Here’s a current photo of current labor rates we found in the Whittier, CA area….

According to an article in a Detroit newspaper, auto insurance for pets is becoming a draw for some consumers.  Progressive, Auto Owners, Farmers and AAA in Michigan have all began to offer such policies. Click here for the article.

Well, we wanted to know so we did some digging. According to data pulled from AutoClaims Direct’s “DirectLink” system, a study of over one hundred thousand files revealed that Mondays and Tuesdays are the busiest days of all. Here’s what we found…..

0.3% of claims are assigned on Sundays

20.7% on Mondays

22.3% on Tuesdays

19.3% on Wednesdays

18.1% on Thursdays

18.8% on Fridays

0.5% on Saturdays

According to an article we found today. Hartford Financial Group is looking for bids to sell it’s P & C business. Travelers and Ace Ltd were mentioned as potential buyers. Click here for the full story.

In an personal injury case involving an auto collision resulting from a person running a red light in California, the jury delivered a $45 million dollar verdict. Click here for full story.

The Maryland Department of Insurance along with the Insurance Commissioner released the results of a year long study that resulted in nearly 4,000 people receiving restitution due to insurers failure to handle vehicle total losses correctly.

The big areas of violations were total loss settlements where the correct tax rate along with title fees were not added into settlements. Click here for the full story.

UNOFFICIAL BALLOT

MEASURE:     AB 1179

AUTHOR:     Jones

TOPIC:     Motor vehicle insurance: damage assessments.

DATE:     04/22/2009

LOCATION:     ASM. INS.

MOTION:     Do pass as amended.

     (AYE

S  10. NOES   0.)  (PASS)

  AYES

     ****

Coto     Garrick     Blakeslee     Charles Calderon

Carter     Feuer     Hayashi     Nava

Niello     Torres

 NOES

     ****

 ABSENT, ABSTAINING, OR NOT VOTING

     *********************************

The passage of AB 297  would ban any new auto body repair shop/insurance owned relationships. The legislation allows for existing relationships an insurer may have but no future ones. Click here for link of the bill.  The bill passed in the Assembly yesterday.

Is it really more expensive to have collision repairs done in Norcal? Any of us in the auto claims industry know it to be the case. In 2009, here’s some numbers we have so far……

NorCal: Average estimate severity is $ 2,481     Body labor rate $71.00 hr, Mechanical rate $75.00

SoCal:   Average estimate severity is $ 2,236      Body labor rate is $ 42.00 hr, Mechanical rate $68.00

This is taking in consideration the dividing line as anything north of Fresno is NorCal and anything south is SoCal for this data report. Of course certain areas are much higher or some even lower.

Data source:  © 2009, AutoClaims Direct, DirectLink

According to an article from the CAA, there are software programs now in use that manipulate the paint materials costs by using an average cost basis. Due to the recent California paint capping legislation it appears some software providers may be coming up with programs that generate an average cost figure. Click here for the full story.