auto_insurance_and_economic_mobility_in

Michigan has the most expensive automobile insurance in the

United States, with an estimated annual premium of $2,610,

almost double the national average.

This burden, howev-

er, does not fall equally. With an average annual premium of

$5,414, Detroiters face the most expensive car insurance rates

in the country,

and other low-income Michigan communities

are subject to extreme rates as well. In turn, a large propor-

tion of Michigan residents drive uninsured, leaving themselves

and others open to financial risk, especially in lower-income

communities.

Altogether, this means that the cost of auto

insurance has become a major barrier to mobility from poverty

in Detroit and across the state.

This brief discusses the link between economic mobility and

transportation, and examines the disproportionate impact of

extreme car insurance prices on low-income Michiganders.

It explores why coverage is so expensive here, and offers

two goals for reform: 1) to reduce the cost of auto insurance

across the state, and 2) to narrow the gap between what

Michigan’s wealthiest and poorest residents pay. Both goals

are critical for the state to end a cycle of poverty that puts

Michigan as a whole, and particularly low-income residents,

at a competitive disadvantage.

1 The State of Auto Insurance 2019 | The Zebra. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.thezebra.com/state-of-insurance/auto/2018/

2 Ibid.

3 U.S. Treasury Federal Insurance Office. (2017, January). Study on the Affordability of Personal Automobile Insurance. Retrieved from https://www.treasury.gov/

initiatives/fio/reports-and-notices/Documents/FINAL Auto Affordability Study_web.pdf

4 Bouchard, M. (2015, May 07). Transportation Emerges as Crucial to Escaping Poverty. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/07/upshot/transporta-

tion-emerges-as-crucial-to-escaping-poverty.html

5 Kiertzner, J. (2018, January 18). Amazon cut Detroit over regional transportation. Retrieved from https://www.wxyz.com/news/region/detroit/detroit-leaders-told-

by-amazon-regional-transportation-is-why-we-didnt-make-the-cut

6 Coxen, T., Falby, J., La Prad, J., MacFarlane, T., & Sherard-Freeman, N. (2016). DETROIT’S UNTAPPED TALENT: JOBS AND ON-RAMPS NEEDED. Retrieved from

http://skilledwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/CSW-Detroit-Mapping-FINAL-APPROVED.pdf

7 U.S. Treasury Federal Insurance Office. (2017, January). Study on the Affordability of Personal Automobile Insurance. Retrieved from https://www.treasury.gov/

initiatives/fio/reports-and-notices/Documents/FINAL Auto Affordability Study_web.pdf

8 The Zebra’s method involves using a base profile for an insured driver to collect information on rates. According to the Zebra, that profile is, “…a 30-year-old single

male driving a 2013 Honda Accord EX with a good driving history and coverage limits of $50,000 bodily injury liability per person/$100,000 bodily injury liability per

accident/$50,000 property damage liability per accident with a $500 deductible for comprehensive and collision”.

TRANSPORTATION AND ECONOMIC MOBILITY

Transportation is vitally important to economic mobility.

Whether to get to a new job, go back to school, or make it to a

doctor’s appointment, reliable and affordable transportation

can make the difference in moving up the economic ladder. In

Detroit, public transportation is under-resourced,

and many

entry-level job opportunities are located in the surrounding

suburbs,

which are largely inaccessible by public transpor-

tation. Thus, reliable access to transportation in Detroit often

means reliable access to a car.

Yet, the price of auto insurance creates a huge barrier to auto-

mobile ownership in Michigan, and in Detroit in particular. The

U.S. Treasury Department’s Federal Insurance Office deems

auto insurance “unaffordable” in areas where premiums

exceed 2 percent of a ZIP code’s median household income.

This standard can be applied to recent data from The Zebra, a

premiere auto insurance comparison marketplace. The Zebra

collects rate information from public rate filings and insurance

rating platforms. In total, the data provides an average rate

per ZIP code for a “base profile” insured driver.

