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Legislation related to OEM procedures, labor rate surveys and DRP network promotion produced extensive discussion Monday about how exactly direct repair programs operate in Texas. The House Insurance Committee conversation Monday included a representative for various major insurers declaring their DRP shops are told “‘do what must be done'” for...

A bill amending New York’s shop choice law to preserve collision repairer autonomy on part selection has returned for any fifth legislative try. Assembly Bill 6902 would append Insurance Law 2610 to report that first-party collision and comprehensive insurers could not “require a repair facility to utilize a specific vendor...

Chubb on Thursday confirmed that it had offered the Hartford $65 per share for that company, representing a 26 percent premium over the company’s recent average stock price. “We've not yet received an answer to the proposal but are getting excited about constructive, private discussions to be able to expeditiously...

Despite overwhelming support from lawmakers in 2021, a bill promoting paint and materials guidelines and scanning and calibration OEM repair procedures was shot down by a New Hampshire House committee this month. The House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee deemed House Bill 310 “Inexpedient to Legislate” within an 18-0 vote...

The Hartford board of directors on Tuesday unanimously voted against Chubb’s offer to buy the rival carrier for more than $23 billion in cash and stock. Hartford directors felt it wasn’t worth going any more with Chubb’s cold-call offer of $65 per share for that Top 20 auto insurer. “The...

The Collision Industry Conference on Wednesday reiterated that it is April 21-22 meeting in Arizona would offer the option of attending personally or virtually over Zoom. “Due to Arizona COVID restrictions, the in-person is restricted to active 2021 Gold Pin participants,” the CIC wrote in a news release. “Those unable...

Estimators, managers and all sorts of other Blueprint Optimization Tool users now can track their success adding operations flagged by the “BOT” as potentially overlooked repair labor. The BOT software allows an accident repairer to automatically apply the "SCRS Help guide to Complete Repair Planning" to an estimate and identify...

NJM Insurance said it discarded its March 31 cutoff for COVID-19 vehicle cleaning charges and instead would reimburse the operation “for the near future." The insurer as late as Friday was declaring it would not purchase the work effective April 1. "Effective 4/1/2021, NJM won't be accepting the charges for...

The telematics company Arity on Friday announced companies could leverage its Core Driving Risk Audiences service and market themselves to drivers of numerous skill levels. For example, an insurer could pitch premium discounts to blocs of excellent drivers and entice them to switch carriers. This may be hugely lucrative for...

USAA, the nation’s fifth-largest auto insurer, confirmed Tuesday it will keep covering COVID-19 auto cleaning through June 30. “We're extending cleaning through June 30, 2021,” USAA spokeswoman Lara Hendrickson wrote within an email each day before what would have been the last day's such reimbursement. This news follows at least...