On June 29, AAIS will be releasing new and revised
forms, endorsements, coverage schedules, and rating information for
several classes of coverage in the
Inland Marine Guide, a standard product resource for the
traditionally nonfiled classes of inland marine insurance.
A new Mobile Equipment Floater is introduced in the
Miscellaneous Floaters section. This form essentially provides
contractors' equipment coverage for equipment used by organizations that
are not in the construction business.
Five new endorsement options are introduced under
the Transit section. These allow underwriters to exclude coverage for
property on unattended vehicles, limit coverage for loss due to theft,
and impose requirements that vehicle alarms be maintained and activated
while property is in transit.
Among the revised forms is a Rehabilitation and
Renovation form and schedule in the Builders' Risk section of the Guide.
The revised materials allow for valuation of existing buildings
on a stated value or actual cash value basis, and for
restriction of coverage for vacant buildings.
Also, a schedule provided under the Radio and
Television Towers & Equipment class has been revised to add, among other
things, a section to indicate the valuation basis for various types of
covered equipment.
For information on affiliating with AAIS for use of
the Inland Marine Guide, contact Rick Maka, director of
marketing, at rickm@AAISonline.com,
or by calling 800-564-AAIS.
AAIS will be filing sample notices that carriers are
required to provide personal lines residential policyholders under
Mississippi's new "Homeowner Insurance Policyholder Bill of Rights." The
filings will be made under the AAIS Homeowners, Mobile-Homeowners and
Dwelling Properties programs in time for the Sept. 1, 2007 effective
date of the new measure.
The measure, enacted by
regulation this week, requires that insureds be provided with an
outline of the coverage provided under a policy, along with a checklist
of specific perils and exposures that are covered and not covered, and a
disclosure of any changes made to a policy.
AAIS staff specialists will be making slight
modifications to sample notices developed by the Mississippi Department
of Insurance so they will be suitable for use with AAIS programs. The
revised notices will be filed on behalf of AAIS affiliates for the
affected programs.
Rhode Island is the latest state to require that
insurance filings be made electronically. To date, at least eight states
have implemented such requirements.
In a recent
bulletin, Rhode Island's Department of Business Regulation states
that, effective Oct. 1, 2007, all form, rule, and rate filings must be
made using the System for Electronic Rate and Form Filing (SERFF).
AAIS is a licensed
third-party provider of SERFF filings, and can submit custom filings of
company forms and manuals, whether or not they are based on AAIS
programs. For information, contact
compliance@AAISonline.com.
This week, AAIS is filing state-specific versions of
its revised Homeowners forms in Pennsylvania with a proposed effective
date of Jan. 1, 2008.
A Pennsylvania Insurance Department regulation
limits mandatory endorsements to two pages.
Since the
changes needed to bring the countrywide Homeowners forms into compliance
with Pennsylvania requirements could not be addressed in two
pages, state-specific forms were developed.
With the Pennsylvania filing, the new Homeowners
forms have been filed in 27 states and approved in 17.
For information on affiliating with AAIS for use of
its Homeowners Program, contact Rick Maka, director of marketing, at
800/564-AAIS.
The Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of
Insurance has issued a new
regulation clarifying requirements regarding
the provision of uninsured/underinsured motorists coverage.
Prior to the regulation, companies had been
instructed, on the basis of court rulings, to offer uninsured motorists
coverage with liability policies that included optional non-owned and
hired auto coverage.
The new regulation exempts carriers from that
obligation when auto coverage under a policy is limited to coverage
on non-owned autos. The regulation also exempts commercial liability
and umbrella policies from requirements to offer underinsured
motorists coverage, subject to a disclosure requirement. Since the
disclosure is required to appear on the application, companies will
need to develop their own disclosures.
AAIS programs that provide non-owned and hired
auto liability coverage generally do not include options for writing
either uninsured motorists or underinsured motorist coverage. AAIS
umbrella programs in Wisconsin currently have optional underinsured
motorists coverage endorsements available, but since companies are
no longer required to offer underinsured motorist coverage on
umbrella policies, AAIS is filing to withdraw those endorsements.
