Grange Drivers Entitled to Refund
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Sep. 7--Nearly 200,000 Ohio drivers are due a refund on car-insurance payments now that a class-action lawsuit against Grange Mutual Casualty Co. has been settled for $51 million. Grange customers can collect $100 to $400 if their policies covered accidents involving uninsured or underinsured motorists between October 1994 and September 1997, said Patrick Perotti, the plaintiffs' attorney. The lawsuit, filed by Dworken & Bernstein Co. in Painesville, said Grange was overcharging customers for that coverage by requiring them to pay a premium on every vehicle they insured....
Now Admiral Eyes Italy As It Posts Record Half-Year Profits
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Motor insurance group Admiral's appetite for growth was further underlined yesterday when it posted record half-year profits. The group's online car insurance price comparison site, Confused.com, also reported a healthy rise in half-year profits. Admiral, which employs more than 2,000, had been in talks with private equity suitors to sell a minority holding, which had valued Confused.com at between pounds 600m and pounds 650m....
Company News
Friday, September 07, 2007
The King Agency has been retained by Global Healthcare Alliance to create a direct mail marketing campaign.Oliver Creative has been retained by StreamLine Timberworks and Capital Results for Web-site design and development.The University of Richmond Dining Services won the gold medal for medium-size colleges and the People's Choice Award from the National Association of College and University Food Services....
New Poll Shows Majority of Floridians Think No-Fault Is Worth Keeping
Friday, September 07, 2007
TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Sept. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly 70 percent of Floridians say the state's 37-year-old no-fault auto insurance system is worth keeping and an even larger majority - nearly 80 percent - wanted Governor Charlie Crist to include no-fault in the special session that was set to begin September 18, according to a new poll released today by the Coalition to Protect Florida's Drivers. No-fault is slated to expire October 1.The poll results come a day after Senate President Ken Pruitt and House Speaker Marco Rubio announced they were postponing the special session until sometime in the fall....
Admiral Success Means Windfall for Each Employee
Friday, September 07, 2007
Staff at Cardiff-based insurer Admiral are to be handed pounds 3m worth of free shares thanks to bumper profits unveiled today. The 2,000 employees at the firm's Greyfriars headquarters will receive an average of pounds 1,500 in shares each. In its figures for the first half of 2007, profits at the 14-year-old city success story rocketed by more than a quarter....
Admiral Not Comparing Prices for Key Website ; INSURANCE
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Admiral Group is not actively pursuing selling a stake in price comparison website, Confused.com, the UK motor insurer's chairman, Henry Engelhardt, said. Confused.com, which made profits of pounds 19.7 million, up from pounds 8.7 million at the same time last year, was the star performer in Admiral's strong first-half results - pretax profit rose 26 per cent to pounds 86.3 million, from pounds 68.7 million a year earlier. The group had been in talks with private equity suitors to dispose of a minority holding, which had valued Confused.com at between pounds 600 million and pounds 650 million....
Insurer Won't Put Breaks on Car Insurance
Thursday, September 06, 2007
MOTOR premiums will continue to 'creep' up after a 5pc rise in the first half, says insurer Admiral.Boss Henry Engelhardt says this is a necessary step because claims are rising by 3pc-7pc and insurers cannot afford to keep swallowing the cost.Many consumers are savvy enough to make the most of price comparison sites, including Admiral's own brand Confused.com, to get the best deal....
Motorists Face Higher Insurance Premiums
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Motorists face further rises in car insurance premiums during the coming year, one of the country's leading car insurers warned yesterday.Admiral Insurance's chief executive, Henry Engelhardt, said premiums had risen at about 5 per cent over the past year and predicted that they could increase by 6 per cent over the next 12 months. Mr Engelhardt said rates had been kept artificially low through the early part of the decade because many insurers had budgeted more for claims than they had actually cost, enabling reserves to be released....
