CAR-REPAIR RATINGS DEBUT SOMEWHAT UNDERPOWERED

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 24, 1993                   TAG: 9303240096
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium
CAR-REPAIR RATINGS DEBUT SOMEWHAT UNDERPOWERED
The government reluctantly is giving car buyers guidance in picking models that may be cheaper to insure because they have a history of relatively low repair costs.
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has prepared booklets that rate cars based on repair-cost histories and the likely impact on collision insurance. It began mailing them this week to 24,000 new-car dealers.
The agency adopted a regulation requiring new-car dealers to make the data available to shoppers. The regulation was issued in order to settle a 1991 lawsuit filed by Consumers Union.
But the agency said it has little faith in the accuracy of the figures.
"We don't think this is government at its best," said Barry Felrice, an associate administrator of the Transportation Safety Administration. "But we had to do it, and this is the best we could come up with."
The problem, he said, is that collision insurance premiums generally do not bear a direct relationship to a car's "damage susceptibility" in a crash. Other factors, such as the youthfulness of the driver or where the car is repaired, are considered by insurance companies to be more important.
But Consumers Union welcomed the new regulation.
"This booklet will take some of the mystique out of auto shopping and will give consumers a leg up," said Mark Silbergeld, head of the Consumers Union office inWashington. Consumers Union publishes Consumer Reports magazine.
Silbergeld conceded that collision insurance costs usually vary no more than 5 percent among companies. But the figure can be greater in some cases, he said.
The regulation is similar to an Environmental Protection Agency rule requiring dealers to tell consumers about gas-mileage ratings.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB