The N.C. Department of Insurance has received the annual auto insurance rate filing from the North Carolina Rate Bureau, which seeks no increases this year.

The bureau, which is separate from the Department of Insurance and represents the auto insurance companies writing business in the state, filed for a rate review indicating no change in rates for private passenger cars and motorcycle insurance policies for 2011.

"This represents another victory for North Carolina drivers," Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin said. "We already pay the eighth lowest auto insurance rates in the country - and we have a higher population than any other state in the top 10 for lowest rates."

In 2009, Goodwin signed a settlement that denied the bureau's request for a 1.4 percent auto rate increase, did away with a 9.4 percent increase that had been implemented by the Rate Bureau the previous year and ordered an additional .5 percent decrease on top of that, a news release said.

The settlement rolled rates back to just under 2006 levels, and 1 million North Carolinians received refunds from the insurance companies totaling more than $50 million.

"The industry's zero-change filing this year further affirms that I was correct in my decision to settle the 2008-2009 filings on the terms we did, which allowed for a savings potential of $545 million over a three year period for drivers statewide," Goodwin added.