MONTGOMERY – The Alabama Department of Revenue is pleased to announce that recent statistical review by our analysts has demonstrated that the uninsured motorists rate is now at 12.9%, which is almost half of what it was when the department started the legislatively mandated Online Insurance Verification System (OIVS). In 2010, the Insurance Research Council measured the Alabama rate of uninsured motorists at 22%, the sixth highest in the nation. In 2014 they stated we had dropped some to 19.6% but this was calculated prior to the start of the OIVS, using two year old data.
Why is this drop exciting and important? Actually, there are numerous valuable reasons. Probably the one most people care about the most is that responsible Alabama drivers are protected much better today than they were three years ago from being in an accident with an uninsured driver and being forced to call upon their own insurer to repair their vehicle. How unfair is it to be driving down the road, following all the rules and then being involved in an accident and having to pay your own deductible to repair your car? Now, due to the combined efforts of the Alabama Department of Revenue (ADOR), The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), the Alabama Department of Insurance (ADOI) and all the insurance companies operating in our state, the odds of this happening have been sliced almost in half.
While not the impetus of the change, the OIVS has also increased revenue related to catching uninsured drivers. The Revenue Abstract available from the ADOR website reflects net collections related to MLI reinstatement fees as follows:
2015-16 (partial year – Oct. ’15 – May ’16) $2,014,535
2014-15 $2,197,536
2013-14 $1,128,334
2012-13 $ 892,121
And while ADOR is bringing more revenue, it is also shaved the cost of the program from a prior $590,000 per year annual expense to $321,000 this past fiscal year.
Media Release/ Julie Magee, Alabama Department of Revenue Commissioner
