#insurance

Drivers who buy auto insurance from Progressive are probably accustomed to the idea of having their driving patterns tracked for the chance at a discount, but now the company is using its program to tempt customers from under competing companies.

Everyone should take note of this: Swedish company Autoliv is developing an in-car breathalyzer that works automatically to keep drivers from taking intoxicated trips.

Overall, drivers are more satisfied with their insurance companies this year than last, according to J. D. Power’s 2012 U.S. Auto Insurance Study.

Relief at the gas pump seems to be a pipe dream. Prices are rising and drivers are rethinking budgets to accommodate. One way to help save money is through your insurance.

Insurance isn’t kind to teenage drivers. Rates are usually double the price of experienced drivers. Luckily CarInsure.com has provided a list of the top 10 best vehicles to insure for teenagers. 

You may think America has its fair share of uninsured motorists on the road, but out in the United Kingdom one out of every 25 drivers do not carry insurance. That equates to an astonishing 1.4-million people that law enforcement has had a tough time cracking down on.

Pickup trucks are usually used for work, and that’s probably why the Silverado, not to mention a few other pick-up trucks, are so cheap to insure. This model, with the V6 and Extended Ca,b features some good safety features and Chevrolet‘s OnStar vehicle safety service. The extended cab Silverado starts at $26,340, and comes with a 4.3L V6 with a meager 195 horsepower.

This list, provided by Insure.com shows us the most expensive cars to insure. Whether they’re more likely to get into an accident because of their high-powered engines, more likely to be stolen, or they’re just expensive to make and maintain, these cars cost quite a lot to insure.

Those sneaky, sneaky bastards. Owners of super-expensive cars list them on insurance as farm vehicles, gaining a discount on their premiums as high as 20%.

17th century Scottish writer William Shenstone once said, “nothing is certain in London but expense.” He should be lucky there weren’t cars back in his era, or he would have spit out his haggis: the average cost of insuring a new driver in Ol’ Blighty is around $10,000 a year.

If you’ve ever wondered as to the mental capacity of your fellow commuters, here’s a statistic that will confirm your deepest suspicions: 19 percent of drivers admit to browsing the Internet from their cell phones, while on the road.

A report by insurance comparison website InsWeb suggests that the priciest car to ensure in America isn’t a Nissan GT-R or some other foreign exotic favoured by the young and reckless, but the strange looking Acura ZDX crossover.

With so many people falling on hard times in this economy, some folks will do anything to earn a buck. That includes faking a car accident to make ends meet.

According to a recent report from the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), questionable claims (QC) resulting from staged accidents have increased 46 percent from 2007 through 2009. On a somewhat positive note, legitimate insurance claims have shrunken a bit, but this is only because there are fewer cars on the road, a by-product of fewer jobs.

What makes this type of crime so popular is that unless someone becomes suspicious, many of these staged accidents go undetected. Along with the fact that it’s a criminal offence and they defraud insurance companies out of millions of dollars (which in turn raises the premiums for the rest of us), staged accidents often involve innocent victims who are obeying the law, and can result in serious injury and death.

Florida takes the lead in all states with 3,006 QCs in 2009, with New York following in second with 1,680. Rounding out the top five are California (1,619), Texas (792) and Illinois (433). Out of the top offending cities, New York City leads the way, but Florida comes in strong with three offending cities (Tampa, 562; Miami, 511; and Orlando, 422). Houston closes out the list with 376 QCs.

The NICB has created a series of videos that get the message across by demonstrating some of the most common types of staged accidents. You can watch them at www.nicb.org.

Official release after the jump: