News
Copart Reportedly In Talks To Acquire CCC Intelligent Solutions
Copart Inc. is reportedly in talks to acquire CCC Intelligent Solutions Holdings Inc., in a potential deal that could bring together one of the world’s largest salvage vehicle businesses with a major technology provider to the insurance and collision repair sectors.
According to Bloomberg reporting published by Claims Journal, Copart is competing with several private equity firms, including GTCR and Veritas Capital, for the Chicago-based software company. Discussions remain ongoing, and no agreement is certain.
CCC has been considering strategic options for several weeks. Reuters reported in July that the company had appointed Morgan Stanley to advise on a possible sale and had approached prospective buyers.
Climate/Resilience/Sustainability
Super El Niño could flip US winter temperatures upside down
One thing we've seen in past strong El Niño winters is a weird north-south temperature contrast. Here's what could happen during one of the strongest El Niños.
El Niño is intensifying and could have an interesting influence on winter weather in the U.S., including a weird upside-down temperature pattern from December through February.
What is El Niño?
El Niño is a warming of water in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean near the equator that typically happens every three to four years.
These are departures from average water temperatures (degrees Celsius) in the Pacific Ocean on Aug. 17, 2026. But this won't be an ordinary, average El Niño. It's likely to flirt with or shatter the all-time record strongest El Niño. That's measured by the relative oceanic niño index, or RONI.
It's a three-month average of how far above or below average water temperatures are near the equator in the eastern Pacific Ocean relative to the rest of the tropical ocean used to track El Niño, in degrees Celsius.
How Space-Based Analytics Improve Insurance Risk Models and Disaster Response
Learn How Space-Based Analytics Improves Insurance Risk Models And Disaster Response.
KEY POINTS
- Extreme weather forces insurers to adopt automated risk systems powered by satellite data.
- Researchers combined radar and optical satellite data to map Portugal's 2026 floods through cloud cover.
- This framework helps insurers verify property damage remotely and accelerate payouts.
Extreme weather events and disasters have become an almost daily reality. At the same time, policyholders now have easy access to a wide range of indemnity options and higher expectations than ever. That’s forcing insurance companies and disaster management specialists to accelerate the adoption of multi-component, automated risk management systems.
Financial Results
Insurance Price Index Falls Nationally as State Rate Filings Climb, Parts Costs Rise
A federal price index for motor vehicle insurance has declined recently, even as a separate report projects rate increases in most states.
NATIONAL INSURANCE COSTS EASE AS PARTS PRICES CLIMB
The motor vehicle insurance index within the U.S. Consumer Price Index declined 0.3% in July after falling 2.0% in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' July CPI report, released Aug. 12. The index for used cars and trucks rose 0.4% over the same period, the BLS reported. The overall Consumer Price Index rose 3.4% over the 12 months ending in July, and core CPI, which excludes food and energy, rose 2.5% over the same period, according to the BLS.
Cox Automotive's Aug. 17 Auto Market Weekly Summary, written by chief economist Jeremy Robb, characterized the July decline as the sixth monthly drop in the motor vehicle insurance index in the past seven months. The same report added that new-vehicle prices rose 0.1% for the month on a seasonally adjusted basis, while motor vehicle parts and equipment rose 0.6%. Separately, the report cited Producer Price Index data showing automotive parts retailing prices increased 6.6% month over month in July, compared with a 0.2% increase in overall services prices for producers that month.
Progressive posts 12% decline in net income
The Progressive Corporation reported net premiums written of $7.44 billion for July, up 5% from $7.06 billion a year earlier, while net income fell 12% to $961 million from $1.09 billion in July 2025.
The combined ratio came in at 86.8, a 1.5-point deterioration from 85.3 in the same month last year. Earnings per share available to common shareholders fell 11% to $1.65 from $1.85.
Total policies in force reached 40.3 million as of July 31, up 7% year over year. Personal lines policies climbed 7% to 39.07 million, with direct auto once again leading growth, up 9% to 16.8 million policies, while agency auto grew 7% to 11.28 million. Commercial lines policies in force rose 4% to 1.24 million.
The month's results also reflected a $47 million pretax net realized loss on securities, compared with a $79 million gain in July 2025, a swing that alone accounts for roughly $126 million of the year-over-year net income decline.
July 2026 Monthly Release
The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) today announced estimated catastrophe losses for the month of July of $682 million or $539 million, after-tax. Catastrophe losses for July include 23 events with approximately 75% of the losses related to two wind and hail events.
