(Bloomberg) — A customer's credit score may matter more than a drunken-driving conviction for auto insurers setting premiums, Consumer Reports said, citing a review of price quotes in the U.S. from more than 700 firms.
A hypothetical group of adult drivers with clean driving records and poor credit paid $1,552 more on average in Florida than the same drivers with excellent credit and a drunk-driving offense, the consumer advocate said Thursday in a statement. Throughout the U.S., people with "good" credit paid $68 to $526 more than those with the best scores, the group said.
"If a car-insurance company calculates that a consumer's credit score isn't up to its highest standard, it often charges a higher premium — even if the customer had never had an accident," Consumer Reports said in its statement. "Consumers have a right to expect that their car-insurance premiums are based on meaningful behavior such as their driving record."
Consumer Reports, a non-profit organization, said it analyzed more than 2 billion quotes from U.S. insurers including Allstate Corp., Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s Geico, Progressive Corp. and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.
