VW, Audi, BMW recall 1.7 million U.S. cars with Takata airbags

WASHINGTON -- The Volkswagen Group of America is recalling about 850,000 vehicles due to potentially faulty airbags made by Japanese supplier Takata Corp. -- the company at the center of a long-running global safety crisis.

Volkswagen said it will recall 680,000 vehicles in the United States due to the potentially faulty airbags, while Audi will recall about 170,000 vehicles, spokespeople for the companies said.

The move comes after U.S. auto safety regulators said last month that Takata had declared 5.1 million U.S. vehicles defective, revealing that far more airbags than previously thought were potentially unsafe.

Also today, BMW said it will recall about 840,000 U.S. vehicles equipped with the Takata airbags. The recall covers BMW cars and SUVs from model years 2006 to 2015. The models have not been included in previous Takata-related recalls, BMW said.

Takata's inflators can explode with too much force and spray metal shrapnel into vehicle passenger compartments. They are linked to at least 10 deaths worldwide and more than 100 U.S. injuries.

Problems with Takata airbags were first reported in 2009. So far, 14 automakers have recalled a total of about 24 million U.S. vehicles involving about 28 million Takata airbag inflators.

The VW recall covers the 2009-2014 Volkswagen CC sedan, 2010-2014 Jetta SportWagen and Golf compacts, 2012-2014 VW Eos convertible, as well as 2012-2014 Passat midsize sedans assembled in the United States and 2006-2010 Passat sedans and wagons built in Germany.

Audi’s recall covers the 2005-2013 A3 compact, 2006-2009 A4 Cabrio, 2009-2012 Q5 crossover and 2010-2011 A5 Cabrio.

A VW Group statement said it was unaware of a ruptured SDI or PSDI-5 inflator, the types involved in the recall, in any VW Group vehicle worldwide.

Audi and VW said they will notify owners of the recall once they identify the specific vehicles affected by the recall. However, replacement parts are currently unavailable, according to the companies.

Affected vehicles in Audi and Volkswagen dealers’ certified pre-owned inventory at dealers will be placed on stop-sale until repairs are completed, spokespeople from VW and Audi said.

Daimler recall

The VW Group recalls come after Daimler AG recalled about 840,000 U.S. vehicles with Takata airbag inflators.

Daimler said it was recalling about 705,000 Mercedes-Benz cars and about 136,000 vans after being notified by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that certain Takata airbags were potentially defective.

Cars being recalled include the Mercedes-Benz SLK convertible, the C-class and E-class sedans, the M and GL-class SUVs as well as the R-class and SLS coupe made between 2005 and 2014.

Daimler is also recalling vans made between 2007 and 2014, including vehicles bearing the Dodge, Freightliner and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter brands.

Daimler said it was unaware of airbag failures in its vehicles, and that the numbers of vehicles involved in the recall could fall once further technical studies had been carried out by NHTSA.

Charge

Daimler said it would take a charge of 340 million euros ($383 million) to cover the cost of the recall. It will account for this by revising its 2015 financial results published last week, lowering net profit to 8.7 billion euros and earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to 13.2 billion euros, from 8.9 billion and 13.5 billion euros respectively.

"This (340 million euros) is quite a big shortfall but the main message is that the current financial year will not be affected," said Frankfurt-based Bankhaus Metzler analyst Juergen Pieper who kept his "buy" recommendation on Daimler's stock.

More airbag recalls are likely.

Other manufacturers have announced big recalls of cars with Takata airbags over the last few years. A number of automakers from top customer Honda Motor Co. to Mazda Motor Corp. have said they will no longer fit the product in new cars, fanning concerns over Takata's future.

U.S. regulators announced on Jan. 22 a new recall of about 5 million vehicles with potentially defective Takata airbags, covering some automakers not previously affected, including Volkswagen and Daimler.

The move was prompted in part by the death of the driver of a Ford Motor Co. Ranger pickup truck, as well as new tests conducted on suspected faulty airbags.

Honda has recalled 2.23 million U.S. vehicles in the most recent Takata expansion. Ford has recalled 361,000 Ranger trucks and Mazda nearly 20,000 B-series trucks built between 2004 and 2006.

In November U.S. regulators fined Takata $70 million and it is still under investigation by the Justice Department.

