Boston--According to a bulletin issued by the Office of the
Attorney General, the auto insurance rates filed by the auto insurers last week
are on average worse than reported.
The bulletin (attached here), released after a review of
the insurers’ filings, found that the average rate decline was only 6% -- not
7.7% as calculated by the Division Insurance.
“This is particularly bad news, as the originally
reported decline of 7.7% was significantly less than the 10-15% decline in
average rates that drivers would have likely received under our previous rating
system,” said Stephen D’Amato, of the Center for Insurance Research.
The AG’s findings were a result of a review of the
industry numbers, which indicated that the insurers failed to make an “apples to
apples” comparison.
“The bottom line here is that Massachusetts drivers are
paying a lot for this new ‘managed competition’ auto insurance system, which was
sold as a way to lower our rates,” said Deirdre Cummings, Legislative Director
for MASSPIRG.
AGInformationalBulletinNo2.pdf