“Coakley blasts rate increase by Progressive” |
| Coakley blasts rate increase by Progressive Posted: 11 Feb 2011 03:58 PM PST Progressive Direct Insurance Co., which swept into the state four years ago with offers of big customer discounts, will raise commercial auto insurance rates by 23.5 percent next month. The rate increase was approved Jan. 31 by the state Division of Insurance, Joseph G. Murphy, the state insurance commissioner, said yesterday. "There's about a hundred companies writing policies in that market, they have a lot of competition,'' Murphy said of Progressive. "If customers aren't happy, they can shop with their pocketbook.'' The approval comes despite objections from Attorney General Martha Coakley, who called the rate increase "excessive and unfair'' to Massachusetts businesses in a press release yesterday. She has asked Murphy to reconsider. "High commercial auto rates can cause significant harm to small businesses,'' Coakley said in the statement. "We believe Progressive's proposed increase is unjustified and an unfair rate hike on small businesses across Massachusetts.'' Coakley said Progressive had not supplied her office with data that justified such a large increase. She said this would be Progressive's fifth commercial rate increase in 3 1/2 years. Melissa Karpinsky, a spokeswoman for the attorney general, said Murphy has "statutory authority'' to review and reconsider the case. Progressive initially asked for an even larger rate hike of 26.6 percent, according to Coakley, but the company reduced the request to 23.5 percent after officials in the attorney general's office raised concerns, reviewed supporting data, and found the data did not justify the proposed increase. A spokeswoman for Progressive had no comment yesterday. Murphy defended his office's decision, and said he would speak with lawyers in the attorney general's office about the rate concerns. Progressive holds 3 percent of the market for commercial auto policies in Massachusetts. Commercial auto insurance is required for all businesses that operate vehicles in Massachusetts, including trucks and service vans. It is not the first time Progressive and the attorney general's office have been at odds. In 2009, the auto insurance giant agreed to pay $120,000 in penalties and reimburse some policy holders after the attorney general's office found that its website provided misleading price comparisons. Last month, Progressive acknowledged that it failed to issue all the refunds it promised as part of the settlement, prompting another $30,000 penalty. Megan Woolhouse can be reached at mwoolhouse@globe.com. © Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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