The U.S. Experience with No-Fault Automobile Insurance

No-fault automobile-insurance regimes were the culmination of decades of dissatisfaction with the use of the traditional tort system for compensating victims of automobile accidents. They promised quicker, fairer, less-contentious, and, it was hoped, less-expensive resolution of automobile-accident injuries. This book considers how these plans have fared. After reviewing the intellectual and political history of no-fault auto insurance, the authors conclude that no-fault lost political popularity because of the perception that it did not deliver the promised consumer premium cost reductions. Over time, premiums and claim costs have grown in no-fault states relative to other states, primarily driven by explosive medical cost increases. No-fault and tort states have also converged across many domains affecting costs, including excess claiming, litigation patterns, and noneconomic-damage payments.