Car Insurance

On the way up to Harrisburg on the bus Tuesday morning, the Lawncrest seven had plenty of time to stew over Philadelphia's high car insurance rates. They had their protest signs ready, mounted on wooden poles, and, as Lawncrest Community Association president Phil Grutzmacher described it at the association's meeting back home that night, "You can really get caught up in this thing. " The seven association members joined about 200 other Philadelphians for a rally at the Capitol to demand cheaper auto-insurance rates and to lobby for reform of the insurance industry.

South Jersey motorists could save 30 percent or more by shopping around for their car insurance, according to a rate comparison released Aug. 21 by the New Jersey Insurance Department. "Competition works only if people shop around," said Patrick Breslin, public affairs director for the department, which surveyed 78 companies that insure virtually all of the state's drivers. "Competition will never work if people just go to the JUA (Joint Underwriting Association). " The survey shows that a married couple in their 40s, living in Cherry Hill and driving a 1987 Ford Taurus, pay an average premium of $904 (including JUA surcharges and using the "verbal" threshold limiting lawsuits)

State Senate candidate Marie Hall, using the Marlton Circle as her backdrop, yesterday called for an immediate 15 percent reduction in auto insurance rates and the appointment of a state insurance-fraud prosecutor. Hall, a Democrat from Medford Lakes, is seeking to represent the Eighth District. She took the opportunity to needle the Republican incumbent, Martha Bark, for her lack of leadership on the issue. "I am here today at the busiest intersection in the Eighth District to say, 'Yes, Martha, this is a problem,' " Hall said, referring to a comment by Bark that auto insurance has been a problem for 20 years and didn't require a rushed solution.

In a one-two punch that essentially opens the fall campaign, Gov. Whitman and New Jersey Republicans went on the air last night with separate commercials holding the Democrats and their gubernatorial candidate, James E. McGreevey, responsible for the state's high car-insurance rates. McGreevey, who has made car insurance the top issue in his bid to unseat Whitman, countered that the governor and her party were trying to shift the blame for their failure to do anything about the problem.

Drivers fed up with New Jersey's high auto-insurance rates will get a chance to vent their feelings at the ballot box in the fall in nonbinding referendums in every county calling for a 20 percent rate rollback. Mercer County on Tuesday night became the last of the state's 21 counties to agree to place the referendum on its November ballot, according to supporters of the referendum effort. And yesterday, a Mercer County Superior Court judge upheld the action by Mercer's Board of Freeholders and rejected arguments by the county counsel that the referendum would be illegal.

On the eve of what could be yet another increase in automobile insurance costs, Gov. Kean said yesterday that to reduce rates, he would be willing to agree to a reform package that does not include all the changes he has sought. One such legislative package is now on the governor's desk, the unfinished product of negotiations between key lawmakers who say they can save motorists up to $300 a car in annual costs. Further negotiations are expected. Though Kean refused at a news conference to commit himself absolutely to the compromise, he called it "a good bill . . . even though it's not everything I want," and promised to act on it early next week.

One of the hidden taxes for Philadelphians may finally come down a bit - if the insurance companies do the right thing. The hidden tax is your auto insurance. Philadelphia has some of the highest rates in the region - three times higher than the statewide average. A four-figure insurance bill that rivals the cost of a used car is common for city drivers. Reasons vary for the whopping bills. One reason is that Philadelphians have an usually hefty appetite for suing one another after a traffic accident, driving rates up. Another culprit: the large number of uninsured drivers on the road.

They met in secret at all hours of the day and night, even on weekends, squirreling themselves away, hiding from the spotlight and from the creatures who lurked outside. They worked vigorously, their intensity heightened by public pressure and by the importance of their mission. When they emerged from hiding, they revealed the newest plan to tackle one of the largest crises facing the state - and Philadelphia: sky-high auto- insurance rates. In past years, this handful of men meeting behind closed doors would have been lobbyists, working to craft insurance legislation that would profit special-interest groups.

CONSIDER this a call to arms. Get your arms (and legs) down to City Council this morning at 10 for an important hearing on car insurance rates. This is the next big battle worth fighting in the city. We consider it the "other" tax. The one that's not officially a tax, but eats a big enough hole in Philadelphians' wallets to have as big a detrimental impact as a high city wage tax. It's part of the unholy three items - the schools and the wage tax are the other two - that make push come to shove and sends many people to the suburbs.

