Less driving, fewer crashes should bring cheaper insurance

DETROIT (AP) — Those lightly travelled freeways and streets could be putting a few dollar bills into your wallet.

With most states under stay-at-home orders from governors, traffic is down almost everywhere, and that means lower crash rates and fewer insurance claims.

As a result, most auto insurance companies are cutting rates, sending checks or offering credits on monthly bills.

But consumer advocates say the refunds and rate cuts in many cases aren’t big enough to correspond with the falling number of crashes.

In Washington and New York, for example, state police reported 30% fewer crashes in March than the same month a year ago. And stay-at-home orders in those and other states weren’t imposed until late in the month.

Most major insurance companies have promised to send checks, credit future bills or reduce premiums because people are driving so much less.

State Farm and American Family tied for top letter grades of “A” from the Consumer Federation of America. State Farm is offering credits on future bills amounting to 25% on premiums from March 20 through May 31. 

That’s about $20 per month per vehicle. American Family is refunding $50 per vehicle, which is equal to 21% of premiums for April and May, the federation says.

Some companies have made vague promises of future rate cuts, but that won’t help owners who are out of work and need money now, the federation says.

In most cases auto owners won’t have to do anything to get the refunds, which will be automatic.

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