State Farm says it warned gov't on Toyota in 2007
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
WASHINGTON - The nation's largest auto insurer says it alerted federal safety regulators in late 2007 about a rise in reports of unexpected acceleration in Toyota vehicles.State Farm insurance says it noticed an uptick in reports of unwanted acceleration in Toyotas from its large database and warned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.Congressional investigators are looking into whether the government missed warning signs of problems with Toyota vehicles....
Outages filled up motels in region
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Feb. 9--A whole lot of white stuff coming down led to a good bit of green stuff coming in for Fredericksburg-area hotels this past weekend. Hotels across the area report that they were booked pretty solid for most of the weekend as people sought heat, shelter and safety. As the weather worsens people get off Interstate 95 and into area hotels, Lyle said....
Innovation Group Congratulates Esurance on Being Named a "Model Insurer" in New Celent Report
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Innovation Group, aglobal providerof enterprise software and business process outsourcing solutions to the Property & Casualty industry, announced that its client Esurance has been named as a "Model Insurer" by Celent, a financial services technology research and advisory firm. In its new report, Celent Model Insurer 2010: Case Studies of Effective Technology Use in Insurance, Celent recognizes Esurance for its implementation of Innovation Group's Innovation Claims First Notice of Loss (FNOL), and achieving self-service claims with vendor technology while retaining company-specific branding/look and feel."We would like to congratulate Esurance on being recognized as a Model Insurer for their self-service claims operation, success, and impressive results," said Eric Wadsworth, CEO Americas for Innovation Group....
Insurers Rev Up Bid to Make Carmaker Pay
Monday, February 08, 2010
Auto insurers are furiously pulling paperwork on recent Toyota crashes in an attempt to hold the embattled car company responsible for millions of dollars in accident payouts.The move, known in insurance lingo as subrogation, could potentially put the Toyota Motor Corp. on the hook for every accident on a recalled car model that, it can be argued, was the result of a malfunctioning accelerator."We're doing a review of the claims," confirmed Mike Sieminas, a spokesman for Allstate....
70% Drivers NEVER Check Their Oil: Swinton Car Insurance
Sunday, February 07, 2010
70% drivers have never checked the oil level of their current car, according to an online survey of 1,300 customers carried out by Swinton, the UK's leading high street retailer of car insurance.Women were the worst offenders with a staggering 85% admitting to not checking their oil compared to 52% of men.The survey found the top five reasons for not checking oil were:...
BRIEF: 6-month car insurance bill averages $702
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Feb. 7--The national median car insurance rate for a six-month policy is currently $702, according to InsWeb Corp., the Gold River-based online provider of insurance quotes. The company said the rate has declined 0.5 percent over the past six months. "While much of what determines a driver's auto insurance rate is beyond his or her control, many are still paying more than they have to," said Brad Cooper, InsWeb senior vice president....
Pizzerias urged to boost insurance for drivers
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Feb. 6--For pizza fans, Super Bowl Sunday rates up there with Halloween and the day before Thanksgiving as one really big day. For the pizzerias that deliver, it's also a big reason for insurance coverage. If any of the thousands of pizza delivery drivers on the road Sunday has an accident, the shop owner is liable, especially if the driver doesn't have sufficient accident coverage....
New Video Exposes Mercury Insurance Initiative Goal: Raise Auto Premiums in California to Put 'Into Line' With Other States' Higher Car Insurance Rates
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Advocates Calls on AG Jerry Brown to Review Evidence and Explain Premium Increase in Official Summary of InitiativeSANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Campaign for Consumer Rights (CCR), the campaign affiliate of Consumer Watchdog, has released a new video today showing that motorists pay surcharges of up to 227% for auto insurance in states where Mercury Insurance is allowed to penalize people for not having prior insurance coverage, according to Mercury's own web site. This video - - at http://StopTheSurcharge.org -- checked premiums in states that Mercury Insurance identifies as the models for the ballot measure it has qualified for the June 2010 ballot....
Pizzerias face insurance risks in crush of big-game deliveries
Friday, February 05, 2010
MIAMI _ For pizza fans, Super Bowl Sunday rates up there with Halloween and the day before Thanksgiving as one really big day. For the pizzerias that deliver, it's also a big reason for insurance coverage.If any of the thousands of pizza delivery drivers on the road Sunday has an accident, the shop owner is liable, especially if the driver doesn't have sufficient accident coverage....
Research and Markets: Brazil Insurance Report Q1 2010
Friday, February 05, 2010
Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/9719f7/brazil_insurance_r) has announced the addition of the "Brazil Insurance Report Q1 2010" report to their offering.Brazil Insurance Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, insurance associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Brazil's insurance industry.They emphasise though, that a decline in share of Gross Written Premiums is not automatically a bad thing and is often the result of a deliberate corporate decision to focus on more profitable business lines....
Progressive Launches Mobile Web Site
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Nearly a third of mobile phone owners browse the mobile Web at least once a month, but most mobile Web sites fall short of delivering the best experience, according to connectivity consulting firm Yankee Group.Many of the features on the Progressive mobile Web site are also on Progressive's free iPhone app, now available for download in the App Store.By providing both a mobile Web site and an iPhone app, Progressive hopes to make insurance easier and more convenient for a broad range of mobile users, including those with iPhones as well as people who access the mobile Internet through one of the hundreds of other Web-enabled handsets on the market....
Cincinnati Financial Reports Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2009 Results
Thursday, February 04, 2010
CINCINNATI, Feb. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cincinnati Financial Corporation today reported:Fourth-quarter 2009 net income of $245 million, or $1.50 per share, compared with $161 million, or 99 cents per share, in the fourth quarter of 2008; operating income* of $86 million, or 53 cents per share, compared with $92 million, or 57 cents per share. -- $29.25 book value per share at December 31, 2009, up 13.6 percent for the year and 2.8 percent from September 30, 2009....
Winter Weather Sees Motor Insurance Claims Soar
Thursday, February 04, 2010
With Britain in the midst of one of the worst winters on record, insurance companies have seen a surge in the amount of claims registered. This is due to accidents which have occurred because of the recent bad weather, according to motor trade insurance brokers Quote Me Today.Swiftcover, one of the UK's largest providers of car insurance recently reported a 75% increase in claims due to freezing conditions on Britain's roads....