New York legislators introduce three new laws to combat auto insurance fraud

In the continuing fight against auto insurance fraud, New York legislators have passed three new bills that will impose serious penalties on those committing crimes. The bills were passed by the state’s Senate late last week and will be heading to the Assembly for further consideration. Lawmakers are considering auto insurance fraud one of the state’s most serious issues. According to the Senate, fraud costs the state more than $1 billion every year and deals untold damage to the auto insurance industry. These damages translate into higher premiums for consumers…

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IIHS names 2013 Mazda CX-5 compact crossover SUV its “Top Safety Pick”

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has given the highest safety rating to the new compact crossover SUV, the 2013 Mazda CX-5, and has named the vehicle its “Top Safety Pick”. After undergoing the four IIHS tests, the Mazda CX-5 received a “Good” rating each time, which is the highest possible crash safety rating. According to the Mazda North American Operations president and CEO, Jim O’Sullivan, this vehicle is the first from the manufacturer “to receive the full suite of SKYACTIV technologies, which focuses not only on fuel efficiency…

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Ranking the states by the cost of auto insurance coverage

According to the Insure.com study results, which have only just been released, Louisiana is the state in which it is most expensive to insure a vehicle in the entire country, whereas Maine enjoys the lowest insurance rates in the U.S. The average annual cost of insuring a car in Louisiana is $2,536, whereas in Maine the average cost is only $889. The issues that have been driving the rates higher in many states includes the insurance laws within those states, larger numbers of drivers without insurance, the number of different…

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Erie Insurance survey shows customers distracted from coverage by amusing advertising

Erie insurance has released the results of its latest survey that has shown that insurers have released so many humorous ads that are focused on the price of their products that consumers have been distracted from the actual coverage. Among the participants in the survey, 68 percent said that the majority of the funny auto insurance ads were focused on the money savings they provide. Though these same respondents said that the coverage that a policy provides is the most important thing to consider when buying insurance, 74 percent said…

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American housing market shows first signs of rebounding benefiting insurers

To the benefit of many insurance companies, the housing market in the United States is beginning to show some signs of recovery as mortgage companies begin their reappearance. New home loan guarantor, NMI Holdings, has just announced its hiring of the FBR & Co. investment bank in order to help in the raising of $550 million following the collapse of three of its competitors that were taken down by record homeowner defaults. Only one out of those three competitors remains anywhere above credits at a junk grade. Equally, Essent Guaranty…

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