With the popularity of the automobile came many problems. First, millions of motorists are injured or disabled each year in automo­bile accidents and thou­sands of persons killed. More than 30 million auto accidents a year cause between 40,000-50,000 deaths and five million injuries, as well as eco­nomic losses:

1. $ 10.2 billion in 1960
2. $ 23.5 billion in 1970
3. $ 80 billion in 1986
4. $100 billion in 1990

The high cost of medical expenses, pain and suffering, the unexpected death of a family mem­ber and damage to or loss of an automo­bile has a pro­found impact on the family.

In addition, society must deal with the prob­lem of compensating innocent automobile accident victims for their bodily injuries or property damage caused by negligent drivers. The vari­ous methods for compensating automobile accident victims include the Tort Lia­bility System, Financial Responsibility Laws, Compulsory Insurance Laws, Unsat­isfied Judg­ment Funds, Uninsured Mo­torists Cover­age and Under-Insured Motorists Coverage.

Many people drive automobiles, which creates severe problems for the insur­ance companies. The biggest problems revolve around four basic areas:

1 – high frequency of automobile accidents
2 – high costs associated with automobile accidents
3 – actions of irresponsible driv­ers
4 – substantial underwriting losses

No-Fault Automobile Insurance Laws will be examined as an alternative technique for compen­sating accident victims.

Automobile insurers also have the prob­lem of providing Automobile Insurance to irresponsi­ble drivers, such as, high-risk drivers, drunk drivers and persons who habitually violate traf­fic laws.

High Frequency of Automobile Acci­dents – American motorists are smashing into each other at an alarming rate. Example: in 1993 motorists were in­volved in 36 million motor vehicle accidents. About 7 million injuries resulted from these accidents and about 51,000 were killed. Although the ma­jority of accidents occur in urban loca­tions, drivers in rural areas are more likely to be killed. In 1993, 60% of the fatal accidents occurred in rural areas.

Most fatal accidents are due to two major causes: (1) improper driving, (2) alcohol. One study showed that 62% of the fatal accidents in 1992 involved improper driving, such as, speeding, right-of-way violations, driving to the left of center and other careless acts. In addition, it is estimated that drunk drivers are involved in 50-55% of all fatal accidents.

Gilbert Loomis, a Westerfield, Massachusetts auto mechanic, sparked the auto insurance industry in 1897 as the first recorded me­chanic who had built his own one-cylinder car. The premi­um was $7.50 for $1,000 worth of Liability Insurance. Accidents involving autos and horses were not uncommon because driving was treacherous, the roads initially were unpaved without street signs and stop lights. Had Mr. Loomis been injured in an accident, no ambulance could have brought medi­cal attention to him, as that service did not come about until three years later. In the beginning, auto policies were not even desig­nated for such pur­pose but were the liability policies that were used to insure liability arising out of collision with horses.

This beginning was followed by an era of total confusion as the industry saw each company design its own unique policy. Every company has their own policy, rating manual and their own way of providing auto coverage. This created a major problem for those who pur­chased such coverage. They seldom really knew exactly what coverage they had paid for. The policy was quite difficult to read and, since every company had their own policy specifications, compar­ing became quite difficult.

The insurance companies also had diffi­culty with the new coverage. Since these were new policies, the law of large numbers (loss statis­tics become more predictable as the number of similar exposures to loss increase) was not prevalent. Unless an insurance company can predict losses accurately, it cannot set rates that are both compet­itive and adequate to make a profit after paying for claims and operating expens­es.

In the early years, most companies did not have enough of their own insurers to set accu­rate rates, so they cooperated with one another and shared their statis­tics.

Diversity of auto policies created a problem for auto insurers. Each policy was open to a different legal interpreta­tion. An insurance company could not be positive that the courts would inter­pret its policy in the same way that they had (interpreted another insurance comp­any’s policy). Of course, this led to uncer­tainty in rate making.

By the end of the 1920’s, the insurance compa­nies realized that the use of one standard automobile policy, by all those insurers mar­keting auto insurance, would be in the best interests of both themselves and the consumer. This idea developed into the drafting of the Basic Standard Automobile Policy, com­pleted in 1935. At the same time, a standard Garage Liability Policy was developed and included, under one form, all of the major liability insurance cov­erage. It included auto, auto repair garages, parking lots, dealerships and service stations. The Standard Auto Policy stood for 20 years. The Garage Policy was used for business only but the Basic Policy was used for individu­als and businesses alike.

The following years saw the introduc­tion of two other Standard Auto Policies. The Com­prehensive Automobile Policy (1940) and the Family Automobile Poli­cy (1956). The Com­prehensive Policy was designed for business entities such as corporations or partnerships, while the family policy was designed strictly for use by individual or families in the per­sonal market.

