BUSINESS
December 19, 1990
Callers to The Evening Sun's SUNDIAL favor the territorial rating system by which insurance companies can base their rates for auto policies on where a driver lives.Of the 914 callers to SUNDIAL, 61 percent (558 callers) said that territorial rating is fair while 39 percent (356 callers) opposed the system, saying it is unfair.The Maryland insurance commissioner this week ruled that insurance companies can legally use territorial rating. The practice means that city residents usually pay higher premiums than do drivers who live in the suburbs.
BUSINESS
By Evening Sun Staff | April 2, 1991
A group led by Baltimore City Council President Mary Pat Clarke has lost yet another effort to lower car-insurance rates in the city.Baltimore Fair Auto Insurance Rate Inc. lost an appeal to force Insurance Commission John A. Donaho to hold another hearing on a rate increase for Allstate Insurance Co.Baltimore FAIR's appeal was directed against a 3 percent increase granted to Allstate by the state Insurance Division last May.Last week, Baltimore Circuit Court...
NEWS
By Ross Hetrick and Ross Hetrick,Evening Sun Staff | December 17, 1990
After nearly a year of hearings and study, state Insurance Commissioner John A. Donaho today ruled that territorial rating, the practice that allows insurance companies to base rates on where a driver lives, is legal and has a valid foundation.Territorial rating has been a hot issue because of the disparity in rates among Baltimore and other parts of the state.For instance, State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., the state's largest auto insurer, charges a 20-year-old single man in Baltimore $2,345 annually while the same man pays only $904 per year if he lives on the Eastern Shore, according to a rate guide published by the state.
BUSINESS
By Marina Sarrisand Ross Hetrick and Marina Sarrisand Ross Hetrick,Evening Sun Staff | December 20, 1990
The governor took no position on Baltimore City car insurance rates during a meeting with City Council President Mary Pat Clarke last night, Clarke said.Clarke is angry at Insurance Commissioner John A. Donaho's decision that territorial rating, the practice that allows insurance companies to base rates on where a driver lives, is legal. Under that system, drivers living in urban areas such as Baltimore pay higher rates than suburban and rural residents.Gov. William Donald Schaefer, who maintains a home in Baltimore, "was very sympathetic.
BUSINESS
By David Conn and David Conn,Annapolis Bureau of The Sun | March 20, 1991
ANNAPOLIS -- Drivers in Baltimore and other urban areas around Maryland will have to wait for relief from high auto insurance rates because a House committee killed a package of bills yesterday that would have prohibited insurers from charging insurance rates according to where a driver lives.A Senate committee took a similar action last week on bills that would have benefited drivers in high-risk, heavily populated areas such as Baltimore by prohibiting the practice of "territorial rating."
NEWS
By Michael A. Fletcher and Michael A. Fletcher,Staff Writer Staff writer William F. Zorzi Jr. contributed to this article | January 13, 1993
Only 45 percent of the 35,000 vehicles involved in traffic accidents in Baltimore in 1989 were registered in the city, according to a study that will be used to back efforts to limit the impact geography has on automobile insurance rates.And while claims resulting from the accidents are supposed to be listed in the area where a vehicle is registered, the study found no method for verifying that the reassignment actually occurs, said the study's author.Les Ransom, an insurance consultant who wrote the study, also said yesterday that in Maryland, automobile "insurance rates are the highest where the percentage of minority residents is highest."