I feel the need to respond to the article about automobile insurance rates in North Carolina. The issue of why some companies won’t insure your car unless you also insure your house with them is easy to understand. It is because of the regulatory climate in North Carolina. It is because the state of North Carolina limits the price the insurance company can charge for auto insurance. The state also has a hidden tax of approximately 6 percent on all auto policies. This tax is used to pay claims for the state high-risk pool of drivers. North Carolina’s high-risk pool has the largest percentage of drivers in the nation, 25 percent, because any insurance company can put any insured driver in the pool.

These policies prevent insurance companies from pricing based on risk, and allow insurance companies to pass on to the state high-risk fund anyone who isn’t all profit. Auto insurance in North Carolina is not about risk management (which is the definition of insurance), it is about risk re-distribution. The regulatory policies force safe drivers to pay extra to cover the costs of high-risk drivers who don’t have to suffer the consequences of their actions. If high-risk drivers had to pay for their actions they would drive more carefully.

KATHY SUNTATO

Edenton