Pro Rata Rate
Definition of "Pro Rata Rate"
The term pro rata comes from Latin and translates to in proportion, proportionally, the proportion of, proportionately determined, or according to a specific rate. It is often used in legal and economic texts or contexts to express a just distribution of an allocation. Pro rata generally refers to shares of a whole that is split in various ways, like a year is divided into 12 months or 365 days, a cost is divided in two ways that correspond in value to the profit, an asset is split into two, corresponding with the investment of each party.
The reason for which we discuss pro rata in the insurance world is because there are many pro rata elements in the field. The term weighs heavily on proportionate distributions of gains, liabilities, premiums, and payments, and the insurance industry deals with all of these. Pro rata clauses deal with spitting the coverage. In contrast, pro rata cancellations cover policies terminated during their coverage.
Pro rata rates are ways through which an insurance company can determine monthly payments or additional payments to an existing policy. We’ll see how just below.
Where is Pro Rata Rate Used?
Usually, insurance policies have a timeline of 12 months, a full year. There are, however, several types of insurances that have policies running for a few days, a few weeks, or a few months. Not all types of insurances are limited to the 1-year timeline. Look at travel insurance, car insurance, or health insurance as their coverage can be for less than a year.
In those instances, the insurance company has to establish an amount for the insurance premium. So, if an annual premium costs $1,000, but the driver loans the car and only uses it for two and a half months, he can sign a policy for that period alone. The insurance company needs to calculate the pro rata of the premium for that period. The pro rata rate, in this case, would be:
Pro Rata Rate = daily premium X days
Pro Rata Rate = ($1,000(annual premium)/365) x 76 (two and a half months)
Pro Rata Rate = $208 approximately
Another situation in which these pro rata rates help insurance companies to carefully calculate the exact premium required for a policy is when the policy changes. So, if John has a $1,000 annual premium for his car, but sometimes during that period, he decides to add another car to the policy from August 24th. In this situation, the start date, end date, and the date when the policy changes are required for a correct calculation. The pro rata rate, in this case, would be:
Pro Rata Rate = daily premium X days
Pro Rata Rate = ($1,000/365) X 130
Pro Rata Rate = $356 approximately
The figures are usually rounded up.
Popular Insurance Terms
Cancellation of an insurance policy on the date that policy becomes effective. This type of cancellation does not require any fees to be paid to the insurance company. ...
Display of percentage of earned premiums as a function of the time in days for term property insurance policies originally written for one year or longer. These tables are used to compute ...
Retention of all files of policies sold by the agent of record who, according to written agreement with the insurance company, has the exclusive rights to solicit renewals. ...
Rule adopted by the financial accounting standards board that requires that obligations owed to re-insurers under multiyear insurance contracts must be reported as liabilities by the ceding ...
Net income expressed as a percentage of average total equity. This percentage measures profitability by expressing how efficiently invested capital or equity is being utilized. ...
Relationship between occupation of an insured and degree of risk in such coverages as life, health, and workers compensation. Some occupations are more risky than others; for example, a ...
Business interruption insurance in which the insured is indemnified for loss of earnings and payment of expenses resulting from adverse weather conditions. For example, the raining out of a ...
Important means of preventing accidents and injuries. Insurers take corporate safety programs into account when rating workers compensation and other business insurance policies. ...
Coverage for a tenant with a favorable lease (enabling the lessee to rent premises for less than the market value). If the lease is canceled by the lessor because an insured peril (such as ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.