A new bill supported by the California Farm Bureau that would
require a study be conducted before revising how insurance rates
are determined is absolutely essential to protect consumers.
A new bill supported by the California Farm Bureau that would require a study be conducted before revising how insurance rates are determined is absolutely essential to protect consumers.
At the heart of the issue is the desire of the California Insurance Commission to lessen the importance of location used in determining how much California drivers pay for auto insurance. Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi claims focusing more on driving records and the amount of miles traveled annually will make the system fair for everyone. Garamendi’s office told the Free Lance this month that some rural drivers with DUIs on their records pay less for insurance than drivers with good records who live in large metropolises such as San Jose and San Francisco.
The state Farm Bureau and its local branches, on the other hand, believe the change will create crippling insurance rates for farmers, essentially making rural drivers subsidize rates for city slickers. They predict insurance rates in SBC could increase by 9 to 19 percent for the average driver.
There’s merit to both sides of the argument, but it’s hard to believe a resident of San Benito County with a perfect driving record will see their rates go up under Garamendi’s proposal. A study, such as what is proposed by the Farm Bureau’s AB 2840 , is exactly what is needed to help the public sort through the rhetoric on this issue.
It seems only fair to charge drivers for their own actions behind the wheel. A dangerous speed demon or chronic DUI driver is equally risky to others regardless of if they rest their head in San Benito County, San Francisco or Los Angeles.
And, really, before citizens can truly make up their mind to support the changes or demand the status quo, we deserve to see a comprehensive study that will detail the impacts. Should the change raise rates across the board for our local residents, even those who have done nothing wrong behind the wheel, it will be unfair to increase their assessments. However, a study may prove that local residents with a history of safe driving could see their rates drop even lower. In this day and age of abusively high gas prices, anything that can help consumers afford their automobile expenses would be welcome change indeed.
Considering rural areas like SBC typically have lower per capita incomes than larger areas, our residents can least afford cost increases and insurance rates should be determined solely on the expense of insuring individual drivers. We believe AB 2840 will give much-needed disclosure on this controversial issue facing everyone in the Golden State.
