North Carolina Drivers Receive Refunds

Drivers in North Carolina will be happy to hear that many of them will be receiving over $50 million in refunds over the next couple of years. On Wednesday, it was announced that private car insurance rates will be rolled back to 2006 levels and then frozen for two years.

State insurance officials state that drivers will be getting their refunds as early as mid-2010. The changes will become effective on November 1, 2009 and will be retroactive until January 1, 2010. This will total an impressive $545 million in savings.

December, insurance regulators decided to order a rate reduction, while insurance companies wanted a 12.9% increase. Until the case was settled, over 100 companies sought a 9.4% increase and were allowed to collect increased premiums.

Officials are aware of the economic situation and they are committed providing North Carolina insurance consumers with fair rates. This settlement was agreed upon with the North Carolina Rate Bureau, and cancels out the 9.4% rate increase put into place in 2008 by the insurance industry. It also denies the push for another increase of 1.4% in 2009. The settlement will cap auto insurance from 2006 to 2011, so the rate bureau cannot request another increase for another two years.

It will not be possible to provide every auto insurance holder with a refund, as many people have safe driver and multiple-car discounts already. It still works out to be an impressive deal, however; of the over 3 million policy holders in the state, at least 1 million are going to receive refunds.