Amy Danise asked:


our neighbors would just drive even less, we’d get lower auto insurance rates.

And that could be in the process of happening. When Americans spend less time on the road, the frequency of auto accidents declines. And when auto accidents go down, so do claims on auto insurance. That gets the ball rolling: When auto insurance companies see their costs on claims declining steadily, they typically respond to market conditions by lowering their auto insurance quotes and, ultimately auto insurance rates in a bid to stay competitive. And voila!, we write smaller checks for our auto insurance premiums.

With run-away gas prices, Americans are already driving less. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) reported in May 2008 that Americans are driving at “historic lows.” The estimated “vehicle miles traveled,” or VMT, for March 2008 fell 4.3 percent compared to March 2007, making it the sharpest dip for any month since the FHWA began tracking traffic-volume trends in 1942. Want to follow driving trends? The FHWA publishes monthly “Traffic Volume Trends.”

When auto accident claims go down, auto insurance companies can usually respond fairly quickly. To adjust premiums, they must file new auto insurance rates with every state in which they operate. They can file new auto insurance rates any time they want to respond to market conditions, and many states offer a “file and use” system, where auto insurance companies can file new auto insurance rates and begin using them immediately without prior approval from the state insurance department. Some states even have a “use and file” system, so insurers can implement new auto insurance rates and then officially file them shortly thereafter. This way auto insurance companies can begin passing on savings (or increases) right away.

The nation’s largest auto insurance companies are the first to see trends in accidents and claims payments due to the sheer volume of their claims data. For example, State Farm, the nation’s largest auto insurance company, handles about 19 million auto insurance claims a year (that’s a little over 17 claims per minute, all day, every day).

Robert Passmore, Director of Personal Lines for Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCIAA), an industry trade group, says, “This is where you see competition kick in.” He notes that if you live in a state that requires “prior approval,” it would take a longer time to see rate reductions. That means Californians and New Yorkers could be tapping their toes waiting for auto insurance rate reductions while everyone else pockets savings.

Auto insurance companies also note that auto insurance rates have been holding steady or declining over the past few years anyway. For example, State Farm customers in all states have seen rate reductions between Jan. 1, 2004, and Dec. 31, 2007, and customers in 39 of those states saw double-digit percentage rate decreases. (State Farm policyholders in New Jersey got the biggest drop of 29.19 percent.)

Passmore cautions that other factors could offset the trend in reduced driving  specifically, medical costs from bodily injury claims, legal costs relating to claims disputes and repair costs that are, for now, rising faster than the rate at which auto accident claims are going down.

Darn those repair, medical and legal costs! If it weren’t for those, drivers could already be seeing lower auto insurance rates (as we sit at home). However, auto insurance companies generally agree that if we see significant auto accident reductions, lower auto insurance rates won’t be too far behind.

Perhaps at the $6-a-gallon mark?

Will reduced driving mean lower auto insurance rates?

Insure.com asked the nation’s top auto insurance companies whether high gas prices and reduced driving are translating to lower auto insurance rates yet. Here are their answers.

State Farm spokesperson **** Luedke notes that State Farm auto insurance rates have been on the decline nationwide since 2004, but reduced auto accident claims are not yet leading directly to further auto insurance rate reductions: “Our actuaries look at claims data not just to see the recent past, but also to see what might change the future, like gas prices.”

Luedke says there’s no hard and fast rule as to what level of auto accident reduction would spark lower auto insurance rates, but says, “If we saw a reduction as big as 10 percent in accident frequency, we would have reacted long before that.”

Allstate spokesperson Kate Hollcraft says, “We have just recently seen a decline in automobile claim frequency and if this continues through the summer months, we would probably be able to attribute it to a rise in fuel costs.”

Progressive spokesperson Leah Knapp says, “We don’t speculate about future rate changes, but it would be accurate to say that we continuously review market and business conditions, including monitoring losses, so that we can ensure our policies are accurately priced everywhere we do business. When our analysis suggests our rates require adjustment, we may seek to either raise or lower rates accordingly.”

Nationwide Vice President & Policyholder, Standard Auto Product & Pricing, Larry Thursby, observes that “customers are having fewer accidents.” But he notes it’s been that way for a couple of years due to a variety of factors, like an aging population that becomes safer drivers, graduated licensing laws for teens and crackdowns in drunk driving. In addition, potential auto insurance rate reductions due to accident frequency are being offset by inflation in the usual suspects: medical and hospital costs, repair costs and legal costs.

