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Dec 26, 2008 8:04 pm US/Eastern
Insurers: Educated Less Likely To Have Accidents
BALDWIN (KDKA) ―
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The insurance industry says people with higher education are less likely to have car accidents.
KDKA
The insurance industry says people with higher education are less likely to have car accidents.
But does that mean people with a bachelor's degree should have better insurance rates than people with a high school diploma?
Right now, Pennsylvania insurers give a rate break to those with more education and better jobs.
But a local state representative will change that, if he gets his way.
Should a driver's education level make a difference in insurance rates on the theory that better educated make better drivers?
"Having more education doesn't actually mean that you're going to make smarter decisions," says Venus Rogo of Baldwin.
"I'm a high school dropout, but I still got my GED and went to college, and I'm a safe driver," adds Talullah Lusky of Squirrel Hill.
"I don't think education has anything to do with it," notes Tom Cacciatore of West View.
The insurance industry in Pennsylvania insists that those who are better educated are less likely to make a claim for an accident, and those who do the repairs don't disagree.
The Don Kuhn Collision Repair lot is littered with broken cars -- and David Kuhn thinks there's a correlation between education level and the number of accidents a person has.
"I probably would get more accidents from someone that maybe didn't graduate from high school, rather than did graduate from high school or a college degree," says Kuhn.
Kuhn says the better educated tend to have jobs and are less likely to take risks on the road.
"The ones who are at fault, a lot of times they don't have car insurance, so the people who don't have a lot and they're causing more accidents than say somebody educated with a good job," he adds.
But PA Representative Tony DeLuca, who chairs the House Insurance Committee, disagrees and he wants to prohibit insurance companies from giving lower rates to drivers with more education and better jobs.
"Just because they didn't go to school to get the degrees, does that mean they have to be discriminated against, and I think it's a matter of discrimination. I believe it's a matter of discrimination," DeLuca emphasizes.
DeLuca says insurance companies should judge drivers individually, regardless of education.
"They need to go back to the basics. If you're a good driver, you get a discount. If you're a bad driver, you pay more."
DeLuca says he will give the insurance industry a chance to prove that educational levels have something to do with better driving.
And he says that rate reductions based on the number of miles you drive -- something that could be job related -- make sense.
But DeLuca says there are plenty of safe drivers who never finished high school and poor drivers who have PhD's -- and insurance companies should account for that, too.
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