| Show reasons for high insurance rates are discussed automobile insurance agents in tooele thoele try hard at all times to give their policy holders the best rates and the best service possible today they feel they owe their cus bomers some explanation as to why automobile insurance costs so much why your premiums have jumped so suddenly his year since the enactment of the state personal responsibility law pas sed by the state legislature in utah in may 1942 automobile public liability and property damage insurance has become a necessity if an accident occurs in which one party is responsible he must pay all claims within a div en time or forfeit his license to drive if a license is revoked for any reason it cannot be reinstated unless a public liability and prop erty damage insurance policy is in force and owned by the license applicant As a result of this law and most states in the united states have enacted similar laws the in aurance companies have been writ ing a great volume of public lla lia ability and property damage in aurance this on the surface should seem an advantage to the in aurance companies however the facts prove differently at about the same time this law went into effect the war brought into utah a tremendous increase in population at the same time the manufacture of new automo biles was curtailed and eventually ended As a result of the war In stalla eions that came to utah the con tents of pocket books of the maj onty of the people together with people from all parts of the coun try were greatly increased and people who had never been able to afford a car bought one young people who were holding down luc dative jobs and soldiers stationed in the training camps purchased automobiles many of these peo pie were careless irresponsible people with little regard for the safety regulations and the traffic hazards began to increase As wages became higher spending became greater and pleasure seek ing people many under the in fluence of intoxicating liquor be gan to congest the highways los ses began to multiply price of labor was increasing steadily auto mobile parts were becoming more scarce and as a result of the war mechanics were becoming harder to get garages became crowded with broken down cars that could not be repaired and all this time the impossibility of getting new car old cars that ordinarily would have been junked were still being driven on highways losses were mounting and the cost of repairs were practically doubled all this time the insurance companies be lieving and hoping that an end was in sight held their rates down collision rates were the first to be increased but at first gradual ly and the general public did not notice the increase eventually however the loss ra tio became so great in proportion to premium income that the corn panics were showing a loss aver age for the years between 41 and 46 of 74 per cent no company is going to operate at a loss conse rates began to increase more rapidly during the year 1946 the loss ratio in utah jumped to 89 per cent meaning that all corn panics in utah were averaging payment of losses amounting to 89 per cent of all premiums sold As a result many companies be gan withdrawing from utah and today the companies are not sol inciting automobile insurance but rather are accepting it as a spec ial lal concession to their agents rates are up to a point that is practically doubled however you know that your automobile that you purchased in 1940 41 for say 1000 is now selling at more than the new price therefore the in aurance companies are assuming a double risk when they write in aurance on a 1940 car which nor mally should be worth after 7 years about and is selling as high as 1100 you are paying double for your automobiles you cannot expect the insurance corn com banies to assume the risk of that car for less than double the nor mal cost automobile insurance is as nee essary today as ever and is just as valuable to you as ever how ever unless the companies charge you enough to keep their reserves up to a safe margin your invest ment in insurance may prove val uless therefore be reasonable and accept the high cost of insurance just as you accept the high cost of your automobile or anything else you buy today your agents are anxious to see the cost of insurance level off but as cost of labor repair parts and highway hazards are mounting and old obsolete cars are in use and cost of new cars is going up it is impossible for the cost of in aurance to come down |
