Do your travel plans this summer involve driving in California? If so, be sure to pay particular attention while in the Sacramento region. According to the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, Sacramento is the latest local government in California to consider imposing a “crash tax” on visiting motorists who are involved in road accidents. The tax is supposedly justified by the costs of sending emergency responders to accident scenes.
Snowstorm Losses May Exceed $2 Billion
During the hurricane season, the news media often reports forecasted losses even before a storm makes landfall. The same was not true during the epic blizzards that impacted the Mid-Atlantic states earlier this month. While there were a number of reports regarding damage to individual structures, few estimates were made regarding aggregate damages. Read this article for more details.
Berkshire’s Insurance Subsidiaries Buck Property/Casualty Headwinds in 2008
The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) reported full year 2008 results for the industry yesterday and it was not a pretty picture. While PCI reported that insurers remain well capitalized when one considers levels of statutory net worth, loss and lossadjustment reserves, and unearned premium reserves, the operating results from 2008 show considerable strain on the industry in general when one considers unsatisfactory levels of underwriting losses and declines in statutory net worth during the year. I found these results for the overall industry to contrast sharply with Berkshire Hathaway’s excellent insurance operating results for 2008. Let’s take a look at a few notable aspects of the PCI’s report.