Claims
News & Press Releases | ClaimTouch
Snapsheet, the complete, cloud-native platform built for the way P&C claims work, and CLAIMTOUCH ANALYTICS INC. ("claimtouch"), the AI-native end-to-end contents claims platform, today announced a new integration partnership focused on delivering smarter contents claims workflows.
The integration enables real-time data sharing across systems to reduce the number of touchpoints and tasks required to process a contents claim by delivering accurate and validated contents reports directly into the claim workflow for both improved adjuster experiences and better end results for policyholders.
Contents claims, the Coverage C portion of a property loss, remain one of the most manual, fragmented, and resource-heavy processes in the industry due to lingering dependencies on parallel systems, outside research, and repeated handoffs. Claimtouch replaces those pain points with AI, machine learning, and big-data validation from first notice of loss (FNOL) through inspection, inventorying, pricing, and settlement.
The approach is already driving measurable impact for multiple P&C carriers, including Openly, Branch, and Kingstone who are already running their claims operations on the Snapsheet Claims Platform.
InsurTech/M&A/Finance💰/Collaboration
How the AI arms race could drive insurance M&A deals
PwC examined how the AI arms race could make some insurance companies more attractive to an M&A deal than others.The ability, or inability, of insurance companies to successfully adopt and scale artificial intelligence could be a driver of merger and acquisition activity over the next 12 months, said Mark Friedman, PwC partner and US insurance deals sector leader.
He spoke with InsuranceNewsNet on the heels of PwC’s 2026 Midyear US Deals Outlook report.
“I think, just in itself, there may be mergers or acquisitions just because companies realize they’re not big enough to be able to compete in this AI race,” Friedman said. “And if they’re acquired by someone larger, they have a better chance of survival long term.”
Munich Re Group to Acquire Cyber Insurtech At-Bay
- Munich Re Group will acquire At-Bay at an enterprise value of $575m
- At-Bay will be overseen by Hartford Steam Boiler (HSB), part of Munich Re’s Global Specialty Insurance business
- At-Bay is a leading provider of integrated cyber insurance and cyber security solutions for total cyber risk protection
- HSB’s long-standing cyber market expertise and underwriting capabilities will support the further growth of At-Bay in the U.S.
At-Bay’s market position and unique capabilities make it a perfect addition to our specialty insurance portfolio and an essential component of our future cyber offering. The acquisition further expands the depth and breadth of our specialty insurance expertise, ultimately benefitting all partners and clients of Munich Re Specialty. We expect the business to evolve into a strong earnings growth driver over time. Mike Kerner Member of the Board of Management, Munich Re
Embedded Insurance
INSHUR expands US commercial auto programme with Mobilitas, Incline and Gen Re support
INSHUR, a global provider of embedded insurance solutions for the on-demand economy, has launched a new commercial auto insurance programme for rideshare and professional drivers across the United States.
The programme is led by Mobilitas Insurance, with reinsurance support from Gen Re, and is written through Incline P&C Group. INSHUR says the programme is designed to support the expansion of its commercial auto offering into additional US markets.
INSHUR provides the programme’s MGA capabilities across pricing, underwriting, distribution and claims. Mobilitas brings its specialist experience in insurance for the mobility and sharing economy, while Incline provides the fronting carrier capacity. Gen Re provides reinsurance support to the programme.
Embedded Auto Insurance Report
The Q2 2026 Quarterly Embedded Auto Insurance Report is out.
And the headline number is one worth putting in front of your sales team:
Insurance savings could cover 90% of your car buyers' negative equity. That's not just a stat; it's a talk track your sales team can use to get deals over the finish line.
A few more numbers from this quarter: - Just getting a quote in front of a customer added 20% to F&I gross or $322 per deal. - Deals where customers purchased insurance delivered a 32% increase in F&I gross, or $523 more per deal. - Across 661,486 sales at 216 dealerships, there was zero median time difference between deal open and deal close.
Announcements
Who is eligible for State Farm’s $5B auto insurance dividend?
State Farm is returning a record $5 billion to eligible auto customers nationwide, with payments rolling out in waves over several months.
Millions of customers have already received payments, with additional distributions on the way, State Farm said in a July 31 news release.
The dividend is being paid to eligible customers covering more than 49 million State Farm Mutual auto vehicles nationwide.
"Because the distribution covers more than 49 million auto vehicles, the payment process will take several months to be completed nationwide," the company said.
Each customer's payment is calculated as a percentage of the premium paid for each qualifying policy in 2025.
The percentage varies by state and ranges from 4% to 10%, according to State Farm.
State Farm previously told USA Today that customers who had an active personal auto insurance policy in 2025 are eligible for the payment