Consumer Watchdog is urging the California Department of Insurance to deny auto insurance rate proposals from insurers Geico and Progressive that the consumer group says will dole out unfair discounts based on occupation.

Insurance companies are all about managing risk -- especially the risk to their bottom line. We understand why insurers charge higher premiums to smokers than non-smokers, or why they charge more to cover amusement parks than accounting firms: they know that the likelihood of issuing out a payout is much higher for the former.

Insurance companies are always looking for ways to evade Proposition 103, and they have come up with a scheme to evade the law’s good driver requirements.  These days, some insurance companies are marketing plans that promise lower premiums to people who belong to what the insurance industry calls “affinity groups” – college graduates who can afford to maintain memberships in an alumni association, people with high paying jobs like doctors, lawyers, and business executives, and other elite members of the 1%.

Insurance companies are always looking for ways to evade Proposition 103, so it's not too surprising that some companies --Mercury, GEICO, Progressive, 21st Century and the Auto Club of Southern California, to name some of the biggest -- have come up with a scheme to evade the law's good driver requirements.  These companies are marketing plans that promise special premium benefits to people who belong to what the insurance industry calls "affinity groups" -- college graduates who can afford to maintain memberships in an alumni association, people with high paying job

Santa Monica, CA - Fourteen non-profit citizen, consumer and low income advocacy organizations today formally petitioned Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones to bar auto insurance companies from discriminating against California drivers based on their occupation or education level.