Insurance companies are raising rates and denying claims
You thought your insurance company would protect you. That’s why you got insurance. But just when you needed that protection the most, you found out the truth:
When insurance companies are strapped for cash, because of a weather disaster, rising accident rates or downturns in their investments, they raise rates and deny claims. The latest examples include Hurricane Harvey, the California wildfires and the unprecedented spike in U.S. car crashes that’s affecting auto insurance premiums across the country.
Tracking the evidence, making the case
A major study in 2016 by the Insurance Information Institute concluded that “total loss costs” for auto insurance companies rose “13 percent in the two years ending in March 2016 – more than 10 times the rate of inflation.” Loss costs went up because of the accident rate. USA Today reported deadly vehicle crashes hit a “nine year high” in 2016. In early 2018, USA Today reported deaths in 2017 on America’s roads “topped 40,000.”
Why auto insurance premiums are going up
According to Forbes Magazine in 2017, it’s increasingly difficult for insurance companies to “sustain healthy profit margins.” It cites three major reasons: Accident payouts are costlier; revenues from insurance company investment portfolios are dropping and bad weather.
On February 7, 2018, The Washington Post described how the soaring auto accident rate is hurting policy holders. The Post reported that auto insurance rates had skyrocketed nationwide in ways that are “wildly unfair.” Rates went up “more than 15 percent nationwide,” in the last two years, while “insurance company profits declined more than 10 percent to 1.6 percent.”
Claims after fires in California’s drought stricken wine country reached $12 billion, according to CBS in 2017. San Francisco’s Mercury News warned victims about slowdowns in payouts and no payouts for policy holders who had not “read the fine print” in their policies. In 2017, property damage claims reached $37 billion after Hurricane Harvey hit Texas and Louisiana. Texans, in particular, were finding it exceedingly hard to win contested claims due to a new state insurance law.
Wyatt Wright knows the tricks insurance companies pull
Wyatt Wright knows how insurance companies “deny, delay, confuse and refuse” to pay claims. The American Association of Justice has a list. So, don’t go it alone. It takes a tough negotiator to deal with these companies today. Wyatt Wright is one of America’s top trial lawyers. His legal awards are proof he wins top dollar cases for clients. You only pay Wyatt Wright when he wins your case. Calls and evaluations are free.