State insurance regulators are listening to complaints and keeping insurance companies in check.

Does your insurance company complaint department feel like this?

When you are unhappy with a company and file a complaint, do you sometimes feel like no one is listening? If you do get someone to listen, do you get the feeling that they don’t care?

Yeah, me too.

But according to press releases being sent out by different states, state insurance regulators are listening to the complaints of the citizens they serve. In 2012 alone, there were millions of consumer dollars recovered from insurance companies for improperly conducting insurance business. So I guess there is hope for us drivers after all.

What Complaints Were Resolved

For the many, many years that I worked for insurance companies and agencies there wasn’t a day that didn’t go by that someone didn’t want to file a complaint about something. There were the silly complaints of having to pay their insurance premium on time to their address not being updated in the computer system (whether our fault or theirs).

But, there were also the more serious complaints that had to do with insurance policies being cancelled wrongly and claims that were clearly covered not being paid. It’s these more serious complaints that state regulators pursue for drivers.

Complaints like:

• Claim settlements that violated state law
• Claims wrongly denied
• Car insurance rates calculated wrong
• Policies cancelled without notice being given by a specific day
• Policies cancelled without a reason given
• Policies non-renewed without notice being given by a specific day
• Policies being denied coverage wrongly

How Much Was Recovered From Complaints?

The amounts that were recovered varied from state to state, of course. A lot of what was recovered depended on specific investigations that were conducted, or areas that were concentrated on more than others. For example, some states recovered millions for claims that were settled incorrectly while other states concentrated on insurance premiums.

Here is a quick breakdown of some of the states with impressive recoveries in 2012:

*Louisiana Department of Insurance, **onlineautoinsurance.com, ***Illinois Department of Insurance, ^Maine Bureau of Insurance, ^^ North Carolina Department of Insurance

Do People Really File Complaints?

It may seem like departments in the government just randomly check in on insurance companies to make sure they are complying with state laws and regulations, and they do (state audits). However, most of the investigations are started by drivers like you and me filing a complaint against an insurance company.

In 2012, Maine had 4,760 people make inquiries through their Bureau of Insurance about something not right about an insurance company they were working with. They also received 319 complaints in writing. In North Carolina, the Insurance’s Consumer Services Division received 65,000 calls and 7,500 complaints in writing total for all of the insurance products that were written in their state.

So never think that if you complain to the department in your state that regulates insurance that you won’t be heard.

Reports from the NHTSA show that 2011 was a good year for deaths from drunk driving.

We all know that deaths from drunk driving are a reality, but even if drunk driving doesn’t lead to death it can cause serious damage to other people and their property. Between personal experiences of losing loved ones, public safety announcements, and law enforcement crackdowns the message about the dangers of drunk driving is reaching everyone. You would have to be living in a cave not to have heard any of these.

The good news is that it seems more and more people are taking this fact to heart from the new report that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Report on Deaths from Drunk Driving

In December, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a report in regards to their deaths from drunk driving research. This report was from the information collected for the driving year of 2011, not for 2012.

Their findings included a 2.5% decrease in deaths from drunk driving in 2011, compared to the statistics from 2010. While 2.5% may not seem to be a lot, that’s 247 people that are still alive because of the decrease.

State by State Deaths from Drink Driving

The 2.5% decrease that the NHTSA found was an average across the nation. If broken down state by state, some states did much better than others. The largest decrease was in the state of Maine where there was a 43% decrease in deaths from drunk driving. On the other end, Oregon saw a 39% increase in deaths from drunk driving.

Here is the breakdown by state:

Deaths from drunk driving by state

How did your state fair in its deaths from drunk driving statistics?

Is now justification for those safe drivers out there that believe that the insurance rating on their policies doesn’t match their driving record?

Are insurance companies really using unfair insurance rating factors?

Going through the insurance rating process for insurance quotes is a necessary evil; just like the actual product that we are getting the quote for. Many people don’t understand why they are charged so much for insurance when they have clean driving records.

But like we say over and over again here at Car Insurance Guidebook, insurance rating takes into account many different factors which is why no two policies are the same.

However, a recent study by the Consumer Federation of America has given backing to those that feel they are being unfairly rated for other factors that have nothing to do with how safe they drive.

The Insurance Rating Study

The study from the Consumer Federation of America (CFA)started by creating the profiles of two 30-year-old women who lived in the same zip code and had the same number of years driving. Aside from the actual driving record, age and location should be the two other biggest factors that determine premium during the insurance rating process (or so the insurance companies have been telling us for years).

While creating these profiles, the CFA also made one woman married, a high wage earner with a graduate degree, and a home owner. She also had car accident on her driving record that happened within the last 3 years that caused $800 worth of damage.

The other woman was single, had been without insurance for the last 45 days, was a renter not a homeowner, and had a clean driving record.

