Patrol policy may raise insurance

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missourians may have to pay a little more for their automobile insurance due to a new Missouri State Highway Patrol policy aimed at easing the state's budget troubles.

The patrol plans to begin charging the public at least $10 to get copies of accident reports beginning Sept. 1. That may not sound like much, but for insurance companies that want nearly every report, it could add up.

And insurers may pass that extra cost onto customers.

"We don't print money," said Calvin Call, executive director of the Missouri Insurance Coalition, a trade group that represents about 90 percent of the state's insurers. "If we have to pay for accident reports, then that cost will have to be borne by policyholders. It will have to get built into the overall cost of doing business and the rates."

Highway patrol accident reports currently are free, although the patrol does charge for photographs or a statistical analysis. But with the state facing another year of declining revenues, the Missouri Legislature directed the patrol to begin charging for accident reports.

Most sheriffs' and police departments already charge for similar information, said Capt. Terry W. Moore, director of the patrol's traffic division.

Under the new fee system, a typical accident report will cost $10, while other reports and diagrams could cost as much as $43. Moore said each copy of an accident report costs the patrol $9.39 when factoring in expenses for maintaining a computer database, staff and office supplies.

Last year, the patrol distributed about 58,000 accident reports. At $10 a report, that would bring in $580,000. When reports are free, no one hesitates to get one, Moore said. But when there is a fee, fewer people may ask for reports, he said.

State Sen. Chuck Gross, R-St. Charles, said even if the patrol handles half as many reports next year, it would still bring in $290,000. The money could be used to help offset the state's general operating expenses.

Insurance companies would probably have no choice but to pay for the reports, Call said.

"A lot of this information is extremely critical and vital in our course of business," Call said.

State Farm still is considering whether to raise its Missouri auto insurance rates because of the new patrol policy, said spokeswoman Tara Eubanks-Zahn.

Mike Right, spokesman for AAA, said that while the patrol's new charges would raise insurers' costs, he didn't know whether those costs would be passed on to consumers.

"These are relatively minor costs we're talking about," he said.

While auto insurance premiums didn't rise much in the late 1990s -- just 3 percent from 1996 to 2000 -- they have started to rise much faster since then, said Randy McConnell, spokesman for the state Department of Insurance.

In 2001, there were 3.8 million auto liability policies in Missouri and 213,000 liability claims.