Large Increase in Insurance Rates as From Saturday Next The cost of motor car insurance in Shanghai will be increased on January 1, 1927, by a by no means small percentage, the principle changes, others in a ratio, being minimum rate of Tls. 80 premium on a policy of Tis, 700, Last year local residents felt outraged when the minimum was raised from Tis.
150 to Tls. 60 per Tls. 1,000 value, and.
certain circles a greater sentiment, has been noticed.
Insurance companies are mailing' out notices, as follows, with all reminders that renewals have fallen' due:—
Mambors are notified that owing to thy increase" In Tovses cad cost Drs, the" premiums for new pol Rud renewals for private cars, on and iter January 1, 1927, shall be' eslculatlasa than' Tis, 80 for Ts.
Waine' of less with additionst_pre-alum "of ome per cent. ai! the. value tnvexesas of Tls. 700. er cent. calculate mince ea any. Cat {n° respect of which Car no claim is
turing ths preceding year of insurance nding and'no"payment hat been made Tha bonus de, no Tatton 7 Rive' olapwed without cela, The average small car owner is now faced with paying 83 1/3 per cent more than last year for a lesser policy and wants to know the reason why. Ie is of the opinion that he drives his own: car more Jearefully and conscientiously than the chauffeur of the high powered machine and cannot understand Why the increase is necessary. One of this class said yesterday. "My car worth on the market perhaps Ti, 4500, the rate of Tis, 60 seemed to me to be more than enough, for I have not presented a claim' throughout the year. I shall be charged 16 per} cent, in 1927. In all likelihood ball have to forego insurance Similar expressions of discontent have been heard in the Settlement and the French Concession, motorists not forgetting the additional licence of $30 per year for the use of, Chinese roads, introduced recently. A few of the more fortunate ones, whose policies expired in December, having paid, are now laughing up their sleeves' ut their leas lucky fellow owners, Thowe possessing [larger cars will be assessed slightly lower rate, ut ix announe>d in the notice, f.c., one per cent, per hundred taels more or Tis, per hundred taels, 'The Companies' Content'on That is one side of the question, the other concerns the insuring com. panies, A representative of one of the Inrgeat British interviewed yesterday by a repre sentative of the "North-China Daily News" said, "The increase was a necessary measure, Not a few companies during 1926 lost money motor car insurance and were sus: tained only by reason of profits from other departments, With us each branch must support itself, 'Conditions in Shanghai greatly changed from what they'
re five yours, yes even two years, ago. S.M.P. Traffic reports substantiate clearly this statement, Almost any day one can see an accident report in the papers tees an accident on Nanking Road or on other of the congested roads. The old premium rate" will not cover this added risk.
"Then one must conshler the second hand market in Shanghai. For instance, I refer to a Tis.—2,600 car bought two years ago, which the owner will gladly sell for Tls. 700 or Tls. 800, Look in the advertising columns of your own journal and see the price of jsceond hand cars. insured. Were - all insured, some Coubt stilt exists if the rate' would camp: rave not been able rot have to be increased. Insurance
beild up a reserve against the future, this is as'necessary in motor car} surance as in a bean oil furniture factory or a tea ong."
An "American View Another agent, an American in the business for years, said that he believed Shanghai owners were fortunate in the extremely low rate applicable here, la spite of the increase, He knew that in cities Ikie Los Angelos a policy which covered all Tisks covered bya. Shanghai policy, the premium each year would be} more than G.$300 for a policy, face value of G$1,000, The average] might possibly' come to were sectional, not blanket, theft! snd fire being much cheaper than ison. With such a rate as this Pacific Coast companies during 1925 collected more than 6.$30,000,000 in Motorists, he added, in Southern California were meeting the high rales by forming mutual protection clubs and the Mutual Club of Southern California had a membership of 80,000, who when one of their members had an accident, paid the damage from the Club funds. The fact that rates in Shanghai were so cheap. the gentleman con-be] tinued, could be attributed to the fact that few cars were stolen and those which were stolen were not takes view of wrecking them or dumping them in the river and collecting on a policy worth two or three times the value of the car.
'The new policy, it is surmised will protect the' insuree against everything, as in the past, except earthquakes, floods, typhoons, vasion, foreign enemy, riot, civil commotion or military or usurped power. An attractive feature may, be found in the 20 per cent. bonus for no claim on renewal, which will be effective on renewals of policies under the old rates. A lower rate of bonus was in order on pre-1927 policies,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.