Car insurance rate report due out later this month

Colorado motorists should get a better idea later this month of how much - or how little - they saved on insurance premiums after the state switched from a "no-fault" system to a "tort" system in 2003.



In response to scolding letters from lawmakers, Colorado Insurance Commissioner David Rivera said Wednesday he would have available at a Sept. 21 hearing each insurer's premium rate after the switch.



Drivers were supposed to get at least a 15 percent price break in exchange for giving up some $100,000 in coverage for medical treatment and rehabilitation.



But Rep. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, suspects that several companies didn't lower their rates anywhere close to 15 percent.



In an e-mail to Rivera Wednesday, Carroll again urged him to investigate and publish a list of those companies that lowered their rates less than 15 percent.



"The 'wait, see, and let's have faith in the insurance industry' approach to consumer protection is not the best we can do," Carroll wrote.



When state auto insurance premiums skyrocketed in the late 1990s and the first couple of years of the new millennium, there was a clamor to change Colorado from a no-fault state to a tort state as a way to lower costs.



So, Colorado switched. Under a tort system, only the at-fault driver's insurance pays.



Rivera said the average insurer lowered premiums 13.9 percent, but the "weighted average" was closer to 20 percent.



But Carroll said most consumers she has talked to told her they're paying just as much or more since the switch.



The comparisons are difficult, noted Sen. Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver, a member of the Interim Committee on Auto Insurance, because many consumers opt to pay extra for the medical coverage they lost with the switch to the tort system.



Carroll and committee chairwoman Rep. Fran Coleman, D-Denver, said they wrote Rivera on Sept. 1, asking him to investigate and publicize the companies that hadn't lowered their rates 15 percent, but had gotten little response.



Carroll's follow-up e-mail said, "It is my understanding that you are refusing to investigate insurance companies who failed to make appropriate premium reductions (though I have not heard from you.)"



Later Wednesday, but before Rivera responded, Carroll said, "To just simply blow it off is not OK with me. That's his job. He's the only one who can do it."



Rivera agreed with Carroll that transparency is important, so he has decided to make the rates available at the next meeting of the Interim Committee on Auto Insurance.



But he reiterated his view that consumers need to share the responsibility and be smart comparison shoppers to get the best rates and plans.



"Consumers should have good information to make choices," he said.