Resolution Opposing “Pay at the Pump” Automobile Insurance

Policy Status

  • Type: Model Resolution
  • Status: Final
  • Date Finalized: January 1, 1995
  • Date Amended: November 16, 2017

Issues

  • Economic Development
  • Insurance

    • Task Forces

  • Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development

    • Tags

  • Commerce Insurance and Economic Development Task Force
  • Insurance

    • Summary

    "Pay at the pump" plans would replace the present personal choice automobile insurance market with a government program. Each car would be covered by basic auto insurance upon registration and issuance of license tags through higher registration and tag fees, and the state would use the proceeds of a gasoline surtax of up to 50 cents per gallon to pay for future claims. States would contract with insurance companies to handle claims, and insurance companies would compete in bidding to insure blocks of motorists. Individuals could exercise choice of package provided and, because of duplication in coverage and lower volumes, the cost of extra coverage would increase. The "pay at the pump" plan rejects consumer choice and the relationship between risk and price would result in careful drivers subsidizing accident prone drivers and rural drivers subsidizing urban drivers.
    Draft

    Resolution Opposing “Pay at the Pump” Automobile Insurance

    Model Resolution

    WHEREAS “pay at the pump” would impose increased automobile registration and license tag fees and a gasoline surtax to provide basic automobile insurance coverage for all registered cars; and

    WHEREAS “pay at the pump” would replace the present personal choice automobile insurance market with a government program; and

    WHEREAS the price of auto insurance varies by car, driver experience, and area based on differences in risk; and

    WHEREAS “pay at the pump” would increase the price of auto insurance for those who consume the most gasoline, regardless of risk; and

    WHEREAS the present insurance system rewards careful drivers through lower premiums by providing a financial incentive for all drivers to adhere to the rules and regulations of traffic safety to avoid higher premiums; and

    WHEREAS “pay at the pump” would create a situation in which safe drivers would subsidize insurance costs for poor drivers; and

    WHEREAS rural and suburban drivers travel further distances and use more gasoline per capita than other drivers; and

    WHEREAS “pay at the pump” would force rural and suburban drivers to subsidize insurance costs for other drivers; and

    WHEREAS “pay at the pump” is unnecessary because many current automobile insurance policies already take account to an appropriate extent the relation between miles driven and risks; and

    WHEREAS generally larger cars, which consume large amounts of fuel, are safer than smaller more fuel efficient cars; and

    WHEREAS “pay at the pump” would cause drivers of safer cars to subsidize drivers of smaller cars; and

    WHEREAS motorists could avoid the cost of insurance but still maintain coverage by buying gasoline from a state that did not have a “pay at the pump” system; and

    WHEREAS “pay at the pump” applied to all motor fuels would force a “one size fits all” insurance financing program on cars, trucks, boats, busses, and users of non-petroleum fuels;

    NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that [insert state here] opposes “pay at the pump” programs as a means to provide automobile insurance; and

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that [insert state here] supports competition and the operation of free markets in the insurance industry as the most effective means of guaranteeing quality service for the lowest price.

     

    Approved by the ALEC Board of Directors on January 1995. 

    Reapproved by the ALEC Board of Directors on January 28, 2013.

    Reapproved by ALEC Board of Directors on November 16, 2017.