OAI: Kansas Storm Losses Could Impact Price of Auto Insurance

Topeka -- Free-Press-Release.com-- Oct 4, 2011 -- Kansas regulators’ announcement that storms have done a record $1 billion in property damage this year could be bad news for anyone getting free auto insurance quotes in search of low rates in that state, according to Online Auto Insurance.

That is because coverage providers who suffer higher-than-expected catastrophic losses in a region may decide to raise rates for policyholders statewide in order to offset those losses, pending approval by regulators.

Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger said last week that higher policy rates are a possibility.

“We may see increases in premiums by insurance companies as a result of the high number of claims and payouts,” Praeger said in a statement.

Source: http://www.ksinsurance.org/gpa/news/2011/storm_damage_losses_2011.pdf

The announcement highlights the role played by loss history in determining how much consumers will wind up paying for automobile coverage.

The geographical area where a policyholder lives—and the incidence of vehicle crashes, thefts and other types of losses—are major factors considered by underwriters when they are setting policy rates. But statewide statistics can also play an important role, since insurers will look at how profitable business in a state is and decide whether more premiums need to be collected in the future to offset recent losses.

And property damage losses in Kansas so far this year have been much higher than in recent years.

The estimated $1.1 billion in storm losses so far this year is already nearly three times as large as the $370 million that was racked up in storm losses during all of 2010.

Aside from 2011 numbers, the next highest annual storm loss total was in 2009, when it the total was $602 million.

To read more about this and other financial responsibility issues, go to http://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/quotes/free/ where you will find informative resource pages and a free-to-use quote-comparison generator that consumers can use to get sample premiums for many vehicle makes and models.

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Online Auto Insurance
Benjamin Zitney
http://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/