The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (“OIR”) released a preliminary analysis of rates submitted by the top 20 automobile insurance companies writing Personal Injury Protection (“PIP”) insurance in Florida today, January 22, 2014. These companies’ business equates to more than 75 percent of the Florida market, according to OIR data.

The analysis, which was compiled to demonstrate the cumulative effect of 2012 PIP reform (House Bill 119), shows an estimated average statewide savings in PIP premiums of 13.2 percent since the first required rate filing was due in October of 2012, pursuant to the new law. The second was due on January 1, 2014. HB 119’s anticipated cumulative effect of these two filings was a 25 percent overall decrease in PIP rates. Most insurers calculated their rates using a “Pinnacle study,” which projected that reforms contained in HB 119 would generate PIP premium savings ranging from 14 percent to 24.6 percent.

The OIR explains that PIP insurance accounts for about 25 percent of a consumer’s total auto insurance premium cost; therefore, a statewide average decrease of 13.2 percent in PIP is expected to result in an overall reduction of 3 to 4 percent for a policyholder, depending on the coverage purchased.

The estimated average statewide savings reflected a positive trend in comparison with 2011, when 86 percent of auto-related rate filings were for proposed increases in PIP premiums–the vast majority for double-digit increases. Auto insurers that did not decrease PIP premiums by the combined cumulative 25 percent were required to support and justify the reason(s) their respective savings should vary.

Based on the OIR’s analysis, all of the top 20 personal auto insurers accounted for and recognized the projected savings from HB 119 in PIP rates they filed.