Auto Insurance

Related Articles from Auto Insurance

Rates Aside, Poll Finds Massachusetts Auto-Insurance Providers Vary in Quality.

Massachusetts auto insurance companies may all look the same when it comes to their base rates, but a handful of carriers do a far better job at customer service and processing claims than their competitors, according to a survey released yesterday by a nonprofit consumer organization. Boston Consumers' Checkbook, in its latest issue, reports that Amica Mutual Insurance Co., USAA, Plymouth Rock Assurance, and Electric Insurance were all rated highly by their customers in handling claims. By contrast, Encompass and Fireman's Fund were given low ratings, while most other companies received fairly average scores. Massachusetts residents tend to focus more

Drivers Getting Break as Many Insurers Cut Rates

With gasoline prices at more than $2 a gallon this summer, there is at least one bit of good news for drivers: the cost of auto insurance is starting to fall. State Farm, the nation's largest insurer, and two other big auto insurers, USAA and the Farmers Insurance Group, are cutting prices in many states and dozens of other insurers across the country are following their lead, industry experts say. ''Millions of drivers are going to see the cost of auto insurance fall this year,'' said Robert P. Hartwig, the chief economist of the Insurance Information Institute, a trade organization

Economic Scene: No-Fault Rises From the Ashes

THE high price of auto insurance got you down? Join the throng. Premiums rose at three times the rate of inflation in the 1980's. And in many states -- most recently, New Jersey -- politicians and voters have declared war on insurers, demanding that they charge less than the market will bear. Squeezing the insurers might work, argues Jeffrey O'Connell, a University of Virginia law professor and an early champion of "no fault" insurance. But not for long. The right point of attack on insurance inflation, Professor O'Connell says, is its bloated underbelly -- the 13 cents of every insurance

State’s auto insurers to seek 3.7 percent rate cut.

Massachusetts automobile insurers plan to seek a 3.7 percent reduction in their rates for 2007, according to three officials involved in the deliberations, making it the second year in a row the companies have asked state regulators to cut the size of their premiums. The industry request means drivers will be guaranteed a rate reduction next year, and the odds are very good that the size of the cut will be much bigger when the state insurance commissioner sets the final rate in December. A reduction of 10 to 15 percent is possible, which would shave $100 to $149 off

1.3 Million New Jersey Drivers To Pay More for Auto Insurance

Automobile insurance rates will rise for 1.3 million New Jersey drivers as a result of recent settlements between state regulators and insurers, including in some cases a revamping of systems that vary rates according to drivers' records. The State Department of Banking and Insurance said this week that starting in January, premiums would rise by an average of 6 percent for 464,000 policyholders with Liberty Mutual Fire Company, and by 8.9 percent for 65,000 drivers insured by its affiliate, Liberty Insurance. The announcement comes two weeks after a settlement with State Farm Insurance that will mean an average premium increase