State Farm Seeks $489M In Premium Reductions In California For '07 By Associated Press - January 3, 2007SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ State Farm Mutual Insurance Co. said Wednesday it was seeking to roll back home and auto insurance rates in California by $489 million this year.
The company said it would roll back premiums paid by its 3.1 million auto customers by 10.1 percent, totaling $259 million and slash the rates charged its 1.4 million homeowners by 20 percent, totaling $230 million.
The company said individual discounts will vary depending on the policyholder's history with the company, the type of policy held and other factors.
The deep cuts come six months after California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi ordered the state's largest carriers to justify their homeowner rates. Garamendi ordered the rate review after a department study found that the carriers were paying out less than 50 cents in claims for every dollar in rates received.
Since the review, insurance companies have announced their intentions to roll back rates totaling $1.4 billion including State Farm's announced plans.
All the rollbacks have to be approved by the insurance department. State Farm said it expects the rate decreases to be approved by April.
"This is good news for millions of State Farm California policyholders and customers," Garamendi said of the State Farm announcement. "State Farm is to be commended for working with us to provide this New Year's gift to their policyholders and give their customers much-needed financial relief." |