There has been talk that the new bipartisan-backed law regarding auto insurance aimed at reducing minimum coverage to pre 2010 levels will not really achieve the primary objective it has been made for. Lowering costs of auto insurance for Wisconsin drivers will not be easily done say insurance experts discussing this law.
A spokesman for American Family Insurance said that looking at legislation and trying to predict its impact with changes in premium is not an easy thing. The company is one of the largest among auto insurers in Wisconsin.
The law is what will erase the legislation of 2009 signed by the government. It was advocated by Jim Doyle to boost the standards of insurance coverage for the first time since ’82.
The law made some changes with regard to property damage and injury liability doubling the costs. Bodily injury liability was raised to $100,000 in case of multiple people and $50,000 if it was a single person. Property damage charges were increased to $15,000.
Governor Scott Walker has been the one to bring a new law in April which will bring premium costs back to the levels that were there before Nov1. The rules when debated on resulted in quite an increase in the costs for insurance among middle income and low income drivers considerably.
For middle class Wisconsinites and small businesses this repealing of the mandate will hold promise, the Gov. was heard to say. However experts disagree with this opinion and say how much the premiums have gone up is not very clear as yet.
Keeping this in mind, it also becomes difficult to predict by how much the cost may reduce as a result of the law. American Family insurance representative, Witmer was heard to say that the change will take a while to impact customers and cannot be discussed as yet.
While costs have been going up with rises reaching over 20 and 30 percent, figures are still not available. With the hard numbers not available, Andrew Franken, president of Wisconsin insurance Alliance says that it’s too early to make any claims.
There has also been opposition meanwhile from the left with regard to the claims. An executive director of Citizen action of Wisconsin who is part of a left-leaning collective has opposed this repeal. He disputes claims that the costs of insurance have risen enough to warrant such an action. His stand is that Wisconsin rates are still one of the cheapest in auto insurance.
