Projo Biz Blog

A Johnston company that manages the automobile insurance assigned-risk pool for more than three dozen states has laid off eight workers as the number of drivers signing up for assigned-risk insurance has dropped sharply.

AIPSO, which employs 272 in Johnston and 348 nationwide after the layoffs, said the adoption of new computer technology also contributed to the layoffs.

The assigned-risk pool had about 1 million new applications in 2001 and 2002, but less than 350,000 in 2006, according to AIPSO spokesman John S. Verruso. The drop is not because drivers have become better but because of changes in how insurance companies handle the risk pool and its regular applicants, Verruso said. The price of risk-pool policies has become less competitive with standard insurance, and companies have created more options for drivers who would have had to go into the risk pool in the past, he said.

Also, AIPSO has employed software that allows insurance agents to do more with their desk-top computers, requiring fewer calls to AIPSO's customer service center.

The eight people who lost jobs worked in areas that handled new applications.

---