insurance

Thirteen cars earned the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's (IIHS) new Top Safety Pick Plus award, while another 117 vehicles were named as Top Safety Picks. Top Safety Pick Plus winners included such cars as the Dodge Avenger, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord, and Volkswagen Passat.

To earn the Top Safety Pick Plus award, cars must get the top rating of Good in four of five crash tests, while achieving at least Acceptable in a fifth test. The IIHS recently added the Small Overlap Frontal crash test, and has only subjected 29 cars to it, which limited the pool of … Read more

Once you're famous, you get inundated with offers to appear in ads.

But which ones to choose? Should you peddle soap or Siri? Should you declare your love for Buick, while secretly pootling around in your Mercedes?

Stephen Hawking made an interesting choice to advertise auto insurance -- Go Compare's online auto-insurance comparison service, to be precise.… Read more

You may have paid only $200 for your latest smartphone, but if you had to replace that device before you became eligible for a subsidy from your carrier, it could cost you more than $600. Is it worth it to get device insurance?

That's the question I answer this time in Ask Maggie. I also offer some advice to an Apple iPhone fan who wants to know if he should wait for the next iPhone, rumored to be out in June or July.

Dear Maggie,

I am getting my son an iPhone … Read more

Hackers broke into insurance company Nationwide's network in early October, stealing the personal information of more than a million customers across the country, the insurance company recently revealed.

The company said the compromised information included people's names and a combination of Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, their date of birth, and possibly marital status, gender, and occupation, as well as the names and addresses of employers. Nationwide said it had no evidence that any medical information or credit card account data was stolen.

"We discovered the attack that day, and took immediate steps to contain … Read more

The cost of insuring your T-Mobile handset could rise in the new year, according to what could be a leaked internal document.

If the image proves true, monthly premium rates will remain untouched when the new plans take effect. Deductibles, however, are largely set to rise.

Save for the carrier's low-end devices, the cost to replace your phone will go up by a minimum of $10. For most smartphones the standard deductible rate will jump from $130 to $150.

Although T-Mobile hasn't officially announced the pricing change, a carrier representative did confirm part of the rumor to CNET: … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- McDonalds to open first vegetarian restaurant.

- Hoax alert: Bruce Willis fights for the right to bequeath his iTunes library.

- How classic games got their names (hat tip to Corey).

- Is this new Prince Harry game using Jeff's likeness?

Ford announced today that some State Farm auto insurance customers may save money on premiums using Sync.

Drive Safe and Save is State Farm's optional mileage-based program that calculates your insurance rate based on the actual number of miles you drive in a six-month period of time. The insurance company generally uses a broad mileage estimate to determine your premium, categorizing drivers as either low mileage or average mileage, with 7,500 miles per year as the cutoff. The DSS program is available in 14 states, and until now was open almost exclusively to OnStar customers and OnStar FMV … Read more

Drivers in the United Kingdom will have another thing to worry about every time they pull up to the pump. In addition to wondering if they'll have enough money in the bank to pay for the exorbitant price of fuel, they may need to check if they paid their car insurance premium on time.

In an effort to crack down on auto insurance scofflaws, the British government wants to team up with gas stations to identify drivers who haven't paid their premiums, and prevent them from filling up. The proposed plan will use automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) … Read more

If you were one of the millions following along today (hopefully on CNET's Live Blog) as Apple released its latest iteration of the iPad and have now decided you must buy it, be sure to add AppleCare+ to your order (pricing has not yet been made available).

First, everyone should know what sort of coverage is offered with every new iPad purchase. For included coverage, Apple shows that it truly believes in its products. Your new iPad will get one year of hardware coverage against manufacturer defects and malfunctions. That means, if your hard drive dies, some of your … Read more