Study Finds Large Number of Medical Claims Causing Detroit Auto Insurance to Skyrocket
Detroit’s mayor says large number of medical claims over car crashes make city have nation’s costliest auto insurance.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is unveiling an independent study showing a city-operated auto insurance system could save residents hundreds or thousands of dollars a year.
The state legislature is considering allowing Detroit to create what Duggan calls “D-Insurance.”
WDET’s Quinn Klinefelter was at the conference where the results of the study were announced.
He tells WDET’s Jerome Vaughn the mayor says there is a definite need for a special kind of auto insurance in Detroit.
That’s because for decades Detroit officials have complained that the high cost of auto insurance in the city drives people to live elsewhere or pretend they reside in a different town.
Mayor Duggan is proposing to fix that with what he calls “D-Insurance,” which would provide $25,000 of base coverage and another $250,000 for catastrophic injuries.
A drivers’ health insurance would cover the rest.
Duggan says it’s not redlining or Detroit’s high crime rate that’s pushing up auto insurance premiums.
“The reason rates are double for Detroiters isn’t car theft…isn’t some kind of machinations,” he said. “The numbers show that the medical usage is twice as high among Detroiters even though Detroiters have the same number of accidents.”
Duggan says the independent study shows Detroit drivers file double the number of medical claims that suburban motorists do and receive twice as much money from those claims.
State lawmakers are considering legislation that would create the D-Insurance plan.
Michigan is the only state in the nation where no fault insurance laws require unlimited personal injury protection coverage.