This exercise

yields car insurance rates that represent more than 2 percent

of median household income in 97 percent of all Michigan ZIP

codes. In Detroit, average rates represent between 12 and 36

AUTO INSURANCE AND ECONOMIC MOBILITY IN MICHIGAN:

A CYCLE OF POVERTY

By Patrick Cooney, Elizabeth Phillips, and Joshua Rivera

MARCH 2019

percent of residents’ pre-tax income in nearly every ZIP code.

By comparison, the Department of Housing and Urban De-

velopment considers housing costs to be unaffordable if they

surpass 30 percent of income.

As shown in Figure 1, the vast majority of Michigan communi-

ties are also above the 2 percent affordability threshold, yet the

burden is substantially greater for low-income communities:

• Royal Oak, Farmington Hills, and Livonia face rates above

the affordability threshold, but these range from 2.1 to 4

percent of area median household income.

• In Pontiac and Flint, in contrast, rates vary between 8 and 24

percent of median income.

• Saginaw and Ypsilanti’s rates are 4 to 12 percent of the ar-

ea’s median household income.

The only affordable ZIP Codes in Michigan are in more affluent

communities:

• In Southeast Michigan, Dexter, Birmingham, Bloomfield

Hills, and parts of Ann Arbor face affordable rates, in part,

due to higher household incomes in those areas.

• Williamston and DeWitt, two cities outside of Lansing, meet

the affordability threshold.

FIGURE 1: CAR INSURANCE AS PERCENT OF PRE-TAX INCOME BY ZIP CODE

Source: The Zebra, the State of Auto Insurance 2018; U.S. Census Bureau, 2016-2012 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates

LEGEND:

CAR INSURANCE RATES AS SHARE OF INCOME

<=2% (Affordable)

2.1% - 4%

4.1% - 8%

8.1% - 12%

12.1% - 24%

24.1% - 36%

Another lens by which to view affordability is to compare the

cost of auto insurance in Detroit to what is experienced in other

cities. A shown in Table 1, for the typical Detroit household

making $30,344 a year, car insurance can eat up 18 percent of

annual income. For the 34.5 percent of Detroiters at or below

the poverty level, the picture is even starker. A family of four

with an income right at the poverty level ($24,600 in 2017)

would pay an estimated 22 percent of their total annual income

toward car insurance. In contrast, car insurance accounts for

between just 2 to 4 percent of pre-tax income in peer cities

such as Cleveland, St. Louis, and Chicago, as well as higher

income cities such as Seattle and Boston.

Unaffordable insurance may force low-and moderate-in-

come individuals to forgo driving, limiting their ability to get

to school, health care appointments, or jobs that are often

outside the city limits. Recent findings from a representative

survey of Detroiters finds that 34 percent don’t own a car, and

nearly a quarter report having recently missed work or an

appointment due to lack of transportation.

Others may respond to extreme insurance rates by driving

uninsured, for instance thinking that getting to a job merits

the risk. Nationally, an estimated 13 percent of drivers are

uninsured. In Michigan, the corresponding rate is 20 percent,

4th highest in the country. In Detroit, the estimate is closer

to 60 percent, more than four times higher than the nation-

al average.

Those caught driving without insurance risk a

misdemeanor charge punishable by up to one year in jail and

a fine of $200-$500.

Even further, until recently Michigan

had strict “driver responsibility fees,” through which 317,000

Michiganders and 70,000 Detroiters had their driver’s licenses

suspended, often as result of driving uninsured.

WHY IS AUTO INSURANCE SO EXPENSIVE IN

MICHIGAN?

Michigan’s particular mix of insurance policies, together with

lax regulations, combine to drive up the cost of auto insurance

for Michiganders, with low-income residents hit the hardest.

