The COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed the way that most of us go about our daily lives. While many areas around the country have returned to some semblance of normalcy, we have all been through so much. When the pandemic first began, and stay at home orders were implemented, there was much less traffic on the roadways. As many people were asked to stay home, insurance companies began to reassess the auto premiums they were charging consumers. Most major insurance carriers decided to issue some sort of refund to drivers.

The Car Insurance Premium Refunds

Most major insurance carriers announced in the Spring of 2020 that they would issue some form of a refund to consumers. Here, we discuss a list of the major carriers and their COVID-19-related auto insurance policy refunds. This list is current as of this writing, and there may be other regional insurance carriers that also issued refunds that are not on this list.

• State Farm. Announced that they would give policyholders a 25% credit on their premiums paid for the period of March 20 through May 31, 2020.
• GEICO. Announced they would give a 15% premium credit to policyholders on the next six-month or twelve-month policy term.
• USAA and Progressive. Announced they would be giving policyholders a 20% premium reduction for two monthly premiums.
• Liberty Mutual. Announced they would be giving policyholders a 15% premium reduction for two months of premiums.
• Nationwide. Announced they would be giving a one-time premium refund of $50 per policies that were active as of March 31, 2020.

If you do not see your insurance carrier on this list, your first step should be to go to the website of your personal auto insurance carrier to see if they have decided to issue premium refunds due to the coronavirus pandemic. You may have been issued a refund and not even realize it.

Why Have Insurance Carriers Issued These Refunds?

Auto insurers have to determine premiums based on risk assessments. The more risk an insurance carrier sees, the higher the months premiums for consumers will be. However, the risk to an insured driver was significantly lower during the early parts of this pandemic because there are far fewer miles being driven on the roadways. This resulted in significantly less traffic, and auto insurance carriers decided to issue refunds based on their new risk assessment. We should not assume that there will be additional personal auto policies premium refunds in the future moving forward. As the economies in most states have begun to open up, traffic has slowly returned to normal. The coronavirus outbreak situation is very fluid, and there is no way to know for sure whether there will be any additional stay at home or quarantine orders in the future. If there are, this could once again result in insurance carriers reassessing their risk and issuing refunds. In Kentucky, state law requires that all drivers carry the following minimum insurance coverages in order to remain legal on the roadway:

• Bodily Injury Liability: $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident
• Property Damage Liability: $10,000 per accident

Neither uninsured nor underinsured motorist coverage is required, though it is highly recommended. Failing to carry the required amount of insurance could result in significant fines and a driver losing their license.