From: dman@netcom.com (Dallman Ross)
Subject: Re: tickets and insurance
Date: Wed, 02 Sep 92 05:05:25 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4

todd@crayola (Todd Katz) writes:
: I recently received two 10 mph over speeding tickets. If I don't
: go to traffic school (ticket school?) for 8 bours, does
: this mean that my insurance will go up? I have no claims and no 

Because of Ex-Insurance Commissioner Roxannie Gillespi's (sp) decision
interpreting Prop 103, your insurance will go up dramatically if you
don't get at least one of the tickets of your record (by beating it
or doing traffic school).

I am 36 and have been driving in California for 21 years.  I have never
had a fault accident (been rear ended a couple of times), and have had
CSAA insurance for 10 years.  I also ride a motorcycle, which I insure
separately.  I get too many tickets, partly because of being a long-
time motorcycle enthusiast and an agressive (but highly trained and
aware) driver.  Anyway, it would seem the actuaries have plenty of
data to judge me as a risk factor.  In 1990 I paid about $1300 to
insure my 1986 Isuzu Impulse Turbo.  (I live in Oakland, and rates are
higher here than many places.  Also, the turbo model increased my
rates $550/year over the identical non-turbo model <ridiculous>.)
In 1990 I got two tickets, one of which was on my bike.  In 1991, after
Gillespi made her infamous determination, my insurance went up *110%*!!
That's an *increase* of $1500/year over three years, or $4500 in all --
enough to buy a goddamn Hyundai.  CSAA said their hands were tied, that
the state insurance commission required them to raise the rate.

I was told that had Prop 103 not come into play (I voted for it), my
rates would have increased about $80 for the two tickets.  Well, I ask
you -- did I suddenly become a 110% worse driver?  (I haven't had any
tickets <that stuck> since then, and still haven't had any accidents
except for watching other people plow or back into me.)  How come
my motorcycle rates didn't go up?  How come my car rates are impacted
by my motorcycle driving record, when CSAA won't insure my bike and when
my auto driving can only be implicated by my being a motorcyclist in
the most tenuous of ways?

The system stinks.  $2500/year is too much for a non-high-expposure
driver like an accident-free 36-year-old man.  As a result, I have been
forced to reduce my coverage so I am now way underinsured, with a $25,000
limit to my coverage in spite of my being a condo owner (lots of equity
for a litigant to grab, should be protected).  I have been forced to raise
my deductible to $500, also.  So the direct result of Prop 103 (or, more
precisely, Gillespi's interpretation of it) is that thousands like me
are now under- or uninsured.  I am also thinking seriously of selling
my car and getting a shit car that I can afford not to insure against
theft.  Is this the goal of Prop 103?  It sure is the result.

I am half-seriously thinking about a class-action suit against Gillespie
and the office of the insurance commissioner.

Sorry for the bandwidth and the rant.  Get the ticket(s) off your record,
any way you can.

--
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