Automobile Insurance

California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has halted a ballot initiative drive that would have empowered authorities to seize the license plates from vehicles belonging to drivers who had no auto insurance. Poizner launched the campaign late last year, saying strong action was needed to take off the road the estimated 25% of drivers who fail to comply with California's mandatory auto insurance law.

California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner proposed emergency changes Monday to regulations that help determine rates for auto and homeowner policies, saying the changes would "help speed lower insurance rates to consumers." The proposal would make changes to the formulas used to set rates. These changes would require insurance companies to show premium trends over the last six years. Under the current regulation, they must show trends going back three years.

Question: I'm going to Mexico, and I think if I rent a car in Mexico and use my MasterCard, I get some insurance automatically. But I don't understand which of the types of insurance I can pass up at the rental agency in Mexico. What do I need? Tom Boesiger Loveland, Colo. Answer: A limo with a chauffeur. Automobile insurance, never simple, becomes more complex when a rental is involved. And when it's a rental in Mexico, it's at least triple the tribulation.

Getting too much junk mail touting low automobile insurance rates? Being bombarded by television commercials featuring a cute gecko? ? Think of them as opportunities, not just irritations. ? California is enjoying a buyer's market for auto insurance. And consumers can find bargains -- whether they comparison shop, pick up the phone, check out the Internet or just ask around. ?

Once again, thousands of Southern Californians reeling from days of destructive wildfires have been forced to exercise the home insurance policies they hoped they would never have to use. That it comes at a time of global financial crisis raises a new set of questions: how healthy are the insurance companies that protect homeowners in a region continually battered by fires? And will the current economic climate result in higher premiums?

Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo's wife has an outstanding warrant for her arrest for failing to appear in court nearly nine years ago on charges of driving without insurance, with a suspended license and in an unregistered car, court records and officials confirmed Tuesday. In addition, documents obtained by The Times show that in the last three years the Delgadillos were chronically late in paying fines for at least five parking tickets.

Consumer advocates warned Thursday that a legal victory by the Automobile Club of Southern California could spur other insurers to charge customers steep fees for paying their bills in installments. The issue, the subject of several lawsuits, has prompted a bill in the state Legislature and has come under scrutiny from the California Department of Insurance. Critics say the installment fees are sometimes not fully disclosed to policyholders until they get a first bill.

The Gecko's got good news for California drivers, at least for those with Geico auto insurance. The company, known for its smooth-talking reptile TV pitchman, and California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner are expected to announce today an almost 11% average rate reduction for all 436,000 Geico General Insurance Co. customers, about one-fourth of them in Southern California.

If you've been banged up in an auto accident, at least you'll be dealing with someone in the insurance business capable of feeling your pain. Or will you? Most consumers probably don't know this, but the dollar value of insurance payouts frequently is determined not by a human being but by a highly sophisticated computer program bearing a name straight out of a sci-fi movie: Colossus. Little is known about how Colossus works.

The real estate title industry has taken a lot of flak lately for practices that state regulators and consumer advocates claim drive up the costs consumers pay for title insurance. On Tuesday, the industry sought to counter some of the criticism by unveiling a website -- www.clta.titlewizard.com -- that, for the first time, allows consumers to see what the major title insurers charge for their policies.