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State Farm plans to begin increasing or lowering some of its Illinois policy holders’ rates next year based on how far they drive.
The Bloomington-based company says its new Drive Safe and Save program will only be available to its customers who have OnStar devices on their vehicles and use its vehicle diagnostics tracking tool. Get the full story »
Insurers must stop setting prices based on gender, an EU court ruled, in a move that could raise costs for women drivers, cut male pensions and invite more legal challenges to pricing practices. “Taking the gender of the insured individual into account as a risk factor in insurance contracts constitutes discrimination,” the the European Court of Justice said on Tuesday. Get the full story »
Allstate CEO Tom Wilson in 2008. (Alex Garcia/Chicago Tribune)
The average homeowners’ premium for Allstate Corp. customers rose by 7.1 percent in 2010, and Chief Executive Tom Wilson said Thursday that “you should expect to see it go up” in 2011 as well.
Wilson made the remark during an hour-long conference call with analysts and investors. He discussed the Northbrook-based auto and home insurer’s fourth-quarter results, which fell short of expectations. On a day when the wider markets were basically flat, Allstate stock closed down 3.6 percent to $31.20 a share, making it the day’s worst local stock performer.
Some analysts are becoming increasingly frustrated with Allstate’s management. Get the full story »
Seven insurance companies have sued Toyota Motor Corp. in an attempt to recover money paid to cover crashes they blame on sudden acceleration.
The insurers cite data that blames 725 crashes on the problem and fault the Japanese automaker for failing to equip its cars with an override system that would cause a car to idle if the brake and gas were deployed simultaneously. They are seeking damages in excess of $230,000 from 14 crashes throughout the United States.
Fast growing Korean manufacturer Hyundai Motor and its Kia Motors affiliate shared the top spot for crash safety in a broad review of 2011 models. (See the full list)
Volkswagen and its luxury Audi brand also were among the 66 passenger cars and sport utilities garnering the highest ratings published by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Get the full story »
Insurers Allstate Corp. and Prudential Financial announced plans to return cash to shareholders Tuesday with a stock buyback plan and dividend increase, respectively. Get the full story »
The Chicago Cubs and Northwestern University said Allstate Corp., the Northbrook-based home and auto insurer, will be the official sponsor for the Nov. 20, 2010 college football game between the Northwestern Wildcats and the Illinois Fighting Illini at Wrigley Field.
Allstate’s sports marketing activities already include college football. It renewed its sponsorship of the Sugar Bowl earlier this summer for another four years. That affiliation began in 2006. Get the full story »
From The Wall Street Journal | Unitrin Inc. reported second-quarter results that missed analysts’ estimates as the financial-services company — which provides property and casualty insurance, life insurance and automobile financing — was hurt by unfavorable catastrophe and non-catastrophe weather.
