Skip to main content

Ins. Code, § 11629.72 · Article 5.5. California Low-Cost Automobile Insurance Program

Ins. Code, § 11629.72

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

(a) The annual rate offered under the program for each of the counties in California shall be established at a date according to the discretion of the commissioner. Surcharges, as a percentage of the base rate, shall be added to the base rate and that percentage shall be set at the discretion of the commissioner, if the named insured or a resident of the household of the named insured will be a driver of the automobile covered under the low-cost policy, and is a person 16 years of age or older to whom any of the following applies:

(1) Is an unmarried individual between 16 and 24 years of age.

(2) Operates a vehicle with a driver’s license issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles pursuant to Section 12801.9 of the Vehicle Code and has fewer than three years of driving history.

(3) Has fewer than three years of driving history.

(4) Has not been continually licensed to drive for the past three years.

(b) (1) The California Automobile Assigned Risk Plan shall make available to an insured under the program, subject to approval by the commissioner, a premium installment option pursuant to which an insured is required to pay not more than 20 percent of the total policy cost upon issuance of the low-cost policy, followed thereafter by seven other payments. The plan may make additional payment plans available, subject to approval by the commissioner.

(2) No other premium financing arrangement shall be permitted.

(c) Rates for policies issued under the program in each county or city and county shall be reviewed and revised as follows:

(1) Rates shall be sufficient to cover (A) losses incurred under policies issued under the program, and (B) expenses, including, but not limited to, all reasonable and necessary expenses such as the costs of administration, underwriting, taxes, commissions, and claims adjusting, that are incurred due to participation in the program. For purposes of this paragraph, “losses incurred” means claims paid, claims incurred and reported, and claims incurred but not yet reported. In assessing loss reserves, the commissioner shall only allow loss reserves that are estimated from actual losses in the program or comparable data by a licensed statistical agent, as adjusted to reflect coverage provided under the program.

(2) Rates shall be set so as to result in no projected subsidy of the program by those policyholders of insurers issuing policies under the program who are not participants in the program.

(3) Rates shall be set with respect to the program so as to result in no projected subsidy by policyholders in one county of policyholders in any of the other counties.

(4) (A) Commencing on January 1, 2015, and annually thereafter through January 1, 2017, the California Automobile Assigned Risk Plan shall submit the loss and expense data, together with a proposed rate and the surcharge authorized by subdivision (a) for the low-cost automobile policy for the program, to the commissioner for approval in accordance with this chapter. The commissioner shall act on the recommendation within 90 days.

(B) After the January 1, 2017, rate filing, subsequent rate filings are mandatory if the rate indication is a change of greater than 7 percent from the previous filing, or at the discretion of the CAARP Advisory Committee if the rate indication is a change of less than 7 percent.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 274, Sec. 1. (SB 570) Effective January 1, 2020.

Source of truth

Edition
As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
Official file
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=INS&sectionNum=11629.72.
Text hash
sha256 1a78c7d8a8503cf8deb11490784c4c0ab76b28edba4db7ef4e41adb5466754d8
Composed by
compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section

This section cites

Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.

Cited by 4 provisions

Provisions in this library whose text cites Ins. Code, § 11629.72. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.

Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.