Don't wreck state's auto insurance
Published June 3, 2014
Editorial by Jacksonville Daily News, June 2, 2014.
North Carolina’s auto insurance system is not broken, and consumers should be wary of the “fix” prescribed by a coalition of insurers seeking to change the rules.
The state’s average insurance rates are consistently ranked among the lowest in the nation. More than 150 companies write policies in the state. And, say opponents of the proposal, the market is very stable — which is good for customers in the long run.
A bill expected to be introduced in the General Assembly is slightly more palatable than one introduced last year that would have permitted insurers to increase rates up to 12 percent a year without the consent of the insurance commissioner. The new proposal leaves that power in the commissioner’s hands, but opponents say that as a practical matter, it would be more difficult for the commissioner and the consumer to compare rates and decide what’s fair, and would create smaller customer pools to spread the costs.
The net result would be higher rates for many drivers.
FAIR NC, a coalition of insurers led by State Farm, Allstate, Geico and Progressive that is pushing the changes, says the system is broken and the only thing that can fix it is to allow them to break from the N.C. Rate Bureau that reviews and recommends requests for rate increases, and submit theirs individually.
North Carolina does things differently than just about every other state, but the system has worked so far. What FAIR wants to do, essentially, is to have two systems — one for insurers that want to stay with the rate bureau system, and a separate system for companies that want to do things their own way. They toss out much-publicized carrots such as “good driver discounts” and “accident forgiveness” to sell their bill, claiming it will lower rates for many drivers. But that’s not guaranteed.
Not all insurers are on board. A coalition called LowRatesNC includes Nationwide, N.C. Farm Bureau Insurance, GMAC, and consumer groups such as AAA and AARP, which have arms that sell insurance. The group objects to the proposal, as does Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin. They say allowing insurers to opt out would weaken the rate bureau and would eventually tear apart the system that has kept rates and the market competitive.
Consumers should be skeptical, even given FAIR’s insistence that North Carolina’s system complicates their business operations and that they need more flexibility. Insurance companies are in business to make money. That is an honorable pursuit, but they are not consumer advocates.
That’s reason enough to leave well enough alone.
A version of this editorial first appeared in the Wilmington Star-News, a Halifax Media Group newspaper.
June 4, 2014 at 8:51 am
Richard Bunce says:
More choice in insurance products and get away from fixed rates that charge low risk customers more so high risk customers do not have to pay to cover their true risk... that would be terrible all right. NC has the worst insurance regulation across the board. Government bureaucrats do not know better than I do what is best for me.
