Latest Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Mercury Launches Usage-Based Car Insurance App Oklahoma
Jun 22 2021 // Mercury Insurance has made its usage-based insurance app, MercuryGO, available to drivers in Oklahoma. The app acts as a virtual driving coach, providing skill scores that give real-time feedback about driving behavior,...
Ridesharing and Auto Collisions
Jun 21 2021 // The increased use of ridesharing apps appears to be associated with a decrease in motor vehicle collisions and impaired driving convictions. That’s according to research by The University of Texas Health Science...
S.C. High Court Nixes Felony ‘Step-Down’ Provisions in Auto Policies
Jun 21 2021 // A South Carolina Supreme Court opinion published in June nullifies auto insurance policy provisions that “step down” the maximum payout in instances where the insured was committing a felony or attempting to...
Insurers Can’t Mandate Use of Designated Auto Repair Shop, Arkansas Commissioner Says
Jun 21 2021 // Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Alan McClain has reminded insured Arkansans seeking automobile repairs that insurance companies cannot require automobile repairs be done at a specific repair shop. “If an insurer...
What Pandemic Auto Premium Givebacks? Many Customers Unaware, Says J.D. Power
Jun 18 2021 // During the COVID-19 pandemic, auto insurers have returned more than $18 billion in premiums to address the drastic reduction in driving. It turns out all that extra money didn’t make consumers any happier, if they...
More Defendants Plead Guilty in Louisiana Staged Auto Crash Cases
Jun 17 2021 // Two more defendants have pleaded guilty conspiring to stage automobile accidents in order to defraud insurance and trucking companies. The defendants from Orleans and Jefferson Parishes pleaded guilty before United States...
USAA to Acquire Insurtech Noblr to Offer Its Members Usage-Based Auto Coverage
Jun 16 2021 // Insurer USAA is buying Noblr, an insurtech digital insurer offering behavior-based auto insurance. USAA, a Texas-based insurer focused on members of the U.S. military and their families, said the acquisition will help make...
Biden Regulators Plan Safety Standards for Truck Brakes, Autonomous Vehicles
Jun 16 2021 // DETROIT (AP) — In a reversal from Trump administration policies, U.S. auto safety regulators say they will move to require or set standards for automatic emergency braking systems on new heavy trucks. The Department...
Jury Finds Wisconsin Auto Parts Seller Guilty of Age Discrimination
Jun 15 2021 // An internet-based auto parts seller in Madison, Wisconsin, violated federal law when it failed to hire a qualified job applicant because of his age, a jury has found. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)...
Vehicle Crashes into Guard Rail at Texas Racetrack, Injuring 8
Jun 15 2021 // Eight people were injured when a vehicle crashed through a guardrail and plowed into a crowd at a mud racing event in Texas. The crash happened at about 6:30 p.m. on June 13 at a racetrack in Fabens, Texas, about 40 miles...
South Carolina High Court Nixes Felony ‘Step-Down’ Provisions in Auto Insurance
Jun 11 2021 // A South Carolina Supreme Court opinion published last week nullifies auto insurance policy provisions that “step down” the maximum payout in instances where the insured was committing a felony or attempting to...
Amorous Cicada Blamed for Causing Ohio Car Crash
Jun 9 2021 // An amorous cicada was blamed for causing a car crash in Cincinnati, Ohio. The insect flew through an open window, striking the driver in the face on Monday night, Cincinnati police said. The motorist drove off Riverside...
Arkansas Commissioner: Insurers Can’t Mandate Use of Designated Auto Repair Shop
Jun 4 2021 // Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Alan McClain is reminding insured Arkansans seeking automobile repairs that insurance companies cannot require automobile repairs be done at a specific repair shop. “If an insurer...
Groups Oppose Key Spectrum Shift From Auto Safety to Wireless Devices
Jun 3 2021 // Two prominent transportation advocacy groups on Wednesday challenged the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) November decision to shift much of a key spectrum block set aside for auto safety to accommodate the...
Truck Driver in Accident That Killed 5 Kids Lied About Health: Safety Board
Jun 3 2021 // FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A fiery 2019 Florida interstate crash that killed five children from a Louisiana church headed to Walt Disney World was caused by a truck driver who hid his long medical history becoming...
Fire Damages at Least 17 Semitrailers at Illinois Truck Facility
Jun 2 2021 // A fire at a Chicago-area truck service facility has damaged at least 17 semitrailers. The blaze at KDM Truck Service in Addison, Ill., was reported about 10:30 p.m. on May 31, according to WLS-TV. Two semitrailers...
5 More Plead Guilty in New Orleans Staged Truck Accident Cases
May 28 2021 // Five more individuals have pled guilty to their involvement in insurance fraud schemes arising out of staged automobile accidents with tractor-trailers in New Orleans, Louisiana. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the...
Car Crashes Through Roof of Missouri Home but No One Injured
May 27 2021 // Firefighters in suburban St. Louis said it’s astonishing no one was injured in a weekend crash that saw a car flip end-over-end down an embankment and crash through the roof of a home just feet from where two people...
Residents Debate Reopening of Car-Free San Francisco Streets
May 27 2021 // For Vanessa Gregson, the four-lane highway that borders the beach along San Francisco’s Pacific Ocean is now an automobile-free sanctuary where she can blissfully ride her bicycle and enjoy the quiet. “You hear...
Wolves Get Credit for 24% Drop in Deer-Auto Collisions
May 26 2021 // Ecologist Rolf Peterson remembers driving remote stretches of road in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and seeing areas strewn with deer carcasses. But that changed after gray wolves arrived in the region from Canada and...
