Bay City Times

February 24, 2009

"Michigan motorists are the safest drivers in the nation, car crashes here are down 54 percent and auto thefts have dropped 46 percent since 1986. Yet, auto insurance companies are soaking Michiganders with the highest auto insurance rates in the U.S.

These are insurance policies that the state's no-fault insurance law requires drivers to buy.

It's a dream deal for insurers, whose profits have soared this decade, and a nightmare for drivers who, in the worst economy in the nation, increasingly can't afford to pay these exorbitant, and rising, rates.

That's the picture that Melvin "Butch" Hollowell, Michigan consumer insurance advocate, paints in his 328-page report delivered to Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Jan. 28. It's a main component behind Granholm's demand of Feb. 3 for auto insurers to freeze their rates for a year, by March 1, while the state Legislature reforms the no-fault auto insurance system."

Our response: Sic 'em .

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