Consumers can seek better prices for coverage by calling individual insurers in their area and by talking to an insurance agent who can help them compare coverage from various insurers. Shopping around will clearly provide you with differing rates for the same coverage. Cost, however, should not be your sole consideration because service and performance are important as well. Last year, the OCI sent letters to several insurers asking them to give estimates of coverage for a married couple, and for a couple with one teenage son, living all over the greater Milwaukee area. The insurance companies' data was used to create price maps that show gradations of premiums along streets such as Wisconsin or Burleigh as they leave the city.
Insurance companies set premiums by geographic region.
The surveyed insurers produced maps of their price territories showing how each insurer catagorizes the loss patterns. The maps showed many variations in how loss is estimated. Wisconsin law permits insurers to create their own rating territories as long as they are not unfairly discriminatory. The agency presented the results to several Milwaukee area community groups concerned about auto insurance premiums in the city. A similar study was conducted in 1995.