More Strapped Drivers Kick Insurance to Curb

Insurance firms ordered to stop sex discrimination

(NEWSER) - European women will no longer enjoy cheaper car insurance because of their sex's safer driving habits. A European Union court has made it illegal for insurance companies to base premiums on gender-based risk assessment, CNN reports. Millions of women drivers, who previously enjoyed car insurance up to 50% cheaper than their male counterparts because of male drivers' much higher accident rate, now face a hefty hike in premiums. More»

Some simple moves can net $1K or more

(NEWSER) - On the eve of the first serious workday of the New Year, take a hard look at your finances and see where you can cut back in 2010. A relatively small investment in time can result in some serious savings, Kathy Kristof writes for the Los Angeles Times :

• Save automatically: "Try having just $25 a month put into a savings account at the beginning of each month." You can still spend it, but if all goes well, "you'll just find a way to spend that much less."

(NEWSER) - Car-insurance fraud spurred by the recession is continuing unabated, Newsweek reports. “Give-ups”—feigning theft or arson to collect insurance money on an unwanted vehicle—are up 24% this year over last, according to an industry group. And claims stemming from suspicious car fires are up 27%. “Normally honest people are cracking under financial stress,” an insider said. More»

Jobless Americans can't afford insurance

(NEWSER) - As the unemployment rate climbs, so, too, does the number of drivers letting their car insurance lapse, the Wall Street Journal reports. One industry group says several hundred thousand drivers dropped their insurance in the last year alone. A study two years ago pegged the percentage of uninsured drivers at 15% nationally, and that figure is sure to rise when the new report comes out next month. More»

Rebuilding will give a boost to sagging home building sector

(NEWSER) - California’s runaway wildfires are not likely to do longterm damage to the state’s economy, the Los Angeles Times reports—in fact the disaster could be a boon to some sectors. One of those is construction: In the first nine months of the year, construction jobs were down 3% from the previous year; a massive, insurance-backed rebuilding effort could revive the business. More»