The most frequently cited reason for Michigan’s high rates is the

9 Peer cities selected for comparison are borrowed from the Detroit Regional Chamber’s list of national peer cities used in the State of the Region 2018-2019 report;

Detroit Regional Chamber. (2018). State of the Region 2018-2019. Retrieved from www.detroitchamber.com

10 Detroit Metro area Communities Study (2017) Detroiter’s Views on Transportation and Mobility. Retrieved from https://poverty.umich.edu/files/2018/05/W2-Trans-

portation-F.pdf

11 Insurance Information Institute (n.d). Facts Statistics: Uninsured motorists. Retrieved from https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-uninsured-motorists;

Reindl, J. (2017, May 08). How aggressive lawyers, costly lawsuits and runaway medical bills make Detroit car insurance unaffordable. Retrieved from http://www.

freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2017/05/06/no-fault-auto-insurance-detroit-michigan/100326640/

12 Waterman, C. (2015, April 03). Driving without insurance? Police in Michigan can now tell just by running your plate. Retrieved from https://www.mlive.com/news/

bay-city/index.ssf/2015/03/driving_without_insurance_poli.html

13 Heaton, P. (2010, January 01). Auto Insurance Reform in Michigan: What Can the Data Tell Us? Retrieved from http://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/OP293.

html

14 Oosting, J. (2019, February 14). Duggan to lawmakers: Michigan auto insurance system ‘morally indefensible’. Retrieved from https://www.detroitnews.com/story/

news/local/michigan/2019/02/13/duggan-lawmakers-michigan-auto-insurance-law-morally-indefensible/2858343002/

state’s unique form of no-fault insurance, with unlimited Per-

sonal Injury Protection (PIP).

Michigan is one of 12 states with

a no-fault insurance system, whereby a driver’s own insurance

company pays for damages from an accident, no matter who

is at fault. Importantly, though, Michigan is the only state that

requires drivers to purchase unlimited PIP coverage (Table 2).

This means that in the event of an accident, automobile insurers

are on the hook for unlimited medical damages, which drives up

the costs of insurance for everyone. While the cost of these ben-

efits only made up 6 percent of premiums in 1972, they currently

account for 42 percent of average premiums.

TABLE 1: AVERAGE ANNUAL PREMIUMS A S A PERCENT

OF MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME

PLACE

AVERAGE CAR

INSURANCE

PREMIUM

MEDIAN

HOUSEHOLD

INCOME

CAR INSURANCE

AS PERCENT OF

PRE-TAX INCOME

Detroit $5,414 $30,344 18%

Cleveland $1,277 $28,974 4%

Dallas $2,123 $50,627 4%

St. Louis $1,390 $41,441 3%

Pittsburgh $1,440 $45,851 3%

Atlanta $1,616 $57,597 3%

Chicago $1,472 $55,295 3%

Minneapolis $1,613 $60,789 3%

National $1,427 $60,336 2%

Boston $1,497 $66,758 2%

Seattle $1,345 $86,822 2%

Source: The Zebra, the State of Auto Insurance 2018; U.S. Census Bureau, 2017

American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates

In addition, Michigan does not impose medical fee sched-

ules,

meaning that hospitals can charge auto insurers more

than they can charge health insurers. This leads no-fault

insurers in Michigan to be charged significantly more than

Medicare, Workers Comp, or private insurers for the exact

same medical procedures.

Together, this means that the average cost per claim is dra-

matically higher in Michigan than in other states. In 2013, the

15 The Zebra. (2018, October). Why Michigan Is in the Middle of a Car Insurance Crisis—and What Can Be Done. Retrieved from https://www.thezebra.com/research/

michigan-car-insurance-crisis

16 Mosley, R. C., Jr. (2015, June 8). D-Insurance: City of Detroit Insurance Company Feasibility Study. Retrieved from www.detroitmi.gov

17 Livengood, C. (2017, October 22). How Michigan’s auto insurance premiums became the highest in the country. Retrieved from https://www.crainsdetroit.com/arti-

cle/20171022/news/642726/how-michigans-auto-insurance-premiums-became-the-highest-in-the-country.

