Fairer, Less Expensive Auto Insurance

After years of studying Florida’s no-fault auto insurance provision and many failed attempts to reform the system, it is clear that a system holding a driver who causes an accident responsible for any injuries would be fairer and less expensive for Florida drivers than the current no-fault system. This year legislators have a choice – give drivers a system where those who cause accidents and their insurance are responsible for the resulting medical injuries, or a system where the injured person and their insurance must cover the cost of medical injuries, regardless of who is at fault.

No-Fault Insurance is Unfair to Good Drivers

• Florida’s auto insurance rates are among the highest in the nation. Under the no-fault provision, the average Florida family pays about $360 a year more than it should for auto insurance.
• Consumers have been forced to buy costly no-fault insurance that is riddled with legal loopholes and pervasive fraud and abuse. And reforms have done little to stop fraud or save consumers money.
• No-fault coverage was supposed to take care of medical bills for injured motorists, but instead it forces drivers to pay 20% of their medical expenses in an auto accident, up to $2,000 – even when the accident isn’t their fault.
• It requires every Florida driver who has health insurance to pay for coverage twice.
• The no-fault provision creates incentives for staged accidents and fraud. The National Insurance Crime Bureau recently found that three of the top ten cities for staged accidents in the US are in our state – Miami (#1 in the country), Orlando and Tampa.
• Personal injury lawyers game the no-fault system, filing lawsuits over trivial disputes in order to rack up large attorney fees, often twice their hourly rate.
• Unscrupulous chiropractors can charge auto insurance companies as much as they like, many times double their normal rates.

Insurance Should Hold Drivers Responsible

• 38 states, including California and Texas, do not have or have removed no-fault medical provisions because they don’t benefit consumers.
• Beginning in October of 2007, Florida will join those states and drivers will be able to purchase coverage that is right for their families instead of being forced to pay for mandated coverage they may not want or need.
  • Drivers who cause accidents will be held accountable;
  • Medical providers will have to justify their fees;
  • Personal injury lawyers won’t have special laws to boost their fees; and
  • Consumers will have more choice.
• Most importantly, a system that holds drivers responsible will save Florida families an average of $360 annually on auto insurance costs.

Floridians for Lower Insurance Costs is a growing coalition of more than 5,000 business and consumer groups and individuals whose goal is to ensure that drivers who cause accidents are held responsible for the harm they cause.

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