Latest Auto Headlines

All the headlines from our Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Auto, Homeowner Complaints Dropping in Texas

Jan 17 2013 // Texas drivers are filing fewer and fewer complaints against insurance companies these days, an insurance trade group reported. Last year represents the lowest number of justified or confirmed auto insurance complaints...

Met P&C Settles With Mass., Will Refund Alleged Overcharges

Jan 16 2013 // Metropolitan Property & Casualty Insurance Company (Met P&C) — a unit of MetLife — has settled allegations in Massachusetts concerning auto insurance surcharge premiums. It was alleged that the...

Florida Drivers Can Challenge Presumption of Fault

Jan 14 2013 // Florida’s high court has ruled that drivers that cause an automobile accident by striking another car from behind can still sue the other driver for damages depending on the circumstances of the accident and the...

North Carolina Insurers Split Over Auto Insurance Rate System

Jan 14 2013 // A divided auto insurance industry will try again this year to change a unique regulatory system in North Carolina, which enjoys some of the lowest rates in the country. The industry will use the argument that average costs...

California Court: Parks Not Liable for Bumper Car Injuries

Jan 14 2013 // Amusement parks are not financially responsible for injuries suffered on bumper cars, the California Supreme Court ruled in an opinion published in January. The high court said people who ride bumper cars under normal...

President Obama Signs Bill Repealing Car Dealer Insurance Requirement

Jan 11 2013 // President Barack Obama has signed a law repealing an outdated requirement that car dealerships keep on hand an information booklet about insurance. The bipartisan legislation, H.R. 5859, passed the Senate in December by...

Judge Says Michigan Car Insurance Fund Records Are Public

Jan 4 2013 // An insurance fund that slaps a fee on every Michigan car to pay for catastrophic injuries suffered in accidents has been ordered to open its books and demonstrate how it sets the annual rate. The decision by an Ingham...

California Court: Parks Not Liable For Bumper Car Injuries

Jan 2 2013 // Amusement parks are not financially responsible for injuries suffered on bumper cars, the California Supreme Court ruled in an opinion published Monday. The high court said people who ride bumper cars under normal...

Michigan Man Who Beat Odds Fights No-Fault Insurance Reform

Jan 2 2013 // Sam Howell could barely speak seven years ago. He pointed at letters on a board to communicate. He struggled to stand by himself in his driveway. Recently, Sam, 26, opened the door for me at his home. He spent the next...

Worker’s Comp Reforms, Portable Persistency Top West’s 2012 Headlines

Dec 31 2012 // Dec. 21, 2012 came and went and the apocalypse was so lackluster as to be forgotten among the year’s myriad headlines. Now that we are all well and good, and past doomsday, here are Insurance Journal’s best...

Program Specialists: Thriving in All Market Conditions

Dec 31 2012 // There is a strain of thinking that says generalists can adapt and survive in most environments whereas specialists are more at the mercy of their environment. That may be the case for some species but it’s...

Insurers Divided Over North Carolina Auto Insurance Rate System

Dec 28 2012 // A divided auto insurance industry will try again next year to change a unique regulatory system in North Carolina, which enjoys some of the lowest rates in the country. The industry will use the argument that average costs...

Florida Court Allows Drivers to Rebut Presumption of Fault in Rear-End Crashes

Dec 28 2012 // Florida’s high court has ruled that drivers that cause an automobile accident by striking another car from behind can still sue the other driver for damages depending on the circumstances of the accident and the...

GEICO Names Assistant VP of Regional Claims in Virginia

Dec 27 2012 // GEICO, a Chevy Chase, Md.-headquartered auto insurance unit of Berkshire Hathaway, recently named Jeremy Connor as assistant vice president of regional claims operations at GEICO’s regional office in Fredericksburg,...

Congress Repeals Insurance Booklet Mandate at Car Dealerships

Dec 26 2012 // The U.S. Senate has approved legislation that would eliminate the requirement that new-car dealerships keep on hand an information booklet about insurance. The bi-partisan legislation, H.R. 5859, endorsed by the National...

New Alabama Law Targets Drivers Without Insurance

Dec 26 2012 // The owners of the 900,000 Alabama vehicles without liability insurance stand a better chance of getting caught starting Jan. 1. That’s when the state will start enforcing a law designed to crack down on motorists who...

Progressive Data Shows 30% Rise in Single-Vehicle Claims on New Year’s Day

Dec 26 2012 // According to data from Progressive Insurance, single-vehicle claims were up 30 percent on New Year’s Day 2012, when compared to the same day of the week two weeks prior to and after New Year’s Day. The total...

Insurance Safety Group Releases Car Ratings Based on New Crash Test

Dec 20 2012 // Toyota Motor Corp.’s best-selling 2013 Camry received a “poor” crash-test rating on Thursday from an insurance industry group that awarded high marks to Honda Motor Co’s redesigned Accord sedan. The...

Louisiana Men Used Tow Truck to Steal Cars From Homes

Dec 18 2012 // A New Orleans, La., resident has helped police catch two men suspected of using a tow truck to steal cars from homes. Dawn Dedeaux tells WWL-TV that she caught two men trying to steal her van from a house near the Fair...

Allstate: Texas Car Crashes Spike More than 20% Around the Holidays

Dec 18 2012 // More Texans crash their cars during the holiday season than any other time of the year, according to an Allstate Insurance Co. review of its claims data over the five year period between 2006 and 2010. The number of auto...