Ask Tim; Industry News

​Major news outlets publicly reported late last month that State Farm and Progressive have stopped issuing new auto insurance policies or coverage on certain older Kia and Hyundai models. A television station in Rochester contacted Big I New York about it.  The reason given for the carriers' action was high theft rates for these vehicles – Progressive told USA Today, “In some areas, the vehicles are almost 20 times more likely to be stolen than other vehicles.”Two Big I New York members in different parts of the state have told us this week that another major carrier has gone further. According to a producer bulletin, the…

​The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS)  announced today that it has formally adopted its proposed regulations on insurance for peer-to-peer car sharing arrangments. The new and amended rules took effect today.Peer-to-peer car sharing programs match individual vehicle owners who are willing to rent their vehicles to others with willing potential renters. The arrangement is normally done via a smartphone app or website. Turo is the best-known example of a peer-to-peer car sharing service.In 2021, the state Senate and Assembly passed and Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law the Peer-To-Peer Car Sharing Program Act​.  Amendments were enacted ​in February 2022, and the final version of…

​ Photo by Tom Good. Used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced last week that it has purchased $502.5 million in reinsurance from 18 carriers on potential flood insurance losses during 2023. The coverage will apply to portions of insured losses that exceed $7 billion from a single flood event. This is the seventh consecutive year that FEMA has purchased reinsurance on the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP.) FEMA paid $90.2 million in premium for the coverage. Read more on the FEMA websiteSource