Insurance News - Friday, April 29, 2016

Here are the leading auto insurance headlines from ONTARIO AUTO INSURANCE TOPICS ON TWITTER for Friday, April 29, 2016:

• The driverless car revolution is taking the world by storm, but Canada has been slow to join. Only one Canadian province, Ontario, has allowed autonomous cars to be tested on its roads.
• Self-driving cars are at the mercy of crappy roads where it is common to see faded lane markers, missing signs and other side effects of our aging roadways.
• It looks like Toronto will have separate rules for taxis and ride-sharing companies.
• The next step in autonomous vehicles:  Toyota's ‘guardian angel’ self-driving vehicles allows drivers to control vehicles until they mess up.  Then the vehicle takes control from the driver to prevent a crash.
• There are rumours circulating that the Tesla 3, which will be available beginning March 2018, will be the first truly self-driving car.
• Uber, who has largely introduced the ability to measure usage in miles not months, has led to the creation of new models.

No business is too small for cyber criminals

Cincinnati Insurance Company Blog Post (3/31/16) - Kate Miller

Data breaches make the news when big retail chains get hit with a cyber attack. You may even be notified of the breach by the retailer if they have reason to believe your data was compromised. Or, you may read about data breaches when you receive a new credit card or are offered identity theft protection.
What you might not hear about are the cases where a business owner goes bankrupt after a data breach. A 2012 study by the National Cyber Security Alliance found that 60 percent of small to midsize businesses that suffered a breach went out of business within six months.

FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE

Your first line of defense as a business owner is to educate yourself on how to prevent or mitigate a breach. Follow news reports, and take advantage of online materials available to help you prepare for and respond to cyber attacks.

SECOND LINE OF DEFENSE

Your local independent insurance agent could be your second line of defense, providing information about Internet exposures and insurance products. Any business that handles private information is at risk of breach and subject to cyber exposures. Private information includes personal identifiers (Social Security numbers, birth dates, driver’s license numbers, etc.), financial information (bank or investment accounts, credit cards, etc.), medical or medical claim history, employee personal data or student records.
Companies that use third parties to process their transactions or record keeping, such as payroll, employee benefits or billing, also have the potential for a cyber loss. Consider the possibility of that third party experiencing a data breach where you might be ultimately responsible for the breached records.

WHY BUY CYBER INSURANCE?

Cyber insurance can reimburse for expenses incurred such as:

-Breach notification law compliance – 47 states have data breach notification laws that include an obligation to notify those whose information has been breached and certain federal laws, such as HIPAA, may also require similar notifications.

-Breach response costs – for example, notifying and providing services to affected individuals

-Opportunity costs and out-of-pocket expenses involved in resolving identity theft problems for business owners and customers

-Damage to the business computer systems and data due to unauthorized access, hacking, malware or denial of service attacks.

Remember, data comes in all forms, paper and electronic, and business owners need to protect data to manage risk.

Benefit Cuts Lead To Modest Rate Reductions

FSCO's latest quarterly rate approval numbers have been released and suggest that some savings have been accrued from the statutory accident benefit cuts that become effective on June 1.

FSCO approved 50 private passenger automobile insurance rate filings during the first quarter of 2016. All 50 filings were automobile insurance reform filings. These 50 insurers represent 83.36% of the market based on premium volume. Approved rates decreased on average by 3.07% when applied across the total market.  This is the largest drop in rates since the fourth quarter of 2013 when approved rates decreased on average by 3.98% when applied across the total market.

Although the government has begun to distance itself from the 15% rate reduction promise made in August 2016 (likely an admission that it can't be achieved), most people are, at least, curious how close the latest round of cuts got us to 15%.  If you aggregate all the rate changes since the 2013 announcement, the total rate reduction is 10.17% when applied across then total market.  There may be further reductions in the next quarter but it's safe to say that this is about it.    

Insurance News - Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Here are the leading auto insurance headlines from ONTARIO AUTO INSURANCE TOPICS ON TWITTER for Tuesday, April 5, 2016:

• Self-driving vehicles will learn everything about you—and influence your behavior in ways you might not even realize.
• Telematics will revolutionize insurance by transforming it from a fixed-cost operation into a variable-cost one.
• Zoox is the latest entrant in the self-driving-car derby wanting to develop Uber-like driverless service.
• MIT suggests interconnected roads and self driving cars will not need traffic lights or road signs (although pedestrians still will).
• UberX car is collateral damage in high-speed police chase of an SUV leaving three people with very serious injuries. Is Uber's "auto insurance policy" going to cover these possibly catastrophic claims?