New DIFS Report on Auto Insurance Hides Truth of Higher Premiums in Footnotes and Assumptions

LANSING, Mich.—(Dec. 3, 2025)—CPAN today urged lawmakers and policymakers to closely review the methodologies and assumptions of the “The Impact of Michigan Auto Insurance Reform” report newly issued by the Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS).

“The state’s industry consulting firm manipulates the data to hide the fact that Michigan drivers pay more today for their auto insurance, with the state’s lowest income drivers bearing more burden than the report is willing to acknowledge,” said insurance expert Doug Heller, who is the director of insurance for the Consumer Federation of America and serves as CPAN’s insurance analysis consultant. “In footnotes and technical appendices, we can see the insurance burden on drivers continues to be high and is not relieved by 2019 reform law.”

For example, although DIFS claims that Michiganders saw an average overall savings of $357 per vehicle, the actual report data shows that drivers paid on average nearly $1,600 in premiums in 2024, compared to a little over $1,400 in 2020, the year the reform was implemented. [Reference: See page 12 of the report/page 15 of the PDF file.] To show the alleged savings, the report concocted a so-called methodology that makes assumptions about “what auto insurance premiums would have been in post-reform years without the implementation of PA 21 & 22.”

“When you have to make adjustments based on assumptions to prove your points, you might not have a good point,” Heller said. “It’s important for DIFS to acknowledge what every Michigan driver knows: They are paying more for auto insurance now than they were in 2019.”

The report does a similar sleight-of-hand when it comes to the levels of uninsured drivers in the state. While DIFS claims that “reform has lowered the state's uninsured motorist rate gap with the national average,” the percentage of uninsured drivers has actually risen from 17.2 percent in 2019, the year the reform bill was passed, to 18.8 percent in 2024. [Reference: See page 26 of the report/page 29 of the PDF file.]

Furthermore, the report concedes that costs to consumer are merely shifted – with higher taxes to fund Medicare and Medicaid, increased healthcare costs, co-pays, and the need to purchase liability coverages which were not necessary before the 2019 reforms. 

CPAN President Margaret Kroese said that the report's suggestion that the care crisis caused by reform has been “alleviated” is disconnected from the reality facing catastrophically injured crash survivors across Michigan.

“The 2019 reform promised significant savings for drivers and protection for survivors, yet has delivered neither,” Kroese said. “Michigan drivers continue to face some of the highest insurance costs in the nation, while catastrophically injured survivors have lost access to the care that keeps them alive and in their communities. Reform has failed. It’s time for the Legislature to revisit auto insurance and fix this broken promise.”