Allstate canceling NC homeowners policies not bundled with car insurance
The Fayetteville woman said she had insured her home through Allstate for 27 years and had never filed a claim.
So she was startled when the insurer contacted her several weeks ago to say it wouldn't be renewing her policy.
The reason? She didn't have car insurance through Allstate as well.
She's among nearly 46,000 North Carolinians whose home insurance policies with Allstate are being canceled because they don't also have auto insurance through the company. Allstate, which held the fourth largest share of the state's homeowners insurance market in 2010, isn't alone. N.C. Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co., which had the third largest share of the homeowners insurance market in 2010, planned to make a similar move with about 28,000 policyholders starting Jan. 1.
Allstate spokesman Tracy Owens said the company made the move in order to remain financially strong.
"Basically, we have to meet the needs of 400,000 households across North Carolina," he said.
The company decided early in 2011 that it would drop homeowner policies which weren't bundled with an auto insurance policy, starting with policies that renewed on or after June 19. Affected policy holders were notified by letter two months ahead of time and were given an option of transferring their business to Universal North America.
Owens said he expected Universal's prices to be "somewhat similar" to Allstate's but said individual policyholders' prices would vary because of that company's particular underwriting guidelines.
"Every company rates a little differently," he said. "I can't say if it will be higher or lower."
The affected Allstate customers included 30,400 homeowners policies, 10,500 landlord policies and 4,900 mobile home policies. They weren't given the option of buying car insurance through Allstate in order to keep their homeowners policies.
"We didn't want people to feel coerced," Owens said.
The N.C. Farm Bureau reportedly will consider renewing homeowner policies that are scheduled to be dropped if the holder buys auto insurance. The policies it plans to drop starting Jan. 1 include homeowners policies on which a claim has been made within the past five years and which aren't bundled with one of the company's auto policies.
State Farm Car Insurance Claim Information - News
1 include homeowners policies on which a claim has been made within the past five years and which aren't bundled with one of the company's auto policies. According to the News & Observer, three other major insurers in the state - State Farm,
The IRC released a new report showing insurer costs are being driven upward by an increase in the frequency of claims being filed. State Farm said that it will be lowering rates for most car insurance policyholders in Illinois and Wisconsin,
Following the collision, Johnson notified State Farm of his injuries and filed a claim with the company, the suit states. However, the insurance company, through the actions of its employee Marie-Crone, refused to consider some of Johnson's medical
The collision caused $49737.01 worth of vehicle and property damage payable under Margaret Totah's State Farm Insurance policy, according to the lawsuit. State Farm claims the Camry's sudden acceleration was the result of manufacturing defects.
Generally speaking, you make more reasonable settlement offers than the other companies with big car insurance market share in Maryland (better than GEICO, State Farm or Allstate). Sure, you force us to try some cases against you to pay our clients a
State Farm to Raise Michigan Auto Insurance Rates
By Ben Zitney, Online Auto Insurance News Team
Some State Farm customers in Michigan will see their auto insurance premiums rise in early 2012, with the company announcing Friday it will raise overall private vehicle rates an average of 2.1 percent as of Jan. 23.
The cost of limited property damage, collision and comprehensive coverages will increase for some policyholders and decrease for others. But the price of the mandatory portion of policies—including liability and personal injury protection (PIP) coverage—will rise across the board, according to the company.
A State Farm spokesman could not be reached for comment Friday, but officials pointed out in a news release that the mandatory coverages account for nearly half of each customer’s monthly policy payment.
State Farm Voices Support for No-Fault Reform
State Farm is among the many auto insurance companies in Michigan calling for changes to the state’s no-fault system, the only one nationwide that requires insurers to cover up to a lifetime of medical and rehabilitative costs for victims of automobile crashes. Insurers and industry associations contend that rising PIP claims have increased costs for carriers and led directly to higher policy rates for drivers statewide.
Critics claim the system must be overhauled in order to prevent coverage costs from skyrocketing, forcing providers to raise premiums in order to maintain profitability. Healthcare providers and others opposed to altering the system, meanwhile, say the changes would bankrupt victims of serious vehicle crashes and their families and bankrupt taxpayers, who would then be forced to pay the bills.
Under the system that the state adopted in the 1970s, drivers statewide pay into a fund managed by the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association (MCCA) that helps finance PIP claims that exceed $500,000. That payment is made in the form of a fee that is tacked on to vehicle registrations and is currently $145 per vehicle.