MASS. AGENTS IN COMMISSION FIGHT:

The Mass. Attorney General has recommended that agents’ auto insurance commissions be frozen at $114 per vehicle until further proof of agencies’ actual expenses is made available. The AG is pressing for additional documentation to back-up agents’ request for higher commissions. The State Rating Bureau (SRB), which recommended that 2005 rates increase by 1 percent, said the average commission should increase to $119, or about 5 percent. The AG and SRB proposals are at odds with the commission change requested by the Massachusetts Association of Insurance Agents (MAIA) on behalf of the state’s agents. MAIA is seeking a 32 percent jump in average commission from $114 to $151. Its filing is based on a new 2004 Agency Cost Study it paid the firm Tillinghast to conduct. According to MAIA, the AG now wants to compel MAIA to produce back-up agency tax returns and other documents to verify the agency expense data included in the agency study. The AG has also recommended that auto rates be cut by 6.2 percent for 2005.

Topics Agencies