The Results of the Insurance Rating Study

After women representing each of the profiles had called around to the different insurance companies to get quotes on the same minimum amount of coverage, here is what the results were:

“In two-thirds of the 60 cases studied, large auto insurers quoted higher premiums to safe drivers than to those responsible for an accident. And in more than three-fifths of the cases with these higher premiums, the premium quoted the safe driver exceeded the premium quoted the unsafe driver by at least 25 percent.”

What This Tells Us about Insurance Rating

Basically, this study is telling us that insurance rating is using other factors that have nothing to do with your driving record, much more than they probably should. After reading the study and from my own experience in the insurance industry, getting insurance quotes is becoming similar to applying for a credit card with what factors the insurance companies use to determine how much to charge you.

However, I cannot agree with the study calling insurance companies unfair from the results of their study. Why? Because the supposedly safe driver had a 45-day lapse in her insurance; which means she was driving around without insurance coverage for 45 days. To an insurance company (and the legal system) this is just as unsafe as an accident and the insurance rating is going to reflect that.

Make sure you arrive safe for all your Valentine’s Day fun this year.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Each year Valentine’s Day is greeted with mixed reactions depending on your current situation in life. Some love it, some hate it, and others just don’t care. Regardless of how you feel about the day though, if you plan on celebrating it do so safely.

Keep Those Valentine’s Day Treats Secure

Many people will be taking Valentine’s Day treats to work or their kid’s school today, so while they are in transit make sure they are secure. Never, ever put them on the floor under your legs while you are driving as they can get in the way of being able to brake or accelerate your vehicle.

Also don’t let them slide around the backseat. Hearing your treats slide round the backseat increases the odds that you will turn around to try and secure them while you are driving, to prevent them from getting all over the place. Instead, have someone else in the car hold them, place them on the ground in the backseat, or on the ground in the front seat; any place where their area of movement is restricted but out of your way.

Valentine’s Day Balloons Under Control

I love Valentine’s Day balloons. What’s not to love about them?

Unfortunately, if you purchase balloons for someone and don’t have them delivered it becomes your responsibility to have them delivered safely. (The most important word in that last sentence was “safely”.)

The best way to deliver balloons in your car is by not filling up your vehicle to capacity with the floating gift. Yes, if you were to get into a car accident bouncing off a bunch of balloons would be safer than bouncing off a window, but you probably never would have got in that car accident in the first place if you had been able to see out those windows. So make multiple balloon delivery trips between the store and your destinations if needed.

Second, anchor balloons below your line of site. When you pick up balloons bring someone with you to hold them down so that you can still see out your windows. If travelling alone, find something to wrap the balloon’s ribbon to in order to shorten its floating range.

Don’t Ruin Another’s Valentine’s Day Because You Hate It

Even if you hate Valentine’s Day, don’t go out to drown your sorrows and then drive home drunk. Find other friends that have the same feeling for the holiday and go out to have a fun anti-Valentine’s Day night. You just may end up having more fun than many of the couples out celebrating Valentine’s Day.

Safety matters when insurance companies create premiums, and the 2013 Lexus IS 250 has a lot of room for improvement.

Lexus IS 250 F-Sport

One of the changes in the 2013 Lexus IS 250 was that this model of vehicle will no longer be available in a manual transmission. While this was a nice easy change for Lexus to make, they should have also spent some time improving the safety of this 2013 model also.

Safety Information for the 2013 Lexus IS 250

The 2013 Lexus IS 250 is not one of Lexus’ safest vehicles, per the ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). While it is not a metal death trap, there are many other safer vehicles in Lexus’ line of cars; which makes it surprising that this vehicle had such low ratings.

For the 2013 IS 250, it did rate “good” for the front crash test and the side impact tests. So there are aspects that are safe in the event of a crash.

The roof strength test, this tests the strength of the roof if you were to ever be in a rollover accident, was rated as “acceptable” by the IIHS. An “acceptable” rating is just a step below the “good” rating.

The front corner crash test on the 2013 Lexus IS 250 was only given a “poor” rating, which is the lowest rating that the IIHS gives in its testing.

2013 Lexus IS 250 Recalls

There were no recalls found for the 2013 Lexus IS 250 at the time of this writing.

Insurance Thoughts on the 2013 Lexus IS 250

The 2013 Lexus IS 250 will be one of the more expensive sedans to insure. With the price of the vehicle ranging from $35,000 to over $37,000 the comprehensive and collision coverages are going to come in higher than the other comparable sedans that are priced in the low $20,000s. This higher price means that parts and total loss costs are going to be higher for the insurance companies if you were ever in an accident. This higher potential cost is passed on to you in the form of higher premiums.

With the less than stellar safety rating, the 2013 IS 250 is also most likely going to have medical and PIP premiums that are higher than other safer vehicle. The lower safety ratings increase the chance that the insurance company is going to have to pay for medical bills for you or passengers in your car.

The good news is that the liability coverage will be about average for a sedan. There is nothing about the 2013 Lexus IS 250 that I could see that would classify it as a higher liability for the insurance companies.