Latest Insurance News

Your MONEY: Car Cover Lies Hit Honest Drivers for Pounds 30 Each ; CASHPOINT

By John Husband FOUR million drivers have no valid car insurance - that's one in six people behind the wheel. A new survey found 1.5 million drivers have no cover at all, and a further 2.5 million lied on their application forms, which may invalidate their policies, leaving them uninsured if they crash. The biggest concentrations of uninsured drivers are in London, Manchester, Bradford, Birmingham and Liverpool. You are most likely to be hit by one in West Gorton, Manchester and Tottenh...

Car Ban for Big Bungler Goody

BIG Brother star Jade Goody got a six-month driving ban yesterday after admitting a string of motoring offences. The 26-year-old admitted being at the wheel of her BMW last November when she didn't have a full licence. And she had no insurance on the car when she was caught on the M1 at Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire. Goody also admitted driving against licencing rules and without insurance on March 27 in Brentwood, Essex. Philip Kelly, defending, told Basildon magistrates she had m...

Brought to Justice

The following people were dealt with at Cardiff Magistrates' Court: Christopher Dean Heffernan, 23, of High Street, Barry, was fined pounds 150 with pounds 35 court costs and banned from driving for two months after he was convicted in his absence of driving without a licence and without insurance. Martin Hill, 21, of Penhaved Street, Grangetown, Cardiff, was fined pounds 150 and banned from driving for two months after pleading guilty to driving without a valid licence and using a car with...

The Over 50s Are the New Target ; MONEY As the Surprising Merger Between Saga and the AA Goes Through, Jeremy Gates Looks at Its Impact on the Consumer

By Jeremy Gates A MILLION people are retiring each year - which partly explains the surprise merger of Saga, the travel and insurance group for the over-50s, and the AA, the drivers' friend in a roadside emergency. It creates a pounds 6.2bn giant: both are big providers of financial services and 40% of the AA's 15m members are 50-plus. As the new firmstarts with debts of nearly pounds 5bn, many employees await healthy payouts: Saga staff who invested pounds 20 in October 2004 collect po...

State Farm Repays Its Customers

By Trevor Anderson, Herald-Journal, Spartanburg, S.C. Jul. 6--Lou Ferringer of Spartanburg was pleasantly surprised last Thursday when he opened a letter from his insurer, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., that contained a dividend check for $50. But he didn't ask any questions. He went to the bank, cashed the check and is still trying to decide how to spend it. "I've been a State Farm customer for 50 years and this was the first dividend check I think I have ever received," F...

WALES: Your MONEY

By JEREMY GATES A MILLION people are retiring each year - which partly explains the surprise merger of Saga, the travel and insurance group for the over-50s, and the AA, the drivers' friend in a roadside emergency. It creates a pounds 6.2bn giant: both are big providers of financial services and 40% of the AA's 15m members are 50-plus. As the new firmstarts with debts of nearly pounds 5bn, many employees await healthy payouts: Saga staff who invested pounds 20 in October 2004 collect po...

EDITORIAL: Renew No-Fault: Demise of PIP Will Create Health Care Crisis

By The Bradenton Herald, Fla. Jul. 8--We dislike special sessions of the Legislature as much as anyone. They're expensive extensions of legislative deliberations that should have been accomplished in the annual two-month regular session. Yet it's imperative that Gov. Charlie Crist call a special session before Oct. 1 to avoid a crisis in the auto insurance industry. That's when Florida's Personal Injury Protection (PIP) law will expire unless the Legislature meets and votes to renew it fo...

Auto Insurers Expect 3d Rate Drop

By Bruce Mohl, The Boston Globe Jul. 6--The state's automobile insurers say they are likely to ask for a rate decrease next year if the Patrick administration decides to continue regulating the prices they can charge. It would be the third straight year insurers have asked state regulators to cut premiums, a trend reflecting an unprecedented downturn in the dollar value of insurance claims. Daniel J. Johnston, president of the Automobile Insurers Bureau of Massachusetts, said the size o...

Your MONEY: Put the Brake on Soaring Car Cover Premiums ; CASHPOINT

By John Husband THE average car insurance premium is up eight per cent on last year to a record pounds 822, says an AA report. And it warns there are more increases to come because premiums are lagging behind what insurers are paying in claims. But here's a number of ways to cut the cost of your cover: Save up to 40 per cent by shopping around. Drive carefully and get up to 60 per cent no-claims discount. Once you achieve that it's worth paying extra for a "protected bonus" that won't...

Op-Ed ; On Auto Insurance, Gov Won't Drive Us to Poor House

By MICHAEL GRAHAM As a lawyer and a politician, Deval Patrick has defended rapists, racial quotas and even reparations for slavery. Now he's ready to defend something truly radical: capitalism. In a move utterly unexpected from the "Cadillac of Governors," Patrick may become a champion of free markets and consumer choice - at least in the area of auto insurance. A panel appointed by Patrick in January to consider car insurance reform has recommended less government interference and (m...