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
Period of time of insurance coverage. If a loss occurs during this time, insurance benefits are paid. If a loss occurs after this time period has expired, no insurance benefits are paid. ...
Detailed descriptive list made available to the survivor (s) of the insured showing: attorney, accountant, insurance agent, and location of important documents such as wills, power of ...
Pooling of assets of two or more pension funds under common portfolio management. ...
Legislation that changed the tax treatment concerning child-care expenses so that an employee who has incurred child-care expenses greater than $4800 and who is participating in a ...
Addition to the pure cost of insurance that reflects agent commissions, premium taxes, administrative costs associated with putting business on an insurance company's books, and ...
Right of a policyholder in life insurance with cash value to elect a smaller, fully paid-up policy, without any further premiums to pay. The amount of the paid-up policy is determined by ...
Pension plan under which both the contribution (employer and employee if a contributory plan) and the benefit structure are fixed. In order to properly maintain the actuarial equivalent, ...
Coverage for the contents of a renter's home or apartment and for liability. Tenant policies are similar to homeowners insurance, except that they do not cover the structure. They do, ...
Requirement of state approval of property insurance rates and policy forms before they can be used. Individual states regulate insurers and approve their rates. There are three methods of ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.