Louisiana’s Donelon Asks Commercial Auto Insurers to Offer COVID-19 Relief

Louisiana’s chief insurance regulator wants insurers to consider offering premium relief to their commercial auto insurance customers due to the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon has called on insurers to consider returning a percentage of premium to Louisiana policyholders whose businesses have been impacted by the stay at home orders put in place as a result of the COVID-19 health crisis.

Because of the emergency declarations, many commercial fleet operators are seeing significantly fewer miles driven and as a result, a reduction in the frequency of accidents and claims exposure to their insurers, according to a statement released by the Louisiana Department of Insurance.

Donelon sent a letter to major commercial auto insurers in Louisiana, asking them to review their 90-day claims history and to consider returning a percentage of the commercial auto premium to customers, as is currently being done by many private passenger auto insurers.

“While we know that Louisiana has represented a hard market for these commercial insurers for many years, the challenges being faced by their commercial policyholders are both historic and unprecedented. We’ve made it clear to these insurers that there are no substantive regulatory impediments to offering discounts or rebates to commercial policyholders in Louisiana and we appreciate the companies’ willingness to consider this request,” Donelon said in the department’s media release.

Source: Louisiana Department of Insurance