Latest Personal Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Personal Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
N.H. Law Banning Drivers’ Use of Hand-Held Devices Goes Into Effect
Jul 2 2015 // New Hampshire is now the 15th state to bar drivers from using hand-held cellphones while driving. The new “hands-free” law, in effect as of Wednesday, July 1, applies to all hand-held devices, including GPS...
Truck Driver in Deadly Tennessee Crash Cited in Florida Previous Day
Jul 2 2015 // Authorities say a truck driver who slammed into numerous stopped cars outside of Chattanooga, Tenn., last week, killing six, had been cited for careless driving in Florida the previous day. According to a Florida Highway...
Loyalty to Insurer Doesn’t Always Pay Off for Drivers
Jun 30 2015 // When Jonathan G. Stein became unhappy with his long-time car insurance carrier earlier this year, the 41-year-old lawyer from Elk Grove, California switched to a new company. How was he rewarded for his disloyalty after...
16 Year-Old Driver Causes $100K Damage at South Texas Dealership
Jun 29 2015 // A 16-year-old driver has been blamed for a wreck that caused more than $100,000 in damage to new trucks and other property at a Texas dealership. Corpus Christi police say the driver suffered minor injuries in the accident...
Google Offering Railroad Crossings Alerts for Drivers
Jun 29 2015 // Google will add audio and visual alerts to warn drivers about upcoming railroad crossings on Google’s navigation system, the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration announced on Monday. The agency also asked four other...
Two Self-Driving Cars Avoid Collision, Says Passenger
Jun 26 2015 // Two self-driving prototype cars, one operated by Google Inc. and the other by Delphi Automotive Plc, had a close call on a Silicon Valley street earlier this week, a Delphi executive told Reuters on Thursday. It was...
Penn. Advises Rideshare Drivers to Carefully Examine Insurance Coverage
Jun 25 2015 // Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Teresa Miller is urging potential drivers for rideshare services like Uber and Lyft to consult with their insurance companies to ensure adequate coverage for themselves and...
Fully Self-Driving Cars Still 15 Years Down the Road: Supplier
Jun 25 2015 // The technology to make cars fully autonomous probably won’t be established until at least 2030, according to the top supplier for the world’s biggest automaker. The auto industry will take intermediate steps...
New Worker Classification Needed for Sharing Economy, Uber Drivers
Jun 24 2015 // This question of whether an Uber driver is an employee doesn’t matter just to Uber. As you may have heard, the on-demand car-service juggernaut lost a case early this month before the California Labor Commissioner on...
Most Drivers Mum About Ridesharing, Although Many Agents Ask
Jun 23 2015 // Roughly three quarters of ridesharing drivers don’t have ridesharing insurance, and nearly eight-in-10 conduct their ridesharing activities covertly and keep their insurer or agent in the dark. Two informal polls...
New Mexico Immigrant Driver Licenses Drop to Low Levels
Jun 19 2015 // Records show the number of newly issued driver’s licenses to immigrants in New Mexico has plunged to its lowest level since the state began granting driving privileges to foreign nationals living in the country...
How Ruling That Drivers Are Employees Upends Uber Business Model
Jun 19 2015 // If you’re a freelance writer who occasionally sells articles to a website, are you actually an employee? If you live in California, I think the answer might be — yes? The California Labor commissioner has ruled...
Insurers Unprepared for Self-Driving Car Disruption: KPMG
Jun 18 2015 // The majority of property/casualty insurers do not expect autonomous or self-driving vehicles to have a real impact on their auto insurance business for another decade and have not adjusted their business models to prepare...
Commission Rules Uber Drivers Employees, Not Contractors
Jun 17 2015 // A San Francisco-based driver for smartphone-based ride-hailing service Uber is an employee, not a contractor, according to a ruling by the California Labor Commission. The ruling, filed on Tuesday in state court in San...
Ethics of Self-Driving Cars: Should They Kill Driver to Save Others?
Jun 16 2015 // Imagine being in charge of the switch on a trolley track. The express is due any minute; but as you glance down the line you see a school bus, filled with children, stalled at the level crossing. No problem; that’s...
The High Cost of Insuring a Teen Driver
Jun 15 2015 // Parents pay an average of 80 percent more for car insurance after adding a teen driver to their policy. The highest jump in premiums—96 percent—comes from placing a 16-year-old driver on a policy while the average...
Study: Insurance Plan Could Lower Costs for Detroit Drivers
Jun 11 2015 // Drivers in Detroit could save $600 to $2,300 annually on car insurance under a plan the city is hoping the Legislature will pass, according to a report. The six-month study by Bloomington, Ill.-based Pinnacle Actuarial...
Judge Denies Uber Arbitration in Dispute with Drivers
Jun 10 2015 // Uber lost a bid to force arbitration in a lawsuit brought by its drivers, as a U.S. judge ruled the smartphone-based taxi service’s 2013 and 2014 employment contracts dealing with arbitration from were...
Nevada Governor Wants Officials to Support Self-Driving Cars
Jun 10 2015 // Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said this week he wants state transportation officials to consider adding support for self-driving cars as part of a multimillion-dollar highway widening and expansion project in Las Vegas. The...
Louisiana Driver’s Death May Be 7th from Recalled Air Bag
Jun 10 2015 // A Louisiana woman who got an air bag recall notice for her 2005 Honda Civic two days after the crash that killed her may be the seventh fatality linked to the defective Takata Corp. safety device. The driver, Kylan...