18 Reindl, J. (2017, May 06). How aggressive lawyers, costly lawsuits and runaway medical bills make Detroit car insurance unaffordable. Retrieved from https://www.

freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2017/05/06/no-fault-auto-insurance-detroit-michigan/100326640/

19 Ibid.

20 Why Michigan Is in the Middle of a Car Insurance Crisis - and What Can Be Done. (2018, October). Retrieved from https://www.thezebra.com/research/michi-

gan-car-insurance-crisis/#unlimited-medical-coverage

average cost per auto accident injury claim in Michigan was

over $75,000—more than five times the figure in the next highest

state. New Jersey, also a no-fault state, was the next highest

with an average cost of $13,600.

As one might expect, with

unlimited protection and no regulations on medical fees, the

system is a prime target for personal injury attorneys, with

PIP-related first-party lawsuits now making up two thirds of all

lawsuits in the state.

Large settlements resulting from these

suits contribute to Michigan’s high auto insurance rates.

STATE

PERSONAL INJURY

PROTECTION (PIP)

PROPERTY

DAMAGE (PD)

BODILY

INJURY (BI)

UNINSURED

MOTORIST (UM)

FRAUD

AUTHORITY?

MEDICAL FEE

SCHEDULE?

PROHIBITED

RATING FACTORS?

AVERAGE

PREMIUM

MI Unlimited, Lifetime $10K $20K/40K Optional Yes No No $2,610

FL $10K $10K Optional Optional Yes Yes No $1,878

NY $50K $10K $25K/50K $25K/$50K Yes Yes Yes $1,582

HI $10K $10K $20K/40K Optional Yes Yes Yes $1,079

KS $4,500/person $25K $25K/50K $25K/$50K Yes No No $1,427

KY $10K* $25K $25K/50K Optional Yes Yes No $2,050

MA $8K/ $5K $20K/40K $20K/$40K Yes No Yes $1,201

MN $40K/ $10K $30K/60K $25K/$50K Yes No Yes $1,258

NJ $15K, $250K $5K $15K/30K Optional Yes Yes No $1,679

PA $5K* $5K $15K/30K Optional Yes Yes No $1,433

UT $3K $15K $25K/65K Optional Yes Yes No $1,112

ND $30K $25K $25K/50K $25K/$50K Yes No No $1,230

* In addition, the Zebra report notes the following, “*Kansas requires $4,500 each for medical and rehabilitation. *Kentucky and Pennsylvania are “no-fault choice”

states, where drivers can opt for full-tort car insurance. *New Jersey’s $250,000 medical minimum applies only to specific serious injuries. PIP “Add-on” States:

Arkansas, Delaware, Washington D.C., Maryland, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Washington”.

Source: reprinted from Why Michigan Is in the Middle of a Car Insurance Crisis—and What Can Be Done by The Zebra retrieved from www.thezebra.com

TABLE 2: MINIMUM CAR INSUR ANCE COVER AGE REQUIREMENTS IN NO-FAULT STATES

WHY ARE RATES SO HIGH IN DETROIT?

As started earlier, the average price of an auto policy in De-

troit is $5,414, eating up 18 percent of the median household

income of Detroiters. One reason Detroit rates are higher as

compared with the rest of the state is the volume and size of

PIP claims in the city.

These high levels of PIP claims are

driven in part by the relative lack of private health insurance in

Detroit. No-fault benefits are tapped before Medicare or Med-

icaid by law, so PIP benefits are called upon more frequently in

places where public insurance coverage is more common, and

private coverage is less so. This means that PIP is more likely

to be called on to address damages than in other parts of the

state. Not only are there far more PIP claims in Detroit than in

the surrounding suburbs, but PIP claims are for almost double

the amount ($59,000 on average, compared to $30,000).

This

then drives up insurance premiums in the city.

Another reason for Detroit’s highest-in-the-nation rates is that

insurance companies use non-driving characteristics to set

premiums for customers.

