California Insurers Charge Drivers in Black, Latino Neighborhoods More, Report Indicates

December 20, 2005

  • December 20, 2005 at 3:08 am
    Flawed comparison? says:
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    Is is just me or did I miss where they compared a non good driver to the mystical good driver in those areas?? Wonder what they found?? Sure looks like incomplete comparisons/reporting doesn\’t it!!?? Confirms that the idiots DO bloom this time of year!!! PS: I agree with Don & Mark.

  • December 20, 2005 at 3:12 am
    Conspiracy Theory says:
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    Here\’s another question. This yahoo journalist keeps using the word predominantly. Who wants to bet that the white good driver living between the black and hispanic good drivers in Englewood is paying the same discriminatory \”higher\” premium based on his zip code as his neighbors are?

    And flip it…how about the upstanding black or hispanic family living up the street in the \”white\” neighborhood. Think they\’re being charged more than their white neighbors?

    Learn how to accurately compare data, and leave the sensationalism out of journalism.

  • December 20, 2005 at 5:56 am
    Mike says:
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    See http://riskprof.typepad.com/ for a more in-depth discussion of this study.

  • December 21, 2005 at 9:34 am
    Rob says:
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    The only thing Consumers Union is good for is rating refrigerators. Just take a look at the editorials (not that they call them that) in the front of every Consumer Reports. They basically remind me of a sick cross between the AARP and the Rainbow Coalition.

  • December 21, 2005 at 10:14 am
    IndAgent says:
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    Smitty is the same fool who thinks that minorites work in fields and are not able to maintain good credit scores. He refuses to aknowledge that minorities are doctors, CPAs, Secretary of States, and other highly regarded positions. This biggot thinks minorities live exclusively in lower income neighborhoods and all have bad credit scores. Folks, it is time we end tolerating biggots like smittty, the guy is garbage and should not be tolerated in society.

  • December 21, 2005 at 10:16 am
    Mark says:
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    Lets see, who is more likely to file a claim for a $1000 worth of damage:

    A- Low income member of society who is bearly making end meet.

    B – High income member of society with money to spare.

    I pick B. What is your \”alterative\”? Socialist insurance? Sorry, doesn\’t fly with me. I\’m considered \”low\” income, but I have an excellent credit score because I don\’t buy stuff I can\’t afford. So don\’t preach that garbage, no one buys it.

  • December 21, 2005 at 1:12 am
    SUSAN says:
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    Unfortunately, while it does not seem fair, insurance companies charge according to zip codes not race. Premiums maybe higher in other zip codes because there are more claims filed there. It is not a race issue. It is a crime issue.

  • December 21, 2005 at 1:58 am
    IndAgent says:
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    How race is tied into everything. How shameful to use our advances of a colorblind society for a cause that is backed by actuaries. How shameful is it to slam the great Martin Luther King who said people should be judge by the content of the character and not the color of their skin. Will these people ever mention that minorities in more favorable territories get the same rates as non-minorities? Hmmmm? Did these fools bring up that non-minorities in these higher cost territories pay the same rates as minorities? Hmmmm? Do people have nothing better to do with their time than to keep using minorities? How much longer can we minorities take to realize that people will do anything to make a buck of us? To whomever put together this piece, please stop using us and go to hell.

  • December 21, 2005 at 2:32 am
    Mark says:
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    TYPICAL!! The lawyers write a proposition and the results do not work? Surprising? I think not. Any educated individual, minority or not, can easily determine the loss results by territory and clearly see the basis for pricing. To my knowledge, I have never seen an auto application requiring \”race\” as one of the blanks to be completed. Therefore, it is funny how Consumers Union suggests pricing is based upon anything other than the profitability of a specific area. CA. is the ONLY state which suggests, by lawyers, that territory should NOT be a factor in insurance rates. Of course, this requires good drivers in low crime rural areas to subsidize urban area drivers who steal each others cars daily. If the Consumers Union would concentrate on making the liberal judges in CA. enforce the criminal laws on the books, one day, maybe, crime might decrease. But, since the lib lawyers continue to draft creative plea bargain agreements, the thieves live to steal another day and another car. I suggest a surcharge for Consumers Union editorialists who do half the work necessary when forming their opinions.

  • December 21, 2005 at 2:44 am
    rolfneu says:
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    Consumer Union\’s finding should come as no suprise. Insurers claim they don\’t discriminate based on race but it just \’happens\’ that African Americans, Latinos or other minority ethnic groups live mainly within certain zip codes.

    Then insurers also use credit scroing to further penalize those who are in the lower economic strata of society. Suprise again: most of the economically poor people live in the same zip codes. But again they claim not to be discriminating based on ethnicity..

    Oh yes, there are more accidents in urban or congested areas. Now what makes those urban areas so congested? Mostly the suburbanites who commute to the urban areas to work. Suprise, those urban areas are in large part in many of the same zip codes where the poor and/or ethnic minorities live.

    Insurers always profess that they don\’t discriminate but the practical effect of how they rate is discriminatory. Why don\’t they base auto rates on the three primary factors that Prop. 103 intended. They might be suprised to find that black folks and Hispanics have driving records equal or better than white folks.

    Before anyone calls me a \’leftwinger\’, why don\’t we try something different for a change and see how it really works out.



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