BIG I, PIANY applaud Gov. Hochul’s signing of auto inspection bill reform into law
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New York auto insurance policyholders and independent insurance agents expressed universal praise for Governor Kathy Hochul’s signing into law New York’s “Auto Insurance Consumer Relief Act,” a measure supported by both consumers and the insurance community. The bill allows insurance companies to waive pre-insurance photo inspections beginning on May 15th, 2024, until October 1st, 2027.
The law (A.3172-A/S.5889), which will give customers relief from needing to locate and to commute to an available photo inspection site to obtain a photo inspection, takes effect 180 days in six months from today. The law, which was a top priority for both associations during the 2023 legislative session, will allow insurance carriers to submit a waiver to the New York State Department of Financial Services to make photo inspections optional for certain auto insurance customers
According to Big I Chairman, Ted Walsh, “For too long, the car insurance photo inspection mandate has been a burden and an inconvenience for hard-working New Yorkers. Modern solutions for combatting fraud have made the regulation unnecessary and obsolete. On behalf of policyholders across New York, I applaud Governor Kathy Hochul, Senator Breslin, and Assemblyman Zebrowski for championing this crucial pro-consumer modernization bill”
“We applaud Gov. Hochul, for her swift action in signing this law and we thank Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski, D-96, and Sen. Neil D. Breslin, D-44, for their exceptional leadership in getting the respective bills passed in the state Assembly and Senate,” said PIA New York President Gary Slavin, CLTC, CIC. “Now the insurance-buying public will no longer need to risk losing their physical damage coverage on their personal auto policies because they were unable to find an inspection site, or to make an appointment within the allotted time frame.”
ABOUT BIG I
Founded in 1896, the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big “I”) is the nation’s oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents and brokers, representing more than 25,000 agency locations united under the Trusted Choice® brand. Trusted Choice independent agents offer consumers all types of insurance—property, casualty, life, health, employee benefit plans and retirement products—from a variety of insurance companies.
Reagan Consulting is a management consulting firm providing strategic consulting, valuation, capital raising, and merger-and-acquisition (M&A) services to the independent insurance distribution system. The firm’s services for insurance agents and brokers, bank-owned agencies and other participants in the insurance distribution marketplace include: appraisals of fair market value, capital raise advisory, mergers and acquisitions advisory, ownership perpetuation planning, strategic planning facilitation, key employee compensation and equity plan design, and agency performance benchmarking.
