(WXYZ) A battle is brewing over Allstate's Best Driver's reports.
ALICIA SMITH REPORTS IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ON THE RIGHTWhen the report was first issued in July, Michigan drivers were listed as the safest in the nation. But Allstate has now revised the report, saying it was inaccurate because it did not correctly take into account Michigan's No Fault approach to 3rd party property damage. The new report places Michigan drivers in the bottom quarter of the list.
Michigan's Insurance Consumer Advocate, Melvin "Butch" Hollowell, has filed a complaint with the Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation about Allstate's new report. He says the move is a prelude to higher rates.
Allstate issued the following statement in regards to Hollowell's claims:
On July 1, Allstate released its annual Best Drivers report, which showed four Michigan cities ranking in the Top 10. Since then, Michigan's Insurance Advocate Butch Hollowell has referenced this report in numerous statements questioning Michigan's high auto insurance rates. This caused us to take another look at the raw data used to compile the rankings. In doing so, we discovered that the report had not taken into account Michigan's unique standing as the only No-Fault property damage (PD) state. Adjusting the data to account for this situation meant that the Michigan cities dropped significantly in the rankings.
Prior to releasing the revised rankings to Michigan media on September 19, we sent a copy of the revised data, along with a letter explaining the discrepancy, to Butch Hollowell and offered to meet with him. Insurance Commissioner Ross was copied on this request. As a result, Hollowell issued a statement saying he was requesting that the state look into the reasons for the changes in the Michigan rankings. We look forward to the opportunity to meet with Mr. Hollowell to discuss the report and its findings in greater detail.