Source: http://www.autonews.com

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Honda dominates U.S. News Best Cars for the Money list

When it comes to value, 2016 is all about the Honda Motor Company, according to U.S. News & World Report.

In the annual list of Best Cars for the Money, Honda took top honors in six categories while claiming another two wins with its premium subsidiary, Acura. This is the most awards by a single brand in the last five years, according to a release U.S. News.

The Honda Civic was named best compact car, the Fit was named best hatchback and best subcompact Car, the HR-V won best subcompact SUV, the Honda Odyssey best minivan and the Honda Pilot best three-row SUV. Meanwhile, the Acura MDX was named best luxury three-row SUV and the Acura TLX was named best upscale midsize car.
The Toyota Motor Corporation earned three "best" honors for its flagship brand (Camry for midsize car, Prius V for wagon and RAV4 Hybrid for Hybrid SUV) as well as a fourth for its luxury brand, Lexus (the NX claimed top honors for luxury compact SUV.

Chevrolet was the only other brand to win in multiple categories, as the Colorado won for best compact truck, the Impala won for best large car and the Traverse won for large SUV.

This year's set of awards is the first to include the affordable and luxury subcompact SUV (crossovers) category, with the Honda HR-V and BMW X1 winning each, respectively.

U.S. News evaluates quality and value data based on 23 categories in order to rank cars in each class. Factors considered include safety, reliability and evaluations of industry experts, as well as, of course, average price.

U.S. News has been ranking cars sold in America since 2007. The awards will be given to the respective automakers during this week's Chicago Auto Show.

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com

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Oregon militia standoff: man arrested driving stolen government vehicle

The standoff with armed militia in Oregon escalated on Friday after police swooped in on one of the protesters to make the first arrest in connection with the two-week occupation of a federal wildlife refuge.

Kenneth Medenbach, who was arrested for unauthorized use of a government vehicle, is a chainsaw sculptor and longtime nemesis of the government with a history of previous entanglements with the courts over the occupation of federal lands.

He is the first militiaman connected to the armed occupation to be arrested since the bird sanctuary in rural Oregon was unexpectedly taken over on 2 January.

Medenbach, 62, was detained outside a Safeway supermarket in Burns, Oregon, some 30 miles from the Malheur national wildlife refuge, according to a statement from the Harney County sheriff’s office.

He appears to have driven from the occupied compound to a local supermarket in a vehicle allegedly stolen from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which runs the refuge. The sheriff’s office statement said that law enforcement officers recovered “two vehicles stolen from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge”.

Medenbach’s company, Chainsaw Creations, lists cabins, furniture, and signs for sale, as well as sculpted animals, with a specialty in bears and eagles. A biography on the website for a gallery that sells his woodwork says that Medenbach was born in Massachusetts, the second-youngest of five children, and that he spent 40 years in the construction trade.

This is not Medenbach’s first tangle with the law. He is currently out on bail, according to court documents, awaiting trial for a seven-month residential occupation of government land between May and November 2015.

Medenbach was tried and convicted of the same crime in 1996. According to a forest service officer who testified at that trial, Medenbach was living in “an eight-by-ten-foot tent with a metal flue and wood-burning stove, a nearby campfire, and various cooking and sleeping equipment”.

According to a court memorandum, the magistrate said that Medenbach posed a risk to public safety and said that he had referenced Ruby Ridge and Waco, two sieges that ended in violence. At a detention hearing, the government said that Medenbach had tried to protect his campsite with “50 to 100 pounds of the explosive ammonium sulfate, a pellet gun, and what appeared to be a hand grenade with trip wires.”

Convicted and given a six-month suspended sentence, Medenbach appealed the case to the federal ninth circuit court, where he argued that federal ownership of unappropriated public lands was unconstitutional. He also filed a civil suit to demand that federal judges no longer swear an oath of affirmation under the constitution, a position he defended in this blog post from January 2015.

According to one local report, the two vehicles, one a pickup truck and one a passenger van, bore door signs reading “Harney County Resource Center” – the new name occupiers have given to the sanctuary. The man police suspected of driving the second government vehicle into town already had gone into the grocery store before police arrived, the report said.

