Study Indicates Insurance Companies Capitalize On Low Income Zip Codes

There’s something inherently wrong with America’s car insurance system. And no, it isn’t because your insurance company will charge you more for picking out a pretty shade of red on your dream car, deeming that a color is the marker of an aggressive driver. It’s because a study by Consumer Reports, which partnered with nonprofit public-interest investigative journalism website ProPublica, found that car insurance companies charge different rates depending on which neighborhood the buyer lives in.

So what did the dynamic duo find? Surprise surprise, neighborhoods in the sample states of California, Texas, Illinois, and Missouri that have a higher number of minorities tend to pay higher rates on car insurance. The discrepancies aren’t small either, with some areas of cities with higher numbers of minority residents paying up to 30% more than white neighborhoods.

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xjug1987a - 4/10/2017 3:57:05 PM

+4 Boost

Hedges owns a 2015 Audi Q5 and pays only $54 per month. = $648 per year??? There is zero chance this is accurate especially in a major city. And can we not keep the "social consciousness" crap off of a car blog?

Car4life1 - 4/10/2017 6:17:09 PM

-2 Boost

Until either of you walk through this world, nation, and life as a person of color i suggest you leave your ignorant, insensitive at best, comments at your kitchen table.

No man or woman on earth should ever have to deny/mask their ethnic background, color, or hue for equality.

atc98092 - 4/10/2017 7:10:41 PM

+3 Boost

Not quite apples to apples, but my 2012 Q5 is about $800 per year. I live in the suburbs of Seattle, and my insurance company is local and probably the best value in the state. But rates this low certainly do exist.

xjug1987a - 4/10/2017 8:58:05 PM

+2 Boost

Car4life - GFY you don't know us so STFU you pathetic Ass!

MDarringer - 4/10/2017 5:24:43 PM

+2 Boost

If you're being charged more because you're a minority, then identify as white. I mean if a person can choose to identify as any of a myriad of genders--because two were so limiting--or if a white woman can pretend to be black and be a muckety-muck in the NAACP, then why not?

Car4life1 - 4/10/2017 6:16:51 PM

-2 Boost

MDarringer - 4/10/2017 10:33:20 PM

+3 Boost

@Car4life1 You threw the race card and that makes you a racist.

Your response is also the ignorant one because you imply by default that you want to continue the self-victimization that some minorities do to themselves and then want to play the victim of your own device.

You don't want equality, you want privilege.

Beyond it all though, you clearly are incapable of understanding absurdity and sarcasm as a rhetorical tool.

MrEE - 4/10/2017 7:57:20 PM

+4 Boost

Presumably rates are based on risk, where you live and drive would of course play into this.

TomM - 4/11/2017 6:47:40 AM

+3 Boost

I would also expect the rates to depend on costs -and take into account payouts as well. The problem with studies like this is it fails to determine if race is actually the reason why the rates are higher - instead of other quantifiable factors.

The real question is - in those states that happen to have more minorities - are there more accidents and higher payouts than others?

MrEE - 4/11/2017 6:25:11 PM

+2 Boost

Claims are not always steady state, like homes in a flood plain, only some will ever have claims, but the ones that do can be substantial.

TomM - 4/11/2017 9:39:31 PM

+2 Boost

While I agree that is true - it is also true that younger drivers get into more accidents than middle age ones do. It is also true that older cars tend to get into more accidents than new ones do. Both of these could be part of the reason why certain states have higher insurance rates. When looking a a study - it requires more than just - People of race pay more money in this state - so they must be discriminating against them. THe question requires MORE digging as to why the rates are higher.