Insurers, Regulators Find Auto Claims Spike As Gas Prices Fall

Auto insurance claim frequency is rising, in some cases precipitously, as gasoline prices have declined from the high levels seen in 2008, according to regulators and two large insurers.

“We have seen some disturbing increases” said Anne Kelly, casualty actuary for the New York State Department of Insurance.

She said that from the combined effect of frequency and severity of claims for personal injury protection no-fault coverage, her agency has “been seeing increases pushing towards 10 percent annually.” 

Her information, she said, comes from second-quarter data from the Fast Track Monitoring system--which, while not including data from all carriers, “we think is a pretty reliable benchmark.”

The PIP coverage, she noted, is where costs are going up the fastest, but such increases are not the case for all automotive lines.