Mark Croucher, an insurance agency owner in Jenks, Okla., has announced his candidacy for the office of state insurance commissioner.

Croucher, who specializes in health, life and senior oriented insurance products, began his career in the insurance industry in 1997. He has been an independent insurance agent since 2004, and established The W.H.Y. (We Help You…that's WHY!) Insurance Agency LLC in 2007.

Croucher, a Republican, said his understanding of health insurance, and concern for his fellow Oklahomans during these tough times, led to his decision to enter the race for Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner.

Croucher has worked with and trained agents throughout Oklahoma. The agency works with clients from all over the state.

According to reports by the Associated Press, General Motors Co. said June 17 that it will keep most of its U.S. factories, including the Arlington Assembly Plant, open through the normal two-week summer shutdown to meet demand for some of its vehicles.

The automaker will keep nine of 11 assembly plants open to make 56,000 more vehicles that are in high demand, such as the Buick LaCrosse luxury sedan and the Chevrolet Traverse large crossover vehicle.

GM said in a statement that the company is trying to reduce waiting time for dealers and customers to get vehicles.

In addition to Arlington, plants that will stay open from June 28 to July 9 are located in Bowling Green, Ky.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Hamtramck, Mich., Kansas City, Kan.; Flint, Mich.; Delta Township, Mich.; Lansing, Mich.; and Wentzville, Mo.

Automakers have traditionally shut down plants for short periods during the summer while switching production of model years and to manage vacation time for workers.

Dime-sized hail dents to vehicles in the Clovis, NM, area on June 12 brought a truckload of work for insurance companies and body shops.

George Songer, owner of Rembrandt’s Auto Body Shop in Clovis, said he received 256 claims in just one day on June 16.

“We’re so busy we can’t get to our collision repair we already have in,” Songer said. Songer also said he saw a lot of dime to egg-sized dents and mostly broken sunroofs, rather than broken windshields, thanks to the spring storm. He estimates that some cars coming in may also be totals.

Chuck Jones, a forecaster for the National Weather Service, said the storm dropped .62 inches of rain in Portales, making it the fifth wettest June 12 on record. An exact rain amount for Clovis was not available, but Jones said the storm most likely dropped “well over an inch” of rain. The storm brought snow-like hail that blanketed the streets, which made for dangerous driving conditions over the weekend.

The hail damage is so widespread Songer said he can’t keep up with the number of claims coming into his direct-repair shop. Songer said he has been writing a lot of estimates and is even glad to lose some of the jobs to insurance companies’ DRPs because they’re so swamped.

Louisania Gov. Bobby Jindal signed a law in week of June 14 that will allow vehicle mechanical breakdown insurers to provide customers with specific vehicle component coverage contracts for several items, including windshield-specific coverage, for road hazards.

Under the terms of the law, mechanical breakdown insurers can now provide windshield-specific contracts to their customers, and that contract would “promise to pay for all or part of the cost of the repair or of the replacement of windshield or window glass on a motor vehicle when the damage to the glass is caused by contact with a road hazard.” The law, which has already taken effect, says the term “road hazard” includes items such as potholes, rocks, curbs, wood debris, other debris, nails, screws, bolts, metal parts or glass, but not damage caused by a collision with another vehicle, vandalism or other causes “usually covered under the comprehensive or collision coverages.”