The arrest, which marks the first confrontation between law enforcement and the armed occupiers, came hours before Ammon Bundy, the leader of the militia, and the other armed men had planned to hold a meeting with the local community at which the occupiers said they planned to discuss ending the protest.

It is unclear how central a figure Medenbach was to the occupation at the refuge, or how long he had been staying there. However, his commitment to the extreme ideology of rightwing constitutionalists is not in doubt.

Medenbach spoke with The Guardian on the 2nd of January at the public rally in support of the Hammonds, held in the same Safeway car park where he was arrested. When asked why he was attending, he offered similar constitutional theories as those offered by other militia members. He claimed to have been involved in this stand-off as a member of the Oath Keepers militia.

He was extensively profiled in the 1999 book Terrorists Among Us: The Militia Threat, by retired Indiana police captain Robert L Snow. At the time, Snow wrote, Medenbach was building his own home on five acres of land in Crescent, Oregon, out of “discarded refrigerators, water heaters, and other such material.” Medenbach, according to Snow, subscribed to the legal theory that state bar associations are unconstitutional, and so courts have no authority over him.

“I’m willing to pay the price for my convictions,” Medenbach told Snow. “Someday, when the laws become too stringent, people will start waking up.”

Armed militia have been seen driving the government vehicles around the refuge ever since they took over the site in protest over federal land management policies earlier this month. Legal experts have told the Guardian that the occupiers could face hefty fines and more than 10 years of imprisonment.

A USFWS spokesperson Megan Nagel said: “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is grateful for the quick actions from law enforcement. We will continue to work with law enforcement to recover vehicles bought and paid for by the American people to care for their national wildlife refuge.”

It was unclear Friday whether the scheduled 7pm meeting between the militia and local residents would go ahead. The militia leaders had said they planned to speak directly with residents and explain their plans to leave the federal land. Officials in rural Harney County, who have become increasingly outspoken against the militia, have denied them access to public buildings, saying they refuse to host a group that supports the illegal takeover of government property.

On Thursday, Bundy was expressing doubts about whether the meeting would happen at all if the militia couldn’t find a venue.

Harney County judge Steve Grasty said he was grateful that officials have made an arrest. “At some point, criminal actions become so blatant that they just can’t be ignored,” he said. “At some point, criminal actions become so blatant that they just can’t be ignored.”

He said law enforcement is trying to end this without violence, but must make every effort to hold people accountable for their crimes. “Perhaps that’ll give Bundy and his friends incentive not to be driving around these vehicles,” he added.

Corey Lequieu, a 45-year-old occupier who is still at the refuge, said he was reluctant to believe the reports of his fellow militiaman’s arrest. “It may not even be true. I’m hoping it’s not true,” he said. “I’m very leery about their press releases and press conferences. That sheriff has lied before.”

Source: http://www.theguardian.com

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U.S. News Announces the 2016 Best Cars for the Money

Washington, D.C. – February 9, 2016 – Honda Motor Company earns the most awards in the 2016 U.S. News Best Cars for the Money awards, unveiled today at http://usnews.com/cars-money. Covering 23 automotive categories, the awards highlight a single vehicle in each class that provides consumers with the best combination of quality and value.

Honda's six awards – the most awards won by a single brand in the last five years – include Best Compact Car, Subcompact Car and Minivan for the Money. "Honda continues to impress reviewers with the quality and design of nearly all of their products," says Jamie Page Deaton, managing editor of U.S. News Best Cars. "No matter what kind of car someone is looking for, a Honda is almost always a good choice."

Chevrolet and Toyota each won three awards. Acura, Honda's luxury division, earned two. The Lincoln MKX won Best Luxury Two-Row SUV for the Money, breaking the Lexus RX's seven-year winning streak.

The 2016 awards are the first to include the rapidly expanding affordable and luxury subcompact SUV classes, with the Honda HR-V winning Best Subcompact SUV for the Money and the BMW X1 winning Best Luxury Subcompact SUV for the Money.

The Best Cars for the Money awards will be presented to the winning automakers during press preview days at the Chicago Auto Show, on February 11, 2016.

