Shelter-in-place orders mean less of us are driving and that's having some unintended consequences.
Your car insurance could soon be paying you. The reason is simple: fewer cars on the road means less accidents; fewer accidents means less pay-outs for insurance companies.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic – empty freeways are a common sight. In fact, researchers at the University of California Davis found car accidents have fallen by 50-percent since the shelter in place order.
We don't have any hard numbers yet in Virginia but if you've been out on the roads, you know it's a lot less busy.
Those empty highways are saving insurance companies millions every day, so they're passing the savings on to customers.
- Progressive is offering policy holders a 20-percent credit on their April and May Premiums.
- State Farm says most of their customers will see a 25-percent policy credit.
- Geico customers on average can expect to see a $150 credit at renewal.
- Allstate is reducing premiums by 15-percent for the months of April and May.
We spoke with two Allstate agency owners in Norfolk and Virginia Beach about the thought process behind these refunds.
"Virginia Beach, we're just being fair. The fact that we've collected premiums and people drive less, we feel that we should give some of this money back," Allstate agency owner Frank Ciambrone said.
"Norfolk, they're doing what is right. Right for the country, right for the people that we insure and I'm proud that they're doing this," Allstate agency owner Keith Dorband said.
All together the big insurers will be paying back a total of over $4 billion to policyholders in the months ahead. And in most cases, these credits are applied automatically.