Word: carli
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...ripe. Since 1983, auto-insurance premiums have climbed three times as fast as the inflation rate. Among the causes: bad roads, rising medical costs and growing traffic congestion. In New Jersey, where drivers pay the highest average rates in the U.S., a group of consumers pounded a car with a sledgehammer last February to demonstrate their rage. Each state regulates insurance separately, a practice that contributes to wide price differences from place to place. Several Midwestern states have been able to control insurance costs to some degree by passing strong no-fault laws, under which drivers file claims with their...
...rushed into court and obtained an order blocking the measure until the state supreme court can decide whether it is constitutional. At least eight auto insurers have already pulled out of California, even though the state's 13.5 million insured drivers account for more than 14% of all U.S. car-insurance business. State Farm Mutual, California's largest auto underwriter, stopped issuing new policies last week and referred new California customers to a subsidiary that charges 20% higher rates...
...sides agreed that California's car premiums have careered out of control. Insurers, who blamed runaway medical expenses and repair bills, also accused the state's trial lawyers of persuading clients to bring unnecessary suits. Consumer activists replied that insurers were still making healthy profits in the state and noted that companies were able to spend $70 million to fight Proposition 103 and promote alternatives on the ballot. (The measure's sponsors, led by Rosenfield and consumer advocate Ralph Nader, spent $2.3 million to get it passed...
...Jersey, which has the highest traffic density in the U.S., motorists were stunned last summer to learn that state-imposed surcharges had increased their car premiums by some 20%. The sudden increase reflected the state's need to bail out a fund that insures high-risk motorists and has fallen $2 billion in debt. While New Jersey lawmakers toughened the state's no-fault insurance laws, they remain too weak to prevent motorists from bringing costly lawsuits...
...Many car owners are responding to high insurance rates in risky ways. While most states require motorists to have policies, a growing number of drivers are hitting the road -- and each other -- without insurance. In Florida's Dade County, which includes Miami, more than 50% of all motorists have no coverage, according to state officials...