Latest Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California’s Lemon Law Is Changing and Car Buyers Have Fewer Protections
Dec 26 2024 // The year 2025 is shaping up to be a confusing one for Californians unlucky enough to buy a new or used car that turns out to be a clunker. Starting Jan. 1, car buyers who purchase a faulty vehicle will have to navigate a...
Auto Insurer’s Online System Breach Tied to Unemployment Fraud
Dec 20 2024 // Noblr, a USAA Insurance subsidiary offering insurance through an online quoting application, will pay $500,000 following a data breach that New York officials say affected 80,000 people and led to fraudulent unemployment...
California Man Sentenced to 16 Years for Auto Insurance Fraud
Dec 20 2024 // A California man was sentenced to 16 years in prison for filing false claims on dozens of auto collisions. Jacob McNabb, 33, of Bakersfield, was sentenced following a jury’s guilty verdict on four felony counts...
Car Crashes in Foggy Weather Injure 33 People Near New Orleans
Dec 19 2024 // NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Several people were injured Tuesday morning after foggy conditions contributed to several car crashes that forced the closure of the 24-mile-long (38.6-kilometer-long) bridge connecting the north and...
NHTSA to Extend Airbag Probe Rather Than Require Vehicle Recall
Dec 19 2024 // The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Wednesday it will not seek an immediate recall of airbag inflators in about 50 million U.S. vehicles assembled by 13 automakers and instead will conduct further...
Trump Transition Recommends Scrapping Car-Crash Reporting Requirement
Dec 18 2024 // The Trump transition team wants the incoming administration to drop a car-crash reporting requirement opposed by Elon Musk’s Tesla, according to a document seen by Reuters, a move that could cripple the...
Massachusetts Charges 12 With Running $2.6 Million High-End Car Theft Ring
Dec 17 2024 // Massachusetts law enforcement officials report that 12 individuals identified as stealing 63 high-end vehicles totaling more than $2.6 million have been arraigned. Another individual related to the investigation has an...
New Orleans Attorneys Accused of Staging Car Accidents in Insurance Fraud Scheme
Dec 13 2024 // Eight people and two law firms have been charged in what authorities say was more than a decade-long scheme of staging vehicle crashes in the New Orleans area and then submitting fraudulent insurance claims, leading to...
Nonstandard Auto Segment Posts Profit for First Half 2024
Dec 13 2024 // While publicity about personal auto insurer initiatives has focused chiefly on requested rate increases, there’s more to the picture regarding auto insurers’ efforts to improve underwriting results after two...
Communities Hold Breath as Companies Struggle With California’s Diesel Truck Ban
Dec 13 2024 // Standing in his front yard in Wilmington, Jose Ulloa can’t get a sentence out without coughing. Heavy-duty trucks, headed to and from the Port of Los Angeles, pass in front of his home all day, their engines roaring...
California Labor Commissioner Cites 19 Car Washes $1.3M for Violations
Dec 11 2024 // The California Labor Commissioner’s Office issued $1.3 million in fines for wage theft restitution and civil penalties against 19 car washes in the South Bay area of Los Angeles County and in Orange County. The LCO...
10 Injured When Police Motorcycle Officer Crashed into California Parade Bystanders
Dec 10 2024 // Ten people were injured after a police traffic officer on a motorcycle crashed into bystanders at a weekend holiday parade in Palm Springs, California, authorities said. All of the injured were taken to hospitals Saturday...
As Providence Mutual Exits Auto Insurance Business, Plymouth Rock to Get Renewals
Dec 5 2024 // Providence Mutual recently notified state regulators that it is exiting the auto insurance business for both commercial and personal lines in the four states where it currently offers the coverages – Connecticut, Maine,...
Energy Department to Loan $7.5B for Electric Vehicle Battery Plants in Indiana
Dec 2 2024 // The U.S. Energy Department said Monday it is planning to loan up to $7.54 billion to a joint venture of Chrysler parent Stellantis STLAM.MI and Samsung SDI 006400.KS to help build two electric vehicle lithium-ion battery...
2024 More of the Same in Commercial Auto Segment After $5B Net Loss in 2023
Dec 2 2024 // After the U.S. commercial auto insurance segment sustained a $5 billion net loss in 2023, a new AM Best report indicates further deterioration in the first half of 2024. Despite targeted underwriting initiatives, including...
NYC Man Charged With Insurance Fraud in Staged Car Crash Captured by Dashcam
Dec 2 2024 // A New York City man has been charged with staging a car accident for insurance fraud purposes in a case that received wide publicity after the victim shared dashboard camera footage of the crash, authorities...
GM, Ford Fall on Trump Tariffs Seen Adding $3,000 to Car Prices
Nov 27 2024 // Shares of US automakers tumbled on worries that a new round of tariffs imposed by President-elect Donald Trump will cause sticker prices to soar even further. Trump said that he would impose additional 10% levies on goods...
Safety Board Cites Oversight, Safety Failures in Bus-Truck Crash That Killed 6, Injured 9
Nov 26 2024 // Repeated disregard of safety regulations, along with ineffective federal and state enforcement and oversight, contributed to the collision between a bus and box truck in Louisville, New York in 2023, the National...
AM Best Improves Outlook on US Personal Auto Segment to ‘Stable’
Nov 25 2024 // Insurance rating agency AM Best today said it has shifted its outlook of the U.S. personal auto insurance segment to stable from negative thanks to improving loss ratios of the top 20 carriers this year. Underwriting...
New York Fines GEICO $9.75M, Travelers $1.5M Over Auto Insurance Cyber Breaches
Nov 25 2024 // Two auto insurers will pay fines totaling $11.3 million for data breaches of online insurance quoting systems that New York officials say compromised personal information of an estimated 120,000 customers in total. New...