These developments were important. Both policies expanded coverage initial­ly seen in the Basic Standard Policy. The two new policies emphasized the division of Auto Insurance into a business side and personal side. This division was further enhanced in 1959 when a rating organization introduced the Pack­age Automobile Policy. Another rating organization introduced the identical “Special” Automobile Policy. Like the Family and Personal Policy, these two new standard policies were only for cars owned by individu­als or families.

In 1963, the Special and Package Poli­cies were combined into the Special Package Automobile Policy. In the late 1970’s, the states began to mandate clearer language in policies and request­ed insurance companies to become more contemporary. The Personal Auto Policy was introduced, replacing the Family and Special Package Policies. The Business Auto Policy replaced the Basic and Comprehensive Policies which covered auto exposures of corpo­rations, partnerships and other organi­zations.

The Personal Automobile Policy was devel­oped by Insurance Services Office (ISO), the largest insurance rating and advisory organiza­tion in the U.S. If any of the insurance compa­nies choose to deviate from the ISO policy language or rates, it is free to do so. It is quite common for ISO sub­scribers to deviate from ISO rates but tend to leave the ISO policy wording intact. Many insurance companies not affiliated with ISO (independent fil­ers) use policies similar to the ISO stan­dards.

The majority of professions these days require their agents/employees to keep up to date on industry trends, laws and regulations, and best practices. In one form or another, they are required to complete continuing education. Every profession is different, depending on what their state requires. In a very highly regulated industry, insurance and financial professionals must abide by certain rules their state enforces. There are rules and regulations in place for a reason. Everyone is better off if the agents are more knowledgeable in their field. The insurance company, the agent, and the client all benefit from insurance continuing education.

Most states allow the professional to choose how to complete their education, while others enforce certain rules. For instance, the state of Utah makes their insurance agents complete at least three credits of ethics sitting in a classroom. On the other hand, the state of California will allow their agents to complete all of their continuing education online. You must check with your state’s rules and regulations to make sure you are cooperating with state guidelines. Online continuing education is usually the fastest, easiest, and most convenient way to complete your education. It can be done from anywhere where in the United States with internet access.

Online insurance continuing education courses vary from state to state. Some will allow you to read a textbook and then take an open-book multiple choice test on whichever subject you choose. Others actually require a monitor present while completing the online exam. Once you finish the exam, the monitor must fax in an affidavit stating that you did not cheat or use the textbook while completing the exam. The third type of online courses are interactive courses. Interactive courses are usually considered classroom equivalent. Students must read a chapter out of the book, take a short quiz, and then move on to the next chapter. They must do this for every chapter in the book. Then, once the agent completes the quizzes, they must take a final exam to complete the course. Many students take online interactive courses so they do not have to sit in a classroom. They have become more and more popular over the years.

If you want to know how to continue insurance education, then here are some ways you can go about it without having to go to a boring class and sit through long lectures. First, where do you find this magnificent place that will help you with all the courses you need to take? Now I know that you don’t want to go through phone books looking at schools so here is what you do. The internet has websites out there for continuing your insurance education where you can take classes online, and at reasonable prices!

Continuing insurance education is important because you can keep yourself informed on all the policies that are available. Many have the opportunity to brush up on their skills by taking Life and Health courses. When continuing your insurance education all you are required to do is complete 15 credit hours as of the writing of this article. The course is entirely online, and has an exam at the finish of the session. The fact that health insurance is always changing its rules is why continuing education is so important.

Here are some of the guideline for continuing education for Property and Casualty Insurance:

Commercial and Financial Liability- In continuing your insurance education this course is the same as the other courses where it only requires you to do 15 credit hours and to take an exam at the end of the course. This is the course that will be in demand because the rules of who is liable or at fault will determine the financial outcome of the situation.

These are some of the required courses that you will have to take when continuing your insurance education. The great outcome is that when you take these courses you don’t have to spend all the money you had to spend in college to get where you are now.

You will not be able to save your family from the pain and grief they will feel when you pass away, but you can make sure that they do not have to worry about anything financially. This is one of the most considerate things you can do, especially if you are the main earner in your family. Here are some of the things that are included in life insurance education.

First, you have to educate yourself on the different types of policies that are out there and you need to know what it is you are dealing with. It is very important for you to understand that if you get a certain type of policy it may only cover certain things and other policies might cover more. The benefits are important and you need to understand what you are getting.

Second, when it comes to life insurance education you need to make sure that you know all the ins and outs of how everything works. The last thing you want to do is pass on and have your family find out that your policy is not going to cover the things that you thought it would. This is not good and that is why you need to use life insurance education to find out what you are getting.

Last, the main thing is to make sure you get a policy and to make sure it is enough coverage for your family to survive in a good way for about 5 years after you pass. This will at least give them time to figure out the next move and how they are going to afford things after you are gone. You can get more if you want, but at least 5 years worth is necessary.