Tony Briscoe
The Republican leader of the Michigan House and two Democratic state lawmakers on Friday said they are willing to start negotiations on a complex new auto insurance reform that would significantly lower cost for drivers.
House Speaker Jase Bolger and state Reps. Harvey Santana and John Olumba saidthey were putting partisanship aside to attempt to make car insurance more affordable.
"Here we are two Democrats from Detroit walking across the aisle to the Republican Speaker of the House who has a proposal," Santana said during a news conference at James Martin Chverolet dealership in Detroit. "What I’m not going to do is shut the door to an opportunity to have a discussion about how to lower these rates."
Bolger’s proposal is to cut statewide auto insurance premiums by a minimum of 10 percent for two years, which he hopes to achieve by making the claims process more efficient. Santana said he would like to see a minimum savings of 25 percent.
"I’m open to (Santana’s) suggestion and I continue to want to work with these two gentlemen and anyone else who will set politics aside to form a solution to high auto insurance," Bolger said.
Michigan ranks second highest in annual auto insurance costs in the nation with $2,500. The rates lead to about 20 percent of Michigan motorists driving without insurance or fraudulent insurance. In Detroit, that number is between 40 percent and 50 percent, according Bolger’s spokesman Ari Adler.
"Somewhere in Detroit .... someone is making decision between food on the table .... or paying their state-mandated auto insurance," Olumba said.
Bolger also stressed the impact of high rates on medical expenses as well.
"If you’re injured on the job, worker’s comp pays for that," Bolger said. "If you’re injured at home, your health insurance probably pays for that. If injured in a car accident, your car pays for that. In any case, you’re taken care of..."
"But your car insurance pays five times more for that same service than those other services would."
Detroit residents Rosiland Harris and Margaret Agee say they are in danger of losing their auto coverage.
"It’s going to be to the point where I can’t afford my insurance, then you can drive can’t go to work," said Harris, a constituent of Olumba’s who attended the press conference.
Agree, also an Olumba constituent, said of those driving without insurance: "They’re not the bad guys."
Olumba said the high rates are also shooing away those who would like to live in the city, like Donavan McKinney, 21, who is set to graduate from the University of Michigan, but anticipates his auto insurance to jump if he moves from Ann Arbor to Detroit.
"I know some insurance rates are based off of zip codes and I hate to admit it, but some of my friends use suburban addresses as well as zip codes to have those lower insurance rates, which if you go back to Detroit, skyrockets," McKinney said. "It might deter me from moving back to the city that I love."
Bill Lloyd, general sales manager at James Marin Chevrolet, said the high insurance rates are curbing the dealership’s sales. He said just about everyday a potential customer points out insurance as the reason they won’t get a new car, especially Detroit residents.
"It’s not that they can’t afford the car, it’s that they can’t afford the insurance," he said.
Source The Detroit News
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