PUB completes auto insurance study

Information to be presented at hearing in June

The Public Utilities Board has completed its study into Newfoundland and Labrador’s automobile insurance industry.

The information garnered from the study will be presented during a hearing in June, stated a news release from the province’s consumer advocate Friday afternoon.

“The Public Utilities Board’s expert studies of the automobile insurance system in Newfoundland and Labrador have now been completed and circulated,” Consumer Advocate Dennis Browne stated in the news release.

“These studies will now be included in the June 2018 hearing. Intervenors may be filing their own studies.”

The Public Utilities Board will inform people ways to improve highway safety and accident prevention, in addition to suggesting cost-saving improvements to the current system.

Browne said the review will include how a cap on claims for minor/mild injuries affects insurance rates, maintaining the status quo of the current deductible of $2,500 or an increase in that amount, profitability of the auto insurance industry and a separate study being done on the taxi industry and the causes and implications resulting from high taxi claim costs.

“This is the first automobile insurance review in over a decade and the province’s consumers should benefit in the result,” Browne stated.

The consumer advocate will represent consumers during the hearing and will make recommendations to the Public Utilities Board based on evidence and submissions.