Highlights from the 2016 Best Cars for the Money Awards

Category	Winner
Compact Cars	2016 Honda Civic
Upscale Small Cars	2016 Audi A3
Midsize Cars	2016 Toyota Camry
Upscale Midsize Cars	2016 Acura TLX
Subcompact SUVs	2016 Honda HR-V
Luxury Subcompact SUVs	2016 BMW X1
Compact SUVs	2016 Hyundai Tucson
Luxury Compact SUVs	2016 Lexus NX
Full Size Pickup Trucks	2016 Ram 1500

The Best Cars for the Money methodology combines quality and value data into a composite score. Within each of the 23 categories, the vehicle with the highest score is named the Best Car for the Money in that category. Quality is measured by the overall score a vehicle achieved in the U.S. News car rankings at the time the awards are published. The rankings, updated regularly, compare cars on the basis of safety, reliability and a consensus of industry experts' opinions. Value is measured by a combination of a vehicle's five-year total cost of ownership provided by Vincentric, LLC and the average price paid for the vehicle at the time the awards are published, as calculated by TrueCar.com. Source: http://www.usnews.com

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Car insurance rates by state, 2015 edition

Michigan has the most expensive car insurance rates in the nation for the second consecutive year, according to the 2015 Insure.com state-by-state comparison of auto insurance premiums.

The Great Lakes State has occupied the No. 1 or No. 2 spot in the five years that Insure.com has commissioned the annual study. Montana moved up four positions to No. 2, followed by Washington, D.C. at No. 3.

Maine has the least expensive car insurance rates, followed by Ohio and Idaho.

The study compiled rates from six large insurance carriers in 10 ZIP codes in every state. The rates were for the same full-coverage policy for the same driver -- a 40-year-old man with a clean driving record and good credit.

The study averaged rates for the 20 best-selling vehicles in the U.S., which last year represented about 40 percent of all vehicles sold. Each model was rated on its cheapest-to-insure trim level. (You can see rates for more than 1,500 models in Insure.com’s Most and Least Expensive Vehicles to Insure tool.) The vehicles included:

•Ford F-150 Platinum 4WD Supercrew
•Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LS 2WD Regular Cab
•Dodge Ram 1500 Tradesman Regular Cab
•Toyota Camry LE sedan
•Honda Accord LX sedan manual transmission
•Toyota Corolla L sedan
•Nissan Altima 2.5 sedan
•Honda CR-V LX 4WD SUV
•Honda Civic LX sedan manual transmission
•Ford Fusion S sedan
•Ford Escape S 2WD
•Chevrolet Cruze LS manual transmission
•Toyota RAV4 LE 4WD SUV
•Chevrolet Equinox LS 2WD SUV
•Hyundai Elantra SE sedan
•Ford Focus S sedan
•Hyundai Sonata SE sedan
•GMC Sierra 1500 2WD Regular Cab
•Ford Explorer 2WD SUV
•Toyota Prius Five hatchback

The apples-to-apples comparison differs from other research, such as the premium comparison by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The NAIC figures reflect the average amount that residents spend toward car insurance, regardless of the amount of coverage they purchase or type of car they insure.

The national average premium for the full-coverage policy featured in the Insure.com study is $1,311 a year, with rates varying widely in states -- from $805 in Maine to $2,476 in Michigan.

Many factors influence the regional differences - state laws, local court systems, traffic, crime, competition among insurers and the percentage of insured drivers. Here's a look at states with the highest and lowest average rates.

No. 1: Michigan

Ask insurance agents why rates are high in Michigan, and conversation turns quickly to the state's unusual no-fault auto insurance system. Like other no-fault states, Michigan requires car owners to purchase personal injury protection insurance, which pays the medical bills of the policyholder and household members if they're injured in an accident. The coverage also pays for medical expenses of passengers who don't have PIP insurance.

But unlike other states, which require drivers to carry only a limited amount of PIP coverage, Michigan's no-fault auto insurance policies guarantee unlimited medical benefits. Insurers pay medical claims up to $530,000, and the nonprofit Michigan Catastrophic Claim Association covers medical costs exceeding that threshold. Car owners must pay an annual assessment to the association, currently $186 per vehicle. The fee is not included in the Insure.com premium study, yet Michigan still ranks as the most expensive state.

Some people simply can't afford the premiums, says Jeremy MacDonald, immediate past president of the Michigan Association of Professional Insurance Agents and president of the Mid-Michigan Agency in Alma.

