Yahoo Autos Car Insurance Companies Giving Customers Partial Refunds during Pandemic
Allstate ($600 million) and American Family Insurance ($200 million) have both announced they will send some customer money back because of coronavirus, and they're also being more flexible about payment due dates.
The Center for Economic Justice and the Consumer Federation of America requested just such relief in mid-March.
More recently, State Farm, Geico, and Progressive are also giving money back.
UPDATE 4/11/20: State Farm has announced it will cut premiums by 25 percent on policy premiums between March 20 and May 31.
UPDATE 4/9/20: Insurance Journal reports that three more companies—USAA, Travelers, and Progressive—are reimbursing holders of their auto insurance. Progressive will credit customers 20 percent of their April and May premiums and suspend cancellations for nonpayment through May 15. For Travelers customers, it's a 15 percent credit on April and May premiums, and for USAA, everyone with a policy in effect as of March 31 gets two months' worth of 20 percent credits on their premiums.
UPDATE 4/8/20: Geico, owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, said that it will be reimbursing its 19 million auto and motorcycle policyholders with a total of $2.5 billion. Geico will offer a 15 percent credit on policies that are up for renewal between April 8 and October 7, which comes out to about $150 for each auto policy, and $30 for motorcycle policies.
You may have noticed fewer cars on the road these days, assuming you were on the road yourself during the shelter-in-place and work-from-home situation we're in under the coronavirus pandemic. Insurance companies have noticed as well, and at least two—Allstate and American Family Insurance—are taking action to refund some of the money people have spent to insure their cars, the ones that are mostly sitting still right now.
Allstate: 15 Percent Back, Expanded Coverage for Delivery Drivers
Allstate said it will give most of its customers 15 percent of their monthly premiums back for April and May. This will come to more than $600 million, the company said. Allstate is also introducing a Special Payment Plan for people to delay payments without a penalty and is expanding its insurance coverage for people who are using their "personal vehicles to deliver food, medicine and other goods for commercial purposes," even if its standard personal auto insurance policies exclude this sort of coverage under normal circumstances. Finally, because of the increase in online interactions at this time, Allstate is also offering free identity protection to its customers through the end of the year.
The company's CEO, Thomas Wilson, told CNBC that company data finds the numbers of cars on the road are down as much as 35 to 50 percent since the beginning of March, depending on location.
