Tag Archives: Car Insurance

Oklahoma Impound Law Advances

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Oklahoma is one step closer to having a law that would allow police officers to impound uninsured vehicles.

House Bill 2331, co -authored by state Senator Gary Stanislawski and state Representative Steve Martin passed the House of Representatives (93-3) and the Senate (41-4) and now goes to the governor for signature or veto. A veto is unlikely, however.

Once passed, the bill will allow law enforcement officers making traffic stops to seize vehicles found to be uninsured, and have them towed to an impound lot until the owner is able to legally redeem them.

Martin said that the bill would take advantage of Oklahoma’s recently launched instant verification system, which law enforcement officers can use to determine – in mere seconds – if a stopped driver is covered by qualifying liability insurance.

Martin told the press, “Law enforcement officers can now enter a license tag number into a data base and know immediately if a car is insured.”

The instant verification system, which was ordered by an act of the Oklahoma legislature four years ago, was created through cooperation between the State of Oklahoma and the insurance industry. It’s been available to police and highway patrol for several months, but up until now, law enforcement had no power to seize uninsured vehicles.

Instead, uninsured drivers who caused accidents would drive away from from the scene, while innocent victims had their disabled vehicles towed away by wreckers.

New York has Least Knowledgeable Drivers, Survey Says

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It may not come as much of a surprise, but the country’s least knowledgeable drivers hail from New York, New Jersey, Hawaii, and California. Conversely, the most knowledgeable motorists are in Idaho, Wisconsin, Montana and Kansas – well, at least according to the results of the 2009 GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test, which also found that 20.1 percent of American drivers (about 41 million) would not pass a written drivers exam if they had to take it today.

When asked about driving habits, 30 percent of the motorists GMAC Insurance surveyed said that financial strains have made them want to drive less, and find new ways to save money, as well, but what’s more disturbing is that in this, the fifth annual such survey the insurer has conducted, the number of drivers with real understanding of basic road rules is declining, with this year’s scores 1.5 percent lower than last year’s.

Drivers in Idaho and Wisconsin tied for the best scores in the country, with average results of 80.6 percent, with those in New York ranking last, with an average score of 70.5 percent. The first and last place results are repeats of prior year’s surveys. In general, however, last year’s trends remained the same, with the lowest average scores in the Northeast, and the highest in the Midwest.

Interestingly, while men are still more likely to pass the test than women, the gap between the sexes is smaller in the 2009 results (81% of males, 79 % of females) than it was in 2008 (87% and 80% respectively.)

The greatest number of wrong answers related to yellow lights and safe following distances, but almost everyone correctly identified the purpose of a solid line.

Additional key findings from the 2009 GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test include:

  • Older drivers generally score better than younger drivers.
  • While the Northeast had the lowest average scores, the South had the highest failure rate (41%). The Midwest had the highest average test scores and the lowest failure rates (15%).

Source: Insurance Journal.

State Farm Files First Pay-As-You-Drive Plan in California

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The Insurance Journal is reporting that State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. has submitted the first application of offer a pay-as-you-drive program in the State of California. Such programs reward drivers who have low mileage with reduced car insurance rates.

California approved pay-as-you-drive regulations last October, but State Farm is the first insurer to submit a rating plan where motorists’ insurance rates will be based on actual mileage driven rather than estimated mileage. If the state insurance department approves the proposal, customers of State Farm will have the option to switch to the new verified mileage plan, which the insurer is calling “Drive Safe and Save.”

Policyholders who choose to purchase this type of auto insurance coverage would then be rated based on the actual number of miles they drive annually, and customers who reduce their driving habits by even 500 miles a year will benefit from the switch.

The filing must be approved by the State of California before being placed on the market for consumers to purchase. Steve Poizner, California Insurance Commissioner, said that he hopes other insurance companies will follow State Farm’s lead in offering such a program.

The filing must be approved by the state before being placed on the market for consumers to purchase.

Insurance Commissioner Steven Poizner said he hopes other insurers will follow State Farm in offering the product.

Fiesta Auto Insurance Announces New Offices, Expansion Plans

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It may be a bit late in the season to be thinking about it, but Huntington Beach, Calif.-based Fiesta Auto Insurance, an insurance franchise that also offers tax preparation services, has announced the opening of twenty new offices during the first quarter of 2010 – refreshing news in an economy where business are still cutting back and laying off. This growth increases the company’s presence to over sixty open locations nationwide.

According to a report in The Insurance Journal, the new offices are located in:

* Harbor City, Calif.;
* Fresno, Calif.;
* Watsonville, Calif.;
* Corpus Christi, Texas;
* Dallas;
* Houston;
* Katy, Texas;
* San Antonio, Texas;
* Ft. Worth, Texas;
* Pembroke Pines, Fla.;
* Pompano Beach, Fla.;
* Palm Springs, Fla.;
* Miami;
* Taylor, Mich.;
* New York;
* Bridgehampton, N.Y.;
* Ozone Park, N.Y.;
* Newark, N.J.;
* Chicago; and
* Malden, Mass.

Fiesta Auto Insurance has further announced that it plans to have more than 150 open locations by the end of this year, and 1,500 by the end of 2015.

John Rost, founder and president of Fiesta made a statement to the press, saying, “We are thrilled with the success that Fiesta Auto Insurance has experienced during the past three months. As a hybrid concept that pairs two extremely successful industries in one business model, we have really opened the doors for investors to reach out to the underserved Hispanic demographic and blue-collar communities. We look forward to continuing to find the right franchise partners to represent in local communities across the country.”

Connecticut fines GEICO $177,500

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The Insurance Journal reported Friday that four GEICO subsidiaries have been fined by the Connecticut Insurance Department for improper rating, claim delays and the use of unlicensed adjusters, among other violations.

The total fine – $177,500 – is the result of smaller fines assessed to the four subsidiaries, and follows a market conduct exam of GEICO operations in the state of Connecticut.

State Insurance Commissioner Thomas Sullivan told the press, “”We will continue to scrutinize companies in this industry to ensure they are committed to conducting business within the boundaries of our insurance laws.”

Connecticut law requires that all insurance agents be licensed by state, and that insurance companies must formally appoint any such agents who “sell, solicit, or negotiate insurance products on their behalf.” The market conduct exam revealed that each of the subsidiaries was employing unlicensed adjusters. Other violations included a failure to report “loss of use” distributions when making settlements.

It is unknown if these fines will cause GEICO to increase auto insurance rates in Connecticut.

Kentucky Legislature Seeks to Ban Texting While Driving

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Last week, the Kentucky state Senate passed a bill that would ban drivers in the Bluegrass State from sending text messages while driving. Specifically, the measure would prohibit drivers in Kentucky from writing, sending, or reading text messages when their vehicle is moving.

According to The Insurance Journal, the bill is written to become enforceable in stages. For the rest of this year, violators will merely receive a warning, but beginning in 2011, first time offenders would pay a fine of $25 plus court costs, while repeat offenses would earn people a $50 fine plus court costs.

The bill’s lead sponsor, Denise Harper Angel (D – Louisville) said the proposal would save lives by deterring reckless driving, while opponents of the measure questioned how it would be enforced by police officers.

The bill cleared the Senate with a 27-6 vote and has been sent to the House for their review and approval.