A house bill signed into law last year went into effect on May 1 and will bring savings to seniors.
House Substitute 1 for House Bill 80 (HS 1 for HB 80) will bring considerable senior auto insurance premiums reductions this year. The bill was signed August 1, 2017. The legislation became effective as of May 1, 2018.
The new law prohibits car insurance companies from boosting rates for certain specific reasons.
The senior auto insurance law stops car insurers from hiking premiums just because a person has turned 75 years old. A driver that age or older cannot be charged more exclusively because of his or her age. Moreover, the law also stops car insurance companies from being able to change premiums due to marital status following the death of a spouse.
This legislation means that auto insurance policyholders with one insurer will see an average premiums reduction of $252 per year, reported the official Delaware state website. The average savings for Delaware drivers aged 75 years or older will be $117.32, said the official news report.
Delaware drivers as a whole will pay less for coverage as a result of the senior auto insurance bill.
At the moment, this means that 74 year old drivers who have car insurance will no longer experience a rate increase when they turn 75. This is assuming there are not other allowable changes in rating factors that occur within that year. That said, the customer’s insurance company will not be permitted to boost the rates merely because of advancing age.
The Delaware Insurance Department underscored its intentions to continue scrutinizing all rate change requests.
“This legislation was my highest priority for the last legislative session. With the help of our General Assembly, we were able to take significant steps to level the playing field between Delaware’s insurance consumers and the 
insurance industry. I’m pleased that we’re already seeing results for our consumers,” said Delaware Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro.
The senior auto insurance law is meant to help prohibit age discrimination against those who have advanced in age but show no other indications that their risk factors have increased.
