Infinity Property and Casualty Corp Announces Quarterly Dividend

Posted & filed under Car Insurance.

In a world where people are wondering if their insurance companies are stable, considering mattresses over banks for the first time since the Great Depression, and generally feeling incredibly financially insecure, any bit of good news feels almost triumphant. This is true of today’s announcement from Infinity Property and Casualty Corporation.

Specifically, Infinity Property and Casualty Corporation (which trades on Nasdaq as IPCC) announced today that it had a quarterly dividend of $0.14 per share of Infinity Property and Casualty Common Stock for the fourth quarter of 2009. This number makes the annual dividend rate $0.56 per share, which represents a 16.7% increase over the dividend paid in 2009. Holders of record as of march 12, 2010 will be eligible to receive their dividend payouts on March 26, 2010, according to information provided by Thomson-Reuters.

Infinity Property and Casualty Corporation is a national provider of personal automobile insurance with a concentration on nonstandard auto insurance. Its products are offered through a network of approximately 12,600 independent agencies and brokers. The corporation will be sharing their earnings report for the fourth quarter of 2009 via a live webcast/conference call with investors, brokers, and representatives of the news media on Thursday, February 11th at 11:00 AM EST.

Insurance for Flying Vehicles?

Posted & filed under Aviation Insurance, Florida Car Insurance.

Earlier this morning, eyes in the state of Florida turned skyward, as the space shuttle made it’s last night launch, and third-to-last launch at all. The NASA space program will be changing over the next few years, but so will the insurance industry.

How so?

Well, even though the shuttle isn’t in line for an “older vehicle” discount of any kind, there are new auto technologies being developed that will require both aviation insurance and conventional auto insurance. One such vehicle has been developed by the Woburn, Massachusetts-based Terrafugia, Inc, which has just completed the flight testing program for it’s “flying car,” more properly known as the Transition Roadable Aircraft.

Expected to be available sometime next year, the flying car is a two-seat aircraft/automobile hybrid (it transforms from plane to car in under 30 seconds) designed to drive on any road, and to take off and land at local (read: regional) airports. It’s top road speed will be more than 115/hour and it will have an in-air cruise distance of about 450 miles. Even better, it uses unleaded gasoline, so pilots/drivers will be able to fill it up at any gas station.

The expected price of the flying car is $194,000 but reservations will be taken with a mere $10,000 deposit. You’ll be in line behind more than seventy other people, so don’t delay.

As to insuring the machine, which is small enough to fit into a conventional garage, we recommend against insuring it during tourist season in Florida – that’s when prices are the highest and accidents – on land, sea, and in the air – are more likely to happen.

Toyota ABS Issue Causes Insurance Headaches

Posted & filed under Auto Safety, Massachusetts Car Insurance.

While Toyotas traditionally get decent crash test results for their weight and class, and are generally deemed to be reliable and energy efficient, the ABS slippage currently being found in the Toyota Prius (and other models) isn’t just having Japan considering a recall; it’s also affecting the auto insurance industry.

How so? One way is that there are a significant number of Prius drivers making insurance claims for damage, and blaming the automaker for their accidents.

In an attempt to control this trend, the state of Massachusetts has issued some guidelines for Prius owners in their state. Specifically, those drivers who believe their accidents were caused by pedal problems can appeal both recent and old auto insurance surcharges.

According to a report in the Boston Herald, insurance regulators decided on Friday that vehicle owners covered by the Japanese automaker’s recall can ask for surcharges to be reversed if they can prove that their accidents were caused by uncontrolled auto acceleration.

In a consumer alert, officials wrote, “”In light of the recently announced recall of certain models of Toyota vehicles for unintended acceleration, the Division of Insurance is issuing this (ruling for) drivers who may have received an at-fault determination as a result of (an) accident.”

Motorists who want to request the surcharge reversal have to prove that they were driving models covered under the recall, and that uncontrolled acceleration caused their accidents. In addition, appeals must be lodged by March 30th, or within 60 days of receiving a recall notice, whichever is later.

