Top Vehicle Claims Trends in 2014: Progressive

The top five states in which a person was most likely to file an auto claim last year were all on the East Coast.

December had the lowest volume of all vehicle claims of any month.

Those facts are just two of those mined by Progressive Group of Insurance Companies as it analyzed all of its claims in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to determine where and when claims happened. Progressive looked at multiple areas it insures— auto, motorcycle, boat and commercial lines — and created a report for each, with a breakdown of the top claims.

Commercial lines vehicles and personal autos share similarities including the top months for claims being May and June, and the top three claims being rear-end accidents, single vehicle claims, and parked claims.

The most common personal auto claim is for rear-end accidents while for commercial auto, that spot was held by backing claims.

“In my experience, truckers are great drivers; but when you’re moving a rig that size into tight spaces, accidents can happen,” said Mark Leadem, commercial auto claims field specialist. “Private passenger vehicles like cars and SUVs are much smaller and don’t face the same challenges.”

Not surprisingly, Saturday was the busiest day for motorcycle accidents, followed by Sunday and Friday. July was the busiest month for motorcycle claims in 2014, followed by August and June.

“On one hand, the data reinforces what we already knew, which is that we see the most claims in July during the peak of the summer riding season,” said Scott Hall, Progressive motorcycle product manager. “But what’s really almost counter-intuitive and worth calling attention to is that in 2014, Progressive saw the most motorcycle claims from single vehicle accidents—far more than rear-end, intersection, and stolen bikes combined. So the message is, even when other vehicles aren’t around, you need to be extremely vigilant on the open road.”

Other notable claims trends from Progressive in its 2014 Year in Claims report include:

• While winter driving can be dangerous, December saw the lowest volume of claims of any month, and May had the highest. This was largely due to the spring hail season, an often-overlooked catastrophe that damages thousands of vehicles each year.
• The weekend might seem like a more dangerous time to be on the road. However, more claims occurred on each of the weekdays than on either Saturday or Sunday.
• One might think that the biggest dangers on the road for motorcyclists are cars and trucks, but in 2014 there were more single-vehicle motorcycle claims than any other type. In fact, there were more single-vehicle claims than the next three types combined.
• Drivers are more likely to have their car broken into or stolen in the District of Columbia than any other state. The rest of the states in the top five for theft and break-ins were California, Washington, Missouri and Hawaii.
• The top five states in which a person was most likely to file an auto claim were all on the East Coast – the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York and South Carolina. The state where customers were least likely to file an auto claim was Oklahoma.
• The 4th of July weekend was particularly dangerous for boaters in 2014, with the top three days for boat claims being July 5th, July 4th and July 6th.

“The goal of this report is to empower people with information so they can avoid accidents,” said Mike Sieger, claims operations leader at Progressive. “For example, when people see that rear-end accidents were the top claim of 2014, maybe they’ll think twice before following the person in front of them too closely. Or seeing that intersection claims are high on the list could help convince them that running that red light isn’t worth the time you save. We hope consumers can use this data to their advantage when they’re on the road or on the water.”

Source: Progressive