OAI: Pay-As-You-Drive Auto Insurance Expands in California

    RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA, September 21, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The push that began in September 2008 to introduce policies that place a greater weight on a policyholder's actual mileage appears to be bearing fruit in the Golden State, according to OnlineAutoInsurance.com.

California drivers will soon have four places to turn for pay-as-you-drive (PAYD) auto coverage, after state regulators announced last week approval of a new program to be offered by Civil Service Employees Insurance Company (CSE) starting January 2012.

The program will let customers take advantage of the kind of discounts generally available through only the cheapest auto insurance companies by allowing CSE to verify whether they have driven fewer miles than predicted.

State and federal officials lauded the offering from CSE, which joins AAA, State Farm and Sequoia in providing PAYD programs to consumers in California.

Justin Horner, a transportation analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement that the program is "a simple yet innovative way to incentivize and reward those who drive less by saving them money while they reduce their environmental footprint."

Under PAYD programs, insurers verify the number of miles driven by a policyholder rather than using rough--and often less than reliable--estimates from him or her. The companies then reward policyholders who log a significantly lower number of miles each year.

California auto coverage providers have been required for decades to consider annual mileage when determining the size of premiums. But it was not until 2010 that new PAYD regulations allowed insurers to ask for mileage verification measures that allowed them to track how many miles policyholders were actually driving far more closely than in the past.

State insurance regulations now allow coverage providers to use technological devices or vehicle service and smog-check records that include odometer readings to verify mileage, as long as policyholders agree to those methods.

Source: http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0250-insurers/0800-rate-filings/upload/PAYDFINALTXTFILED101609.pdf

CSE's program allows customers to verify their mileage either by installing a device that logs miles driven or by reporting mileage to the company, which reserves the right to double-check using an agent or records from a service or smog check.

Company officials say policyholders will estimate how many miles they expect to drive during each yearlong policy period. CSE will then give them discounts based on how many miles below the initial estimate they wind up actually driving.

To learn more about this and other coverage issues, readers can go to http://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/cheap/companies/ where they will find informative resource pages and a rate-comparison generator that can help them quickly evaluate their coverage options.

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