Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple
A decision by General Motors Insurance to begin offering a new auto insurance product in Louisiana was not the result of insurance reforms signed into law this year, as Gov. Jeff Landry claimed last week, the Louisiana Department of Insurance reported.
Landry’s Office indicated that General Motors Insurance’s new offering, which uses telematics technology to monitor driver behavior and bases rates on vehicle usage, was a milestone that took place just weeks after Landry signed a series of tort-reform measures.
“General Motors Insurance coming to Louisiana is a testament to the work we accomplished this legislative session to bring about real insurance reform,” Landry said in a prepared statement. “Louisiana families deserve more options in this mandated market, and we are incredibly proud to welcome GM to our state. I am confident this is just the beginning of a more consumer-friendly insurance market.”
But LDI’s clarification points out that GM Insurance Services Inc. has been licensed by the department since 2019. “As a licensed producer, it markets and sells insurance products,” the LDI news release states.
The insurer submitted the new auto insurance product in December of last year, and LDI later found the company’s proposal was in compliance with the department’s review process. LDI approved the General Motors product in March, well before the opening of the state’s legislative session.
“This newly approved product incorporates telematics technology that uses driving behavior data to personalize insurance pricing and reward safe driving habits,” LDI reported. “This approach is consistent with usage-based insurance models currently offered by other insurers in Louisiana and nationally.”
The policy will offer personalized rates based on safe-driving behavior, the Governor’s Office reported, and safer drivers will be able to pay lower rates for coverage.
John Ford, the LDI’s spokesman, said the department encourages insurers to offer such cutting-edge policies to the state’s drivers.
“We welcome insurers that are offering innovative products that give auto insurance consumers more choice and opportunities for savings in the market,” Ford told the Louisiana Record in an email.
The state’s insurance commissioner, Tim Temple, said he continues to look forward to working with state lawmakers to better orient Louisiana’s legal system with best state practices and enact positive legal reforms.
“Through the hard work of members of the Legislature, we were able to get a handful of great legal reform bills to the governor’s desk, and the bills that the governor signed will take effect in the coming months,” Temple said in a statement. “I am hopeful that in time we will see the fruits of those labors, but the great step made this year is not the end of the race.”
Disagreements between Temple and Landry have become public in recent months. Among them was the passage of Act 11, which Temple said gives the commissioner unilateral authority to reject rate requests for political or subjective reasons. While Temple opposed the measure, the Legislature passed it, and Landry signed it into law earlier this year.
Landry has also posted on social media that the LaSalle Parish School Board will be paying less for its insurance this year – another indication that the insurance reforms passed this year are working, he said.
