Affordable Car & Home Insurance

For more than 20 years, Consumer Watchdog has been the nation's leading insurance reform organization and has saved consumers tens of billions of dollars.

Consumer Watchdog & Prop. 103 Savings
See how much money Consumer Watchdog and Prop. 103 have saved Californians in recent years >>.

Over the years we have:

  • Enforced the nation's most stringent insurance reform law, California's Prop 103, authored by Consumer Watchdog founder Harvey Rosenfield;
  • Saved California drivers $62 billion since passage (1989-2006);
  • Drafted and won passage of the nation's first low-cost auto insurance policy for low-income motorists;
  • Fought for fair auto insurance rates, and recently ended (in California) the decades-old discriminatory practice of ZIP code-based auto insurance rates, so California premiums are based primarily on a driver's record not where they live;
    See interview with Prop 103 author Harvey Rosenfield here:

  • Challenged excessive homeowners insurance rates, forcing companies to charge about a half-billion dollars less than they proposed in recent years; and,
  • Saved doctors more than $60 million by challenging medical malpractice insurance rate hikes, demonstrating that insurance regulation, rather than limits on the rights of injured patients, is key to keeping doctors' insurance premiums down. Go to our Protecting Patients campaign for more about medical malpractice.

When citizen volunteers beat back the record-breaking $80 million insurance industry-funded campaign against Proposition 103, they set in motion a fight to keep insurance prices fair and companies honest that Consumer Watchdog carries on to this day.

In DC and in every state, insurance companies have armies of lobbyists, lawyers and "experts" working to keep rates too high and regulation of industry practices too weak. Drivers, homeowners and businesses are required to buy insurance products, but in most states the insurance companies have won almost total freedom from oversight and consumer protection.

California's Prop 103 is the exception. At Consumer Watchdog we fight in the legislature, regulatory agencies and court to protect this reform and expand it.

Recent Articles:

Beware of Black Box

Editorial, CONTRA COSTA TIMES
July 22, 2008

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Today is Deadline for New Auto Insurance Pricing System Based on Driving Record Not ZIP Code

CONTACT: Doug Heller (310) 392-0522, ext. 309; or Carmen Balber, ext. 324
July 14, 2008

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State Weighs 'Pay As You Drive' Insurance

By John Simerman, CONTRA COSTA TIMES
July 12, 2008

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Allstate Must Slash Homeowner Rates

By Dean Calbreath, SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
July 11, 2008

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Recent Posts in Affordable Car & Home Insurance:

Prop 103 saves homeowners another $242 million

Last week, Allstate was ordered by the Insurance Commissioner to reduce its homeowners insurance rates by approximately $242 million - an average $250 savings...

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Privacy threat of insurance bill far from 'nonsense'

“Silly,” “extravagant,” a “phantom issue,” and “nonsensical.”

That’s what Assemblyman Jared Huffman had to say about consumer and privacy advocates’ concerns...

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Fair insurance premiums must go hand in hand with "green" insurance policies

I went to a Department of Insurance workshop yesterday to talk about what’s been dubbed “Pay as you drive” insurance. What that means depends on who you ask, and just about every opinion was thrown against the wall at...

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Mercury Insurance: What won't be mentioned at the Wednesday press conference

Mercury Insurance is holding a press conference Wednesday with California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner to announce  rate decreases for drivers, homeowners and renters.  As the LA Times ...

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103 exposes costs lower than insurers claim

Our legal team was in San Francisco this week fighting another unjustified insurance rate hike - this time a 6% earthquake insurance rate increase...

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Zip-code Based Premiums Come to an End in CA

Celebrating 20 Years of Prop 103

Prop 103 Credited with $61.7 Billion in Savings

Consumer Watchdog In Action

Recent Insurance Actions