Car insurance quotes may be affected by Massachusetts mandate debate

Car insurance quotes may be affected by Massachusetts mandate debate

The majority of the US takes into account people’s credit scores when they determine what their car insurance quotes will be but at the moment, Massachusetts is one of the few places in the country that still doesn’t take an individual’s credit score into account.

Education, occupation and credit scores are currently banned from being taken into account of when deciding what a person’s auto insurance rate will be in the state. It is however just a state regulation rather than an actual law but the current regulation looks set to come under fire by the Massachusetts Association of Insurance Agents in the coming months.

A recently filed proposed ballot question is aimed at changing the state legislation into a law as the Massachusetts Association of Insurance Agents fear that there are many flaws in a car insurance system that is decided upon a credit score and occupation. To turn the legislation into a law, the group will have to obtain 70,000 signatures by 2012.

The group believes that a car insurance quote should be based on an individual driving record not a person’s occupation or educational background. They argue that a Harvard graduate that has a long history of speeding problems may end up with a better insurance quote than a driver who never attended college but who has no speeding records.

They also argue that many credit reports contain misleading and false information and this affects people’s ability to get hold of a good car insurance quote through no fault of their own.
However, House Majority Leader Ron Mariano wants to introduce a bill that will lift the existing ban and instead place restrictions on how a credit score rating can be used by companies. In October, both of these proposals will be aired to the public and the outcome could have a huge affect on future car insurance quotes.

Local insurance companies are shocked at the ballot to turn the legislation in to a law as they believe the ban isn’t in jeopardy and the state legislators are currently failing to openly back Marino’s bill.

This means that if the ballot turns the legislation into a law it may negatively affect individuals who currently get discounts for belonging to an alumni association or for being a high performing student as the wording of the law will determine these to be socioeconomic factors – the factors they want banned.

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