WP 2013-11 Why Buy Accident Forgiveness Policies? An Experiment

AUTHORS: Fan Liu

ABSTRACT. Risk and time preferences influence the insurance purchase decisions under uncertainty. Accident forgiveness, often considered as premium insurance," protects policyholders against a premium increase in the next period if an at-fault accident occurs. In this paper, by conducting a unique experiment in the controlled laboratory conditions, we examine the role of risk and time preferences in accident forgiveness purchase decisions. We find that individual discount rates and product price significantly affect premium insurance purchase decision. Interestingly, we also find evidence that less risk averse policyholders in general behave more like risk neutral when making insurance decision. Risk attitudes affect insurance decision-making only among those have relatively high degree of risk aversion.