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Oregon
Pay-As-You-Drive Auto Insurance Gets Green Light in Oregon
Working with the Environmental Protection Agency and various groups
throughout the country to help auto insurance companies introduce
Pay-As-You-Drive (PAYD) coverage, the Oregon Environmental Council
(OEC) scored a win at home by securing a law that provides
companies ready to test a cents-per-mile premium with a limited tax
credit, to offset the cost of a new mileage-tracking system. The
OEC makes a strong common sense case for PAYD coverage. Its web
page reads, ''You live close to work and usually walk. Your spouse
commutes by bus most of the time. In fact, you put only 8,000 miles
per year on your car. Your neighbor commutes 40 miles a day on the
busiest roads at the busiest times of day and drives about 16,000
miles per year. You own similar cars, are roughly the same age, and
pay about the same annual rate for car insurance. Why isn't your
rate significantly less? You drive much less and are at much less
risk of an accident.'' With a portion of a driver's annual dues
converted into a per-mile fee, the OEC explains, the driver would
likely pay in advance for a given mileage, paying later for any
excess miles or getting a rebate for driving less. This helps
drivers control car costs and constitutes a strong financial
incentive to reduce car use. Noting that per-mile premiums could
make drivers cut driving by about 10 percent, which would reduce
their insurance by as much as 25 percent and car crashes by 17
percent, the OEC stresses reduced driving benefits to lower-income
families and to the environment. ''By driving less,'' its web page
reads, ''we mitigate our impact on the climate, improve air quality,
reduce toxic runoff from roads, and reduce the need to build
expensive new roads.'' -- Oregon Environmental Council
8/29/2003
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