"People will cut where they can," he says. "They have to sacrifice things they are likely to use, like collision insurance, to pay for things they aren't likely to use, (like unlimited PIP benefits)."

Rates are highest in Detroit, where some residents fudge addresses to get a break on rates.

Still others deal with high rates by signing up for insurance to register their cars and then dropping the coverage. Some agents sell seven-day policies, which technically fit the letter of the law, but are clearly designed to skirt the state's requirement for drivers to carry insurance, MacDonald says.

No. 2: Montana

Car insurance rates soar into the big sky in Montana, according to the Insure.com study, which calculated an average premium of $1,886.

Montana has made the top 10 in previous years, but this is the first year it broke into the top three most expensive states.

A variety of factors may be at play, says Bob Biskupiak, CEO of the Independent insurance Agents of Montana. In efforts to bring insurers to the state, he says, he and others have heard carriers express caution about the state's court system.

"We're viewed by insurance companies as having a more liberal court," he says.

In addition Montana does not offer a large market for national companies, and the population is spread over a wide area, which may increase the cost of doing business.

Meanwhile, the Legislature has been slow to pass certain driver safety laws. State bills prohibiting texting while driving have failed. The state has a secondary, versus primary, seat belt law, meaning officers can't cite drivers for failing to wear seat belts unless they stop them for other offenses.

"From a professional insurance standpoint, we look at that and scratch our heads sometimes," Biskupiak says.

Montana has the highest car accident fatality rate in the country, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. In 2013, there were 22.6 deaths per 100,000 people, more than double the national average, and 1.96 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. The national average was 1.11 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles.

No. 3: Washington, D.C.

In most states insurance rates are highest in urban areas and lowest in small towns. The District of Columbia is one large, traffic-congested city, so rates are bound to be on the upper end.

"I've been here all my life, and the traffic has gotten so much worse in the last 20 years," says insurance agent Scott Hoffman of Howard and Hoffman Inc. and a board member of the Metropolitan Washington Association of Independent Insurance Agents.

Allstate ranked the nation's capital 198th out of 200 cities for safe driving in its 2014 Best Drivers report. The average driver in the district will experience a car accident every 5.1 years, compared with the national average of every 10 years, according to Allstate.

Hoffman says Washington is litigious, and juries tend to favor plaintiffs who sue insurance companies.

Another problem is that compared to states with a number of cities, the district is a small market.

"It doesn't lead to as much competition as other areas can get," says Hoffman, whose agency is licensed in 36 states. "Virginia is so much cheaper."

No. 49: Idaho

Idaho has the cheapest car insurance in the West. The average premium is less than half what you'd pay in Montana, according to the Insure.com study, and a few hundred dollars less than the average rate in Oregon.

The largely rural state doesn't have big-city problems that can jack up car insurance rates. And a larger-than-average share of drivers are insured in Idaho, compared to other states. Only about 7 percent of drivers are uninsured in Idaho, according to the Insurance Research Council, well under the nationwide average of roughly 13 percent.

A larger percentage of insured drivers helps keep premiums down for everyone who buys coverage.

No. 50: Ohio

Fierce competition leads to affordable rates in Ohio. According to the Ohio Insurance Institute, 671 auto insurance carriers do business there - more than in any other state except Illinois.

"It boils down to the climate for insurance. Ohio continues to be a strong advocate for its citizens and has a strong insurance department that stays on the forefront as times are changing," says Jeannine Giesler, president of the Professional Independent Agents Association of Ohio and COO of Diversified Insurance Service in Elmore. "It's possible to get from independent agents rates that are very competitive."

Ohio has consistently ranked as one of the least expensive states for car insurance since Insure.com began conducting its annual state-by-state premium comparison.

No. 51: Maine

The quiet, rural state doesn't have the problems that many other states battle, which helps keep rates down.

"We have few large urban areas so we have lower overall traffic problems, and we don't have hailstorms or tornadoes," says Jeffrey McDonnell, president of the Maine Insurance Agents Association and a principle of the Allen/Freeman/McDonnell Agency in Brewer.

The state also doesn't contend with a lot of uninsured drivers.

"We have one of the highest rates of insured drivers, so we have more people sharing the risk," he says.

