In brief: The 2012 Automobile Insurance Discount Act has received ratification to appear on the ballot by California's Secretary of State.

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The initiative, sponsored by the American Agents Alliance, an association of brokers to find competitive prices for consumers, met the requirements to have random certification of signatures and has been ratified to appear on California's ballot in November.

The goal of the act is to get every California driver insured at a competitive price, though opponents say the bill will do little, if anything, to change rates.

The initiative's largest change is to the way that insurance maintenance discounts are held. Currently, they are controlled by the insurance companies, who give discounts to the insured based on how long they've been with the insurance company rather than how long they've had coverage by any insurer. The AIDA changes that so that the discount is given to all who've had insurance for more than a specified time, regardless of carrier.

Summing up

Somewhat controversial, it's likely that the initiative will be popular amongst voters in November.

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In brief: Lawmakers have many ideas, but few agreements on where auto insurance reform in Florida should go.

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State lawmakers in Florida are arguing ways to reform the state's no-fault insurance law, which requires drivers to carry $10,000 in coverage and which forces insurers to pay no matter the cause of the accident.

The system has been the subject of investigation as it is often abused with fraudulent claims, estimated to be over $1 billion in 2011.

Several plans for reform have been floated by representatives in Tallahassee, but so far, no large consensus on a plan that would give insurers and customers in Florida an idea of where the law may go has emerged.

Summing up

Ideas are varied and heavily argued. Some change only treatment procedures while others change the no-fault law itself.

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In brief: Although states and now the federal government are proposing and enforcing bans on cell phone use while driving, the nation's leading insurance research firm says they don't work.

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The National Transportation Safety Board has recommended a national cell phone ban for drivers (usually called "distraction laws"). The impetus for these bans is usually road safety, citing driver distractions as a leading cause of accidents. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says the bans don't work.

The IIHS is the nation's leading automotive insurance research group. It's funded entirely by auto insurers and it says that research shows that banning cell phone use while driving has little or no impact on the number of accidents or fatalities.

In states and jurisdictions where the bans are in effect, says IIHS, the ban on cell phone use has reduced it's listing as a cause for accidents, but has not reduced the number of accidents or fatalities and in some areas, the number of accidents actually went up.

"The lesson," says IIHS spokesman Russ Radar, "may be that it's not the phones causing the problem. It's drivers. Distracted driving is much more than just phones, so focusing on phones doesn't deal with the full spectrum of things that distract."

Summing up

Texting or talking while driving is proven to be a distraction and increases chances of getting in an accident. The problem being shown here, however, is that it's just one of many distractions and laws banning cell phone use by drivers are ineffective.

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In brief: Ontario drivers pay significantly more for auto coverage due to accident injury claims being higher.

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Auditor General Jim McCarter reported that auto insurance fraud is costing the industry about $1.3 billion a year in Ontario and that the province does not have significant fraud control measures.

Despite the number of people being killed or injured in auto accidents dropping by 25% in a decade and a 12% rate of return for auto insurers, despite bonds being only 2-3%.

McCarter thinks the rate should be adjusted again, lowering it for Ontarians.

Summing up

Total cost of injury claims rose 150% from 2005 to 2010, however, so convincing the government to change the rate may not be as cut and dried.

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In brief: The Insurance Research Council estimates that 13.8% of drivers, or 1 in 7, are uninsured in America.

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The IRC says that the number has climbed during the economic downturn.

"Over the last 20 years, uninsured motorists and the unemployment rate have tracked fairly closely," says David Corum, vice president of the Insurance Research Council, a non-profit supported by insurers.

According to the most recent numbers from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, those uninsured drivers cost the rest of the road's motorists $10.8 billion in accident coverages, deductibles, and insurance riders to cover them.

Summing up

Despite laws in every state except New Hampshire that require motorists to have insurance coverage, the rate of uninsured rises.

