Posted On: December 21, 2005, 1:44 pm CST

Posted By: rolfneu

Consumer Union's finding should come as no suprise. Insurers claim they don't discriminate based on race but it just 'happens' that African Americans, Latinos or other minority ethnic groups live mainly within certain zip codes.

Then insurers also use credit scroing to further penalize those who are in the lower economic strata of society. Suprise again: most of the economically poor people live in the same zip codes. But again they claim not to be discriminating based on ethnicity..

Oh yes, there are more accidents in urban or congested areas. Now what makes those urban areas so congested? Mostly the suburbanites who commute to the urban areas to work. Suprise, those urban areas are in large part in many of the same zip codes where the poor and/or ethnic minorities live.

Insurers always profess that they don't discriminate but the practical effect of how they rate is discriminatory. Why don't they base auto rates on the three primary factors that Prop. 103 intended. They might be suprised to find that black folks and Hispanics have driving records equal or better than white folks.

Before anyone calls me a 'leftwinger', why don't we try something different for a change and see how it really works out.