Thursby says that Nationwide has been passing along cost savings by offering guaranteed renewability, lower surcharges and broader “forgiveness” for accidents, fender-benders and minor violations.

Wirat Muenpan asked:


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The purpose of the articles in this section is to prepare drivers with the right auto insurance policy before it is too late. Public policy In many countries it is compulsory to purchase auto insurance before driving on public roads. Today, auto insurance is the most widely purchased of all property-casualty insurance, yet few drivers are familiar with the details of their particular policy. For changes to your AIG auto insurance policy or to ask customer service a question, call 1-800-241-1188. By taking one of these courses, you may be eligible for discounts on your auto insurance policy. After you have bought an auto insurance policy, you can service your policy online or through a customer service representative. The College’s auto insurance policy may not respond to cover unauthorized drivers. A major reason why drivers overpay on their auto insurance policy is because they are not educated and don’t look for auto insurance advice.

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Ryan Patterson asked:


rs want affordable auto insurance, but the average price drivers pay for insurance yearly varies greatly from state to state because of factors such as the stability of the economy and the state’s population size. Check out the following information to find out how much insured drivers in your state are paying compared to other states.

According to Insurance Information Institute (www.iii.org), the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) calculates average auto insurance expenditures per state by assuming that all insured vehicles have liability insurance, but not necessarily comprehensive or collision coverage. The average auto insurance expenditure, therefore, measures the price consumers actually pay for insurance on each vehicle rather than equaling the sum of liability, collision, and comprehensive coverage together. This is because most policyholders do not usually carry all three types of coverage. NAIC data also shows that 77 percent of insured drivers buy comprehensive coverage in addition to liability insurance. And only 72 percent purchase collision coverage.

In a September 2007 NAIC report, New Jersey held the record for the highest average auto insurance expenditure per year at $1,184. Following closely behind were the District of Columbia at $1,182, New York at $1,122, Massachusetts at $1,113 and Louisiana at $1,076. North Dakota is the least expensive state for auto insurance at $554 per year, and Iowa followed closely behind at only $555.

The price insured drivers pay is affected by the type of coverage purchased, as well as other factors. People who live in states where the economy is healthy are much more likely to buy new cars than people who live in an unhealthy economy. Since the coverage drivers select for new cars differs and can be more costly than coverage for an older car, these states often have relatively higher average auto insurance expenditures per year. Urban population, traffic density, and per capita income also significantly impact the price of auto coverage. Highly urban states with high traffic density and higher wages and prices will usually possess the highest auto insurance expenditures per year.

In an NAIC chart comparing average annual auto insurance expenditures by state (http://www.iii.org/media/facts/statsbyissue/auto), Texas drivers in 2005 paid an average of $845. So, the average cost of Texas auto insurance ranked at number 17. Arizona auto insurance cost about $926 per year in 2005, down from $931 in 2004, keeping Arizona ranked number 14 both years among the rest of the states. In California, insured drivers paid an average of $847 in 2004 and $845 in 2005. This ranks California auto insurance as the 18th most expensive coverage in the United States in 2005. In Florida, ranked sixth in 2004 and 2005, insured drivers paid an average of $1,062 in 2004 and $1,063 in 2005. North Carolina is one of the least expensive states for auto insurance coverage, ranking at number 47 in 2004, with an average cost of $597. However, in 2005, the average auto insurance cost increased to $602.

Finding affordable auto insurance is so important to most drivers, but depending where you live, prices will vary. How do auto insurance rates in your state compare with the rest?

The Magic Answer asked:


I’m 19 and still live at home. Are my parents still, in any way, liable for my actions? How would this determine whether or not I should get an umbrella? Are umbrellas cheaper? I really don’t know much about them–I just want to figure out if it’ll be cheaper and still provide the coverage I need.

allitnil_42 asked:


those esurance ads are really getting on my nerves! some cartoon ***** fights ninjas, robots etc. and we should buy insurance from that? if, by chance, you signed up for that, why?

if you didn’t (hopefully everyone), how do you feel about those commercials?