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Marian Said:

Why does ones Credit Rating have anything to do with Auto insurance?

We Answered:

Insurance companies are in the business of insuring risk. There is a strong correlation between credit history and insurance risk, it may seem these are unrelated but people who make bad decisions in one area of their life tend to make bad choices in other areas also and are higher risk.

Gail Said:

finance & insurance in Houston?

We Answered:

I liked Progressive car insurance because they were fast and thorough, but they were more expensive. Jim Ott at Wells Fargo can probably help you with banking. Brian Claunch at Merrill Lynch can help you with finances.
Best restaurant: Vic and Anthony's downtown / Clary's,Galveston
Best piano bar: Post Oak Grill / Claudio's in Kemah
Best hotel: 4 Seasons downtown of course.
Car rental : Enterprise
Shopping: Galleria
Wecome to Houston.

Edward Said:

Question about my car insurance... What should I be paying? Good companies?

We Answered:

Look for an independent car insurance agent in your area who represents several companies. The agent can help you compare different insurers and also tailor your coverage to exactly what you need and no more.

You could also try the free online services that get you competitive quotes from several insurers. They're like the automated equivalent of an agent. Here's a page that lists some of them...

Clinton Said:

Why does a "Credit Rating" have anything to do with Auto insurance?

We Answered:

In a nutshell, (statistically) people who have a poor credit score are more likely to file a claim.

Actuarial studies show that how a person manages his or her financial affairs, which is what an [insurance score] indicates, is a good predictor of insurance claims. Insurance scores, plus other factors such as age, driving record, make and model of your car, and how many insurance claims have been filed in the past, are used to help insurers differentiate between lower and higher insurance risks and thus charge a premium equal to the risk they are assuming.

The goal of every insurance company is to correlate rates for insurance policies as closely as possible with the actual cost of claims. If insurers set rates too high they will lose market share to competitors who have more accurately matched rates to expected costs. If they set rates too low they will lose money.

Some states ban the use of credit scores as a consideration. This might been seen as benefiting those in lower economic groups -- but others in the risk pool are subsidizing these people (from a statistical perspective).