Category Archives: insurance

Top Ten Stolen Vehicles for 2011 Revealed by NCIB

The National Insurance Crime Bureau or NICB today released its list of the 10 stolen vehicles in the United States. The top spots were evenly split in 2011 with five occupied by offshore brands and five by U.S. automakers. The most popular stolen vehicles among the Detroit Three bands were Ford, Dodge and Chevrolet pickup trucks each holding one spot with Dodge Caravan and Ford Explorer rounding out the domestic models. Continue reading

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GM Pension Buyout Financial Engineering or Coup?

General Motors announced that it would offer lump-sum buyouts to 42,000 retired salaried employees while 76,000 others would have their pensions transferred to The Prudential Insurance Company of America, which would take over the GM white-collar plan. Continue reading

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Ford, State Farm Offer Auto Insurance Based on Miles Driven

Ford Motor Company and State Farm Insurance have announced that drivers who allow their Sync equipped vehicle to report actual in use mileage could have their auto insurance premiums reduced by as much as 40%. Continue reading

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Toyota offers Protection from Lease Wear and Use Charges

Toyota Financial Services and Lexus Financial Services are introducing what is called an Excess Wear & Use (EWU) Protection Plan. The plan limits financial responsibility for items such as dings, dents, scratches, and missing parts or equipment when the lease … Continue reading

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The Top Stolen Cadillac Escalade Has New Antitheft Devices

Cadillac Escalade is more than 6 times as likely as the average vehicle to be targeted by thieves and has overall theft losses more than 10 times as big, according the Highway Loss Data Institute – HLDI. So little wonder that Cadillac in a release today is touting what it claims are new security enhancements developed to thwart thieves on Escalade models. Continue reading

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Milestones: First Speeding Ticket in U.S. issued in 1899

Today more than 100,000 people a day receive a speeding ticket in the U.S. – it’s a big revenue raising business for local governments and the makers of speed traps with automatic cameras. The average citation costs $150 and often results in sizable increases – for years – in insurance rates based on dubious claims from insurance companies since traffic fatalities are at an all-time record low. Continue reading

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SUVs Now Among the Safest as Electronics Stop Rollovers

The safety improvements are so large that SUVs drivers are now statistically less likely to die in a crash than drivers of equivalent size cars. This conclusion on driver death rates was published today by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which for decades pointed out that SUVs were among the most dangerous vehicles on the road. Continue reading

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2011 Collision Cost Booklets from NHTSA Now Available

The result, according to NHTSA, is that “it is unlikely that your total premium will vary more than 10% depending upon the collision loss experience of a particular vehicle,” which begs the question if this mandated government exercise is worth the walk? Continue reading

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