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Magilla
07-20-2003, 05:53 PM
What percent of all private passanger automobile accidents lead to one (or more) of the cars involved in the accident being declared a total loss?

I understand that what constitutes a total loss varies from insurance company to insurance company, but all I'm looking for is a ballpark percentage or range. My guess is 5-10%, but I don't have an auto insurance background so I am just pulling these percentages from thin air.

:-?
Westley
07-20-2003, 06:29 PM
Does it count if they are in an accident and don't report to the insurance company?

I would guess it's close to 5% of accidents reported to insurers, and significantly lower if you include all accidents. Also have no PPA background.
Wigmeister General
07-21-2003, 11:03 AM
Contact Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO). I'm certain someone has that information broken down by age, :beer: class and symbol.
joeorez
07-21-2003, 01:52 PM
Contact Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO). I'm certain someone has that information broken down by age, :beer: class and symbol.

That only works if the caller's employer is an ISO member.
Wigmeister General
07-21-2003, 01:54 PM
In my experience, everyone in the casualty profession is separated from ISO by at most 3 degrees.

Someone knows someone who knows someone who is willing to answer the simple question -- "About what percent of accidents result in a total loss?"
Magilla
07-21-2003, 04:24 PM
My employer isn't a member of ISO.

:-?
Wigmeister General
07-21-2003, 04:25 PM
PM me. I'll give you the name of a few people at ISO to contact. One of them will give you the information you need.
McUSA
07-24-2003, 12:14 PM
I remember working on an issue about 5 years ago related to this.

In my experience, deductible credits don't vary by model year (obviously, some companies with very sophisticated rating algorithms probably do this).

Assume repair costs are the same by model year - that's probably not a correct assumption but most of the differences in repair costs should be captured in the vehicle's symbol.

Also, assume that frequency is the same for older and newer cars. That's not a totally correct assumption - frequency is generally slightly higher for newer cars probably because they are driven more.

So the difference in loss costs between older and newer cars should be driven by the difference in total losses, i.e. an older car will cost less to insure because if it is totalled it will be a lower payment.

So deductible credits should be lower for older cars. The same logic might apply to lower symboled cars as well.