Mercury Auto Insurance Putting Millions Into Legislation

 
The auto insurance company Mercury Insurance Group is fighting tooth and nail to support Proposition 17. The auto insurance company has already put more than $10 million into their efforts to get it passed, but many say that this is a battle that could literally affect consumers for years if it goes through. Consumer advocates say that they are battling just as hard against it, but unfortunately they do not have the same financial resources as the larger auto insurance companies do.
 
Mercury is easily one of the largest auto insurance companies in the state, and the manpower that they are able to put behind the proposition makes it almost a done deal if they have anything to say about it. The proposition that is under consideration would allow drivers to keep their discount for maintaining auto insurance, even if they switch to another company. In other words, right now if you have auto insurance with one company you are somewhat forced to stay with them because you would lose your discount if you left. Now, this seems like it would be a good deal for the consumer as they are now able to shop around their auto insurance and are not relegated to one particular company.
 
But the bill also allows auto insurance companies to raise rates for motorists whose auto insurance had lapsed. Right now it is illegal under Proposition 103 so that consumers are protected from increases in auto insurance rates. But the new bill would change that and auto insurance companies would be able to set their pricing much higher for those individuals.

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