For years, state lawmakers talked about car insurance in New Jersey. They studied it, fought about it, almost compromised over it, then fought about it some more - until finally this fall, when, goaded by irate motorists and their own impending sense of crisis, lawmakers managed to pass some bills aimed at reducing the cost. Now, Rita Knapp is here to tell you, they haven't done enough. Forget the new laws, which do not go into effect until January. Knapp is convinced that they are not going to help her family much.

One in a continuing series spotlighting real estate markets in this region's communities.   If you've been house-hunting and Lansdale is on your list of possibilities, consider setting aside Saturday to give this Montgomery County borough the once-over. Don't expect to be alone, though, because June 1 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. is Lansdale Day, which typically attracts up to 5,000 people downtown, from Green Street to Cannon Avenue, to a fund-raiser for the Rotary of North Penn.

FOR MANY DRIVERS, the fear of rising auto-insurance rates keeps them from driving too fast or leaving their license at home. Get into an accident or get a ticket, and what's the second thought you might have? "Oh my gosh, my insurance will go up. " You might use stronger language, but the sentiment is the same. AAA estimated that last year almost 31 million Americans traveled by car during the Memorial Day weekend, and an additional 36 million during the July Fourth holiday.

The Delaware County Council has decided to seek to continue two grant programs that have led to arrests and convictions in car theft and insurance fraud. "We've had results" with the programs over the last 10 years, District Attorney Jack Whelan said at this week's council meeting Wednesday. The council voted to submit an application to the Pennsylvania Auto Theft Prevention Authority for a one-year, $335,009 grant and to seek a two-year $874,005 grant from the Pennsylvania Insurance Fraud Prevention Authority.

DEAR HARRY: I own my home free of mortgages. I was going over my financial situation, and I came up with some money-saving ideas. One is to cut my auto insurance down to the state minimum. My car is a 2004 Mazda with 120,000 miles on it. The car is still in great shape, both mechanically and in appearance. I have never had a major accident. What's your take on this? My policy comes up for renewal in three weeks. WHAT HARRY SAYS: Let's start by looking at those minimums. The liability minimums are $15,000 per person, $30,000 per accident, and $5,000 for property damage.

They don't get defendants like Evelyn Baptiste in federal court every day - or even every year. Baptiste, a Montgomery County resident, was sentenced Thursday to six months' home confinement and five years probation for pocketing $186,000 in Social Security disability benefits she didn't deserve. But it wasn't the crime that made her unique. It was her age: Baptiste is 82. Of the 170,000 defendants sentenced nationwide for federal crimes in a recent two-year span, only a few dozen were over age 80, according to Justice Department data.

LOS ANGELES - Beneath a crystal chandelier, Dev Patel ponders budget car-buying. The 22-year-old actor, clad in a soft cotton V-neck T, relaxed jeans, and dirt-scuffed green sneakers, surveys two publicists, a photographer, and a photographer's assistant at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons. "How much do you pay for car insurance? How much do you pay?" Patel, who earned his driver's license in London last year, has cruised Los Angeles for months in a rented Toyota Corolla while costarring as blogger Neal Sampat in Aaron Sorkin's latest creation, The Newsroom , which ends its much-discussed first season on HBO on Sunday.

The idea that a family with an income of $250,000 be considered "rich" is ridiculous. Pay your mortgage, school tuition, car payments, buy groceries, put clothing on your children's back, take a week's vacation at the Jersey Shore, and that does not include all the little disasters that pop up all the time over the course of a year, and I don't consider that rich. I know there are many with less and I feel fortunate to make ends meet, but please stop that nonsense. This whole "get the rich" campaign is mere pandering by President Obama to secure votes from the people who are hurting the most and are looking for help.

The forces that ruptured a water main in Southwest Center City on Sunday night, transforming an intersection into a crater and forcing dozens of residents from their homes, remained a mystery Monday. Water Department officials said they would not know for several weeks what caused the break in the four-foot main pipe. While the city experiences many water-main breaks every year, Sunday's system failure at 21st and Bainbridge Streets was "one of the more devastating to the community," Deputy Water Commissioner Debra McCarty said.