Auto insurance companies asking to raise rates

Raleigh, N.C. — A hearing that begins Monday will give an opportunity for the North Carolina Rate Bureau, the insurance industry's organization, to argue for its request to raise auto-insurance rates by a statewide average of 13 percent.

State Insurance Commissioner Jim Long will preside over the session and will decide if auto-insurance companies can raise rates. The hearing is expected to last between four and six weeks.

State Department of Insurance officials said they will fight the increase, calling it "excessive" and "unjustifiable." DOI claims that its regulation of auto-insurance rates has saved North Carolin drivers more than $5 billion over the past 14 years.

The Rate Bureau can appeal Long's decision in the courts if it disagrees.

North Carolina has the sixth-lowest auto insurance rates in the country.