Only Massachusetts has a higher rate of insured drivers, according to the Insurance Research Council. Fewer than 1 in 20 Maine drivers is uninsured, compared to the national average of 1 in 8.

Methodology

Insure.com commissioned Quadrant Information Services to calculate auto insurance rates from six large carriers (Allstate, Farmers, GEICO, Nationwide, Progressive and State Farm) in 10 ZIP codes per state. Rates were compiled in January 2015.

We averaged rates in each state for the cheapest-to-insure 2015 model-year versions of America’s 20 best-selling vehicles and ranked each state by that average. Rates are for comparative purposes only within the same model year.

Rates are based on full coverage for a single, 40-year-old male who commutes 12 miles to work each day, with policy limits of 100/300/50 ($100,000 for injury liability for one person, $300,000 for all injuries and $50,000 for property damage in an accident) and a $500 deductible on collision and comprehensive coverage. The hypothetical driver has a clean record and good credit. The rate includes uninsured motorist coverage. Actual rates will depend on individual driver factors.

Ranking the states: Average car insurance premiums
1	Michigan	$   2,476
2	Montana	$   1,886
3	Washington, D.C.	$   1,799
4	Louisiana	$   1,774
5	Florida	$   1,742
6	West Virginia	$   1,716
7	Connecticut	$   1,690
8	Rhode Island	$   1,656
9	California	$   1,643
10	New Jersey	$   1,595
11	Maryland	$   1,590
12	Mississippi	$   1,584
13	Delaware	$   1,542
14	Georgia	$   1,519
15	Oklahoma	$   1,496
16	Massachusetts	$   1,460
17	Texas	$   1,449
18	Alaska	$   1,410
19	North Dakota	$   1,377
20	Wyoming	$   1,371
21	Kentucky	$   1,341
22	Alabama	$   1,320
	National average	$   1,311
23	Pennsylvania	$   1,304
24	Tennessee	$   1,263
25	Nevada	$   1,248
26	Colorado	$   1,245
27	Arkansas	$   1,239
28	New Mexico	$   1,237
29	Minnesota	$   1,222
30	Oregon	$   1,211
31	South Carolina	$   1,210
32	South Dakota	$   1,180
33	Kansas	$   1,147
34	Hawaii	$   1,114
35	Missouri	$   1,112
36	Washington	$   1,110
37	Arizona	$   1,103
38	Nebraska	$   1,086
39	Illinois	$   1,079
40	Utah	$   1,059
41	Indiana	$   1,033
42	New York	$   1,013
43	Virginia	$   1,008
44	North Carolina	$      986
45	Vermont	$      957
46	Wisconsin	$      930
47	New Hampshire	$      905
48	Iowa	$      886
49	Idaho	$      877
50	Ohio	$      843
51	Maine	$      805
Dollar figures shown are an average for the 20 best-selling 2015 models nationwide based on 2014 calendar year sales data.

Source: http://www.insure.com

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10 horrible decisions that will mess up your car insurance

10 horrible decisions that will mess up your car insurance

We often forget that our auto insurance policies are contracts. Besides paying your premium on time, you should abide by your car insurance company's rules.

But how can you abide by the rules when you don't even know what they are?

Here are 10 common scenarios that Insure.com readers often ask about. If any of these hit close to home, quickly fix the issue before you get in a pickle.

1. You haven't added a licensed teen to your policy

No one wants to raise their hand and offer to pay more for car insurance. But insurers are permitted to consider all household residents when they price a policy, including a teen. Withholding information about your teen driver from your car insurance company is a big no-no.

And insurers have ways of finding out. They can pull reports that identify “hidden” household members. One such report from LexisNexis looks for “undisclosed” newly licensed drivers between ages 15 and 25. If your insurer finds out about your licensed teenager this way, it can revise your premiums to include the young driver, or decide it doesn't want your business anymore.

If your insurer doesn't find out about your teen until there is an accident, it still might cover the incident. That would be a lucky outcome, but you'll back premiums based on the teen driver. Or, your auto insurance company may say it's not covering the teenager and is dropping your policy because of your failure to inform it.

