Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Thursday, October 2, 1997

First Insurance
to cut auto rates

By Rick Daysog
Star-Bulletin

First Insurance Co. of Hawaii said it plans to lower premiums by an average of $100 per car, joining a growing list of carriers moving to cut some of the highest rates in the nation.

First Insurance yesterday filed a request with the state Insurance Division to reduce rates by an average of 9 percent to 11 percent starting Jan. 1.

The company has 12,300 policyholders in Hawaii, making it the 11th largest auto insurance carrier in the state.

First Insurance said the average policyholder, who pays about $960 a year to cover a single car, would save roughly $90 to $100 under the plan.

For customers with only minimum coverage, the savings will be about $150 per car, or an average decrease of 22 percent to 27 percent, said Mark Smith, First Insurance assistant vice president.

The state must approve the plan.

The company's filing was partly in response to reform measures passed by the Legislature this year. Among other things, the new law reduces the minimum coverage drivers must purchase.

Combined with a decrease that took effect last year, the company's rates will have dropped 17 percent to 21 percent since July 1996, First Insurance said.

The move comes after several local auto carriers have announced premium cuts in recent weeks.

In September, State Farm Insurance Co., Hawaii's largest auto insurer, announced that it was reducing its rates by 15.2 percent for its 119,000 local policyholders and would return $11.6 million in the form of dividends to its customers.

That came after Allstate Insurance Co., Hawaii's third largest auto carriers with 62,290 vehicles statewide, said it was cutting premiums by 5.4 percent. In August, Dai-Tokyo Royal Insurance Co. said it was reducing rates by 13 percent.

GST acquires assets
of Sprint on Guam

GST Telecommunications Inc. has acquired Sprint Corp.'s long-distance operations on Guam and in the Northern Marianas for an undisclosed price.

GST's acquisition will come under its Hawaii subsidiary, which is run by GST regional vice president Rob Volker.

Volker said the addition will enable the company to consider discounts and other arrangements for Hawaii businesses and their Guam operations.

Molokai papaya
gets boost for exporting

Molokai is exporting papayas to the mainland for the first time because of a new heat treatment facility, financed by three farmers and built with the help of a University of Hawaii extension specialist and two others.

Molokai farmers Grant Schule, Bill File and Rick Tencate can ship 15,000 to 18,000 pounds of papayas a week to the West Coast, Denver, Chicago and New York.

The three farmers invested $100,000 to build the treatment chamber and its supporting facility. The hot-forced-air treatments ensure no fruit flies infest shipments to the mainland.

Exports have been going so well since June the farmers are now looking to invest another $50,000 to build a second treatment chamber, Schule said.

Mortgage rates up
from 19-month low

WASHINGTON -- Average interest rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages rose to 7.31 percent this week, a slight increase from the previous week's 19-month low.

The average increased from 7.28 percent, lowest since the week ended Feb. 15, 1996, Freddie Mac said today.

Fifteen-year mortgages, a popular option for refinancing, averaged 6.87 percent this week, up from 6.86 percent.

On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.52 percent, up from 5.51 percent. The rates do not include add-on fees known as points.