California; The Unforgiving

Back in 2014 Boston-based Liberty Mutual launched a TV ad campaign for auto insurance that talked about its ‘accident forgiveness’ policy benefit where the insurer does not raise premium post accident numero uno if the policyholder has been accident-free and violation-free for 5 years. All good, except the California Department of Insurance prohibits such provisions in auto insurance policies and the ad didn’t have the proper disclaimer stating the benefit isn’t available in California. Bottom Line: $925,000 is the price Liberty Mutual pays for not disclosing its accident forgiveness is geographically limited .