I agree with the editorial that Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler should not act independently on excluding credit ratings as a factor to consider insurance rates, but should have pursued such action through the legislative process (The Columbian, Feb. 7). In fact, as someone who has a high credit rating (over 800), exclusion of that factor has caused my rates to increase.
However, I agree that a person’s credit rating has nothing to do with a person’s driving ability or safety. The actuarial factors used by insurance companies to determine rates include driving records, age, the area where a person lives and drives, and self-reported distance driven. One could question any of these factors as bearing directly on rates. For example, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Commission, nearly 70 percent of all collisions occur within 10 miles of home. As far as area is concerned, Vancouver is lumped in with the accident rate in Seattle, or the Portland SMSA, in either case to our disadvantage.
Buying insurance of any sort is like gambling. In the case of auto insurance, buying it is required by the state, it is not discretionary, and the insurance commissioner should make the placing of odds as equitable as possible to both the insurance companies and the buyer.
