“Price optimization” is a technique by which an insurance company avails itself of widely available data about consumers generally – and individual consumers– to assess an applicant’s or policyholder’s sensitivity to the price of an insurance policy. This metric is also known as “price elasticity.”

Customers who are relatively sensitive to price increases are more likely to react by shopping around for a better deal with another company. By contrast, consumers who are less sensitive to price increases are likely to accept premium increases without protest and without looking for a lower-priced company to which they can switch. Insurance companies engage in “price optimization” when they set premiums for certain customers based on estimates of the that customer’s “price elasticity,” increasing the price they charge consumers who they view as inelastic, i.e., not likely to switch to another company to get a lower price.

The public, including Consumer Watchdog, was largely unaware of insurers’ use of price optimization for many years. However, consumer advocates learned of the practice after it was inadvertently revealed in a 2013 rate filing that Allstate made before Wisconsin insurance regulators.

At least 18 states and Washington, D.C. have barred price optimization. California is one of them. The voters of California passed Proposition 103 “to ensure that insurance is fair, available, and affordable for all Californians.” To that end, Proposition 103 mandates that auto insurance premiums be based primarily on factors most within the driver’s control—driving safety record, annual mileage, and years of driving experience—and only such other factors that have a substantial relationship to risk of loss and that the Commissioner has adopted by regulation. (Ins. Code § 1861.02(a)).

​Because consideration of a driver’s sensitivity to premium increases has nothing to do with a motorist’s risk of loss, the use of price optimization is unlawful. The California Department of Insurance issued a Bulletin in 2015 confirming that price optimization violates California law.

​Consumer Watchdog has protected California motorists against price optimization in two investigations before the Insurance Commissioner.