At first glance, Proposition 33 seems to help California drivers by allowing qualified motorists to keep their loyalty discounts when switching insurance companies.
Under current law, loyalty discounts are acquired after staying with the same insurer for a number of years and are dropped once the driver switches to a new provider.
What proponents do not tell you about Proposition 33 is that new drivers or people who let their insurance lapse because they did not need to drive for a period of 90 days or more in the past five years, would have to pay a higher amount to offset the new discounts insurers would be providing.
These higher premiums would even be dealt to people who have perfect driving records but did not have insurance for an extended period of time because they were not driving.
Additionally, the new discounts would be available for both good and bad drivers.
For these reasons, this board urges voters to say “no” to Proposition 33.
While the proponents of Proposition 33 ““ including Founder and Chairman of the Board of Mercury Insurance Group George Joseph ““ are trying to sell this proposition by saying it would benefit California drivers, this board disagrees.
The proposition may deter drivers of limited financial resources from acquiring car insurance. Additionally, offering this discount equally to bad drivers, as well as good ones, may make roads in California unsafe.
While Proposition 33 would help insurance groups lure more customers to their companies, California drivers would be paying the price for their gains. Californians voted down a similar proposition in 2010, and they should do so again.