Insurance companies will need to return premiums to customers and business affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic by order of California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, his office announced early Monday.
The commissioner’s office said the shelter-in-place order across
the state has reduced the overall risk of loss.
“With Californians driving fewer miles and many businesses closed due to the COVID-19 emergency, consumers need relief from premiums that no longer reflect their present-day risk of accident or loss,” Lara said in a statement. “Today’s mandatory action will put money back in people’s pockets when they need it most.”
Per the commissioner’s decree, the premiums covered are for the months of March, April and May if the shelter-in-place order continues through then.
The six categories of premiums covered by the order are: private passenger automobile, commercial automobile, workers’ compensation, commercial multi-peril, commercial liability, medical malpractice and “any
other insurance line where the risk of loss has fallen substantially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Insurance companies have until August to comply with the order — whether through premium credits, reductions, return of premiums or other appropriate premium adjustments.
The commissioner’s office said Lara had previously requested a 60-day grace period for policyholders to avoid cancellation of nonpayment due to the crisis.
Some companies, including State Farm and AAA, have already announced premium refunds or discounts.
18 comments
I just an email from Geico. They said that they were giving me a 15% discount upon renewal of my policy. Doesn’t make up for the fact that I have only driven 10 miles, and I still have to pay my premium in full. I hope that the give me some money back now or I will be taking my insurance elsewhere.
Interesting. I have Geico as well and have not heard squat from them!
You can always cancel your insurance completely and not drive. Then when all this is over sign back up. Save the most that way. Just don’t let the vandals or anything get ya!
I love good news. I already prepaid for a year, so a rebate is always welcomed.
You mean my insurance company didn’t just give me money back out of their strong and abiding sense of fairness?😟
Seriously! Lol!
Right, I’ll believe it when I see it.
Are you kidding me? Insurance companies are worse than the IRS! Don’t be looking for any free handouts from those A@@wholes.
I checked the Progressive website and it says their members will get a 20% discount for April and May. They are also not putting past due bills to collectors yet and are deferring deductibles if needed. It helps some, but it would be nice to recognize that we didn’t reduce driving by only 20%, we reduced it by 90-95%. At least it’s something.
Some carriers, incl my AARP Hartford program, issued letters advising of partial refunds before the Ins Comm issued his statement. Those carriers will be revising their original reductions so don’t panic. This stuff takes time. Some people’s driving habits have changed very little, some have changed drastically, yet all get same reduction. Ins cos still have full payroll and have paid commission to their agents/brokers who are also all working. If they take away 3 mos income from agents, there will be layoffs. This will be interesting. Retired CA licensed Property & Casualty Insurance Broker.
Hell Yeah. funny stuff.
Ya gotta love the Goodfellas approach.
Geico actually raised ours. We took 2 cars off insurance last week to save money and the premium went up. WTH? I will be looking into other insurance. Any ideas?
I await pictures of people who hate big government giving the money back to their insurance company to show that they will not accept money that came from the Government putting their boot on the throat of a company.
Hope this isn’t just another of the many smoking mirrors approach we see so much of lately. Somehow they will all get their money and more out of us. Stay tuned. I also have Geico and they will deduct from next 6 month premium the 15% rebate. Everyone could use the funds now but it is what it is.
Insurance copies only issue a policy for 6 months now so they can raise your premium more easily even without any incidents. It is called shared risk as we have to pay for all the other fools who disobey the laws.
Amen! Not holding my breath though.
This is deepening socio-economic disparities. Poor people will be given nothing since they can’t afford insurance! Sad!
I actually meant to call my car insurance company because until I transferred to Macy’s here in Concord in November, I had 120 mile commute round trip, now it is 10 miles round trip, so I might be able to get a reduction just based on that, I’m not sure what mileage my company have on my policy, I think there is a cut off point at 12.000 miles. As for cancelling or changing companies you better get a firm quote before you decide to do anything, because there often is new client sign on fee. So if you want to try to do that, not only ask about your yearly and monthly premium, (you get a discount if you pay yearly) also ask what other fee there are when signing up, agents don’t always tell you that.
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