Travel Insurance 24

The state of North Carolina has the eighth  lowest car insurance rates in the United States, according to “Report: North Carolina has eighth cheapest car insurance” by Lee Weisbecker of the Triangle Business Journal. If you’re looking for cheap car insurance, North Carolinians pay about $591.11 per year.  The National Association of Insurance Commissioners issued the report listing North Carolina as the southern state with the lowest insurance rates.  Residents of North Dakota have the lowest car insurance rates in the United States, averaging $511.79 per year.  The second lowest rates of $517.62 were in Iowa, according to the data collected from 2003-2007 in all 50 states.

The Insurance Commissioner of North Carolina was pleased with the report’s findings.  He recently rolled car insurance rates back to the 2006 price levels and froze them until at least 2011, helping to keep North Carolina as one of the most affordable states in his opinion.  State Farm car insurance and other companies operating in North Carolina have their rates set by the insurance commissioner.  These standardized rates put caps at the high and low ends of the scale, but are non-existent in most other states.  Offering discounts is the only way for car insurance companies to offer lower rates than the standards.  North Carolina’s car insurance rates are significantly lower than its neighboring states.

The Insurance Commissioner in North Carolina has signed a settlement to not only decrease auto insurance rates but to give refunds to the insured. This is quite unusual in the insurance industry but nonetheless a positive effort to curb higher rates and help the consumer. It couldn’t come at a better time as auto sales are down by a large percentage and many people are choosing to go uninsured rather than pay their monthly premiums. Of course this has its own negative effect as it only drives rates higher with more uninsured motorists on the road.

Read the full story here.