Anybody in Grand Prairie, Arlington, Fort Worth, Mansfield, Crowley, Burleson, Benbrook, Lake Worth, Azle, Saginaw, or anywhere else in Tarrant Count should be concerned about rising cost of insurance.
The Houston Chronicle published an article on September 20, 2011, dealing with auto insurance and rising rates. The author is Purva Patel who investigates and writes lots of articles concerning insurance in the state of Texas. The title of the article is, “Insurers Raising Auto Rates.”
The article tells us that many of the state’s larger auto insurers are raising rates across the state. These insurers include but are not limited to, Allstate Fire & Casualty, USAA, State Farm, and Farmers Insurance.
There appear to be two reasons claimed for the need to raise rates. One is the the new minimum liability rules in Texas that require drivers to have policies that cover a minimum of $30,000 per person for injuries and up to $60,000 for injuries per accident. Also the new minimum limit for property damage is $25,000 per accident.
Insurance Council of Texas, is an insurance industry trade group. According to them these rate increases are in part to reflect the changes in Texas law raising the minimum coverage amounts to the amounts mentioned in the prior paragraph.
Another insurance trade group, Southwestern Insurance Information Service, also cited rising fees for hospital and physician services related to automobile accidents. In support of their position, they cite U.S. Department of Labor statistics showing medical costs increasing 3.3 percent over last year.
The article points out that some insurers are lowering rates and points to some State Farm policy holders decreases. This means that consumers can benefit by shopping around and asking about discounts.
Allstate has raised its rates 3 percent for some of its insureds but points out that it is their first rate increase in three years.
USAA has filed notice of its intent to raise auto rates an average of 8 percent statewide. It pointed out that this increase does not effect all of their policy holders.
Farmers increase averaged about 3 percent for new customers and for renewals starting in July.
There are breakdowns by counties available on the amount of increases.
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., the state’s largest auto insurer, plans to raise rates on renewals starting October 3, 2011. Many areas are not seeing increases but some, such as Harris County, where Houston is located, are seeing rate increases as much as 1.9 percent.
No one denies the need for these companies to be able to make a profit, otherwise they would not exist. The concern to an experienced Insurance Law Attorney is that in the insurance company’s desires to make profits, they deny legitimate claims that have been bargained for as part of the insurance policy contract. Of course when this happens, the insurance company may be breaking the law and advice needs to be sought as soon as possible.
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