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California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has approved rate reductions for two State Farm policies that, he said in a statement, “will bring millions of dollars in premium savings for tens of thousands of boat owners and homeowners with jewelry and higher value collections.”
Commissioner Jones said that rate analysts with the California Department of Insurance (CDI) reviewed State Farm's rate filings and “determined that the rates should be lowered, resulting in an estimated total premium savings of $18 million annually to California consumers.”
Annual excessive rates review
The CDI said that as part of its annual excessive rates review project, letters were sent to insurers where there was concern that existing rates for a given line of insurance might be excessive. Companies in receipt of an excessive rates letter were asked to demonstrate that their rates were not excessive or submit a rate decrease filing to be reviewed by the department.
The CDI said that its rate analysts reviewed the State Farm rate filings and found that the company's requested rate decreases needed to be further reduced. The company lowered its rates on those insurance products where the department found the data supported a reduction, according to the CDI.
The first rate reduction was for State Farm's standalone boat owner's policies that can cover liability, medical payments, and physical damage for a variety of watercraft including sailboats, outboard, inboard, and inboard/outboard boats.
Standalone jewelry & personal articles program
The second was for State Farm's standalone jewelry and personal articles program used to insure higher values and variety of items including scheduled jewelry, silverware, fine arts, sports equipment, memorabilia, and collectibles such as stamps and coins, offering more deductible options than its standard homeowners' policies.
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Steven A. Meyerowitz, Esq., is the director of FC&S Legal, the editor-in-chief of the Insurance Coverage Law Report, and the founder and president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc. Email him at smeyerowitz@meyerowitzcommunications.com.
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