NEW ORLEANS — State Farm and Progressive may soon pull the plug on writing new policies for vehicles in Louisiana highly vulnerable to theft.
Many Kia and Hyundai vehicles made from roughly 2010 to 2021 lack engine immobilizers, which makes them easy to steal.
A quarter of car thefts in New Orleans in 2022 involved those two makes. And across the country, Hyundais and Kias are reportedly stolen at twice the rate of other types of vehicles.
Because of this, State Farm and Progressive have recently stopped writing new auto insurance policies for some models of Hyundais and Kias in some states.
A State Farm spokesperson told CBS News, “…it became necessary to take action to protect our policyholders and our business."
But we wanted to know: does it affect us in Louisiana?
Short answer: it’s unclear.
One insurance agency we spoke to tells us Progressive has only implemented the new restrictions in Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and New York, but Louisiana could be added to that list any day.
With State Farm, it gets even muddier. The company won’t say which states it has blacklisted for new business with older model Kia and Hyundai drivers.
We started calling around to State Farm insurance agents to find out. One agent told us there’s been no notification of any change, and they are writing policies as usual.
Another State Farm employee, who is not an agent but works in the office, tells us that his office was notified within the last week or two that vehicles without “anti-theft protection” are ineligible for coverage. He says his agency has already had to turn away one potential customer.
A third State Farm agent tells us there’s been no final decision, but the option is being discussed.
So, after hours of digging, the answer is still unclear. And the company itself won’t provide an answer.
A huge range of Kia and Hyundai models and years were the subject of four separate recalls last year, mostly due to fire risk.
There’s still no recall for this vulnerability in a decade’s worth of Kias and Hyundais out on the road.
But when it comes to insuring them, Progressive and State Farm may not be a safe bet for much longer.
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