motor vehicle insurance;
noncancellation
SB 1010 allows insurance companies to review the driving record of a policyholder in determining when a policyholder should be transferred from one policy to another without limitation to the insured’s particular policy. The transferred policyholders that commit moving violations and at-fault accidents may be transferred to another affiliated insurance company. The bill specifies that the excluded or transferred insured’s driving record cannot be used to determine rates, surcharges or premiums for the non-excluded or non-transferred policyholders. In addition, an insured’s policy cannot be cancelled or non-renewed based on the person’s residence, age, race, color, religion, sex national origin, ancestry or driving record.
Insurance companies are structured in different ways. Some companies insure multiple vehicles under the same policy, while others insure each vehicle under a separate policy. A.R.S. 20-1632 was amended under Laws 2000, Chapter 151, which allows insurance companies to not give notice to policyholders of nonrenewal, cancellation or reduction in the limits of liability or coverage when the premiums have been remitted to the insurer by an affiliated company. In addition, the insurer shall refund any unearned premium to the policyholder within ten days after the policy’s cancellation once a premium is collected and remitted by the affiliated company. Language in A.R.S. 20-1631(E) that states an insurer must pay for a policyholder’s at-fault accidents even if the vehicles are under different policies, was not included in A.R.S. 20-1631(L) when changes were made last year. Currently, an insurance company cannot transfer an insured person who has multiple at-fault accidents or moving violations in vehicles that are under different policies.