Unfortunately, the insurance companies have the upper hand--mainly because the state insurance commissions are primarily run by retired insurance company executives and CEOs. They also have a huge lobby at both the state and federal level, which pretty much allows them to do anything they wish.

Age descrimination--you betcha! It exists everywhere. While some businesses will give seniors a 10% discount to get our business, this is not the case with insurance companies. They damned well know that by law we cannot drive our motor vehicles without first obtaining insurance. Consequently, they can establish bullsh** sur-charges, most of which are based upon figures they generate to justify those increases in premium.

In reality, despite our constantly failing body parts, seniors, in most cases, are better drivers than teens and adolescent adults. They tend to drive a bit slow, they're more cautious and they drive far less than those who still must make a daily commute to work and home. They usually do not drive drunk, they tend to be far more curtious and when road conditions are marginal, they'll more than likely not go on the road at all. Granted, we all see stories about the 95-year-old that drove through a store window, or hit a half-dozen people at a bus stop. However, these instances are extremely rare, so rare in fact, that the news media jumps on it as if someone just landed on Mars. What we do not see is the millions of uninsured drivers that get into accidents every day. We don't seem to hear much about the illegal aliens that make up a huge number of the uninsured that drive illegally throughout the nation.

IMO, if I were an insurance company, I would do anything to attract the business of senior citizens--including provide them with lower rates. Unfortunately, greed does strange things to people, and insurance companies seem to be run by greedy people.

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

[This message has been edited by travlin'easy (edited 02-15-2008).]