2. You let your adult child take your car with her when she moved to another state

Sure, it's so much easier to put off a call to your agent and let your child move away with a family car. But when your car is being driven and garaged in a new area, the risks of you as a customer have changed. Car insurance companies expect to be informed about these changes. If your daughter were in an accident, your insurer could say you concealed vital information about the vehicle's location, deny your claim and cancel the policy.

If you want to do things the right way, add the child's name to the car's title. Then your child can buy insurance for the car in her own name and using her new address. This will also allow your child to register the car in her new state, which most states require.

3. You sold your car to your son but still carry the insurance on it

Uh oh. In general, you can't carry insurance on a car in which you don't have an “insurable interest.” Typically those with an insurable interest are the car's owners, lienholders and co-signers - meaning those who would be affected financially if something happens to the car.

Since you are no longer the car's owner, it's time for the new owner -- your child -- to buy car insurance for the vehicle. If he's still a minor, you may have to be on the policy with him. Minors typically must have a parent or guardian involved in the auto insurance contract.

You could face problems submitting a claim if you have failed to tell your insurance company about the ownership change. Or worse, the car insurance company could say you hid the change as a scheme to get lower car insurance rates, which would qualify as insurance fraud and a reason for it to deny claims and cancel the policy.

4. You want to finance and insure a car for a relative who lives out of state

Auto finance companies want evidence that the car loan is in the same name as the insurance policy. Since you're not the primary driver of the car, nor is the car at your residence, it is difficult, if not impossible, for you to insure the car.

You should contact the finance company to see if it will allow your relative to be the “named insured” on a policy. If it agrees, your relative has the hurdle of finding an insurance company in her state that will permit her to insure a car she doesn't own. If she can find such a company, then she still has to list you and the finance company on the insurance as owner and lienholder, respectively.

If you carry insurance on the car without telling your insurer about the situation and your relative wrecks the vehicle, it's very likely the accident wouldn't be covered. Your car insurance company is likely to call you out for misrepresenting who was driving the car and where it was located, and cancel the policy.

5. You lend your car to a friend for a few months and don't notify the insurance company

Your car insurance policy typically will cover a friend who drives your car occasionally, but it's a different story when you loan your car out for a long period. The car is now housed someplace other than your residence, and someone else is acting as the primary driver of the car -- both circumstances your car insurance company wants to know about.

If your insurance company's rules allow, you may be permitted to add your friend as a driver to your auto policy, but most car insurance companies don't want to add a person outside of the household. If that is the case, your friend should consider insuring the car. Some insurance companies will allow someone to insure a car that he doesn't own, as long as the owner is listed on the policy.

If your friend crashes your car, your insurer can deny claims because you concealed pertinent information about the “real” driver and vehicle location. That can leave you and your friend on the hook for damages he caused.

6. You sold your car and the buyer is making payments but you're still carrying the title and insurance

Don't keep your name and insurance on a car that another person possesses!

First, as the owner - because your name is still on the title -- you have vicarious liability for the actions of the person driving the car that you “sold.”

Second, you're paying for insurance but any claims might not be covered. Your car insurance policy normally covers cars and drivers of your household, not others.

If you're in this situation, you should sign the title over to the new party. He can easily get insurance once he registers the car -- and you will no longer be held responsible for his actions. To protect your interest in the car, make certain you're listed as the lienholder on the car's title and auto insurance policy. That way you'll be notified if he tries to sell the car or drop car insurance.

7. You're delivering pizzas with your personal vehicle

Most personal auto insurance policies exclude coverage if you use the vehicle to deliver items, whether it's pizza, newspapers, packages or medical supplies. Insurance companies see unsavory risk in delivery drivers because they are constantly on the road.

If you want to be paid to deliver items, you should change to a business-use or commercial car insurance policy. If you don't and you get caught driving for deliveries, you're on your own to compensate others for damages they sustained -- and the damages to your own vehicle.

8. You let an "excluded driver" drive your car

Big mistake. When you put a named-driver exclusion on your policy it meant that the person listed is not covered under any circumstances and shouldn't be driving your car.

So if that person gets behind the wheel of your car, even in an emergency, and causes an accident, you and the driver will be the ones to pay for any resulting injuries or property damage.

Hide your keys from any excluded driver in order to lower your risk of financial disaster.

