Latest Personal Auto Headlines

All the headlines from our Personal Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Wisconsin Supreme Court: Amazon Drivers Can Be Declared Employees

Mar 28 2024 // MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday let stand a lower court ruling that declared some delivery drivers for Amazon were employees as the state argued, not independent contractors as the online...

Louisiana Truck Driver Charged After Deadly 2023 Pileup

Mar 19 2024 // RESERVE, La. (AP) — A Louisiana truck driver has been charged with negligent homicide for his role in a fiery highway pileup that left eight dead last year after a “super fog” of marsh fire smoke and dense...

Uber Pays Australian Taxi Drivers $178 Million in Settlement

Mar 18 2024 // Uber agreed to pay A$271.8 million ($178 million) to compensate thousands of taxi drivers in Australia who claimed they lost income when the ride-share company entered the local market. Uber Technologies Inc. settled the...

Suit Says OnStar, LexisNexis Shared Driving Data With Insurers, Spiking Rates

Mar 15 2024 // Do motorist-assistance systems like GM’s OnStar feed data to auto insurers, resulting in higher premiums for some drivers? A south Florida man says indeed, they do, and has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit...

Court Upholds Kansas Law Banning Changes to Transgender Driver’s Licenses

Mar 13 2024 // TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas judge ruled Monday that the state isn’t violating transgender residents’ rights under the state constitution by refusing to change their driver’s licenses to reflect their...

Tesla, Rivals Get Low Marks for Automated-Driving Technology

Mar 13 2024 // Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self Driving technology and nine other assisted-driving systems marketed by major automakers received “poor” ratings from the U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in a...

Airport Driver Who Died When Forklift Tipped Was Not Wearing Seat Belt: OSHA

Mar 12 2024 // The Aug. 29, 2023, death of a forklift operator at Boston’s Logan International Airport may have been prevented if his employer had ensured proper safeguards for operating and maintaining forklifts, an Occupational...

Michigan Town to Pay $320K to Japanese Man Wrongly Accused of Drunken Driving

Mar 5 2024 // A Michigan village has agreed to a $320,000 settlement with a man from Japan who was wrongly accused of drunken driving after a police officer badly misread a breath test, court records show. Ryohei Akima blew a 0.02 on...

Profit Recovery Will Vary Among U.S. Personal Auto Carriers: Fitch

Feb 29 2024 // Fitch Ratings said it expects underwriting results for U.S. personal auto insurer to continue to improve this year but the pace to profitability will vary. Auto insurers Progressive and GEICO were the only two of 10...

Georgia House Approves Bill to Let Drivers Refuse to Sign Traffic Tickets

Feb 23 2024 // ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia lawmakers are seeking to change state law to say that officers don’t have to arrest people who refuse to sign traffic tickets after a church deacon died in August after initially refusing to...

Uber Sues Drivers’ Insurer Alleging Its Claims Practices Have Fueled Tort Litigation

Feb 20 2024 // Uber Technologies last Friday sued its drivers’ auto insurer for defense and indemnification regarding multiple lawsuits that are seeking to hold Uber vicariously liable for accidents involving some of its drivers in...

Wage Growth Likely to Continue Driving Workers’ Comp Payroll Growth

Feb 19 2024 // Despite a “significant slowdown” in job growth in 2023, a new National Council on Compensation Insurance briefing shared that “wage growth will likely continue to drive workers’ compensation payroll...

Waymo Recalls 444 Self-Driving Vehicles Over Software Error

Feb 16 2024 // Alphabet’s Waymo unit has recalled 444 self-driving vehicles after two minor collisions in quick succession in Arizona because a software error could result in them inaccurately predicting the movement of a towed...

How Worker Won Workers’ Compensation for Mental Health Care After Car Crash Injury

Feb 15 2024 // A Virginia employer cannot assert that an injury is unrelated to a workplace accident while also arguing that the medical care for that injury is unauthorized; instead the employer must choose one or the other position,...

In SW Florida, High Home Insurance Rates Are Driving Away Would-Be Buyers

Feb 14 2024 // (Bloomberg) — Florida’s southwestern coast — long one of America’s fastest-growing regions — is losing some of its boomtown swagger as a home-insurance crisis and other soaring costs make homes...

Ohio City Settles with Former Officer and Truck Driver Involved in K-9 Attack

Feb 13 2024 // COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A central Ohio city agreed this week to a settlement with a former K-9 officer and a truck driver involved in an attack last year, video of which garnered national attention and raised questions...

Driver Gets 25 Years for Deaths in ‘Pop-Up’ Car Rally

Feb 13 2024 // A driver charged in separate crashes that killed two people during a pop-up car rally in southern New Jersey has been sentenced to 25 years in state prison. Gerald White, 38, of New Castle, Delaware, pleaded guilty in...

Miami Man Charged with Selling Fake Policies to South Florida Car Buyers, Drivers

Feb 6 2024 // A Miami man posing as an insurance agent reportedly swindled at least eight people out of $29,000 by selling them fake auto insurance policies. That man, William Diehl, was arrested recently and charged with fraud and...

North Carolina Lawmakers Say Changes Could Come for State’s High-Risk Driver Pool

Feb 5 2024 // North Carolina has a rather unique setup for auto insurance, allowing insurers to place high-risk drivers into the state Reinsurance Facility, a non-profit, state-created pool. That system came under new scrutiny last...

State Troopers Arrested for Alleged Commercial Driver’s License Bribery Scam

Jan 31 2024 // Two current and two former Massachusetts State Police troopers are among six charged in connection with an alleged conspiracy to give passing scores to certain Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) applicants, including...