Latest Carriers Headlines

All the headlines from our Carriers Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Florida, Georgia Insurer First Commercial to Be Liquidated

Aug 26 2009 // Miami-based First Commercial Insurance Co. and its subsidiary have been declared insolvent and ordered liquidated about six weeks after being placed under state control. All policies written by FCIC and its subsidiary,...

Study: Buyers of Home, Auto Insurance Say They’re Happy with Insurers

Aug 25 2009 // Most consumers of auto and homeowners insurance seem to be happy with their insurers, says a new indsutry study. A new public opinion study by the Insurance Research Council (IRC) reported that 91 percent of respondents...

Private Health Insurance Competition Weak in Many U.S. Markets

Aug 24 2009 // One of the most widely accepted arguments against a government medical plan for the middle class is that it would quash competition — just what private insurers seem to be doing themselves in many parts of the...

Florida Workers’ Compensation Insurers Propose 6.8% Rate Cut

Aug 21 2009 // Florida workers’ compensation insurers are recommending an overall average rate decrease of 6.8 percent statewide, which state officials said would save employers more than $166 million. Florida Insurance...

Central Texas MGA Adds New Carriers for Various Product Lines

Aug 20 2009 // Tejas American General Agency (TAGA), an independent privately-owned managing general agency based in the Austin, Texas, area, has recently added three new markets – Insurors Indemnity, Gotham Insurance Company and...

Michigan Insurers Balk As Democrats Advance ‘Bad Faith’ Legislation

Aug 19 2009 // Michigan insurance companies say that so-called “bad faith” bills approved by the House Insurance Committee today are unnecessary and will open the floodgates for lawsuits against them, eventually costing...

Consumer Opinions of Car Makers, Brokerages, Banks, Health Insurers Fall

Aug 18 2009 // Unsurprisingly, the industries whose reputations have been most badly hurt in the last 12 months are car manufacturers (down 31 points), banks (down 24 points), and investment and brokerage firms (down 27 points),...

Michigan Halts Novus Surplus Lines Sales; Owner Defends Insurer

Aug 18 2009 // Michigan regulatory officials have charged an insurer and its managing general agency with fraud in the selling of surplus lines insurance. But the owner says his company that is in runoff has done nothing wrong. The...

Michigan Supreme Court Cited as Culprit in Auto Insurance Cost Hike

Aug 17 2009 // Michigan drivers will pay $20 more this fiscal year to care for accident victims who have brain damage, paralysis or other catastrophic injuries. The culprit? Not the usual suspects such as escalating health care costs or...

Insurers Pressing Oregon Landowners to Take Wildfire Prevention Measures

Aug 17 2009 // Insurance companies have begun telling some policyholders in Eastern Oregon to protect their buildings against wildfires, say industry and government officials. One Oregon Department of Forestry official said he’s...

Colorado Workers’ Compensation Insurer Pinnacol Defends Agent Perks

Aug 17 2009 // Colorado’s dominant workers compensation insurer last week defended its spending on travel and entertainment for its agents, telling Colorado lawmakers it’s good for morale and helps lower costs in the long...

Customer Satisfaction Gap Between Agency, Direct Auto Insurers Closing

Aug 17 2009 // Overall customer satisfaction with auto insurance companies is up significantly in 2009. But the gap between agency writers and direct writers may be coming closer to a “photo finish,” says the author of a new...

New Jersey Insurer Markets Auto Coverage Using Highway Art

Aug 17 2009 // New Jersey personal auto insurer Palisades is using a unique approach to market itself: an “art gallery” of 13 highway billboards across the state. The images were picked by online voting and were pared down...

North Carolina Beach Plan Reforms Attract AAA Home Insurer

Aug 14 2009 // North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin said today, just one week after the General Assembly passed reforms to the state’s coastal insurance plan, that the insurance company for AAA Carolinas will begin...

Three Commercial Property Endorsements Every Client Should Have

Aug 13 2009 // Several weeks ago, MyNewMarkets.com posted a two-part series regarding coverage gaps and selling to those gaps. “Gaps That Sell” and “Three Homeowners’ Policy Gaps that Sell” detailed the...

Insurer to Pay Final $800K for Toxic Cleanup of Tacoma Tide Flats

Aug 13 2009 // The Washington Department of Ecology is receiving $800,000 from a settlement agreement, which will be used to advance cleanup of the former Lilyblad Petroleum site on the Tacoma tide flats. Ecology is one of three parties...

Florida CFO Miffed at Insurance Commissioner Over Insurer Report

Aug 13 2009 // Florida’s chief financial officer had some harsh words for the state’s top insurance regulator. CFO Alex Sink told Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty that she was insulted that a report in response to a...

Florida Insurance Agents Say State’s Home Mitigation Effort Is Failing

Aug 13 2009 // Florida’s efforts to encourage homeowners to harden their homes to better withstand big storms by giving them insurance premium discounts is not getting the job done, according to a report from insurance agents in...

Court: Insurer Must Pay Massachusetts for Bonded Thefts

Aug 13 2009 // The Massachusetts Appeals Court has ruled an insurance company must pay the government for its remaining losses from a $9.4 million theft from the Treasury in the late 1990s. The theft remains the largest loss of state...

Car Dealers in the Storm: Dealers Left Standing Will Be Stronger, Leaner

Aug 12 2009 // Some automobile shoppers may be abandoning car makers but insurance carriers and brokers remain dedicated partners, experts say. Yet no one can deny that tough times have fallen on many of the nation’s car dealers...