Driving while listening to football (particularly penalty shoot outs!) is as dangerous as using a mobile phone a new survey reports. According to the poll conducted by online insurance broker motorinsurance.co.uk UK roads must have been dangerous places to be throughout the game against Portugal on Saturday.
(Akron/Tire Review) Recent television news reports concerning Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. using an ex-con to conduct accident site investigations were more than they appeared to be, according to Cooper. According to a Cooper spokesman, the tyre maker did employ Frank Ruggier to investigate vehicle accidents on its behalf, but fired him “over a year ago” when the company discovered Ruggier had previously been convicted of insurance fraud and grand theft.
Almost one-in-five women drivers boycott Britain’s motorways for fear of breaking down, a survey shows. More than two-and-a-half million refuse to drive on motorways, resulting in travelling an extra 384 miles each a year, according to research conducted by insurance company Direct Line.
AXA has increased its stake in Continental AG to 10.5 per cent of voting rights, Continental said in a notice in German newspaper, Boersen-Zeitung. Most of the shares are reportedly held by AXA’s US units AXA Financial Inc, AXA Financial Services LLC, AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company and Alliance Capital Management LP.
(Akron/Tire Review) The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co has announced it will receive $22 million as part of an insurance settlement for asbestos- and pollution-related claims it had filed. The $22 million, part of a settlement agreed upon 13 April, will be paid by Lloyd’s Underwriters and reinsured by Equitas Limited in the second quarter of 2005.
Singapore company, Stamford Tyres, has discovered fraudulent acts committed by an employee responsible for its Brunei, Sarawak and Labuan markets, according to a report from Channel News Asia.
No names were given, said the news source, but the company has lodged a police report.
The loss arising from the fraud is estimated at S $500,000 (£159, 950). The company has insurance coverage for fraud and dishonesty by its employees to a limit of S$250,000 says the report.
Goodyear has won a $159 million settlement from an insurance lawsuit over environmental clean up costs.
The lawsuit, originally filed in 1993, challenged insurance companies that would not honour the company’s policies and pay out for government ordered clean ups of its facilities.
The manufacturer said that the settlement will be paid over the next 15 months, however it is withholding the identity of the insurance companies involved.
Continental and the USWA are in the process of negotiating a severance agreement for the workers affected by the closure of the company’s Mayfield plant. The two sides are at loggerheads over the package, which the company sees as generous, but the union calls an insult.
The union is unhappy about the company’s proposals. These include a lump-sum severance payment of up to $8,000 per worker, a maximum 30 day health insurance cover and a special fund of more than $1.1 million to help displaced workers find jobs, retraining, health care, relocation and other transition expenses.
Continental plans to cease production by 31 December and shift work elsewhere, leaving 60 workers in tyre mixing and warehousing and hundreds unemployed.
The French investment and insurance group AXA has announced that is has acquired 11.75 per cent of Continental’s shares. AXA has held shares in Continental before now but only recently publicised the fact in order fulfil German law. According German legislation, companies disposing of more than 10 per cent of their shares have to make this knowledge public.
German insurance group Allianz is reported to have reduced its stake in Continental A.G. from 7.7 per cent to 4.97 per cent. Continental said that prominent institutional investors now own 47.5 per cent of the company, with the remaining shares freely floated.
Titan International has reported its figures for the first quarter of the year. Sales were $129.0 million (1Q 2002: $123.7 m), but the company’s net loss grew to $5.9 million, compared to $2.9 million. This was blamed on increased raw material costs and increased employee benefit and insurance costs, which added over $4 million to expenditure in the quarter. NYSE Warns Titan To add to the increase in losses, Titan has been notified by the New York Stock Exchange that its common stock has fallen below the NYSE’s listing criteria relating to minimum share price. This requires that the stock must trade at a minimum average price of $1 over a 30-day period. Titan has six months to return to compliance, but the company is confident that, should its shares cease to be traded on the NYSE, it will be able to find an alternative trading venue.
Fiat is to sell Toro – its insurance arm – to De Agostini for 2.4 billion Euros. Last year Toro turned over 5 billion Euros and achieved an operating margin of 3 per cent. Over the past 12 months, Fiat has disposed of assets worth 5 billion Euros.
Insurance premiums are becoming an increasing topic for concern for many businesses. T&A looks at the problem and tries to uncover the reasons why premiums are rising and some companies are having problems finding cover. Insurance is one of those business costs which we all hate but equally almost all agree are a necessity. No reasonable businessman would argue that he didn’t need insurance. Firstly there is Public Liability, which, contrary to common wisdom, is not a legal liability, nor is Product Liability for anyone making or repairing a product. Then there is Employer’s Liability Insurance, which is a legal requirement, and we haven’t even started on premises, stock, vehicles or more targeted niche policies. The big problem for everyone is that insurance premiums are climbing. There have been warnings of 100 per cent this year, and as much as 400 per cent increase over the next two years. A UK truck tyre retreader who called T&A in a complete state of shock was having to completely reconsider his business strategy and advised us of several competitors who were taking the only option open to them and shutting up shop. His premium for Premises and Business Income Insurance in December 2000 stood at £9,000, by the following year it had doubled to £18,000. This was bad enough, but December 2002 saw the premium rise to an incredible £60,000 with a £50,000 excess. At the same time his Employer’s Liability Insurance climbed from £9,000, through £20,000 to £42,000. He reckoned that his insurance premiums had risen by 700 per cent in two years. Worse still, this business had never made a single claim …
Insurance for all in the tyre industry is fast becoming a major problem. Legislation and an increasingly litigious society make it advisable to have the best cover you can, but it’s not always that easy. Premiums have shot through the roof as insurance companies are affected by the downturn in the stock market – it seems that the tyre industry is one sector whose business the insurance companies don’t want. Insurance was one of the topics debated at last year’s NTDA conference, but if retailers think it’s difficult to get cover, spare a thought for the poor retreader.
Allstate and State Farm, two of America’s largest insurers are aiming to recover the costs of claims paid out to victims of traffic accidents involving Ford Explorers and Firestone tyres. An insurance industry spokesman said” Firestone and Ford have attempted to avoid the courts and settled claims quietly with the plaintiffs, I would expect the same strategy with the insurance companies.”
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.
