California Auto Insurance Blog

A proposed new regulation – known as the “anti-steering bill” for the auto insurance industry in Wisconsin has strong support from those in the business of repairing cars.

A small, blue plastic box may be the future of car insurance.
The box, which plugs into the on-board diagnostic port of the car, wirelessly sends data to the driver’s insurance company.

Laws banning the use of hand-held phones while driving have failed to reduce crashes, according to research conducted by the Highway Loss Data Institute.

Clarendon National Insurance Company has paid a $360,000 fine for overcharging auto insurance policyholders and refunded customers approximately $992,000, the New York State Insurance Department said.

While DUI checkpoints are seen as a deterrent to drunken driving, they also have become dragnets for catching unlicensed drivers, often poor, undocumented immigrants, according to mostly anecdotal information from checkpoints and police officials.

Prop. 17, which is almost entirely funded by Mercury Insurance, is designed to fool voters into believing it is simply a change in the law that would allow insurers to offer a “continuous coverage” discount on policies to new customers who switch auto insurance companies.

“Consumers should remain alert for an announcement of any recalls affecting their model,” Shaw said in his recent report on the issue. “There are many Internet sites where consumers can check if a recall has been issued for their vehicle.”

California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced that on March 5, Jay Xi Chen and his sister, Tracy Chen Chen, both of Diamond Bar, Calif., were arrested at their residence on felony auto insurance fraud charges for filing an allegedly false insurance claim surrounding damage done to a Nissan GT-R supercar. Jay was charged with six counts; Tracy was charged with one.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Allen Sumner declined to delete wording submitted by insurer Mercury General Corp., the main sponsor of Proposition 17, in voter information pamphlets.

Former Baja California road-trippers and spring-break revelers have opted to stay home or go elsewhere in the wake of drug-related border violence, more travel regulations, higher gas prices and a tight U.S. economy, businesses that sell auto insurance policies for travel to Mexico are struggling.