INSURANCE TOPICS

Auto Insurance

The average cost of automobile insurance declined by 1.7 percent in 2006, according to a November 2008 report from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). The District of Columbia had the highest average expenditure ($1,164), followed by New Jersey ($1,152), Louisiana ($1,094), New York ($1,083) and Florida ($1,069).

AUTO INSURANCE EXPENDITURES, BY STATE

The table on the following pages shows estimated average expenditures for private passenger automobile insurance by state for 2002 to 2006, providing approximate measures of the relative cost of automobile insurance to consumers in each state. To calculate average expenditures the National Association of Insurance Commissioners assumes that all insured vehicles carry liability coverage but not necessarily collision or comprehensive coverage. The average expenditure measures what consumers actually spend for insurance on each vehicle. It does not equal the sum of liability, collision and comprehensive expenditures because not all policyholders purchase all three coverages.

Expenditures are affected by the coverages purchased as well as other factors. In states where the economy is healthy, people are more likely to purchase new cars. Since new car owners are more likely to purchase physical damage coverages, these states will have a higher average expenditure. The NAIC notes that urban population, traffic density and per capita income have a significant impact on premiums. The latest report shows that high premium states tend also to be highly urban, with higher wage and price levels and greater traffic density. Tort liability and other auto laws, labor costs, liability coverage requirements, theft rates and other factors can also affect auto insurance prices.\

THE SHARED/RESIDUAL MARKET AND NONSTANDARD MARKETS

All states and the District of Columbia use special systems to guarantee that auto insurance is available to those who cannot obtain it in the private market. Each type of system is commonly known as an assigned risk plan, although that term technically applies to only one type of plan. The assigned risk and other plans are known in the insurance industry as the shared, or residual, market. Policyholders in assigned risk plans are assigned to various insurance companies doing business in the state. In the voluntary, or regular, market, auto insurers are free to select policyholders.

The percentage of vehicles insured in the shared market is dropping, in part because of the evolution of the nonstandard sector of the voluntary market. The nonstandard market is a niche market for drivers who have a worse than average driving record or drive specialized cars such as high-powered sports cars and custom-built cars. It is made up of both small specialty companies, whose only business is the nonstandard market, and well-known auto insurance companies with nonstandard divisions.

Until the mid-1960s, most drivers who did not meet an insurance company’s “standard” or “preferred risk” underwriting criteria could only find coverage in the shared market, where prices are generally much higher and insurers pool or share the profits and losses. With advancements in computer technology that made it easier to set appropriate prices for smaller and smaller risk categories, some insurers began to specialize in insuring drivers with marginally bad driving records. By the late 1990s the nonstandard market accounted for about one-fifth of the total private passenger auto insurance market. This has held steady.  A 2008 Conning study found that in 2006 auto insurers specializing in nonstandard private passenger auto insurance had direct premiums written of $36.9 billion, representing 22 percent of the total private passenger auto insurance market.

COLLISION LOSSES

The chart below shows the claim frequency, average loss payment per claim and average loss payment per insured vehicle year under collision coverage for recent model vehicles. The last item factors in both claim frequency and the average loss payment per claim. This combination is a measurement of overall insurance losses.

The claim frequency is expressed as a rate per 100 insured vehicle years. A vehicle year is equal to 365 days of insurance coverage for a single vehicle.

CONSUMER PRICES

The Bureau of Labor Statistics's consumer price index  (CPI) tracks changes in the prices paid by consumers for a representative "basket" of goods and services. The index shows that the cost of auto insurance increased 2.5 percent in 2008, after increasing by less than 1 percent in 2006 and 2007.