[Auto] Your auto insurance company owes you a COVID 'stimulus check,' new lawsuits say

[_Happy boy]

 

Now that President Joe Biden's $1,400 stimulus checks are headed for a final vote in Congress, consumer advocates are putting renewed pressure on auto insurance companies to provide some more COVID stimulus cash of their own.

In a set of class-action lawsuits filed in Nevada last month, plaintiffs claim that 10 leading auto insurers have kept premiums unreasonably high during the pandemic, a period when restrictions on business activity and other parts of normal daily life have caused overall driving to drop well below prepandemic levels, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

And that’s led to staggering increases in profits for auto insurers, according to research by consumer advocates. Progressive reported an 82% increase in net income, while Geico’s pretax earnings tripled during the second and third quarters of 2020, just to name a couple.

Many insurers already have given customers some discounts on premiums, ranging from small one-time refunds to 15% to 25% reductions on some 2020 monthly bills, according to information contained in the Nevada lawsuits.

"On three occasions in 2020, USAA returned dividends totaling $1.07 billion to all auto insurance policyholders due to fewer drivers on the road because of the ongoing pandemic," a spokesman for USAA, one of the defendants in the lawsuits, told The Associated Press.

Still, many Americans may be wondering: Why am I paying full price for insurance now, in 2021, when my car still sits in the driveway and my insurance company is still reaping the benefits?

Here’s how you can try to get more relief from your insurer, plus a few other strategies to slash your car insurance bill when money is tight.