01/25/2012 // New Orleans, La., USA // ben@onlineautoinsurance.com // Benjamin Zitney
The latest data released by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) reaffirms Louisiana’s standing as one of the costliest states for drivers to insure their cars, but it also may give some insight into why the state holds that title, according to Online Auto Insurance.
The NAIC ranked the Pelican State as being the most expensive state for a policy in both 2008 and 2009—the most recent years for which data is available. According to those reports, an average Louisiana auto insurance policy that included liability, comprehensive and collision coverage cost about $1,270 in 2009.
One factor that may contribute to this infamous ranking is the rate at which Louisianians file claims.
According to the NAIC data, Louisiana had:
• the highest claims rate for bodily injury liability
• the highest claims rate for the bodily injury portion of uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage
• the third-highest claims rate for collision coverage
• the sixth-highest claims rate for comprehensive coverage and
• the sixth-highest claims rate for property damage liability
The NAIC data showed that in 2008 Louisiana car insurance policyholders had a 1-in-46 chance of filing a claim under their bodily injury liability policy. That’s more than twice as high as the national average. Nationwide, policyholders had a 1-in-103 chance that they would file a bodily injury liability claim that year.
The disparity was even greater for the bodily injury portion of uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage (which pays for the policyholder’s and any passenger’s injuries that are caused by an uninsured, underinsured or hit-and-run driver). Louisiana motorists with this add-on had a 1-in-181 chance of using it in 2008. While those odds don’t appear to be too bad on their own, they’re actually about 2.5 times higher than the national average of 1 in 625.
In light of those odds, motorists in the Pelican State may want to consider buying uninsured/underinsured coverage to protect against these incidents. If the cost looks to be too high, consumers also have the option of choosing the economic-only coverage option, which will cover only the actual costs of injuries. Noneconomic damages will be off-limits under that option, but the premium is likely to be much lower.
Source: http://www.ldi.state.la.us/consumers/misc_pubs/2010_Consumers_guide_to_auto_insurance.pdf
To learn more about this and other financial responsibility issues, you can visit http://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/louisiana/ to find informative resource pages and a free-to-use quote comparison generator that can help users find the best rates for coverage.
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