Latest Insurance News

No to Third Party Insurance

YOUR recent article about the Government's intention to seriously consider making third party insurance compulsory requires comment. As with all laws, they are only obeyed by responsible people and to think that CTPI will somehow solve all the problems associated with accidents where one car is uninsured is a misconception. In the UK, where CTPI is in place, there is a 15% non-compliance rate and it has been at that level for years. The UK system covers bodily injury as well as third-part...

Spowart's Comparison Site at War With Direct Line Over Ad Campaign

By Rosemary Gallagher PEOPLESCHAMPION.COM, set-up last summer by serial financial guru Jim Spowart, has hit back at claims that comparison sites are confusing for customers and should carry "accuracy warnings". Direct Line - itself co-founded by Spowart and owned by Royal Bank of Scotland - has criticised comparison sites for not always finding the best deals. But Ian McAteer, marketing director of Peopleschampion.com, which is majority owned by SMG, is taking legal advice on whether to...

The End of No-Fault: Legislators Will Have to Rescue Program, but Should They?

By Randy Diamond, The Palm Beach Post, Fla. Jun. 10--Who could argue with a major auto-insurance price reduction? State Farm, Florida's largest auto insurer with more than 20 percent of the market, plans to cut rates by 16 percent on Oct 1. Other companies are expected to announce their reductions soon. But there's a catch. The price decrease comes with the elimination of Florida's no-fault auto-insurance system, which is set to expire Oct. 1. That likely will prompt price increases els...

If No-Fault Insurance Goes, Who Fares Best?

By Tom Zucco, St. Petersburg Times, Fla. Jun. 10--It's not your typical Florida sunset. Unless the Legislature decides otherwise, come Oct. 1, the portion of Florida's no-fault auto insurance law that requires drivers have a minimum of $10,000 in personal injury protection, or PIP, will expire after being the law for 36 years. The insurance companies say eliminating PIP will slow the fraud and misuse of the program, eliminate duplicate coverage and lead to lower auto insurance rates. St...

Insurance on the Road to Recovery

By Elise Young, The Record, Hackensack, N.J. Jun. 11--TRENTON -- New Jersey motorists are seeing steady auto-insurance rates and lodging fewer complaints against underwriters -- more signs that the four-year-old reform law has taken hold, experts say. "As a whole, the companies have probably exceeded expectations," said Jim Gardner, a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance. He compiled the figures in late May. The average driver paid slightly less than $1,100 f...

Survey Shows Slower Premium Growth

By Anonymous The Insurance Information Institute (III) invited a panel of Wall Street stock analysts and industry professionals to forecast the outlook for the industry. According to the III, most insurance industry analysts predict slower property / casualty (P/C) premium growth for 2007. The annual survey results indicate that the respite in catastrophe losses in 2006, combined with a strong performance in virtually all other major lines of P/C insurance, will likely propel the industry...

The Incentive Effects of Increasing Per-Claim Deductible Contracts in Automobile Insurance

By Li, Chu-Shiu Liu, Chwen-Chi; Yeh, Jia-Hsing ABSTRACT A new rating system of automobile insurance for vehicle damage in Taiwan was launched in 1996, introducing a deductible that increases with the number of claims. In this article, we provide a theoretical rationale for the existence of an increasing per-claim deductible system and show that the new system is most likely an optimal choice for those insured who tend to have lower claims probability when incentives are present. Using a uni...

Your Money: ROAD SENSE ; Pound Notes

By MELANIE WRIGHT pounds IF you are a driver who has made several claims on your car insurance or have convictions then you may well be better off with a comprehensive policy rather than a third-party one, according to online comparison service Insurancewide.com (c) 2007 Sunday Mirror; London. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

State Farm to Lower Rates for Policyholders in W.Va.

By The Associated Press Vehicle owners insured through State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. will get a break on their premiums again this year. The amount of the reduction will vary, but the average savings equals $47. State Farm, which insures about one in every four cars in the state, announced Thursday that it will lower rates an average of 2.5 percent beginning July 2, for an annual savings of $16.5 million. Premiums for collision and comprehensive coverages should decrease ...

Hospitals Fear Loss of PIP: Hospitals, Doctors and Many Floridians Without Health Insurance Could Be Big Losers If the State's Controversial No-Fault Auto Insurance Law is Allowed

By Beatrice E. Garcia, The Miami Herald Jun. 7--With nearly 21 percent of Floridians under age 65 lacking health insurance, hospitals and doctors fear they would be stuck with millions of dollars in unpaid bills from accident victims if Florida's no-fault auto insurance law expires. The Florida Hospital Association estimates they now collect $350 million in reimbursements from personal injury protection, or PIP, claims each year. With an estimated 40 percent of accident victims lacking an...