Connecticut 2012 Regular Session

Connecticut Senate Bill SB00203 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	General Assembly Raised Bill No. 203
2	2	February Session, 2012 LCO No. 1241
3	3	01241_______INS
4	4	Referred to Committee on Insurance and Real Estate
5	5	Introduced by:
6	6	(INS)
7	7
8	8	General Assembly
9	9
10	10	Raised Bill No. 203
11	11
12	12	February Session, 2012
13	13
14	14	LCO No. 1241
15	15
16	16	01241_______INS
17	17
18	18	Referred to Committee on Insurance and Real Estate
19	19
20	20	Introduced by:
21	21
22	22	(INS)
23	23
24	24	AN ACT REQUIRING PAYMENT FOR DIMINUTION OF VALUE UNDER AN AUTOMOBILE LIABILITY INSURANCE POLICY.
25	25
26	26	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
27	27
28	28	Section 1. Section 38a-353 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2012):
29	29
30	30	(a) Whenever an insured under an automobile liability insurance policy is liable to a third party for damages caused by such insured to such third party's motor vehicle, the insurer shall include in the payment made for such damages the amount of the diminution of value of such motor vehicle. The Insurance Commissioner shall adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, to establish methods or entities acceptable for the determination of the amount of the diminution of value.
31	31
32	32	[(a)] (b) (1) Whenever any damaged motor vehicle covered under an automobile insurance policy has been declared to be a constructive total loss by the insurer, the insurer shall, in calculating the value of such vehicle for purposes of determining the settlement amount to be paid to the claimant, use at least the average of the retail values given such vehicle by [(1)] (A) the National Automobile Dealers Association used car guide or any other publicly available automobile industry source that has been approved for such use by the Insurance Commissioner, and [(2)] (B) one other automobile industry source that has been approved for such use by said commissioner. For the purposes of this section, "constructive total loss" means the cost to repair or salvage damaged property, or the cost to both repair and salvage such property, equals or exceeds the total value of the property at the time of loss.
33	33
34	34	[(b)] (2) The insurer shall provide to the claimant, not later than the date the insurer pays the claimant the settlement amount for such vehicle, [(1)] (A) a detailed copy of such insurer's calculation of such vehicle's constructive total loss value, [(2)] (B) if applicable, a copy of any valuation report provided to the insurer by any automobile industry source that is not publicly available, and [(3)] (C) a written notice disclosing that the claimant may dispute such settlement amount by contacting the Insurance Department. The written notice shall include the following statement, which shall appear in the final paragraph of the notice in not less than twelve-point type: "If you do not agree with this valuation, you may contact the Consumer Affairs Division within the Insurance Department". The notice shall include the address and toll-free telephone number for the division and the Insurance Department's Internet address.
35	35
36	36
37	37
38	38
39	39	This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
40	40	Section 1 October 1, 2012 38a-353
41	41
42	42	This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
43	43
44	44	Section 1
45	45
46	46	October 1, 2012
47	47
48	48	38a-353
49	49
50	50	Statement of Purpose:
51	51
52	52	To require insurers to include diminution of value in payments for damages caused to a third party's motor vehicle by an insurer's insured.
53	53
54	54	[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]