North Carolina Car Insurance Rates

Senate Bill 901 will allow judges to decide appeals of insurance rate cases. This will impact the car insurance rates for North Carolinians should be bill be passed. Insurance Commissioner Jim Long said that they could be looking at an increase in car insurance rates if it does pass.

Right now, Long decides whether or not insurance companies have the right to raise the rates on their auto insurance policies. Insurers always ask for higher rates than they usually get, and it is up to Long to make the fair decision. Long is a consumer advocate for those with car insurance in the state of NC, and when the insurance companies appeal the amount that Long says they should get – he almost always wins.

He says he tries his best to make sure that car insurance companies get enough to cover their policies, but not so much that they are overcharging their customers. North Carolina currently has the fifth lowest auto insurance rates in the country, and Long says that has a lot to do with him keeping them low.

However, the Insurance Federation of North Carolina says that the rates are so low that they don’t cover the surcharges used to fund the coverage pool for those that are either uninsured or they have too little car insurance. They say that Long uses his political power to keep them at a disadvantage, and that if a judge decides the rates it is fair to both the car insurance companies and those that need insurance.

Long says he plans on fighting the bill, for he knows that not only would a judge not have the resources that he has to figure out what is best for everyone, car insurance rates will undoubtedly go up for the state.

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