Online Auto Insurance News: July Wrap-Up

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif., July 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- MetLife drew flak for offering a free car coverage deal, GEICO cut rates in California by tens of millions, Volvo technology helped drivers avoid crashes and Progressive released a tool to help car shoppers estimate premiums with their smartphones. The following summary sheet outlines some of July's most significant auto insurance news developments reported by News.OnlineAutoInsurance.com:

--MetLife was criticized for providing a year's worth of free insurance with new GM vehicles sold in Washington and Oregon. Associations representing independent agents in those states complained that a two-month sales promotion is costing their members business, but regulators said the offer is legal.

--GEICO reduced its auto coverage rates by 10.7 percent in California, saving policyholders statewide an average of $127 a year. The reduction, which takes effect Aug. 15, will apply to nearly 720,000 policyholders.

--An insurance research organization said a collision-avoidance feature developed by Volvo has effectively helped motorists steer clear of low-speed fender benders. A study found that drivers of Volvos equipped with City Safe were far less likely to cause rear-end crashes than those driving comparable vehicles without the safety system.

--Progressive unveiled a new service that allows car shoppers to rank vehicles on a scale of 1 to 10 based on estimated insurance expense using their mobile devices. The app, called VIN Capture, is available on iPhone and Android.

--Oregon positioned itself to become the second state to allow "peer-to-peer" car sharing without severing coverage. A new state law bars insurers from dropping policyholders for renting their vehicles to other drivers when they're not behind the wheel, as long as they do so through third-party services.

Source: http://www.leg.state.or.us/11reg/measpdf/hb3100.dir/hb3149.en.pdf

--Nevada instituted tough new penalties for motorists who drive uninsured. The tiered system bases punishments on the number of offenses and the length of time uninsured, with fines and fees as high as $1,750, plus a minimum 30-day license suspension.

--Regulators in Missouri, Connecticut and Oklahoma announced separately that they recovered a combined total of more than $10.2 million for auto, health and policyholders in the first six months of 2011.

To check out the articles about these and other coverage-related news developments, readers should head to http://news.onlineautoinsurance.com/ where visitors will find the only site on the Web devoted to publishing nothing but reports on the latest newsworthy happenings in the U.S. coverage industry.

SOURCE Online Auto Insurance, LLC