto Warranty, does or has to do. Instead, we’re able to take the customers situation and needs and basically customize a warranty solution that’s going to work best for them. Variety and options is the key benefit to working with a broker.

For more information, go to: Auto Warranty or call 1.888.222.4445