Hospitals Ask Governor Crist to Address State Budget Impacts of No- Fault's Sunset
Thursday, September 06, 2007
To: LEGAL AFFAIRS EDITORSFHA and SNHAF are leading the Coalition to Protect Florida's Drivers, which is urging Governor Crist and legislative leaders to either reform and extend the current no-fault system, or to replace it with minimum mandatory auto insurance coverage that protects people and property. As the Florida Legislature begins the difficult chore of reducing the state budget to meet Florida's revenue shortfall, the Florida Hospital Association (FHA) and the Coalition to Protect Florida's Drivers recommend that consideration be given to the impact of the repeal of no-fault auto insurance on the state's budget....
Round UP: Staff Get Share of Pounds 3m Profit
Thursday, September 06, 2007
CAR insurance group Admiral is to hand out a share windfall worth pounds 3m to staff after a 26% leap in half-year profits. Around 2,300 staff at the group - which owns insurance brands Admiral, Elephant.co.uk and price comparison website Confused.com - are set to benefit from the share bonus. Swansea and Cardiff-based Admiral made the announcement as it celebrated better-than-expected pre-tax profits at pounds 86.3m in the first six months of the year, against pounds 68.7m in the same period last year....
Admiral Bonus ; In Association With RBS
Thursday, September 06, 2007
CAR insurance group Admiral is planning a staff share windfall worth pounds 3m after posting a 26% leap in half-year profits to pounds 86.3m. Around 2,300 staff at the group - which owns insurance brands Admiral, Elephant.co.uk and price comparison website confused.com - are set to benefit from the share bonus.(c) 2007 The Journal - Newcastle-upon-Tyne....
Staff Will Get Share of Windfall ; IN ASSOCIATION WITH Renshurg Sheppards Group Posts 26% Leap in Profits
Thursday, September 06, 2007
CAR insurance group Admiral said it would hand out a share windfall worth pounds 3m to staff as it posted a 26% leap in half- year profits. Around 2,300 staff at the group - which owns insurance brands Admiral, Elephant.co.uk and price comparison website confused.com - are set to benefit from the share bonus. Swansea and Cardiff-based Admiral made the announcement as it celebrated a "fine performance" in the first six months of the year, with better-than-expected pre-tax profits at pounds 86.3m against pounds 68.7m in the same period last year....
EDITORIAL ; Clear Roadblocks to Auto Reform
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
It's a miracle Massachusetts policy-makers ever managed to find consensus on a health insurance reform law, because even the most incremental progress in reforming our AUTOinsurance system has some of them tied in knots.Insurance Commissioner Nonnie Burnes last week released the regulations that she proposes to govern the auto insurance market, and folks, we're talking pretty timid stuff here.Yes, insurers would, for the first time in three decades, be permitted to set their own rates instead of having the government do it for them....
Online Auto Insurance - The Evolution of Auto Insurance
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
In 1927, Massachusetts was the first state to establish laws making it mandatory for drivers to maintain auto insurance on all vehicles. Today, most of the United States have adopted those laws and have made auto insurance a standard requirement.In the late 20th century, auto insurance began evolving along with technology by leveraging the internet to reduce costs and increase convenience to consumers....
New GEICO Spots Feature Some Old-School Pop Icons / Geckos and Cavemen, Make Way for Ads With Flintstones and the Cabbage Patch Kids
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Latest Martin Agency campaignCavemen and geckos are already synonymous with GEICO insurance. A Richmond ad shop next wants to elevate Fred Flintstone, Jed Clampett and the Cabbage Patch Kids to that level, too....
2007-09-05: Business IN Brief
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
THE Government were urged yesterday to keep factories for disabled workers in business by awarding them millions of pounds worth of contracts.The GMB union said contracts to supply military and nurses' uniforms, which end soon, should be given to Remploy factories.Phil Davies of the GMB said: "Remploy have struggled since the mid-90s when the Tory government insisted that contracts for uniforms for nurses and the forces, previously done by Remploy, should be put out to competitive tender....