This includes factors such as marital status, educational

attainment, home ownership status, and credit scores. Be-

cause these factors are not directly related to one’s driving

record—yet are highly correlated with income—critics have

argued that their use in setting premiums amounts to insur-

ance “redlining”, with the same policy costing thousands of

dollars more in the city limits of Detroit than it does just a few

miles outside it.

Of these factors, credit scores are by far the

biggest cost driver, with rates more than doubling for those

with poor versus excellent credit.

This is a big problem for

Detroit residents, who collectively have some of the lowest

credit scores in the country.

Thus, a single mother in Detroit

with a perfect driving record but bad credit could be charged

one of the highest auto insurance premiums of any person in

the entire country, despite never having been cited for a traffic

violation or having been a part of a traffic accident.

21 Mosley, R. C., Jr. (2015, June 8). D-Insurance: City of Detroit Insurance Company Feasibility Study. Retrieved from www.detroitmi.gov.

22 Ibid.

23 Livengood, C. (2017, October 22). Detroit isn’t the only city with outsized insurance rates. Retrieved from https://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20171022/

news/642731/detroit-isnt-the-only-city-with-outsized-insurance-rates

24 THE SECRET SCORE BEHIND YOUR RATES. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/car-insurance/credit-scores-affect-auto-insurance-rates/

index.htm#creditmap; Study: Poor Credit Can Double Auto Insurance Rates. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.insurancequotes.com/auto/study-how-poor-credit-

double-auto-insurance-rates-82218;

25 Dudley, D. (2016, October 17). Detroit Is America’s Capital of Bad Credit. Retrieved from https://www.citylab.com/life/2016/10/detroit-is-americas-capi-

tal-of-bad-credit/504137/; Ludwig, S. (2015, October 13). Credit scores in America perpetuate racial injustice. Here’s how | Sarah Ludwig. Retrieved from https://

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/13/your-credit-score-is-racist-heres-why; Darity, W., Jr., Hamilton, D., Paul, M., Aja, A., Price, A., Moore, A., &

Chiopris, C. (2018). What We Get Wrong About Closing the Racial Wealth Gap. Retrieved from socialequity.duke.edu

26 Reindl, J. (2017, May 09). No-fault fixes? How other states reined in auto insurance costs. Retrieved from http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michi-

gan/2017/05/08/how-can-auto-insurance-detroit-affordable/100018602/

27 Other no-fault states have mandatory minimum PIP purchase requirements ranging from $3,000 in Utah to $50,000 in New York.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

Addressing the extreme costs of auto insurance—and remov-

ing a major barrier to mobility from poverty for low-income

residents in Detroit and across the state—will require com-

promise, sacrifice, and collective action by numerous stake-

holders. Hundreds of bills have been introduced in the State

Legislature over the past ten to fifteen years to address the

issue, but so far, little agreement has been reached. Some

proposals focus on redlining, targeting the way in which

insurers use non-driving factors in setting premiums. These

proposals would reduce the extent to which premiums vary

within the state, but would not necessarily lower premiums

across the state. Others focus on reining in PIP payouts, and

in doing so reducing premiums statewide, but perhaps leaving

in place significant geographical variation. In order to control

rates and achieve buy-in from all stakeholders, both factors

must be addressed.

REINING IN PIP PAYOUTS

A clear way to reduce rates would be to rein in PIP payouts.

This could be done by:

• REPLACING MANDATORY UNLIMITED LIFETIME PIP COV-

ERAGE WITH A BROADER MENU OF COVERAGE OPTIONS.

Michigan is the only state in the U.S. that requires drivers

to purchase unlimited PIP coverage.

Doing away with

mandatory unlimited lifetime coverage—and allowing con-

sumers to select the coverage that best fits their needs as

is done in other insurance markets—is the clearest way to

reduce rates across the state, including in Detroit. Doing so

is critical to reducing costs, but is likely to face significant

opposition from interest groups that would be hurt financial-

ly by this change.

