Latest Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
5 Michigan Auto Insurers Pledge to Freeze Rates
Feb 12 2009 // One week after Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm called on auto insurance companies to freeze their rates, five insurers have said they will comply. In a Feb. 3 order, Granholm asked each automobile insurance company doing...
Jury Clears Volkswagen in Car Crash That Paralyzed Vermont Man
Feb 12 2009 // A jury says Volkswagen isn’t to blame for the injuries suffered by a Vermont man in a 2002 wreck that paralyzed him. The suit stemmed from a Christmas Eve accident in Hanover, New Hampshire, in which a 1999 Jetta...
Report: AIG in Talks to Sell Auto Insurance Unit to Zurich
Feb 11 2009 // American International Group is in advanced talks to sell its U.S. auto insurance unit to Swiss insurer Zurich Financial Services AG, a source familiar with the matter said Tuesday. The auto insurance business is expected...
State Auto Mutual Completes Acquisition of Missouri’s Rockhill
Feb 10 2009 // State Automobile Mutual Insurance Co. of Columbus, Ohio, has completed its purchase of Rockhill Insurance Group of Kansas City, Mo. Rockhill writes approximately $120 million in specialty property and casualty direct...
Michigan Governor Opposes Hike in State’s Auto Catastrophic Claim Fee
Feb 9 2009 // Gov. Jennifer Granholm doesn’t want Michigan motorists to pay any more than they are now to support seriously injured accident victims. The governor asked the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association to not increase...
North Carolina Auto Insurance Companies Seek 1.4% Hike
Feb 9 2009 // North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin has confirmed that his department has received the annual auto insurance rate filing from the North Carolina Rate Bureau. The bureau, which represents the auto insurance...
Auto Deaths Decline in 40 States; Less Driving, More Seat Belt Use Cited
Feb 6 2009 // Automobile fatalities declined in 40 states in 2008, according to a survey of state highway safety agencies, an early sign that traffic deaths could dip to their lowest levels in four decades. The Governors Highway Safety...
Oregon Legislature Weighs Increase in Motor Vehicle Liaiblity Coverage
Feb 6 2009 // The Oregon House is evaluating a bill, HB 2326, that would increase the amount of motor vehicle liability coverage required for property damage and certain personal injury protection benefits. According to bill text, PIP...
Automobile Club of Southern California Reducing Auto Rates 5.4%
Feb 6 2009 // The Automobile Club of Southern California announced it would be implementing a $101 million rate reduction for insurance policyholders in California, an average decrease of 5.4 percent. As the fifth largest auto insurer...
Michigan Auto Insurance System, Costs, Insurers Under Fire
Feb 5 2009 // Michigan’s insurance consumer advocate is charging that drivers are paying a high cost for years of state deregulation of insurance and record insurance company profits. Gov. Jennifer Granholm has threatened...
Alaskans Brace for Possible Volcanic Eruption
Feb 5 2009 // Maree Shogren knows firsthand the toxic power of a volcano, so don’t blame her for being a little freaked out about the expected eruption of Alaska’s Mount Redoubt. The Anchorage woman vividly recalls the 1992...
Insurance Industry Blasts Granholm’s Call for Rate Freeze, Advocate’s Report
Feb 5 2009 // The insurance industry is not taking the recent attacks by Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the state consumer advocate lightly. Insurance trade groups have come out swinging against Granholm’s call for a freeze...
Those Dashed Lines on Roads Are Longer Than Drivers Think
Feb 4 2009 // Take a guess — how long are the dashed lines that are painted down the middle of a road? If you’re like most people, you answered, “Two feet.” The real answer is 10 feet. That’s the federal...
Michigan Governor Granholm Wants Freeze on Auto Insurance Rates
Feb 4 2009 // In her seventh State of the State address, Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm called for a freeze on auto insurance rates. She said the freeze would last for a year, “while the Legislature works to enact...
2008 Insurance Fraud Hall of Shame
Feb 3 2009 // A serial home arsonist, an elected judge who made phony auto injury claims, and dentists who did worthless root canals on children were among the nine swindlers elected to the Insurance Hall of Shame. The Coalition Against...
Maryland to Join National System to Prevent Auto Fraud
Feb 3 2009 // The U.S. Department of Justice says Maryland must soon implement a national computer system that warns buyers if a vehicle was stolen or previously damaged. Officials say the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System...
North Carolina Arrests Seventh Suspect in Alleged Car Insurance Scam
Jan 29 2009 // North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin reported the arrest this week of another Eastern North Carolina resident for his part in what Department of Insurance of investigators are calling an auto insurance fraud...
North Dakota Moves to Double Auto Insurance Minimum Limits
Jan 29 2009 // North Dakota drivers’ minimum required insurance coverage for accidents hasn’t changed in 24 years and should be raised, the state House narrowly decided after debating whether motorists could afford the...
National Auto Fraud, Theft Prevention System Set to Go Live
Jan 29 2009 // The nation will soon have a new online computer system to help protect states and consumers from automobile fraud and to provide law enforcement with new tools to investigate fraud, theft, and other crimes involving...
Wisconsin Court Sides with Insurer on Underinsured Motorist Coverage
Jan 28 2009 // The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the insurance company in a closely-watched case involving a farmer’s business auto policy and whether its underinsured motorists endorsement applies to a family...
