It Figures

1,018

The number of grants South Carolina has awarded to coastal homeowners who have taken steps to shield their homes against hurricane winds the past two years. Insurance Commissioner Scott Richardson said that the SC Safe Home Program has awarded grants worth about $4.6 million to homeowners.

$147 Million

The amount of surplus that state-backed Kentucky Employers’ Mutual Insurance has. Gov. Steve Beshear has said it appears the surplus is “clearly in significant excess of what is necessary” and has asked the workers’ compensation insurer to return some of it as a premium reduction or dividend to its insureds. KEMI is the state’s largest provider of workers’ compensation with 20,000 customers.

$1,400

How much car insurance fraud costs the average Florida family. Much of the fraud is due to staged accidents and the cost is rising, according to state officials.

$9 Million

The amount consumers in North Carolina were able to recover from insurance companies in 2009 with the assistance of the state insurance department. Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin said the recovery came from his department’s handling of more than 8,500 written complaints about insurance last year.

33,963

The number of U.S. traffic fatalities reported at the end of 2009, which was the lowest level since 1954. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the number is 8.9 percent below the 37,261 deaths reported in 2008 and translates to a fatality of 1.16 fatalities per 100 million miles traveled.

$3 Billion

The Associated Press estimate of the cost of lawsuits by Toyota owners claiming that safety recalls are causing the value of their vehicles to plummet. The estimate does not include potential payouts for wrongful death and injury lawsuits, which could reach in the tens of millions each. The sheer volume of cases involving U.S. Toyota owners claiming lost value — 6 million or more —could prove far more costly, adding up to losses in the billions for the automaker.