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In brief: General Motors is offering one full of year of auto insurance on new car purchases in the Pacific Northwest.

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New car buyers that live in Oregon or Washington State will receive a year of insurance coverage courtesy of MetLife Auto Insurance.

The program is a test bed to see how well it boosts auto sales in the region. The states were chosen because GM's market share there has been stagnant.

The coverage is well above the minimum requirement for both states and includes both liability and physical damage.

Summing up

An interesting marketing idea that might prove beneficial.

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In brief: Start-ups are targeting cars that sit idle in parking lots while people work, sleep, or attend events. Unlike the thieves who normally do so, however, these companies are onto something legally extraordinary.

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In some areas, insurance and other laws have been loosened, allowing car-sharing to take place. California is a hotbed for this and one of the largest carsharing companies, Getaround, operates there.

The idea is simple: people sign up on a sort of peer-to-peer sharing network and list their cars along with their availability. Others can come and "rent" the car through the service.

For insurance companies, this can become a nightmare as much of the premium for a vehicle's coverage is based on the driver, not the vehicle. For others, however, the driver is the one being insured, so the vehicle coverage may not matter.

Most of the companies offering these services to bring car owners and drivers together offer insurance as part of their rates, which would take effect before the car owner's policy would, easing some of the insurance woes.

Summing up

Whether or not you would rent your car to strangers is another matter, of course.

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In brief: A survey with questions from the driver's test shows that people in Washington, D.C. are some of the least knowledgeable of road rules compared to other states' residents while Kansas drivers ranked high.

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Every year, GMAC Insurance does a national survey of drivers with questions from standardized driver's tests to assess where our nation's drivers stand in terms of knowledge of the rules of the road.

More than 5,000 licensed drivers across the nation were surveyed with 20 questions from their state's Department of Motor Vehicle exams. The average driver scored 77.9% on the survey.

In Mississippi, drivers scored 74.8% while those in Kansas scored 82.9% and the nation's worst drivers, located in Washington, D.C., scored only 71.8%. This ranks DC at the bottom and Kansas at #1.

Summing up

The score field is only about 10%, so it appears that most Americans have about the same knowledge of the road.

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In brief: A Philadelphia police officer, a personal injury lawyer, the owner of an area collision repair shop, and seven auto damage appraisers were arrested and charged with an insurance fraud scheme that may have netted millions.

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The eleven people charged were apprehended after an 11-month investigation. The scheme was complex and appears to have paid off well for the participants.

Philadelphia police officer Gary Cottrell would allegedly respond to wrecks and direct accident victims to University Collision, owned by Edward Hildebrandt. Hildebrandt would then call in one of seven area appraisers to independently appraise the damage for insurance, invariably inflating the damage assessments.

Meanwhile, Michael Wolf, an attorney for HIldebrandt, filed numerous personal injury claims on behalf of the accident victims - who were never told the claims were being filed.

Illegal proceeds from the fraud may have been in the millions as the operation had been going on for years.

Summing up

The investigation is ongoing, but charges have been filed and warrants issued, so the accused will face trial.

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In brief: On July 1, a new minimum will be set for catastrophic claims to auto insurance as part of Michigan's no-fault insurance law. This will raise auto policy rates by 1.3% state wide.

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A lifetime benefit, required on Michigan insurance, must be covered by auto insurance carriers and policies. The coverage has a minimum cap that will rise to $500,000 on July 1. That rise will mean a 1.3% rate hike for Michigan auto policies.

Michigan is the only state that requires this coverage and limit and is the only state that pays from state funds if claims are higher than the cap. It's estimated that about 850 Michigan drivers will claim unlimited lifetime benefits in 2011.

The program paid over $897 million in claims in 2010, amounting to $128 per insured car in the state. Since its inception in 1979, the program has paid out an estimated $74 billion.

Summing up

The program works as a claims association of which all auto insurers in the state must be a member. They must pay premiums for the reinsurance program.

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