$12 Million Recovered for Colorado Insurance Consumers, State Claims

Colorado insurance regulators fielded more than 25,500 inquiries from consumers in the past year, resulting in a total of nearly 5,000 formal grievances. During this period, the investigation of these grievances amounted to more than $12 million being recovered for policyholders, with approximately $2.8 million of that sum being recovered from auto insurers.

The complaint-handling activity of the Colorado Division of Insurance (DOI) was documented in the recently released Complaints Against Insurers report, which is compiled annually.

Common issues that resulted in consumer complaints and protests filed with the department include disputes over coverage and challenges to surcharges, cancellation of policies and reduction of coverage.

Of the auto-related issues, most were related to underwriting. The most common topics of complaints and protests were related to surcharges, credit scoring, and premiums and rating.

Although issues with car coverage accounted for more than half of the total number of complaints and protests filed within the last year, they also had the lowest rate of confirmation, meaning that they had the least number of complaints and protests in which the department sided with the consumer. The confirmation rate was only 40 percent.