70-80% of Insureds Expected to See Rate Reductions Under Massachusetts Auto Insurance Deregulation

70-80% of Insureds Expected to See Rate Reductions Under Massachusetts Auto Insurance Deregulation

21 November 2007 · No Comments

Insurance Journal has an initial summary of the first round of rate filings submitted for Massachusetts’ managed competition deregulation scheme:

According to rate filings submitted to the state by insurers on Nov. 19, from 70% to 80% of all drivers should see rate decreases beginning in April 2008 when the new managed competition system goes into effect. For the rest, rate hikes up to 10% are possible.

IJ summarizes the highlights of the top 10 carriers as follows:

Company Market Share Avg Change
Commerce 31.6% -8.1%
Safety 11.2% -6.9%
Arbella 9.3% -6.2%
Liberty Mutual 7.9% -10.7%
Met Life 6.9% -5.0%
Premier (Travelers) 6.6% -6.0%
Plymouth Rock 5.7% -4.0%
Amica 3.8% -7.9%
Hanover 3.6% -7.5%
USAA 2.6% -15%
 

The IJ article also includes highlights of what some of the new (to Massachusetts, anyway) discounts included in the filings are.

I haven’t seen anything yet about who will be seeing increases under the new algorithms, although those details will presumably be forthcoming.  Of course, all this could change somewhat in a week, as amendments to the filings are allowed after insurers have a chance to look over their competitors’ filings.

What really interests me is the possibility for some entertaining debate if/when consumer advocates start comparing the average decreases above with information from prior state-mandated rate changes

Tags: Insurance · · ·