Farmers Insurance Reminds Oklahomans That a New Law Effective November 1 Will Have Dramatic Impact on All Drivers in the State

TULSA, Okla., Oct. 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Farmers Insurance, one of Oklahoma's largest automobile insurers, wants to advise all residents in the state that a new law, which goes into effect on November 1, will have a significant effect on all drivers, especially those who drive without proper automobile insurance.

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The new measure (SB272), which was signed into law by Governor Mary Fallin in May, limits the amount that uninsured drivers can recover in most accidents. Those drivers who are already in compliance with the state's mandatory auto insurance laws will not be immediately impacted by the new regulation, though the hope is that the incidents where law-abiding citizens are involved in accidents with uninsured drivers will be reduced with the implementation of this new law.

"We believe this new law will help stabilize insurance rates for all drivers in Oklahoma by encouraging more drivers to comply with the state's auto insurance laws," said John Lucido, state executive director in Oklahoma for Farmers Insurance.

Even with the new law, automobile drivers who are involved in an accident which they did not cause, will be eligible to recover the costs of medical care, property damage and lost income resulting from the accident.

However, uninsured drivers, or those drivers who are not in compliance with the state's mandatory auto insurance laws, will not be able to also collect any "pain and suffering" damages which may have resulted from an accident.  While there are exceptions to this requirement, such as when the injury is caused by a driver who was under the influence of alcohol or drugs, the new law is expected to reduce "pain and suffering" awards in the state, with the hope that this will encourage more Oklahomans to comply with the law to have, at a minimum, auto liability coverage on all their vehicles. It is currently estimated that 25% of Oklahomans are not complying with this law.

With this new measure, Oklahoma joins many other states across the country that have similar laws in place.

Farmers Insurance Group of Companies is the country's 3rd largest insurer of both personal lines passenger automobile and homeowners insurance, and also provides a wide range of other insurance and financial services products.  Farmers Insurance is proud to serve more than 10 million households with more than 20 million individual policies across all 50 states through the efforts of over 50,000 exclusive and independent agents and nearly 24,000 employees.

Farmers is a trade name and may refer to Farmers Group, Inc. or the Farmers Exchanges, as the case may be. Farmers Group, Inc., a management and holding company, along with its subsidiaries, is wholly owned by the Zurich Financial Services Group. The Farmers Exchanges are three reciprocal insurers (Farmers Insurance Exchange, Fire Insurance Exchange and Truck Insurance Exchange), including their subsidiaries and affiliates, owned by their policyholders, and managed by Farmers Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries. For more information about Farmers, visit its Web site at www.farmers.com or at www.Facebook.com/FarmersInsurance.

SOURCE Farmers Insurance

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