State Rep. Matt Hall today highlighted car insurance reforms he fought for which will now allow people across Calhoun and Kalamazoo counties to keep more of their hard-earned money.

The Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association announced it will provide $400 refunds for each insured vehicle early next year. The state’s new car insurance laws call for periodic audits of the MCCA’s finances, and require refunds for Michigan drivers when certain financial criteria are met.

The MCCA said last month that refunds would be coming, and the specifics were announced today. Drivers can expect to receive refunds in the second quarter of 2022.

“This is needed relief for Michigan drivers who were paying out-of-control costs on car insurance,” said Hall, of Marshall. “I listened to many people who detailed the hardship of these immense costs and I worked to get these audits put into law to deliver savings for drivers. There was no transparency with this fund. An audit was necessary to see how much money was there and where it could be used – and the appropriate thing was to return it back to people.

 “This plan made a commitment to providing real reforms that would save people money, and we are seeing it play out with this announcement.”

Hall and the Legislature voted to approve the measures in 2019.

The refunds will come in addition to annual MCCA rate reductions. The per-vehicle assessment fee was $220 in 2019, but it has dropped to $86 per vehicle for the current 12-month period – another sign of success following the new laws, Hall said.

The annual fee is charged only to drivers choosing to maintain unlimited lifetime personal injury protection benefits in their car insurance policies. Drivers who choose lower coverage limits under Michigan’s revised no-fault insurance law avoid the fee altogether.