[DAVID GAGNARD]

Brett;

I'll quote you some numbers.... Here in the parish (county) I live,the company I work for as I have said insures approx. 5000 autos. Last year they paid out 1.5 million dollars more in claims than they took in in premiums!!!!!!!!!!!!!That is for one parish (county),we have 64 parishes in Louisiana.... This company is a national company,in the top ten insurers in the country....The homeowners and life insurance side of the company makes enough profit to offset this loss and show a profit overall for the year,that's the only way they can stay in business....

Companys have to sell auto insurance to attract new customers and build new clinetel.... here in Louisiana,we have had about ten companys come into our state in the last five or so years just selling auto insurance. None have made it longer than 2 years before pulling out!!!!!!!!!!! Farmers has been in our state about a year now and are already talking about pulling out because they are losing soo much on auto insurance claims. They are now trying to sell homeowners insurance but are not selling enough to show a profit.

It is a fact of life in any business,you have to make a profit or you go out of business.... When claims payouts exceeds premiums,the only way to recoup and show a profit and stay in business is to raise premiums or be more selective of who you insure and what type of vehicles you insure.... Some companys are more selective than others and thereby do better than others,but as we have seen here in Louisiana,auto insurance is a losing deal..........

I'm sure it is pretty much the same in most states,just read your local paper and look at some of the awards and judgements people are collecting for auto accidents. I'm not saying in some cases they do not deserve the large settlements,but who do you think pays these large settlements?????Surely not the insured person,his insurance company is the one who pays the six and seven figure numbers weather they are justified or not....Then in turn you and I get to pay that back in the form of premiums!!!!!!!!!!!

I do not like paying higher premiums anymore than anyone else here,I have five vehicles insured and pay my fair share and certainly wish my premiums were lower.But I do realize why my premiums are what they are weather I like it or not....I do not think it is the greed of the upper echelon in the insurance industry lining their pockets on my premiums. I think it has to do a lot more with our mind set these days as well as our judicial system,you know,anyone can sue anyone for anything, but that's another thread and I will not start that here or now....

Respectfully;

David