• IMPOSE FEE SCHEDULES. Michigan does not use fee

schedules for medical care, creating numerous perverse

incentives for stakeholders in the system. Several recent

bills have included proposals to variously cap PIP fees at

anywhere from 100% to 160% of the Medicare rate (130% is

the standard Michigan uses for Workers Compensation).

Doing so would immediately reduce costs associated with

the system.

• LIMIT CLAIM TIME. Under current law, accident victims in

Michigan can initiate treatment during a one-year window.

Reducing this window (as other states have done) could

reduce fraud and the number of lawsuits associated with

PIP claims.

REFORM RATE SETTING PRACTICES

A few states explicitly restrict the use of credit scores or other

non-driving factors in setting rates. Their use is commonly

raised as a concern by consumer advocates and residents of

low-income neighborhoods who argue that racism and redlin-

ing contribute to unreasonably high rates that are not justified

by the cost of insuring.

Prohibiting the use of all factors unrelated to a purchaser’s

driving record is difficult: insurance companies must be able

to develop actuarially sound models. But other states have

struck compromises on this. California, for example, has es-

tablished reasonable rate-setting guidelines, where insurance

companies are required to prioritize three factors: driving

record, annual miles driven, and years of driving experience.

After these have been taken into account, several other (op-

tional) factors may be added, such as marital status, frequen-

cy of claims, age, and address. However together these cannot

28 Oosting, J. (2018, June 13). El-Sayed: To cut auto insurance rates, end ‘exploitation’. Retrieved from http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michi-

gan/2018/06/13/elsayed-auto-insurance-reforms/697353002/; Reindl, J. (2018, August 24). Detroit mayor sues Michigan over high no-fault auto insurance rates.

Retrieved from https://www.freep.com/story/money/2018/08/23/no-fault-auto-insurance-lawsuit-mike-duggan/1071905002/

29 Some States Take Aim at ‘Discriminatory’ Auto Insurance Pricing. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/state-

line/2015/08/28/some-states-take-aim-at-discriminatory-auto-insurance-pricing; Feltner, T., & Heller, D. (2015). High Price of Mandatory Auto Insurance in

Predominantly… Retrieved from https://consumerfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/151118_insuranceinpredominantlyafricanamericancommunities_CFA.pdf

30 California also requires “best price” guarantees for good drivers, has a state-run low-cost plan for safe low-income drivers, and requires insurance companies to

provide documentation of their methods.

31 Bjorhus, J. (2016, June 28). If you’re poor, you’ll pay more for car insurance, study finds. Retrieved from http://www.startribune.com/report-low-income-drivers-

pay-59-percent-more-for-car-insurance/384565011/

carry more weight than the first three.

The use of credit

score is not permitted.

Based on a study by the Consumer

Federation of America, low-income drivers in U.S. cities pay

59 percent more for auto insurance than those with higher

incomes. In Los Angeles, this gap is just 9 percent, likely due

to the regulations that California places on insurers.

MOVING FORWARD

The sides of this debate are well drawn. Medical providers,

trial lawyers, and patient advocates have fought all efforts to

reduce PIP payouts. Those representing high-poverty areas of

the state have resisted reforms that fail to address the use of

non-driving related factors in setting insurance rates. Insur-

ers push back against efforts to restrict the use of non-driv-

ing factors, arguing that they need this information to create

actuarially sound models.

Important to this conversation is the fact that not all Michigan

residents are impacted by this problem equally. To the extent

that higher income residents feel pinched by the cost of auto

insurance, the challenges faced by low-income Michiganders

and residents of Detroit in particular are much worse. Given

this, any solution to the car insurance quagmire should seek

to both: 1) reduce rates and 2) narrow the gap between what

Michigan’s wealthiest and poorest residents pay for auto

insurance. Only in doing so can Michigan end a cycle of poverty

that puts Michiganders and our state, as a whole, at a compet-

itive disadvantage.