Scheduled hearing on the application for automobile insuranc

By News & Record, Greensboro, N.C.

Mar. 30--A hearing will be held later this year on the North Carolina Rate Bureau's request to raise annual auto insurance rates an average of 1.4 percent.

State Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin today scheduled the hearing for Aug. 3 at 10 a.m. in his department's downtown Raleigh offices.

The 2009 rate filing was submitted on Jan. 30 by the Rate Bureau, an independent organization representing all auto insurance companies doing business in the state. The state reviewed the filing and determined that a rate increase is not justified, thus the hearing is planned.

The filing with the N.C. Department of Insurance comes at a time when the industry and the department are at odds about last year's auto rates. A 16.1 percent decrease was ordered in September by former Commissioner Jim Long; the industry is appealing that order through the court system. Meanwhile, insurance companies are charging an increased rate of 9.4 percent over 2008's ordered decrease.

During the hearing, Goodwin will listen to testimony from experts on both sides of the issue and decide what rate change, if any, is warranted. If the Rate Bureau wishes to appeal his decision, it can do so through the court system, and companies can raise rates while awaiting a decision from the courts. The difference in the ordered rate and the implemented rate must be held in escrow.

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