And they ain't goin' in rever$e!!
"After fall, insurers’ auto rates up again" May 15, 2012|Todd Wallack, Globe Staff
Auto
insurance rates, which tumbled after Massachusetts opened the state to
more competition four years ago, are marching steadily upward again.
Many
of the state’s largest auto insurers have raised rates in each of the
past two years, citing the need to keep pace with the rising cost of
claims for car accidents, theft, and injuries.
Actually, Massachusetts' drivers are notoriously known as some of the worst in the country. Thanks, Boston.
In addition, some
companies say they could not make enough money after they dropped rates
in 2008 to compete with rival insurers or to gain market share when the state deregulated the auto insurance industry to spur more competition....
I really feel $orry for the insurance companies, don't you?
Overall, major insurers have raised rates by a median of 4.3 percent
so far this year after a median increase of 4.5 percent last year,
outpacing the overall rate of inflation, according to a Globe analysis
of data collected by the Massachusetts Association of Insurance Agents, a
trade group.
Inflation rose 2.7 percent in the Boston area last year, according to the US Labor Department.
Rates
could increase further this year, because insurers sometimes raise them
multiple times during the course of a year. The increases could also
hit some customers harder than others, depending on driving history,
where they live, and other factors, agents said.
Rates charged by
most major insurers are higher than they were prior to deregulation four
years ago, according to Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley’s
office. Coakley has filed objections with state insurance regulators to
the “widespread increases’’ in auto rates.
Her office found that
Travelers (which also does business as Premier) has raised rates by more
than 30 percent since January 2009, while Liberty Mutual and Plymouth
Rock have raised rates by 18 percent.
Related: The Liberty Mutual Looter
Now you know where the money went.
Commerce, the state’s largest auto
insurer, and Progressive, a newer player in the market, have each
raised rates by 16 percent....
State insurance regulators,
however, said Monday that they routinely raise objections and concerns
about rate requests, often prompting insurers to reduce their proposed
rates.
Yeah, thanks.
“We don’t issue a press release when that happens and we
don’t write to the attorney general’s office to tell them we are doing
our job,’’ said Barbara Anthony, undersecretary of the Office of
Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, which oversees the Division of
Insurance.
“We
are not a socialist regime,’’ Anthony said. “We have competition. Some
people’s rates may go up and some people’s may go down. It’s the way
competition works.’’
The rate increases could reignite debate over
the way the state regulates auto insurance. Historically, the state set
standard rates for every carrier, so rates differed little from company
to company.
But starting in 2008, Governor Deval Patrick’s
administration gave insurers more freedom to set prices - a change
called managed competition - in an effort give consumers more options
and lower premiums.
Since then, more than a dozen additional
insurers have entered the Massachusetts market, including industry
giants such as Allstate, Geico, and Progressive, which had long shunned
the Bay State because of its strict regulations....
But
some of the price reductions have been ephemeral. Industry executives
say insurers have started ratcheting up rates to pay for the cost of
claims or because they found they could not turn a profit at the lower
rates.
“We knew at some point that the rates would go back up
again,’’ said Ray Gallant, an insurance agent in Acton who is chairman
of the Massachusetts Association of Independent Agents trade group,
which represents agents. “They weren’t going to make any money’’ if they
kept rates at the lower levels.
Insurance
agents and regulators say customers can still take steps to save money,
including shopping for a less expensive carrier, raising the amount of
their deductibles, or buying home and auto insurance policies from the
same company to gain discounts. Customers with older cars may consider
dropping comprehensive or collision coverage on those vehicles.
Agents
add that the biggest factor in determining prices is a driver’s history
of accidents and moving violations. A Sherborn insurance agent, Bob
Carreiro, offered this advice: “Drive carefully.’’
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