NEW YORK, May 28, 1997 — Insurance Services Office (ISO) is offering a one-half day educational seminar on June 16 in Dallas to help personal lines insurers make the transition to using ISO's public protection classifications (PPCs) in place of key rates.
PPCs are a measure of a community's fire protection capabilities. Insurers use this information to help set their rates for property coverage.
The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) has ordered that ISO's PPCs replace the Texas' key rates, the grading system currently used to classify a municipality's firefighting capabilities. The transition to PPCs will take effect at the same time that the 1997 residential property benchmark rates are implemented, which is expected to be in the fourth quarter of this year. In January, the TDI found ISO's Fire Suppression Rating Schedule, the basis for ISO's grading of communities, acceptable for use in conjunction with ISO's multistate class rating program.
At the seminar, representatives of the TDI, the Texas Insurance Checking Office, and ISO will provide an overview of the change to PPCs from key rates, explain how the two classifications differ, and describe all of the transition options available.
One option that will now be available to insurers is to get PPCs through ISO's Geographical Underwriting System (GUS) either online or through batch processing. At the seminar, ISO will demonstrate how GUS can be used to save insurers time and money in determining the correct PPC for a risk. GUS also provides information on the fire district a risk is located in, the name of the fire district, or if different, the responding fire station, and the minimum drive distance to the fire station.
Release: Immediate
Contacts:
Giuseppe Barone / Erica Helton
MWW Group (for ISO)
201-507-9500
gbarone@mww.com / ehelton@mww.com