Auto insurance refunds to be mailed this week MONDAY, MAY 3, 2010 - (Updated 3:22 pm) Greensboro News-Record RALEIGH — About one million North Carolina policyholders will begin receiving refund checks this week from their auto insurance companies totaling more than $50 million The refund distribution is a result of the 2009 auto rate settlement with the N.C. Rate Bureau. The refunds will occur in two different waves, the first starting this week and the second starting on Nov. 1.
MONDAY, MAY 3, 2010 - (Updated 3:22 pm) Greensboro News-Record
RALEIGH - About one million North Carolina policyholders will begin receiving refund checks this week from their auto insurance companies totaling more than $50 million
The refund distribution is a result of the 2009 auto rate settlement with the N.C. Rate Bureau.
The refunds will occur in two different waves, the first starting this week and the second starting on Nov. 1.
According to the settlement, companies writing only six-month policies and companies writing both six-month and 12-month policies that expire prior to May 1, 2010, should send out refunds May 1 to July 31. All other refunds should be sent Nov. 1 to Jan. 31, 2011.
The checks are the result of a dispute between the N.C. Department of Insurance and the N.C. Rate Bureau over rates ordered in 2008. During the appeals process, the Rate Bureau implemented an interim 9.4 percent rate increase that went into effect on Jan.1, 2009. When insurance companies charge policyholders more than the rates determined by the settlement, the insurance companies are required to refund the difference with interest.
The 2009 auto settlement did away with the Rate Bureau's implemented 9.4 percent 2008 rate increase and denied their 2009 request for an additional 1.4 percent rate increase, and included an additional 0.5 percent decrease.
Under the settlement, the Rate Bureau may not file changes to auto rates until 2011, which means that the maximum allowable auto rates are locked in until Oct. 1, 2011 at the earliest.