Latest Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Auto Insurance Costs Soar by 20% in the US
Jan 12 2024 // There’s no relief in sight for US car owners who’ve faced soaring costs of maintaining a vehicle in the past two years. Prices of motor-vehicle insurance rose 20.3% in December from a year earlier, the biggest...
Worker Tells of Fleeing Burning Jeep on Cargo Ship Where 2 Firefighters Died
Jan 12 2024 // Gaven Puchinsky had been pushing vehicles onto a huge cargo ship in one of the nation’s busiest seaports when he heard a loud “clunking” noise that he believed came from the yellow Jeep Wrangler he was...
Stray Dogs Cause Over $350,000 in Damages at Houston Car Dealership
Jan 11 2024 // HOUSTON (AP) — A pair of strays have landed in the doghouse after being caught on video causing more than a quarter-million dollars’ worth of damage at a Houston car dealership. One dog, described as a bull terrier...
Progressive Files for 19.78% Auto Insurance Rate Increase in West Virginia
Jan 10 2024 // Less than a month after Farmers Direct Insurance filed for a hefty rate increase on West Virginia auto liability policies, Progressive has followed suit with an almost identical request. The West Virginia insurance...
Michigan Appeals Court: Parents Can Elect Lower Auto Insurance Limits for Minor Drivers
Jan 10 2024 // The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled last week that state law permits the parent of a minor to elect lower than default liability limits for their child’s auto insurance coverage. A three-judge panel unanimously...
Michigan Sees Decrease in Uninsured Motorists Following Auto Insurance Reform
Jan 8 2024 // Michigan reported the largest decrease in uninsured motorists of any state between 2020 and 2022, according to a recent study by the Insurance Research Council. Michigan’s uninsured motorist rate dropped by more than...
Driverless Truck Companies Plan to Ditch Human Copilots in 2024
Jan 5 2024 // Driverless trucks with no humans on board will soon cruise Texas highways if three startup firms have their way, despite objections from critics who say financial pressures, not safety, is behind the timetable. After years...
Vehicle Fleeing Suburban Madison, Wisconsin Police Stop Crashes, Killing All 3 People Inside
Jan 4 2024 // MONONA, Wis. (AP) – A vehicle fleeing a suburban Madison police traffic stop crashed overnight, killing all three people who were riding inside, authorities said. Monona police tried to stop “a suspicious...
New York Fund for Injured Black Car Drivers Wins Surcharge Fight
Jan 3 2024 // The New York workers’ compensation fund for black car drivers was within its authority to impose a 2.5% surcharge on noncash tips that passengers paid to drivers, a three-justice panel of the Second Circuit Court of...
Truck Engine Maker Cummins to Pay Record $1.675 Billion US Environmental Fine
Dec 28 2023 // Truck engine maker Cummins Inc. has agreed in principle to pay a $1.675 billion fine for installing devices on hundreds of thousands of engines to allow them to emit excess pollution, the largest-ever civil penalty for a...
Truck Hits Railroad Bridge and Explodes as Train Passes Overhead
Dec 27 2023 // A tractor-trailer loaded with what authorities believe were gas containers slammed into the bottom of an overhead railroad bridge in upstate New York and exploded last Thursday night as a freight train was traveling on the...
California Commissioner Warns Insurers About Auto Insurance Consumer Complaints
Dec 22 2023 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara issued an official notice to insurers regarding consumers who have been reporting issues obtaining auto insurance coverage. The California Department of Insurance continues to...
Toyota’s Daihatsu Unit to Halt All Vehicle Shipments, in Widening Safety Scandal
Dec 20 2023 // Toyota Motor’s Daihatsu unit will halt shipments of all of its vehicles, Japan’s biggest automaker said on Wednesday, after a safety scandal investigation found issues involving 64 models, including almost two...
Farmers Direct Asks for 20% Auto Rate Increase in West Virginia
Dec 15 2023 // The West Virginia Insurance Commissioner’s Office is accepting comments on a proposed 19.9% auto liability insurance rate increase for Farmers Direct Property and Casualty Insurance Co. The proposed increase is one...
Trends in Auto Thefts Add to Rising Claim Costs
Dec 14 2023 // Vehicle theft rates continue to put pressure on the personal auto insurance market. CCC Intelligent Solutions said in its year-end report that the number of vehicle thefts in the U.S. increased 2% in the first half of 2023...
Horse and Buggy Collision with Pickup Truck Seriously Injures 2 Occupants, Kills Horse
Dec 13 2023 // A horse and buggy collided with a pickup truck at an intersection in Maryland, ejecting all four passengers of the buggy and seriously injuring two, authorities said. The buggy was stopped at the intersection Sunday...
Higher Auto Claims, More Frequent Accidents Continue to Outpace Premium Hikes
Dec 12 2023 // As claim severity rises, US personal auto results are on the decline, according to AM Best’s latest Market Segment Report. The 112.2 net combined ratio in 2022 for personal auto was an almost 11-point deterioration...
Family of Man Who Died Sues Tow Truck Driver They Said Sat on the Man’s Head
Dec 7 2023 // ATLANTA (AP) — The family of a Georgia church deacon who died after struggling with a police officer following a minor car crash has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a tow truck driver they say arrived during...
Auto Safety Regulators To Watch Unrecalled Takata Inflators After One Blows Apart, Injuring a Driver in Chicago
Dec 6 2023 // DETROIT (AP) – U.S. auto safety regulators said Monday they are monitoring data from a group of mostly unrecalled Takata air bag inflators after one of them exploded in a BMW and hurled metal fragments that seriously...
Car Fire on New Hampshire Interstate Sets Off Ammunition
Dec 6 2023 // A fiery crash on Interstate 93 in New Hampshire set off hundreds of rounds of ammunition before firefighters were able to douse the blaze, state police said. State Police received a report of a vehicle being driven...
