Posted on 03/20/2006 5:25:49 PM PST by mathprof
A leading U.S. consumer group Monday accused Geico Corp. of using consumers' education backgrounds and occupations as criteria in setting auto insurance rates, resulting in discrimination against minorities and lower-income people.
The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) charged that the No. 4 U.S. auto insurer, has adopted rating methods and underwriting guidelines in 44 states that directly tie rates to education and occupation.
Geico, a unit of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK), the insurance and investment company controlled by billionaire Warren Buffett, rejected the charges. It called them "an offensive attempt to link fundamentally fair and actuarially sound industry practices with invidious discrimination."
The insurer provides auto insurance to more than 6 million policyholders, and insures more than 10 million vehicles.
Robert Hunter, the CFA's director of insurance and a former Texas insurance commissioner, called Geico's rate-setting policies an "underwriting sleight-of-hand" that can shortchange thousands of drivers.
Under Geico's guidelines, he said, a New Orleans factory worker without a high school education would pay $2,636 for insurance, 91 percent more the $1,382 that a white-collar worker with a graduate degree would pay for the same vehicle and location.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
You mean it is not like free "pie and chips?"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1599990/posts?page=55#55
See my post. I'm sure their models have been tested and retested over and over. An educated 40 year old with a master's degree is a much less risk than a 25 year old who went to tech school. It's just a fact.
These folks are simply fishing for lawsuit money. Period. They are circumventing our elected representatives and the executive branch by appealing to the liberal judiciary to get what they know they can't get through the legislature or via the court of public opinion.
I think the little gecko is cute, even with the Aussie accent. He's all that and a bag of chips (aka freedom fries).
As I read my own post, I think about health insurance. Is the day coming when what we pay is determined by "predictive models" of our health risk? Will morbidly obese smokers be required to pay more? Will thin marathon runners pay the minimum rates?
Just questions I'm throwing out there.
"I have no idea if they do this but I do know that when we retired and moved back to Pennsylvania from Virginia we called Geico for a rate. We then called Allstate, Progressive and State Farm. Allstate was the cheapest for the same coverage on all quotes."
Yes, they do this. GEICO (others perhaps) use you credit score as well, which has nothing to do with driving habits. I know, GEICO sent me a letter.
Well you see you can get free pie and free chips anywhere but you can't get..well you know the rest,LOL. I find the new ads a lot catchier than the ones they had before And I have looked into changing insurance to them
I saved $2,700 from Farmers (which I had before) -- and I found it on Mercury.com that actually computed that The Hartford would be cheapest.
It sort of restored my faith in Humanity.
¡Esteban!
Marathon runners have a higher risk of bone/joint damage. Where does it end?
In their minds, a good credit rating means your good at other aspects of your life, bill paying, law abiding, etc. I'm sure they've done regressions on this and mapped the correlations.
Auto, health and life insurance already disrciminate against smokers -- they al have "smoker" and "non-smoker" rates. Not something never-smokers would notice, but us ex-smokers notice it A LOT.
5 years since I quit -- 2nd smartest thing I ever did.
Beagle has it right. Pie and chips is typical British pub food, the pie being a meat or fish pie -- steak and kidney, or chicken and mushroom, or lamb, or for real Cockneys (the working-class East Londoners the Gecko's accent mimics), eel pie. "Chips" are the British term for fries.
Pie and chips, with a slightly-below-room-temperature pint of ale or two, while not fine cuisine, can be tasty, and certainly filling. I'll pass on the eel pie, however.
Bill would get turned on by that, no doubt;)
I know. But, if you are looking at the level of the gnat's *ss like the number crunchers do, the actuarial models will likely give some of us conclusions we don't want to hear.
Who the heck is Esteban? I never heard of him before that commercial.
"GEICO'S rates are so "unfair" I saved $3500 on my auto insurance. "
What? I live in Yokohama, and have been paying around $700 a year.
You're way behind, gotta catch up. :)
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