One of the best ways to save time is to cut down on writing/typing by selecting common answers from dropdown lists. This short video shows how to add notes to dropdown lists in InspectARide.

Car insurance is a fact of life these days. In many countries, it is a legal requirement to have some sort of vehicle insurance when driving. Below are some interesting facts about the development of car insurance over the years.

1. One of the earliest forms of insurance on a vehicle can be traced back to around 1750 BC and was part of the Code of Hammurabi. This was for sailing merchants who received a loan to fund their shipment, where they would pay the lender an additional sum in exchange for the lender guaranteeing they would cancel the loan if the shipment was lost or stolen at sea.
2. More modern forms of insurance began to develop in London during the early part of the 17th century.
3. It is thought that the first car accident happened in 1891 in the state of Ohio.
4. In 1897 Gilbert L Loomis asked Travelers Insurance to write a policy to cover incidents that occurred resulting from driving his steam-powered car. Car insurance was a new concept and the policy was written as a horse-and-carriage policy.
5. Travelers Insurance co-wrote the first true car insurance policy in 1898 to Dr. Truman Martin of Buffalo New York.
6. The first car insurance policy cost $12.25 and covered Dr. Martin for $5000 if his car collided with a horse.
7. In 1925, Connecticut became the first US state to require car owners to pay for any injuries or property damage resulting from a car accident.
8. In 1927 Massachusetts became the first state to require that drivers prove financial responsibility as a requirement for registering a car.

Sakichi Toyoda and Looms

Sakichi Toyoda was born in 1867 and from an early age was interested in invention and improvement. At the age of 24, he received his first patent for a loom, and over the next 30 years, he continued to innovate in the loom industry and was awarded 40 patents in his lifetime. He traveled across the world to study loom manufacturers and weaving mills as he looked for opportunities to improve his designs. In 1926 the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd company was incorporated and one of the objectives of the company was that it ‘shall be pursuing related invention and research’.  This broad objective of pursuing invention helped lead to the founding of the Toyota Motor Corporation since in the late 1920’s Sakichi’s son, Kiichiro Toyoda, was working on plans to develop an automobile.

The Start of Automobiles

In 1929 Kiichiro Toyoda traveled to Europe and the United States to investigate and learn more about automobile production. By this point, both Ford and General Motors had created assembly plants in Japan for their vehicles and the Japanese government was encouraging Japanese companies to develop automobile production. This led to the establishment of the Automotive Production Division of the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works company on September 1, 1933. Research continued and the company brought in people with automotive experience to get things started. In 1934 they produced their first engine and the Model A1 passenger car was ready in 1935.  In 1937 the name was changed to Toyota Motor Company for several reasons including the fact that toyoda means ‘fertile rice paddies’ and the company wanted to avoid being associated with farming.

Fast Forward to Today

Toyota continued to grow over the years and entered the American market in 1957. Today it has a total of 5 brands which are: Toyota, Hino, Lexus, Ranz, and Daihatsu. Based on the revenue it is the 31st largest company in the world and the second largest automaker.

InspectARide gives you the ability to easily setup your own checklists. Here is a video that shows how.