Texas Assigned Risk Revs Up Online

Texas Assigned Risk Revs Up Online

By Mark E. Ruquet

NU Online News Service, Dec. 3, 3:32 p.m. EST ?The Texas Automobile Insurance Plan Association said almost 30 percent of its applications have come over the Internet since it implemented an online process close to two months ago.

The TAIPA acts as an assigned risk program for the state's drivers who cannot obtain insurance through the traditional insurance market. All carriers writing automobile insurance in Texas are a part of the plan.[@@]

The procedure, dubbed the Electronic Application Submission interface procedure, gives agents the opportunity through the association's Web site to submit an application and obtain insurance for customers. The form can later be printed for the applicant's signature. The system also allows for the printing of an authorized binder that the agent can give to the applicant.

The association said in November alone, 28 percent of applications filed with TAIPA were through the new process, which was submitted by 419 agents.

In a statement, Jon Smanz, chairman of TAIPA's governing committee, said that 86 percent of the applicants walk out of an agent's office with a binder in hand. He predicted that more agents would use the system in the future. In the case of the other 14 percent, said Jerry Johns, a spokesman for TAIPA, the agents do not obtain the applicant's binder over the Internet, but use other procedures, either fax or mail.