State OKs sale of insurer; Spanish firm buys Commerce.
Byline: Bob Kievra WEBSTER- The state's top insurance regulator yesterday signed off on the sale of Commerce Group Inc. to Mapfre S.A., Spain's largest insurer. Commerce Group, the largest writer of property and casualty insurance in Massachusetts, is being sold in a $2.2 billion deal....

Make reform work; Auto insurers' lawsuit is premature at best.
COLUMN: IN OUR OPINION A lawsuit filed Friday in Suffolk Superior Court to overturn a key provision of the state's new "managed competition" approach to auto insurance, while not wholly without merit, regrettably illustrates Voltaire's maxim that "the perfect is the enemy of the good." ...

Drivers get new insurer; Progressive to sell policies in Mass.
Byline: Bob Kievra The Progressive Corp., the country's third-largest automobile insurer, said it filed plans yesterday to sell automobile insurance in Massachusetts but would restrict sales to the Internet for at least the first 11 months. State regulators, lawmakers and trade associations cheered the news,...

Review IDs ways to help finances; State delivers report to town.
Byline: Stephanie McPherson UXBRIDGE - The state Department of Revenue recently delivered its financial management review to Uxbridge, and said the town overall is well-managed but fiscally strained. The report supplied Uxbridge with recommendations to improve its financial situation and to ease the running of...

Extended warranty? Phooey! Repair policies are frequently a rip-off.
Byline: Martin Luttrell Vitaly Rozenman thought he was doing the prudent thing when he paid $1,800 for an extended warranty service contract for his Jeep Grand Cherokee. The software engineer received a call from a representative of Ultimate Warranty Corp. three years after he purchased the vehicle,...

Business briefs.
COLUMN: BUSINESS BRIEFS TELEGRAM & GAZETTE Bloomberg Index Central Massachusetts -0.35 170.08 Volume: 53,918,796 Up: 8 Down: 13 Unchanged: 8 Gainer: Waters Corp. $60.17 +$0.56 (volume of 1.06 million...

New law juggles insurance rates.
Byline: Matt Cooper The Register-Guard New health insurance legislation meant to level the playing field for Oregon's many small businesses could mean large rate jumps for some and a break on rates for others, state and industry officials said this week. House Bill 2002, approved...

Auto insurance reform was decades in the making.
COLUMN: IN OUR OPINION; EDITORIAL FOOTNOTE Massachusetts' landmark changeover to "managed competition" in auto insurance today is rightly credited to Insurance Commissioner Nonnie S. Burnes, but efforts to reform what Gov. Mitt Romney termed Massachusetts' "Soviet-style" insurance system began almost as soon as it was established. ...

AG says data on Web is faulty; Auto insurance site is criticized.
Byline: Mark Jewell BOSTON - A state Web site intended to educate consumers about Massachusetts' newly deregulated auto insurance market instead gives them inaccurate rate comparisons, Attorney General Martha Coakley said yesterday on the day the new competitive system took effect. Coakley, who plays an...

Bay State drivers to benefit from auto insurance change.
Byline: Vincent V. Nieroda COLUMN: AS I SEE IT Beginning today, Massachusetts drivers will be able to do something they haven't been able to do for more than 30 years - purchase auto insurance that is competitively priced. No longer will all companies charge the...