| Rental insurance: Better to be safe ...
You walk up to the rental car counter to pick up your car, and the agent asks if you want the optional insurance through the rental company. At $20 per day, the coverage seems a little costly, and you remember hearing that your personal auto insurance provides sufficient coverage. So you pass. Yet, as you drive away from the airport you wonder what the right answer to the question really is. Of course, any good lawyer will tell you It depends. Here are the facts. If you take the rental car companys insurance, chances are you are paying to alleviate any problems should the car be damaged in an accident. The answer is conditional because you must still be operating the vehicle lawfully. Many, if not most, insurance contracts have clauses that provide that the coverage will not protect you if you are driving recklessly, or under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
AM Best Launches New Online Consumer Insurance Information Center
OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 5, 2007--A.M. Best Co. has launched Best's Consumer Insurance Information Center, an online resource designed to inform consumers about the various insurance options available to them, and to demonstrate the importance of an insurer's Best's Financial Strength Rating in determining how likely the company is to fulfill its financial obligations to policyholders. Overview information on life insurance and annuities, health and accident insurance, and auto, home and personal property insurance is currently available in this Center. Visitors can also expect to find answers to basic questions that may arise when deciding on the line of coverage that would best suit their needs, such as: "What does it protect against?" "Who needs it?" and "When should I buy it?"
This Center features a convenient tool that lets users search for an insurer and view its Best's Rating, basic contact information and its top five lines and states of business (by direct premiums written).
bellwetherreport.com: Analysis of ProCentury Corporation
As the good Samaritan of the insurance industry, ProCentury focuses on the geographically remote and the hard to insure. The company specializes in commercial excess and surplus lines (coverage that other insurers have rejected). It writes liability, property, and multi-peril insurance for small and midsized corporations, including specialty coverage for retail stores, non-residential contractors, daycare facilities, and fitness centers. Focusing on excess and surplus, ProCentury exited the auto and workers' compensation industries in 2000 and 2002, respectively. The company markets its products through more than 100 agents in 35 states. Shares were down 6% since announcing financial strength rating. BellwetherReport.com is a leading online research firm for international investors looking to get an edge over their portfolio.
AM Best Affirms Ratings of Safety Group and Safety Insurance Group ...
OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 2007--A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of A (Excellent) and the issuer credit ratings (ICR) of "a" of Safety Group (Safety) and its inter-company pool members, Safety Insurance Company (Safety Insurance) and Safety Indemnity Insurance Company (Safety Indemnity). In addition, A.M. Best has assigned an FSR of A (Excellent) and an ICR of "a" to Safety's other inter-company pool member, Safety Property and Casualty Insurance Company (Safety P&C). Concurrently, A.M. Best has affirmed the ICR of "bbb" of Safety's publicly traded holding company, Safety Insurance Group, Inc. (Delaware) (NASDAQ:SAFT). The outlook for all ratings is stable. All companies are domiciled in Massachusetts, except where specified. The FSR of Safety reflects its strong capitalization, improved operating performance and market position as a leading personal automobile writer in Massachusetts.
Insurance Auto Auctions Announces Improved Fourth Quarter and Full ...
WESTCHESTER, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc., a leading provider of automotive salvage and claims processing services in the United States, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full-year 2006. The Company's strong performance in 2006 was driven by successfully integrating acquisitions and greenfields along with increased buying activity as a result of the Company's live auctions combined with Internet bidding capability. The Company recorded revenues for the quarter of $92.6 million, compared to $69.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2005, an increase of 32.5%. Fee income in the fourth quarter increased to $79.2 million versus $59.6 million in the fourth quarter of last year. The Company reported Consolidated EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) consistent with the definition in the Company's senior credit agreement of $15.8 million during the quarter compared to $10.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2005, an increase of 56.4%.
State: Insurance practices harm minorites
A Florida Office of Insurance Regulation report contends the insurance industry's use of occupation and education for the underwriting and rating of auto insurance policies unintentionally harms minorities and low-income individuals in determining auto insurance premiums and insurance eligibility. While the practice is legal, it creates unintended effects that the government may find unacceptable, says Kevin McCarty, insurance commissioner. In 2003, the Legislature passed a law severely limiting the use of credit scoring in insurance underwriting. .
Homeowners Insurance Line Three Times More Volatile Than Private ...
CHICAGO, March 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Homeowners insurance line was the most volatile major insurance line in the 14-year period 1992-2005, due in large part to the active 2004 and 2005 Atlantic hurricane seasons. Homeowners was three times more volatile than the Private Passenger Auto line, according to an Aon Re Global study. The study shows that the Private Passenger Auto line experienced the lowest volatility during that period, followed by the Auto Physical Damage, Commercial Auto and Workers Compensation lines. Excluding catastrophe losses, the Homeowners line has a risk level comparable to the Commercial Auto line. Liability lines and Medical Malpractice also have significantly above average volatility. Aon Re's Insurance Risk Study quantifies the systemic risk for each line of business, representing the risk to a large portfolio from non-diversifiable risk sources such as: For large books of non-cat-exposed business, systemic risk is the major component of underwriting volatility.
Florida Officials: Education, Job in Rating 'Unintentionally ...
Results of a report on the factoring of occupation and education for underwriting and rating of auto insurance policies show that while the practices "unintentionally harm minorities and low-income individuals" in determining premiums and eligibility, they are nonetheless legal. .
Online fraud: Unsung guardians of the Internet
Peter, a financial adviser living in the UK, was taken aback when he got a gruff, no-nonsense call on his mobile last week. The voice at the other end told him not to send £17,300 to Spain. "I still don't know how he found me," said Peter, who had been thinking about buying a cheap Porsche Boxster that he'd seen in a paper. The seller had asked him to send the money to an escrow company and pointed him to its website. When it received the money and the car, the seller said, the trade would be made and the car would be released for shipment. What Peter didn't know was that the escrow company's website had been identified as a fake by a scam-watching group. If he had made the trade, he would probably never have seen car or cash again. "I was certainly interested in sending the money because I wanted the car, and he definitely knocked that on the head for me," says Peter.
POLICE REPORTS: Scam artists bilk elderly man out of $20000
An elderly Lufkin man was scammed out of $20,000 by two men, one whom he met and gave a ride from a local grocery store, a Lufkin police report stated. Police refer to the type of scam as a "pigeon drop." The 87-year-old said he gave a man a ride from a grocery store to a nearby pharmacy where they met another man, the report stated. The suspects allegedly convinced the man that they would give him some money if he proved he already had some cash, apparently as an act of trust between the men, the report stated. So the man withdrew money from his bank account and gave it to the other men, who took off on foot with his money. ——— Lufkin police made two additional arrests Wednesday in connection to the March 4 robbery of a local department store that left a store guard injured.
Canadian couple with US jobs opt for Canada
In Ontario, a couple we'll call Sam, 38, and Hannah, 37, want the best education money can buy for their three young children. Sam, an entrepreneur, has a business in the United States. Hannah, a health care professional, commutes to her work in New York. Exposure to the tax systems of two countries has turned saving for their children's education into a tangle of international law. .
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