Evening star., 1953-02-23

UC41AS 1CCdlIlCU NY IIldkl1lS tIl6
rear Of the front seat a body
ones who find themselves on a
blacklist occasionally. Excess
sively bad drivers, drunken driv-
ers, drug addicts and other per-
sons with poor records often
find their policies Cancelled. And
if one company cancels a policy,
it is unlikely that another would
write new one.
In the. District, there is moth
ing the driver can do to get new
insurance if his old policy is
Cancelled. In Massachusetts,, at
the other extreme, bad risks are
assigned and any one who is en-
titled to license a car can get
insurance. Each of these ex-
tremes has its Objectionable fea-
lures.
In the District, the driver is
at the mercy of the insurance
company. He may have been a
good driver for 20 years and may
have had a run of hard-luck
accidents with the result that
his policy is Cancelled. If he is
a prudent man, that ends his
driving days.
A suitable middle ground
seems to have been reached in
Virginia. There, as in several
other States, an assigned risk
plan" is in effect. The plans
vary in detail from State to
State. Virginia's works this way
(for Virginia residents):
You try to get insurance from
three companies and fail. You
then write the Insurance Com
missioner, who turns your re-
quest for insurance over to a
voluntary pool of insurance COM
panieS. If this group rejects you,
you have a right to appeal to the
Insurance Commissioner and
finally to the State Corporation
Commission. either of which can
direct the insurance pool to is
sue you a policy.
Maryland has a similar law.
The District insurance depart-
ment says it is working on such
a setup, but has not perfected
its plans enough to talk about
them.
Both Maryland and Virginia
have sterner government regu-
lation Of insurance companies
than does the District. with a
number Of results. One is the
matter of rates. To any one
who has driven through the
chaotic traffic of Baltimore, it
would seem that almost no public
liability insurance rate would be
too high. Yet the rate on "25
and so" bodily injury insurance
in Baltimore is 3 cents a year
lower than in Washington. And
Alexandria, which can get pretty
badly jammed up at times, has
a rate slightly lower than half
that of the District.
Safety Record Rebates.
A frequent comment from
careful drivers is that the in
surance companies grant no kind
of preferential rate to good in
surance risks. To many insured
persons there seems to be q
certain logic in this proposition:
If I drive for 10 years without
a crackup and you have had two
accidents in the last five years,
I ought to pay lower premiums
than you.
Up to now, the insurance COM
panies have never permanently
subscribed to this logic for in
dividual drivers. Some have tried
it only to abandon it. They do
approve it in the case of fleets.
A large trucking concern can get
special rates for a good safety
record.
One Nation wide insurance
company only recently has set
up a trial run on individual
driver merit rates. Since the
first of the year, in California.
this company has had in effect
a plan to reduce liability pre-
miums / per cent for each year
a driver survives without a re-
portable accident. A damage
claim, on the other hand. results
in a 5 per cent increase in
rates. 1t is too early to tell how
this will work out.
Some policyholders believe
there is the equivalent Of a
merit rate in the dividends or
rebates paid by mutual-as OPP
posed to stock-insurance COM
panies. It is true that when a
mutual company's claim expe-
rience in a given year is lower
than expected. policyholders get
kickbacks Of, say, 10 per cent.
But this is not the same as a
merit rate. since all policyhold-
ers get the same rebate regard
less Of whether or not they
have had accidents in the period
covered by the dividend.
Rates Increasing.
With the tremendous postwar
increase of cars on the roads,
together with the depreciation
Of the dollar and the added ex.
pense involved in fixing new type
cars. it is hardly astonishing
that insurance rates have in
creased They are likely to in
crease more as the present fig
ure of 452.353 auto registrations
in Metropolitan Washington
scars past the half-million mark
in a year or so. About the
only thing to do is hold your
breath. drive carefully and be
thankful that you do not live in
New York.
Up there. the same amount Of
protection that would cost you
$63.24 in Washington would run
to q staggering $191.04.