Auto Insurance
Prices for Auto and Home Insurance Are Increasing Sharply
Prices for auto and home insurance have been rising sharply around the country in the last few months as insurers struggle to keep pace with increasing costs, insurance executives and analysts said yesterday.
The two biggest auto and home insurers, State Farm and Allstate, have taken the lead in the price increases, and many smaller companies are following, analysts said.
‘’Both auto and homeowners insurance have lost tremendous amounts of money over the last few years,'’ said Robert P. Hartwig, the chief economist at the Insurance Information Institute, a trade group.
Ronald D. McNeil, a senior vice president for Allstate, told investors at a Banc of America securities conference in New York yesterday that Allstate had increased its prices for auto insurance an average of 8.3 percent in 17 states so far this year. He said Allstate had raised its prices for home insurance by an average of more than 20 percent in 20 states.
State Farm said it was taking similar action. It was not immediately able to provide figures for the increases so far this year. But Richard Luedke, a spokesman, said the increases were significantly larger than those in the previous year, when they averaged 4.6 percent for home insurance and 2.7 percent for auto insurance. The increases were necessary, he said, because ‘’we were paying out more in claims than we were collecting in premiums.'’
J. Robert Hunter, the director of insurance for the Consumer Federation of America, said that profit and loss trends for the insurers indicated a need for an average increase of 4 percent to 8 percent in auto premiums. But he said increases of 20 percent for home insurance were ‘’way out of line.'’
‘’I don’t see anything in the data that would justify an increase of that magnitude,'’ he said.
In some states, the increases are even higher, analysts said. ‘’We’re starting to see increases of 25 percent to 30 percent in a lot of states,'’ said Ira L. Zuckerman at Nutmeg Securities in Fairfield, Conn.
More : query.nytimes.com
Leave a comment
Comments Already Given »
No comments yet.
Related Articles from Auto Insurance
Insurance Cost To Homeowner Climbs Sharply
Across the country, the cost of insuring a home is climbing sharply and is expected to continue doing so for several years. Prices are rising at more than twice the 3 percent average of recent years, and by more than 10 percent in many states. Allstate, the second-largest home insurer, has been leading the way, with increases of 10 percent to 25 percent in several states. State Farm, the largest home insurer, has been more reluctant to raise prices, lifting premiums 6 percent to 10 percent in a handful of states. Safeco, the eighth largest, says it expects increases to
Auto Insurance Is Now Cheaper In Many States
Insurance premiums have fallen for millions of drivers across America and are expected to keep declining -- or at least hold steady -- the next few years, as highly profitable insurers come under increasing pressure from competitors, regulators and consumer advocates. For more than 20 years, prices for car insurance were going in only one direction: up. The change now is the result of better cars and safer drivers, along with the booming results of insurers' Wall Street investments. Nearly all the major companies have begun snipping away at their premiums, so that the Insurance Information Institute, a trade group,
Drivers Getting Break as Many Insurers Cut Rates
With gasoline prices at more than $2 a gallon this summer, there is at least one bit of good news for drivers: the cost of auto insurance is starting to fall. State Farm, the nation's largest insurer, and two other big auto insurers, USAA and the Farmers Insurance Group, are cutting prices in many states and dozens of other insurers across the country are following their lead, industry experts say. ''Millions of drivers are going to see the cost of auto insurance fall this year,'' said Robert P. Hartwig, the chief economist of the Insurance Information Institute, a trade organization
Cost Of Insurance For Cars Is Rising Across The Nation
After falling for two years, car insurance premiums around the country are climbing once again, resuming a steady quarter-century rise. Several big insurers -- including Progressive, Geico, State Farm and Allstate -- have begun imposing higher prices, and analysts say that by the end of the year most other leading companies are likely to follow suit. The insurers said they were forced to act because of rising expenses for repairs and treatment of injuries. ''The trend is clearly upward,'' said Thomas V. Cholnoky, who follows auto insurance for Goldman, Sachs. While the size of the increases has varied widely --
PERSONAL BUSINESS; That Dazed Feeling on Insurance Prices
IS it time to renew your car insurance? Nowadays, the advice to comparison-shop makes more sense than ever. Prices for the same coverage typically differ by as much as several hundred dollars from one company to the next. Now rates are rising in general, and many discounts are being discarded while new ones are being offered. And some major insurers have started adjusting prices based on the safety performance of vehicles. Some drivers of big cars and sport utility vehicles that can heavily damage lighter cars in accidents can expect to pay more for liability coverage than drivers of smaller