Auto insurance changes may come to NC

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - A study committee at the Legislature examining North Carolina's automobile insurance system has completed its work with few detailed recommendations, but a panel leader said he wants changes in 2013 that will give more safe drivers lower premiums.

Members of the automobile insurance modernization committee voted Tuesday on the report it will give to the entire General Assembly when it returns in May for its budget-adjusting session.

The report recommends that legislation be enacted next year to create a system more reliant on free market principles, encourages competition and eliminates a surcharge millions of car owners must pay to keep a high-risk insurance pool solvent.

Committee co-chairman Sen. Tom Apodaca of Hendersonville said he wants a system where costs are shifted away from drivers with clean records.