Auto Insurance

* Those nasty California insurance companies. They have cut claims paid by 26% and the value of paid claims by 4.5% while nationwide both numbers have increased (March 10). And, terrible, terrible--the companies’ profits have increased by 400%.

On the other hand, it would be nice to know the baselines from which these percentages have been computed. It is quite possible that California insurers still pay more claims and higher claims than companies in other states, since both were so high in California to begin with. An increase in profits of 400%? If profits were originally close to zero, a 400% increase might still be very low.

Is sanity finally rearing its ugly head in the world of automobile insurance, or are the insurance companies ripping us off even more than they have in the past? The tripe being served up by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights tells us nothing about the answers to these questions.

YANCE HIRSCHI

Claremont