Of all the things that plague residents of Michigan, auto insurance rates add insult to injury. The high rates that are forced on our motorists across the state strain already tight budgets and can lead to drivers illegally operating vehicles without insurance coverage.
According to a February 2006 Insurance.com report, drivers in Detroit were paying approximately $5,984 for a plan that would cost the same driver in Los Angeles, one of the largest and most densely congested areas in the country, $3,303. This discrepancy is primarily due to unfair redlining practices used by the large insurers, who have leveraged their political clout in Lansing to stifle true public oversight. Proposed legislation to regulate insurer rate hikes, redlining, and reform the Kreiner liability coverage system in this state has been consistently relegated to rot in committee by Senators more concerned with special interest money than helping the motorists of our state.
It's up to us as Michigan drivers to let Lansing know that we want reform. State Sen. Hansen Clarke is backing a ballot drive to force insurance companies in Michigan to treat our drivers fairly and reduce our rates. By supporting this initiative, it sends a clear message to our elected officials and the insurance companies that we refuse to be taken advantage of by either group.
20 years ago this month, Communism was defeated by the people of Germany uniting and tearing down the Berlin Wall- a symbol of the oppression wroght on them for decades by a select few. Having the 12th highest car insurance rates in the country is a burden that we too must unite and throw off, and this ballot initiative is the means to do so.
For more information on the ballot initiative, please see the Detroit News article at http://www.detnews.com/article/20091109/BIZ/911090410/1361/rss41.
