The Slimy Details Your Michigan Auto Insurance Company Hopes You'll Never Find Out
How much would you say you know about your Michigan auto insurance company? Would you say that they are (or should be) subject to the same rules and regulations as other businesses? And if they're not, wouldn't you say it's way past time somebody stepped up to the plate and did something about it?
What isn't your insurance agent telling you?
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Consider the fact that a valid Michigan auto insurance policy is required by law for drivers who want to keep driving the Michigan highways, and we begin to see how somehow Michigan auto insurance companies have become larger than life.
Everything action has an equal and opposite reaction, however. Michigan auto insurance companies don't have complete autonomy. Thanks to insurance rates reaching record highs over 33% of Michigan drivers are deciding to (illegally) drive without insurance. Car purchase rates are falling, since lenders require maximum coverage on a car carrying a lien and Michigan residents just can't afford that on top of a car payment.
Falling purchase rates is a hard hit to the 24% of the Michigan population currently working in the automotive industry.
"It doesn't add up," say Barb Byrum and Melvin Butch Hollowell in an interview with Freep.com. "Michigan leads the nation in reducing serious car crashes, which are down 54%. Our drivers also have the highest rate of seat belt use in America: 97.2%. The number of accidents involving seniors is at its lowest level since the 1960s, and the number of vehicle miles traveled is at its lowest level since the 1980s. Yet premiums continue to climb."
As large national insurance companies continue to push for higher rates, however, state regulators are finally starting to wake up and take notice. Governor Jennifer Granholm is calling for the passage of the FAIR bills (Fair and Affordable Insurance Reform) that would ban unfair credit scoring, offer low income auto insurance for those working for wages that force them to live below poverty level and require insurers to get state approval before they can raise their rates.
"Auto insurance in Michigan is compulsory, so every time companies raise rates it's the same as a pay cut. These reforms will achieve real savings for Michigan's middle class," says Byrum, Michigan's State Representative and Chairperson of the House Committee on Insurance. "Key to achieving this reform are: bipartisan support, protection of our excellent no-fault health care coverage, and fair and equal treatment to all consumers. It can be done."
Hollowell, an automobile and home insurance consumer advocate, says, "Democratic House Speaker Andy Dillon and Senate Minority Leader Mike Prusi are working to move the reform effort forward. And in an open letter to his colleagues, Republican Sen. Alan Sanborn, chair of the Economic Development Committee, outlined a list of reforms and pledged to make this issue his committee's primary focus."
Michigan, auto insurance reform might not be as far away as you think.