74 ~ North Shore News -— Friday, November 19, 1999 Gheck your insurance From page 59 more like a “local” and less like a tourist as vou shop and interact within the com- munity where you are living. You are much more likely to meet local people, as neighbours may drop over to introduce themselves and usually your hosts will arrange for you to meet some of their friends and acquaintances. Is there a downside to a home exchange vacation? Well, there is a bit of a risk as you are offering strangers the use of your home and car. However mest people who participate in these home’exchanges are mature, responsible people and you have a chance.to feel them out through the letters; e- mails. and phone calls you exchange with them in arranging the house swap. - You can also ask for ref- erences from prior exchanges or from neigh- . bours. According to Interact, which lias been at this for more than 45 years, there hiave been only infrequent ‘ arid minor problems among - _ the many exchanges that ; they have facilirated. ; . As a matter of f fact, on “ur exchange in France, we ' .-were involved in an accident ‘with the car of the people we were swapping houses with.. ¢ You might think dis would be the ultimate home exchange ni ‘ightmare, but it ‘really wasn’t. 2 We were one in a chain’ - of five cars, stopped az a red light, that was rear-ended by some young male whose sobriety was in question. There were witnesses galore so it seemed that there was absolutely no question of establishing that the young partier was at fault. This, however, didn’: stop the local Gendarmes from interviewing us no fewer than three times. They were very pleasant about it so we concluded that the attention merited by our accident was just a manifestation of the famous French bureaucracy. I've heard that police officers and other bureau- crats in France are evaluared on the basis of the numbe of forms they fill our. Hence our little fender-. bender was useful in helping them get their paperwork up to quoza. We were glad to do our bir to keep France rolling along. Fortunately our exchange partner had informed his insurance company that we would be driving his car and - made sure that we were cov: ered under his policy. So, while he had t to go through some paperwork and inconvenience to get * the car fixed, it wasn’t a major problem and it didn’t cost him any money. The object lesson here, for any who are going te be participating in this type of vacation, is to make sure that the houses and cars in both locations are covered by insurance for the visitors... during the exchange period. There should be no addi- tional cost to your insurance premiums for this. If this type of vacation appeals to you then I would encourage you to try it. The Vancouver area is a very popular tourist destina- tion so you should have no . trouble lining, up an exchange in Europe, the U.S., castern Canada or just about anywhere else in the world you want to go. — Trent Appelbe is a real estate agent and an economist with Re/Max Crest Realty. He can be reached at 988- 4797 or by e-mail at . Were childree carry 2 UBKEE orsoge ban te your Goer os Extecres eight shezyhr helping bits artwed the eaitd recewe the ebacanes they deserve. Vanyre anprorng keath, ensortng goed snmitim, Theyre, mpperung GR4c0's teateanetsl nghes. Pease tig deep for UMICEE. Cali 674-2568 Potential plus ‘here! tvicradible revenue ‘from. ‘this multi-room heritage house. Make money mm while you restore this céntral Lonsdale home to its ‘onmer glory. Great, big, to2 toot - , “*DEALS” ) Last NEW 3 BR townhouse. “Bsmt., double parking, walk to Quay - Buy direct, SAVE. “OPEN - pis. call. - wo 2)TWO Seymour condos -big, bright; & beautiful. 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