Consumer Watchdog
auto insurance

Reaction To New CA Insurance Department Rules To Limit Education & Occupation In Auto Insurance

3 weeks ago By Carmen Balber

Los Angeles, CA –  “A year ago, Consumer Watchdog and organizations representing consumers, low-income workers and communities of color petitioned Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara to ban the use of occupation and education to set auto insurance premiums. These unfair surcharges on lower-income and less-educated drivers drive up the cost of insurance for people who can least afford it.

Californians in High Fire Risk Areas Facing Increased Rates and Non-Renewals

wildfire insurance

Californians living in high fire danger areas are facing an insurance crisis as companies are drastically increasing their rates or dropping their policies completely. 

Consumer Watchdog President Jamie Court says Insurance Commissioner Lara can do more to prevent discrimination against people and protect Californians in high fire risk areas with his regulatory powers. 

Watchdog Says Insurance Commissioner Lara Is Not Doing Everything In His Power To Help Homeowners Dealing With Wildfire Insurance

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Consumer Watchdog, wrote an open letter to Lara on Tuesday.

“As Insurance Commissioner, you have broad power that you are not using to prevent insurance companies from unfairly penalizing homeowners,” Consumer Watchdog Executive Director Carmen Balber wrote. “There is a way, now it is up to you to demonstrate the will.”

ABC10 asked Lara to respond to the letter Wednesday night, following a packed meeting he led at the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn.

 In the letter, Balber outlines three emergency rules she says Lara can issue now to protect homeowners.

She wants Lara to require each insurance company that does business in California to offer a discount to homeowners who make investments in hardening their home against wildfires – work like that which the Caseys did, clearing trees and bushes. She likens it to automobile insurance companies giving discounts to safe drivers.

Consumer Watchdog is also asking Lara to "bar the use of claims software that low-balls the cost of repair and reconstruction" and stop insurance companies from using any wildfire risk models “that lead to excessive or discriminatory rates,” citing the FireLine® score, which is now infamous to homeowners in fire-prone areas. Insurance companies use it to determine homeowners' fire risk and whether to sell them fire insurance.

Ricardo Lara Wants To Give Insurance Companies Your Driving Data

insurance companies want driving data

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara recently told the insurance industry in a closed door meeting what he wants to give them direct access to the safety critical systems in your car that show how you brake, accelerate and steer. Consumer Watchdog's Jamie Court says this is dangerous to your safety and privacy.

https://www.foxla.com/video/594269

LOS ANGELES - Consumer Watchdog is blowing the whistle on recent comments made by the California Insurance Commissioner that could drastically change how auto rates are determined in California.

Jamie Court of Consumer Watchdog, says this could mean sacrificing more money and privacy.

Currently, auto insurance premiums in California are based on rating factors such as safety record, mileage and driving experience. Commissioner Ricardo Lara, according to remarks he made at an insurance conference in Hollywood last month, wants to give insurance companies access to a driver's vehicle data to monitor how quickly a driver stops, turns, and accelerates.

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The data would also include a driver's route. Lara's pitch to some 200 top industry attorneys was caught on cell phone video by an attendee.  He told the crowd, "I honestly think that if someone is monitoring the way you're braking or how you're driving - you better believe that's going to change your driving behavior and that's something that can save lives."

Court says allowing companies such access is nothing more than a privacy invasion. He says, "You shouldn't have to have the insurance companies in the car with you looking over your shoulders every time you brake, every time you steer. That's big brother. That's wrong!" Court says not even good drivers would benefit as companies would interpret a good driver based on their own prejudices.

In response to the criticism, Insurance Commissioner Lara issued the following statement to FOX 11: 

"I have been clear since day one that technology is affecting all aspects of our lives including insurance.Like all Californians, I want your auto premiums to be based on how you drive, not where you live or who you are. That is the genius of Proposition 103, which has saved consumers hundreds of millions of dollars over the past 30 years.In that time, the Department has continually modernized our automobile rating rules, for instance by allowing ‘pay as you go' rates in 2009 and eliminating gender as an optional rating criteria earlier this year. The proper use of telematics, should a consumer decide to opt-in to the use of this technology, could have the potential to enhance driver safety and control premiums, and we will be engaging with consumer groups and privacy experts to ensure that we protect Californians' data."

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Farmers Insurance Is Caught Overcharging Its Most Loyal Customers in Violation of Proposition 103

8 months ago By Harvey Rosenfield

Los Angeles, CA -- Farmers Insurance systematically overcharged its most loyal, longtime California customers from 2008 to 2018, according to evidence uncovered as part of an investigation ordered by the California Insurance Commissioner. Now, with a public hearing scheduled for June and facing millions of dollars in civil damages and penalties, Farmers and its affiliate, Mid-Century Insurance, are urging a Los Angeles Superior Court to stop the agency’s investigation.

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Appellate Court Holds Mercury Insurance Accountable for Phony Premium Overcharges

8 months ago By Pam Pressley

Los Angeles, CA -- A state Court of Appeal in Orange County has upheld $27 million in civil penalties imposed by former Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones against Mercury Insurance Company for falsely claiming premium overcharges its agents tacked on top of its approved rates were “broker fees.”

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California Insurance Commisioner Ricardo Lara Receives “D” Average on Report Card

8 months ago By Jamie Court
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Los Angeles, CA – California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, who has approved $292 million in auto and homeowners’ insurance rate increases since being elected, has received a “D” average from the nonprofit group Consumer Watchdog on his first four-month report card.

Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara

Ricardo Lara Puts Brakes On California's Climate Leadership

8 months ago By Jamie Court

Los Angeles, CA — On Earth Day, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara chose “collaboration" with the insurance industry over urgent climate action. Commissioner Lara rejected a petition from 60 environmental, consumer and social justice groups that sought emergency rules to make insurers disclose the fossil fuel projects they insure. The Commissioner's refusal to act allows insurers to keep their complicity in global warming secret and puts the brakes on the forward momentum on climate built by the previous Department of Insurance, said Consumer Watchdog.

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara

Insurance Commissioner Promises Hearings – But Sets No Timeline To Stop Auto Insurance Discrimination

9 months ago By Carmen Balber

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.

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