OFF THE WIRE
May 25th...
Heads up Massachusetts Motorcyclists.
NEW RATING CHANGE PROCEDURE FOR MASS FOR MOTORCYCLES!!
Hot from the boardroom!!
On the heels of the Attorney General's office spanking companies for overcharging motorcyclists for comprehensive and collision from 2002-2009; comes "a NEW procedure" that's for sure going to have motorcyclists in a confusing uproar!
However, before you go running to the phone and calling the AG's office, I've already called them because I was enraged at what the AIB (Auto Insurance Bureau) was allowing; but was informed they're rating motorcycles as they would commercial autos, and have taken depreciation into consideration.
Many of you depending on which carrier your policy is with, will see upon your next renewal the "MRSP" cost new being used on the policy as a rating factor. (Just to let you know, this is how commercial auto policies are rated, using the MSRP cost new.)
What I'm told will be the difference on the motorcycle policy now is that, even though the "cost new" will be shown on the declarations page somewhere, the carriers will be using a "depreciation" factor when actually calculating the rates for the comprehensive and collision.
This differs from what was done before. Previously companies were using the cost new, PERIOD! Each and every renewal saw no depreciation being taken on the motorcycle even though the "Actual Cash Value" of the vehicle was dropping, the company's value and premium wasn't!!
I'm told this was done to "standardize" the way motorcycles are written in Massachusetts. Instead of several carriers doing it one way, and others doing it another, this procedure standardizes how it will be done.
Now, how the AG's office states it's supposed to work that way, and just to confuse us more, not all carriers will be adopting this practice. Some will, some won't! We just have to wait and see which ones will.
But I wanted to give all motorcyclists a heads up that rating practices were going to potentially change here again, before there's a flood of phone calls to agents and the AG's office.
Side note here, Martha Coakley's office is not thrilled about this change because they truly believe it's going to cause a ton of confusion in the motorcycling world; however, they've looked into it, and assure me that rating will be done correctly.
How will this affect you? Don't know the answer to that question at this moment in time; your premium could go up slightly or go down! I wasn't able to get a straight answer from the representative at Commerce Insurance (who's evidently adopted this procedure first); as to what will happen to policy premiums.
So, in closing, should you see anything out of the ordinary happen to your comprehensive and collision premiums, call me at 781-393-9330 and let me know. I'll be more than happy to call the carrier and request an explanation and breakout of "why" and "how" the premium changed and find out whether or not it's justified.
If it isn't? I'll connect again with the AG's office again and lodge a formal complaint!
So.... just when you thought things were rolling along without any changes, here comes the old proverbial speed bump and pothole to throw us off!!
Have any further questions, please feel free to call me in the office at: 781-393-9330.
Thanks, and again... ride safe!
Gypsy Betsy