Legal & General Considering Using Postcodes to Determine Pension Payouts
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
UK life and pensions specialist Legal & General has teamed up with Hargreaves Lansdown, a provider of annuity services to Legal & General's customers, to run a pilot study to establish the benefits of using a customer's postcode as an additional risk factor in determining the annuity income that may be provided.The Financial Times reported that, under the pilot scheme, Legal & General will offer different rates for its annuity pension plans depending on location and revealed that it is expected that pensioners living in poorer places are likely to die sooner, and will therefore benefit from higher payouts."People in Glasgow on average don't live as long as they do in Chelsea," said Tom McPhail, head of pensions research at Hargreaves Lansdown, as cited in the Financial Times....
The Further Away They Go to School, the Less Likely They Are to Wreck the Family Car.*
Monday, September 03, 2007
Sending Junior away for college can bring some savings - and not just because he can't skip home to do laundry and raid the fridge. This and other ways to reduce your auto insurance premium should come as welcome news for parents of college students . Dick McKenny, an independent insurance agent with Advance Insurance in Edina, Minn., suggests that clients review their insurance plans whenever there's a major life change....
The $40 Million Head-On
Monday, September 03, 2007
When an insurance company tells you after an accident which body shop to go to, you might not think twice about it.The president of North State Custom in Bedford Hills is seeking more than $40 million from Mayfield Village, Ohio-based insurance company Progressive Corp. and claiming that its "Direct Repair Program" (DRP) is in violation ofThat suit stems from an incident where a customer of Coccaro's wanted to have her car repaired at North State, but Progressive asked her to use one of its preferred shops....
Customer Survey Knocks Travelers: Low Rank for Auto Insurer May Stem From Merger
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Sep. 1--St. Paul-based Travelers Cos. ranks just about last among its auto insurance peers in the latest customer satisfaction study by J.D. Power and Associates. Out of 25 carriers, Travelers came in fourth lowest with a score of 750 on a 1,000-point scale....
ABC Hopes 'Cavemen' Catches Fire
Saturday, September 01, 2007
In the largely unnecessary tradition of "Baby Bob," "The California Raisins," "Max Headroom" and "Hey Vern! ABC is poised to introduce an ad-inspired sitcom, "Cavemen," based on the Cro-Magnons who shill for Geico insurance.The Geico gecko, one presumes, was deemed too highbrow, and the good hands of Allstate must have held out for too much money....
Infinity Property and Casualty Corporation to Present at the Morgan Keegan Equity Conference
Saturday, September 01, 2007
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Aug. 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Infinity Property and Casualty Corporation , today announced Mr. James R. Gober, Chairman, President and CEO will speak at the Morgan Keegan Equity Conference in Memphis on Thursday, September 6, 2007 at 3:30 p.m. (ET). A live webcast will be available at http://ir.ipacc.com/. Infinity Property and Casualty Corporation is a national provider of personal automobile insurance with a concentration on nonstandard auto insurance....
On Tap This Week
Friday, August 31, 2007
A special legislative committee meets at 11 a.m. Thursday at the State House to continue hearings on automobile insurance reform. Last week, Insurance Commissioner Nonnie Burnes heard from testy senators about the flaws in the administration plan to do away with state-regulated auto insurance rates and welcome competition.The Cape Cod Commission meets in Barnstable on Thursday....
J.D. Power and Associates Reports: Quality of Service Drives Auto Insurance Policy Renewal Rates
Friday, August 31, 2007
The study measures customer satisfaction with auto insurance carriers across five factors. For an eighth consecutive year, Amica Mutual ranks highest in customer satisfaction, followed by Erie, GEICO and State Farm, respectively. The study finds that satisfaction with the overall insurance experience accounts for 45 percent of the customer commitment model, which specifically measures a customer's propensity to remain loyal to their insurer....
EDITORIAL: There's a Red Flag Waving Here
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Aug. 29--Seventeen years ago, the Georgia public, fed up with car insurance rates that almost doubled from the 1982 to 1988, voted an insurance commissioner out of office and replaced him with one who promised to fight automobile rate increases. And following the 1990 campaigns, the Georgia General Assembly changed the law, giving the state insurance commissioner approval power over rate increases. Because of that, Georgia now has the fourth lowest rates in the Southeast and is among the top 20 lowest in the country, according to Allison Wall, executive director of Georgia Watch, a consumer watchdog group....