Latest Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
State Farm Plans Another Auto Insurance Rate Cut in Louisiana
Sep 9 2019 // State Farm Mutual Insurance Co. has filed for an overall statewide average private passenger auto insurance rate reduction of 2.6% in Louisiana, according to the state insurance department. The Louisiana Department of...
Automated Driver Assist Cars Still a Work in Progress
Sep 9 2019 // To the human driver, it would have been an obvious obstacle: a police car and fire truck, emergency lights blazing, blocking the lane ahead. But to the Tesla Inc. Model S traveling down a Southern California freeway last...
State Farm to Cut Auto Insurance Rates in Missouri
Sep 6 2019 // More than 1 million customers of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. soon will see their personal auto insurance rates decline, the insurer said. State Farm Mutual said effective Sept. 1 it will decrease the overall...
Tesla Insurance Will Use Driver Video, GPS Data Subject to States’ Approval
Sep 6 2019 // Tesla Inc.’s use of individual customer data, such as vehicle camera footage and GPS, to price its new insurance products will depend on drivers’ authorization and individual U.S. state laws, a senior company...
Tesla Autopilot Design, Plus Driver Error, to Blame for 2018 Crash: Safety Board
Sep 5 2019 // The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Wednesday cited driver errors and Tesla Inc.’s Autopilot design as the probable cause of a January 2018 crash of a Model S into a parked fire truck on a highway in...
Maryland Auto Insurance’s FineFix Program Launches Statewide
Sep 4 2019 // A new state program in Maryland will help eligible residents reduce their outstanding uninsured auto fines, eliminating a hurdle to registering and insuring their vehicles. FineFix is a partnership between the Uninsured...
J.M. Wilson Promotes Van Niman to Accounting, Finance Specialist in Michigan
Sep 3 2019 // Managing general agency and surplus lines broker J.M. Wilson has promoted Dawn Van Niman to accounting and finance specialist in the company’s Portage, Michigan, office. She is responsible for processing accounts...
Automakers Call for Urgency in Advancing U.S. Rules for Self-Driving Vehicles
Aug 30 2019 // Waymo, the self-driving car unit of Google parent Alphabet Inc, on Thursday urged the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to “promptly” remove regulatory barriers for cars without steering...
Top 10 Commercial Auto Insurers: Winners and Losers in Fast-Growing Market
Aug 29 2019 // The commercial automobile insurance segment is headed for its ninth straight year of underwriting losses when the books close at year-end 2019, analysts at Fitch Ratings predict in a new report. In fact, a decade of...
Porsche Expands Its ‘Flexible Ownership’ Subscription That Includes Insurance
Aug 29 2019 // Porsche is expanding its app-based subscription service to four new cities in the U.S. and Canada, deepening its experiment in flexible car ownership even as other automakers back away. The luxury sports-car brand of...
Barge Collapse in Tennessee River Leads to Oil Spill
Aug 29 2019 // Officials in Chattanooga say a truck and crane went to the bottom of the Tennessee River when the barge they were sitting on collapsed. News outlets report the crane was mounted on the truck that fell into the river when...
Tesla Begins Rolling Out Its Auto Insurance in California
Aug 28 2019 // Tesla Inc. said on Wednesday it was launching an insurance service designed to give drivers in California, its biggest market, lower rates because of safety features on its electric vehicles. Chief Executive Elon Musk has...
When Insurance Companies Fail at the Promise
Aug 28 2019 // I read an article last week about the intersection of gig work, an innocent injured party, insurance, and big business. Let me summarize the best I can. A driver is in traffic and is suddenly hit by another driver, who was...
Auto Safety Test Pits Traditional Car Mirrors v. Rear/Side Cameras
Aug 28 2019 // The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration plans to test how drivers could use cameras to replace traditional rearview mirrors in automobiles, a technology already allowed in other countries, the agency said...
Chronic Commercial Auto Insurance Underwriting Losses to Continue in 2019: Fitch
Aug 27 2019 // U.S. property/casualty insurers continue to face substantial underwriting losses on commercial automobile insurance and, following a statutory combined ratio of 108% in 2018, the segment is poised for a ninth consecutive...
Chicago Police Officer Pleads Guilty in Auto Insurance/Crash Victim Scam
Aug 26 2019 // A Chicago police officer has pleaded guilty in federal court to taking at least $10,000 in bribes from the owner of an attorney referral service in exchange for information about crash victims and their insurance...
California Woman Hit by Police Truck to Get $260,000
Aug 26 2019 // The Santa Rosa City Council has agreed to pay a settlement to a California woman hit by a police truck. The Press Democrat reported that 29-year-old Laure Friedell filed a lawsuit in March 2018 after her right foot and...
Off-Duty New York City Police Department Officer Indicted for Insurance Fraud
Aug 26 2019 // A New York City Police Department officer has been indicted for insurance fraud, falsifying business records and related charges for allegedly filing a false insurance claim stating his vehicle was stolen when the same car...
Motor Vehicle Accident Fatalities Decline
Aug 23 2019 // The four-year upward trend in motor vehicle deaths that began in 2015 is ebbing, with the number of fatalities in the first six months of 2019 dropping 3% compared to the same six-month period in 2018. Preliminary...
Allianz to Buy SulAmérica’s Auto, Other P/C Insurance Operations
Aug 23 2019 // Allianz has agreed to acquire automobile and other property/casualty insurance operations from Brazil’s SulAmérica for BRL 3 billion (667 million euros). Allianz said the acquisition will strengthen its competitive...
