The Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) has developed a series of papers examining the issue of race and insurance pricing and seeking to contribute constructively to the policy discussion around it. “Insurance pricing is a high-wire act,” CAS says. Actuaries have to quantify and differentiate among a massive variety of risk variables while avoiding unfair discrimination.…
By Max Dorfman, Research Writer, Triple-I Local governments in the United States in recent years have begun adopting “Vision Zero” policies, which aim at cutting roadway fatalities to zero. Such policies – which have demonstrated success abroad – have drawn even more interest since the onset of the pandemic, during which traffic fatalities and injuries…
Personal auto insurance premium rates have returned to pre-pandemic levels, but several trends are likely to sustain upward pressure on rates, according to a new Triple-I Issues Brief. At the start of the pandemic, auto insurers – anticipating fewer accidents amid the economic lockdown – gave back approximately $14 billion to policyholders in the form…
As with so many other goods and services, insurance for commercial trucks has become more costly since the pandemic – but a closer look at the numbers shows that this trend pre-dates COVID-19’s economic and supply-chain disruption. “Despite reductions in insurance coverage, rising deductibles, and improved safety, almost all motor carriers experienced substantial increases in…
By Max Dorfman, Research Writer, Triple-I After years of steady declines, traffic fatalities in the United States are on the rise, contributing to increasing auto insurance rates. This comes despite declines in the average number of miles driven due to the pandemic. In 2020, 38,680 deaths occurred on U.S. roads, the most since 2007. In…
The phenomenon known as “social inflation” accounted for $20 billion in commercial auto liability claims between 2010 and 2019, a new study by Triple-I and the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) finds. Social inflation isn’t a new term. Warren Buffett used it in the 1970s to describe “a broadening definition by society and juries of what…
Louisiana, Florida, and Michigan remain the least affordable states for auto insurance, while Iowa remains the most affordable, according to a new study from the Insurance Research Council (IRC). The report, Auto Insurance Affordability: Countrywide Trends and State Comparisons, looks at auto insurance expenditures as a share of median household income. The IRC affordability index…
Lower-risk drivers should pay less for auto insurance, and premiums have closely tracked broader U.S. economic trends for decades, Triple-I told the U.S. Treasury Department’s Federal Insurance Office (FIO) this week. In a letter responding to a federal Request for Information, Triple-I said U.S. auto insurers accurately price their policies by using a wide variety…
It has been said the best way to eat an elephant is “one bite at a time.” Social inflation is an elephantine topic, so we’re launching a series of blog posts dedicated to each piece of it in turn, starting with litigation funding. “Social inflation” refers to rising litigation costs and their impact on insurers’…
Connecticut this week became the latest state to legalize recreational use of marijuana, and more are expected to follow. The increased marijuana use that accompanies legalization has raised concerns about road safety. Researchers at Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) since 2014 have been examining how legalization has…