Latest Auto Headlines

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

Editor’s Note: Kick start my heart … but don’t steal my “bike”

Sep 4 2006 // A refrain from an old tune by Motley Crew probably sums up the feelings of motorcycle enthusiasts who have been caught in the web of rising thefts in recent years. The National Insurance Crime Bureau just released its...

Get your motor runnin’ – not stolen

Sep 4 2006 // California received the dubious honor of most motorcycle thefts in the nation in 2005, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. The Golden State recorded 9,110 thefts in 2005, compared with 9,213 in 2004. The...

News Currents

Sep 4 2006 // Study hits states without helmet laws According to a study by Jeffrey Coben, M.D., a researcher at West Virginia University, states that do not require motorcycle riders and passengers to wear helmets may be contributing...

It Figures

Sep 4 2006 // -16% The percentage that Beacon Mutual Insurance Co., Rhode Island’s dominant workers’ compensation insurer, plans to reduce rates on average. The company, which has roughly 14,500 policyholders, says it...

Kick start my heart … but don’t steal my “bike”

Sep 4 2006 // A refrain from an old tune by Motley Crew probably sums up the feelings of motorcycle enthusiasts who have been caught in the web of rising thefts in recent years. The National Insurance Crime Bureau just released its...

Chubb, State Farm reducing auto rates in California

Sep 4 2006 // State Farm Insurance, California’s largest auto insurer, has applied for an 8 percent average reduction for its policyholders while simultaneously implementing new auto rate regulations, according to the Department...

Declarations

Sep 4 2006 // Motorcycle deaths “Almost nine percent of all U.S. traffic deaths are attributed to motorcycle riding. In 2004 more than 4,000 people were killed in motorcycle accidents – an 89 percent increase since 1997...

Pursuing Auto Insurance Fraud as Organized Crime Pays Off

Sep 1 2006 // Investigators across the country are trying new tactics to crack down on the old problem of auto insurance fraud, using wiretaps, undercover agents and prosecutors who view the schemes and scams the same way they do...

Maine Jury Awards Widow $4.2M in Forklift Death

Aug 31 2006 // A federal jury has awarded $4.2 million to a Sanford woman whose 48-year-old husband was killed three years ago in a workplace accident involving a forklift truck, but the amount she stands to receive will be considerably...

Experts: Gas Prices a Factor in Insurance Fraud Car Fires

Aug 31 2006 // Faced with high gas prices, low trade-in values and other economic pressures, some people are setting fire to their cars and reporting them stolen in hopes of collecting insurance, business and law-enforcement experts...

Customer Satisfaction Impacts Bottom Line, J.D. Powers Reports

Aug 29 2006 // Auto insurance companies that record high levels of customer satisfaction benefit from customer behaviors that have positive financial implications, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2006 National Auto Insurance...

Conn., Mass., R.I. Kick-Off Tri-State Truck Enforcement Campaign

Aug 28 2006 // Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell and State Police and Motor Vehicle officials from Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island will kick off a Tri-State Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Operation on Tuesday, August 29, at...

California Lawmakers Enter Final Days of 2005-06 Session

Aug 28 2006 // California lawmakers on Monday will begin the final days of the 2005-2006 legislative session, which ends midnight Aug. 31. The following, by Sam Sorich, president of the Association of California Insurance Companies, is a...

Latin American Agents Will Wait and See How Auto Regs Affect Customers

Aug 28 2006 // The Latin American Agents Association said it will wait and see how insurers react to newly imposed automobile rating regulations in California. After the Superior Court denial, and Appeals Court rejection of the insurer...

N.D. Police Say Baby Wedged in Car; Woman Charged

Aug 25 2006 // Mandan, N.D. police say a woman has been charged with child abuse or neglect after officers found her 8-month-old son wedged behind the driver’s seat of a car when they pulled her over for driving erratically. Sarah...

Commerce Insurance Says Mass. Doesn’t Need Assigned Risk Plan

Aug 24 2006 // The state’s largest auto insurer and the lead plaintiff in the fight against Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner Julianne Bowler’s effort to install an auto insurance assigned risk plan is hoping that Bowler...

Study Hits States Without Helmet Laws

Aug 24 2006 // According to a study by Jeffrey Coben, M.D., a researcher at West Virginia University, states that do not require motorcycle riders and passengers to wear helmets may be contributing to the unnecessary deaths,...

Hail Damage Requires Extra Auto Salvage Inspectors in N.H.

Aug 23 2006 // New Hampshire has set up a temporary salvage inspection center to deal with the large number of cars and trucks pounded by hail last month. State inspectors are working once a week out of the Department of Motors Vehicles...

Travelers’ Premier Offers Concierge Auto Claims Service in Mass.

Aug 23 2006 // The Premier Insurance Company of Massachusetts, a Travelers personal lines company, has opened a Concierge Claim center in Woburn, Mass. The center is designed to assist claimants with the car insurance claims process,...

Chubb Reduces California Auto Rates An Average of 34 Percent

Aug 23 2006 // The Chubb Group of Insurance Companies is lowering its automobile insurance rates in California by an average of 34 percent. Furthermore, the company said it is rolling out new coverage options including high limits of...