Los Angeles, CA – The California Department of Insurance has approved a $268 million increase in auto insurance premiums for GEICO customers without following the public participation requirements of Proposition 103. Overall, the 6.9% rate hike will impact 2.1 million GEICO policyholders who face an average $125 annual premium increase. In a letter this morning, Consumer Watchdog – which had formally challenged the rate increase as unjustified – called on Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara to meet with the organization to discuss the importance of enforcing rights of consumer participation

Los Angeles -- CSAA – the northern California Auto Club affiliate – overcharged its customers by at least $150 million for auto insurance during the pandemic, and they’re going to court to get their money back.

Where the troubling trail of accusations dogging Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara will lead is hard to tell. State records show that insurance industry executives and their relatives gave tens of thousands of dollars to Lara’s campaign committee–even as he intervened on their behalf in cases before his agency. 

We’ll know more on Aug. 31. That’s when Lara has promised to make public his communications and calendars of meetings with the executives.

Statement of Consumer Watchdog: “Thirty days ago, Consumer Watchdog and ten other organizations petitioned Insurance Commissioner Riccardo Lara to stop insurance companies’ discrimination against low-income drivers and communities of color based on their education or occupation.

Los Angeles, CA– Today the Consumer Federation of America reports that Proposition 103, the insurance reform law passed by California voters on November 8, 1988, has saved drivers $154 billion on their auto insurance.

SACRAMENTO, CA – Consumer Watchdog urged Assembly member Autumn Burke (D-Los Angeles) to withdraw legislation backed by State Farm Insurance because it “will irreparably harm policyholders who seek to repair their vehicles financially and, potentially, cost many consumers their safety, and even their lives.”   

Santa Monica, CA – An analysis released today by non-profit journalists at ProPublica finds that four auto insurance companies in California mark up prices by as much as 32% for drivers in minority neighborhoods as compared to white neighborhoods with similar risk.