Latest Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Waymo’s Autonomous Taxi Service Picks Up 1,000th Customer After 6 Months
May 10 2019 // The first major self-driving taxi service needed six months to reach 1,000 customers, another sign that growth may be slow as companies try to build businesses around autonomous vehicles. Waymo, the self-driving project...
State Farm Again Cutting Auto Insurance Rates in Kansas
May 9 2019 // State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. is lowering its rates in Kansas, for the second time in two years. As a result, its overall personal auto rate will drop by 2.3 percent. The total state-wide expected impact for...
Michigan Senate Passes Plan to Cut Car Insurance Rates
May 8 2019 // Michigan’s Senate has passed legislation aimed at cutting the country’s highest average auto insurance premiums by eliminating a requirement that drivers buy unlimited medical benefits to cover crash...
The Next Insurance Battleground: High-Value Customers
May 8 2019 // Competition is tightening across the P&C insurance market. With just 2 percent of new consumers entering the personal lines auto insurance market last year, and with retention rates hovering around 88 percent, most...
GEICO Helps Boost Berkshire Hathaway’s Q1 Profit
May 7 2019 // Berkshire Hathaway Inc. on Saturday said gains in its stock investments were behind its good first-quarter profit. Better results from its GEICO auto insurer and BNSF railroad units boosted operating results. The...
New York Man Arrested for Arson, Insurance Fraud in Vehicle Fire Scheme
May 7 2019 // New York State Police have arrested Jonathan A Schuyler, 23, of Fort Plain, N.Y., for the felonies of arson in the third degree and insurance fraud in the third degree, according to a press release issued by The New York...
Buffett Has Eyes on Competitor Progressive, Not Car Makers Entering Insurance
May 7 2019 // Berkshire Hathaway Chair Warren Buffett said he isn’t worried about recent assertions by Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk that the electric car maker could offer a more compelling insurance product than traditional...
15 California Chiropractors Charged in $6M Auto Insurance Scam
May 6 2019 // Fifteen Southern California chiropractors have been charged with a $6 million insurance and kickback scheme involving phony car crash medical claims. Los Angeles County prosecutors announced that the chiropractors are...
Oklahoma Lawmakers Send Autonomous Vehicle Safety Bill to Governor
May 6 2019 // Oklahoma would establish rules regulating how to safely operate driverless vehicles navigating state highways under a bill passed by Legislature that has been sent to the governor’s office. Autonomous vehicles are...
Suits Filed Against Indiana Auto Dealerships Over Car-Buying Fees
May 3 2019 // Dozens of Indiana auto dealerships face lawsuits that accuse them of charging excessive fees to prepare sales-related documents. At least seven lawsuits, all pursuing class-action status, were filed in April, the...
Michigan Governor Orders Study of Insurers’ Use of Non-Driving Rating Factors
May 2 2019 // Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has ordered a review of how Michigan’s auto insurers use non-driving factors such as education and credit scores to set premiums that rank among the nation’s highest. The Democrat’s...
Tesla Sued over Fatal Crash Allegedly Caused by Autopilot Malfunction
May 2 2019 // Tesla Inc. was sued over a fatal crash on a California highway allegedly caused when the Autopilot system of a 2017 Model X malfunctioned and steered the car into a concrete barrier. The case was filed just two days after...
Prime Property & Casualty Insurance Now Writing Commercial Auto in North Carolina
May 2 2019 // Prime Property & Casualty Insurance Inc. has entered the North Carolina commercial auto markets as an admitted carrier specializing in insurance for distressed and substandard risks. PPCI offers the capacity to insure...
Prime Property & Casualty Insurance Enters New Mexico Commercial Auto Market
May 2 2019 // Prime Property & Casualty Insurance Inc. has entered the New Mexico commercial auto market as an admitted carrier specializing in insurance for distressed and substandard risks. PPCI offers the capacity to insure any...
Georgia Man Arrested for Operating Auto Chop Shop
May 1 2019 // A Georgia man was arrested last month after a joint effort between investigators in the Fraud Unit at the Georgia Department of Insurance and multiple state agencies discovered he was allegedly operating a chop shop in...
Appalachian Underwriters Taps Florida-Based Kidd to Lead Commercial Auto
Apr 30 2019 // Appalachian Underwriters, Inc. has hired transportation broker Mary Kidd to focus on large commercial transportation accounts in its Sarasota, Fla., office. Kidd will work with accounts with more than $25,000 in premium,...
Autonomous Vehicle Regulation Bill Passed by Oklahoma Legislature
Apr 29 2019 // Oklahoma would establish rules regulating how to safely operate driverless vehicles navigating state highways under a bill passed by Legislature that has been sent to the governor’s office. Autonomous vehicles are...
Getting Americans to Stop Using Phones While Driving
Apr 29 2019 // The distracted driving report by Zendrive, a traffic-data startup, makes it clearer and clearer each year that millions of Americans can’t stop themselves from talking, texting and livestreaming—yes, even using...
Louisiana House Passes Bill Targeting High Auto Insurance Rates
Apr 26 2019 // A bill aimed at lowering Louisiana’s sky-high auto insurance rates has passed the state House of Representatives. On April 23, House lawmakers passed HB 372, named the “Omnibus Premium Reduction Act of 2019,...
Insurtech, Cover, Now Selling Its Own Auto Policies in Texas
Apr 25 2019 // Cover, a mobile-first insurance brokerage, has begun selling its own auto insurance policies in Texas. The new service — an evolution from the company’s nationally-licensed insurance brokerage — combines a...
