NATIONAL NEWS ZONE......

CarInsurance.com has announced the current trend of national car insurance premiums. CarInsurance.com Premium Index (CPI) shows the national average of car insurance premiums and it can be reviewed at http://www.carinsurance.com/Premium-Index.aspx.


Premiums continue to rise throughout 2009 and there is a rate average increase from last year. CPI is a broad indicator of pricing activity in the personal auto insurance marketplace; it is not a comprehensive index as it reflects only the quotes of multiple companies CarInsurance.com represents in 49 states plus the District of Columbia.

The national annual car insurance average for May 2009 was $1,913. This is over a 4% increase from last month. This year, car insurance premiums are almost 12% higher than last year.

Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin each had a 1% to 2% change in average premiums this month. Twenty states saw rates decreased in May compared to April. The most expensive areas in the index this month are District of Columbia, New York, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, and Alaska.

• Risk professionals now have access to an extensive directory of industry-focused products and services in the newly re-launched Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) Buyer’s Guide™.
  
  RIMS Buyer’s Guide™ allows users to perform searches by keyword, category and geographic area to locate vendors in the areas of claims services, construction, consultants, document services, equipment, finance, human resources, insurance providers, legal services, software and underwriting services. It also allows users to limit searches to RIMS associate members (service providers) and exhibitors at RIMS Annual Conference & Exhibition. In addition, visitors can download a free application to their computers. The guide includes a Request for Information (RFI) feature so that users can contact suppliers with the simple click of a mouse.
  
  Service providers that are featured in RIMS Buyer’s Guide™ can include their companies’ logos and descriptions, contact information and links to Web sites and videos that spotlight their products.