9. You bought a new car weeks ago and haven't told your insurer

If you traded in a vehicle, then your car insurance policy likely extends the same exact coverage to your new car for a limited time. This means if you bought only liability on your old car, your new car would only have liability coverage.

The deadline for informing your insurer about the new car varies by insurer, but is typically 14 to 30 days. Here's more about extending coverage to new cars.

Don't bet on having automatic coverage, either; some car insurance companies don't give you any.

And if you're adding a car rather than replacing one, you should buy coverage for it before driving it off the lot.

If you're outside the insurer's automatic coverage period, or there is no extended coverage on your new car, and you're in an accident, your insurance company won't help you. You'll be paying out-of-pocket for damages you do to your own car or others.

10. You haven't told your insurance company that your live-in girlfriend drives your car

Insurance companies hate it when you “forget” to tell them about a driver who lives with you or regularly uses your car. Insurers can't charge you correctly if they don't know about all licensed household members, including a girlfriend or spouse.

If you recently got married or moved in with someone, let the insurance company know immediately and have the person added to your policy as a driver. If you fail to do so, don't be surprised if claims are denied if they cause an accident, or if you're asked to pay back premiums based on the additional driver.

If your car insurance company believes you were intentionally hiding the driver - say your girlfriend has a bad driving record -- then it may say you committed fraud by means of misrepresentation. This means your car insurance company can cancel your policy.

Source: http://www.msn.com

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Google Launches A New Tool To Sell Car Insurance To U.S Web Searchers

Confirming earlier reports that Google has been plotting a move to help sell consumers auto insurance in the U.S., the search giant announced this morning it’s launching a new feature called “Google Compare for Auto Insurance,” a comparison-shopping site that lets you compare the rates from different insurance providers. The option to compare rates will begin popping up after a consumer does a Google search for “car insurance” using Google’s search engine. Initially, the service is being made available to California residents, but Google says other states will soon follow later this year.

Consumers who enter in this search query will see a small, gray questionnaire appear, asking for their zip code, and other information about their vehicle. If they choose to fill that out, Google will return a comparison unit listing insurance premiums, provided by its insurance advertiser partners. Alternately, users can also go to www.google.com.com/compare to kick off the same experience and get quotes.

Google’s insurance partners, which include Mercury Insurance and MetLife, as well as local providers, is based on a flexible cost-per-acquisition (CPA) model, Google notes, adding that payment isn’t a factor in ranking or eligibility. The insurance providers can also use the service to highlight what makes them unique, as the Compare product has a field where they can mention their differentiating features – like safe driver discounts, or “A”-rated customer service, for example.

Today, Google already provides auto and travel insurance quotes, as well as mortgage quotes in the U.K., and it operates a credit card comparison site in the U.S., all of which fall under the “Google Compare” branding. However, recent job postings have hinted at Google looking to bring a similar mortgage comparison service to the U.S., and Forrester also said earlier this year that it expected Google would roll out a car insurance comparison service in Q1, beginning with California.

The auto comparison U.K. site has been live since 2012, but the U.S. launch has continually been pushed back. However, as of this January, Google Compare Auto Insurance Services, Inc. was licensed to do business in more than half of U.S. states, Forrester noted. The firm also found that Google was working with San Francisco-based car insurance comparison startup CoverHound, and speculated they had been acquired – a guess that CoverHound shot down soon after.

Google says that its comparison technology was built in-house, but did confirm it’s working with “many partners” including CoverHound and Compare as part of the quote aggregation process.

The move to offer insurance comparisons to web searchers could help Google generate additional revenue through commissions, but several of the major insurance carriers in the U.S. have been declining to work with Google on this new effort, we understand, including names like Progressive, State Farm, GEICO, and Allstate. (We asked Google if it would list its current partners, but the company declined. However, its website lists the logos of several providers including The General Insurance, 21st Century Insurance, Infinity, Kemper Speciality, Titan Insurance, Stillwater, CSE Insurance Group, and others.)

“Many of the major carriers are very resistant to participate on the Google Compare platform,” explains Joshua Dziabiak, a co-founder at car insurance comparison startup The Zebra. “Based off what they’ve built in the U.K., carriers see this as a price-only comparison…and they don’t want to be compared only on the price,” he says.

Source: http://techcrunch.com

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