On January 18, 2012, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced that an initiative on automobile insurance rates has qualified for the November 6, 2012 ballot.
The initiative, named the “2012 Automobile Insurance Discount Act,” would allow insurers to use continuous automobile insurance coverage with any admitted insurer or insurers as a rating factor for private passenger automobile insurance. We previously reported on this topic last summer, when the initiative was being circulated for signatures.
Under an existing California Department of Insurance regulation, an insurer may use continuous coverage as a rating factor when an individual is currently insured for automobile insurance with the insurer.
The existing regulation prohibits an insurer from basing the continuous coverage rating factor on coverage provided by another non-affiliated insurer. The initiative would override this existing prohibition...
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