Insurance Companies to Provide Relief to Drivers

Pasadena drivers with auto insurance policies will receive relief on their auto insurance by August.

Although several insurance companies have voluntarily said they would return money to drivers during the Coronavirus pandemic, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has ordered all insurance companies “provide a premium credit, reduction, return of premium, or other appropriate premium adjustment as soon as possible, and no later than August 2020.”

Orders mandating people stay home during the crisis has greatly reduced traffic and the chances of accidents.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has severely curtailed activities of policyholders in both personal and commercial lines,” Lara wrote in a bulletin to property, casualty insurers and workers compensation insurance companies.

“As a result, projected loss exposures of many insurance policies have become overstated or misclassified. This is especially true for policies where premiums are based partly on measures of risk such as number of miles driven, revenue, and payrolls which have all dropped significantly because of COVID-19,”

The order covers premiums paid in March and April. It will extend through May if the state’s Safer at Home order remains in place.

For more information, motorists should contact their policy provider.

Several auto insurance companies, including All State, Geico, Progressive and State Farm previously said they would return billions of dollars to customers.

“We insure more cars than anyone and we see from our claims activity people are driving less,” said Michael L. Tipsord, chairman, president and CEO of State Farm, in a statement. “This dividend is one of the ways we’re working to help our customers during this unprecedented situation.”

Traffic has reduced by more than 50 percent in the state and collisions in Pasadena have decreased by more than 60 percent.