In some cases, it may cost $50 to file an appeal.

Progressive Insurance: Gathering Customers One Game at a Time

Posted & filed under Car Insurance, Insurance Briefs.

As television has become more interactive, smartphones more ubiquitous, and social media the order of the day, marketing has had to evolve as well, and one of the best examples of this is in the second online game released by Progressive Insurance.

The game is called “Route-Rageous” and it comes on the heels of Progressive’s first attempt at edutainment, a game called “Special Investigations Unit: the Case of the Crooked Crackup,” which is available only via Yahoo! Games. The newer game, released last summer, is available on Yahoo! Games as well, but it’s also available on Facebook. Even better, the Facebook version allows multi-player games, so friends can either share their scores, or challenge each other. The Yahoo! version is limited to single-player only.

How does the game work? Here’s Progressive’s description:

Route-rageous! challenges players to earn points “driving” around town by laying out a driving route using arrows, speed markers, and different types of vehicles. Along the way, drivers must avoid colliding with other vehicles, navigate jumps, and stay on the road. Running errands and collecting coins earns players points, while riskier driving behavior, like jumping ramps, costs points.

Chris Scott, Progressive’s emerging media manager, claims that the end goal of the game is not actually to capture customers, saying, “Our goal was to create a fun, interactive, game. Sure, online games help us build our brand, but as a gamer myself, I feel it’s important to create games people actually want to play, not just advertisements dressed up as games.”

How successful is “Route-Rageous”? Between the time it was launched on Yahoo! Games in August 2009, and it’s release on Facebook in October, it was been played more than 1 million times.

California Consumer Group Pushes for Auto Insurance Reform

Posted & filed under California Car Insurance, Insurance Briefs.

Californians for Fair Auto Insurance Rates (CalFAIR), a coalition of consumer advocates, businesses, senior organizations, taxpayer advocates and insurers, announced last week that the California Secretary of State has certified the “Continuous Coverage Auto Insurance Discount Act,” so that it will appear on the ballot for the June 8, 2010 Primary Election. The measure will allow auto insurance companies to give discounts to customers who have maintained continuous insurance coverage. It required 433,971 valid signatures in order to qualify for the ballot, and CalFAIR submitted 726,199. The group has been pushing for auto insurance reform of this kind.

Current California auto insurance law does allow loyalty discounts to be given to customers who maintain continuous car insurance coverage with the same company, but if they transfer to a different company, they cannot take their discount with them. If the Continuous Coverage Auto Insurance Discount Act is passed in the June election, drivers would be able to take their discount with them while changing carriers, as long as there is no lapse in coverage.

Like the good driver discount already available to California motorists with clean driving records, this ballot measure would reward more than 80% of drivers who maintain their legally-required minimum coverage. It is felt that making the continuous coverage discount portable will give people access to more insurance options, as well as sparking increased competition for insurance business, and the possibility of lower rates and lower premiums.

Organizations endorsing the measure include: Consumers First, Consumers Coalition of California, Citizens Against Regulatory Excess, California Chamber of Commerce, Small Business Action Committee, League of United Latin American Citizens, and the California Taxpayer Protection Committee, among others.

In a statement to the press on January 20th, Jim Conran, co-chair of the Coalition, president of Consumers First, and former director of the California Department of Consumer affairs, said, “We are pleased that the Continuous Coverage Auto Insurance Discount Act has qualified for the June ballot. California consumers will be happy to know that by voting for this measure, they will be eligible to take their continuous coverage discount with them if they decide to change insurance carrier. The current inconsistency in the law prevents insurance companies from extending the continuous coverage discount to new customers and punishes good drivers who want to change insurers. That will change when this measure is passed and will provide consumers the opportunity to shop around for more savings and with more options.”

Even if the measure passes, insurance companies will still be required to base their rates primarily on each driver’s safety record, annual mileage, and driving experience. Other discounts normally given, such as good driver or student driver discounts, will be treated as they already are.

It is estimated that roughly 82% of Californians maintain continuous insurance coverage.