Latest Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Delaware Won’t Approve ‘Widow’s Penalty’ in Setting Auto Rates
Nov 16 2015 // Delaware Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart announced that her department will not approve any auto insurance company’s rate submission that includes a “widow’s penalty,” under which a...
Competition Consumers Deserve
Nov 16 2015 // Consider the scenario: A family of three suffers an accident and needs to replace several parts on their car. It’s an expensive ordeal. In our current system, drivers are forced to rely largely on replacement parts...
Commercial Insurance Rates, Except Auto and Flood, Still Falling
Nov 16 2015 // Commercial property/casualty insurance prices continued to decline moderately – an average of 3.1 percent – during the third quarter, according to a survey by The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers. The...
E&O Insights: Personal Lines Generates More Errors & Omissions Exposure than You Think
Nov 16 2015 // Most agents’ errors and omissions (E&O) carriers report that commercial lines generates the majority of E&O claims. However, a significant number of E&O claims arise from the sale and service of...
State Auto Names Centers Sr. VP, General Counsel
Nov 15 2015 // State Auto Financial Corp. has appointed Melissa A. Centers as senior vice president, secretary and general counsel. She succeeds Jay Yano, who passed away in September. Her in-house legal practice focuses on information...
Hudson Insurance Group Appoints Honken as Sr. VP, Commercial Auto
Nov 13 2015 // Hudson Insurance Group (Hudson) has appointed Ronald Honken to a newly created position as senior vice president of all commercial auto business. He will be based in Hudson’s Indianapolis office. Honken will direct...
A Conversation on Innovation and the Industry’s Future with ACORD’s Hartnett
Nov 9 2015 // There are not many insurance executives who will quote inventor Thomas Edison, Microsoft’s Steve Baumer, futurist Alvin Toffler, Moore’s Law and philosophers Aristotle and Plato. There are also not many people...
Mass. Drivers to Receive $5.4M in Relief on High-Interest Auto Loans
Nov 9 2015 // A national auto lender has agreed to provide $5.4 million in relief to more than 450 Massachusetts consumers over allegations that it charged excessive interest rates on its subprime auto loans, Massachusetts Attorney...
House, Senate Transportation Bill Compromise to Address Auto Safety
Nov 9 2015 // The multiyear transportation bill that passed the U.S. House this week parcels out a number of provisions on auto safety and environmental regulation sought by interest groups including automakers, dealers and safety...
Surge in Auto Break-Ins Bumping up Crime Rate in Mississippi City
Nov 6 2015 // Hundreds of vehicle break-ins are a big part of the reason that major crimes are up in Hattiesburg. There were 376 vehicle break-ins during the first nine months of this year, compared to 114 a year ago, The Hattiesburg...
Toyota $1B Research Labs Near Stanford, MIT to Develop Autonomous Vehicles
Nov 6 2015 // Toyota Motor Corp. is spending $1 billion to form a research institute focused on the artificial intelligence and robotics technology it needs to make cars that can overcome driver errors and reduce traffic...
N.Y. Inspections Reveal Many Parents Flunk Child Car Seat Safety Checks
Nov 5 2015 // Results from recent child car seat inspections in New York indicate that parents need to do a better job of buckling up their little ones. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office says 931 car seats were inspected at a...
Technology Enables Insurers to Verify Garaging Location, Mileage and More
Nov 5 2015 // Auto insurance companies now have a tool that lets them verify the garaging address of a vehicle, confirm the driver’s commuting mileage and obtain loss costs and premium differentials for the vehicle, all before...
A.M. Best Upgrades Issuer Credit Rating of Auto Club Insurance Company of Florida
Nov 5 2015 // A.M. Best has upgraded the issuer credit rating (ICR) to “bbb+” from “bbb” of Auto Club Insurance Company of Florida (ACICF) in Tampa. Concurrently, A.M. Best has affirmed ACICF’s financial...
Allstate Profit Down in Q3 as Auto Claims Rise
Nov 4 2015 // Allstate Corp., the largest publicly traded U.S. car and home insurer, said third-quarter profit slipped 17 percent as claims rose and policy growth slowed in the automobile insurance business. Net income decreased to $650...
Texas Mutual Pays $721K Dividend to Auto Dealers Safety Group
Nov 3 2015 // Texas Mutual Insurance Co., a policyholder-owned workers’ compensation insurer, announced a dividend of $721,113 to the Lone Star Auto Dealers (LSA) safety group. The dividend was earned based on the group...
Florida DMV Requests Dismissal of Taxi Companies’ Rideshare Complaint
Nov 2 2015 // In a move that is sure to further frustrate Florida taxicab companies, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FDHSMV) has asked a Leon County, Florida, judge to dismiss a complaint requiring the state...
Rate Changes in Store for Texas Auto Insurance Plan
Nov 2 2015 // The Texas Automobile Insurance Plan Association (TAIPA) will raise some rates and lower some for private passenger and commercial automobile insurance next year, the Texas Department of Insurance announced. A recently...
Louisiana Auto Insurance Fine Collection Letters Hit Raw Nerves
Nov 2 2015 // Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon has condemned a move by the state Office of Motor Vehicles that hit Louisiana citizens with 1.2 million debt collection notices related to lapsed auto insurance. The OMV in...
Flipped Upside Down
Nov 2 2015 // A rise in on-demand car services and the adoption of autonomous vehicles will be contributing factors to a huge reduction in the size of the auto insurance market, according to a report by the consulting firm KPMG. In its...
