State Releases List of Insurance Rate Comparisons

File photo.

By Sonia Isotov

Hawaii Insurance Commissioner Gordon Ito on Friday released for the first time a complete statewide list of home and auto insurance rates.

“This is a great resource for homeowners and renters to use to help themselves lower their insurance costs,” said Gordon Ito, State of Hawaii insurance commissioner, in a written statement.

“Insurance companies are more willing to lower costs when consumers shop around and compare.”

Home and condominium owners and renters can use the list of premium rates from all of the insurance companies to help them compare options offered by insurance companies for the same coverage.

The comparison tables show rates for homes and condominiums of different construction, such as double-wall or single-wall construction, in various parts of the state. Homeowners and renters can see the guide and comparison rates at: http://www.hawaii.gov/dcca/home_rates.

Last year, the Legislature passed a law requiring all homeowners insurance companies to provide premium information for consumers to compare. State law already required such information for motor vehicle insurance.

Both sets of data provide “apples-to-apples” comparisons for consumers. On the homeowners insurance side consumers can compare how their category of home (structure type and age) while the auto insurance cases look one type of car and compares rates of clean abstracts and those of one citation or more.

The homeowner insurance rate comparison sheets also include the “Consumer’s Guide to Homeowner’s Insurance.” The guide gives consumers general explanations of the different types of coverage and the basics of what homeowner’s insurance includes.