NEW YORK - A new study by online auto insurance quote provider 4AutoInsuranceQuote.org finds that African-Americans pay more on average for auto insurance than people of other races.
This study, that looked at annual car insurance rates for men in New York City, discovered that black men pay over $800 more than whites or Asians for their car insurance.
The report shows that while insurance companies do not intentionally discriminate against black people, they do place emphasis on factors African-Americans score poorly in when determining insurance premiums.
4AutoInsuranceQuote.org surveyed 600 male Manhattan residents in conducting this study. The results, they said, were shockingly lopsided. “Not only did black people pay the most for car insurance,” owner James Shaffer said, “they paid the most by a landslide. It was something that really concerned us, so we had to figure out why.”
The data showed that while Asian men paid $1945/year and white men paid $2193/year, black men paid $2910/year on average. When explaining why African-Americans are faced with much higher auto insurance costs, 4AutoInsuranceQuote.org cited the factors that can affect insurance costs, most notably: your credit score, the safety of your neighborhood, whether or not you are married, and your employment status.
African-Americans, on average, tend to have lower credit scores and live in more dangerous neighborhoods than Asians and Caucasians. They also get married less and have higher divorce rates. In addition, unemployment rates are higher in the African-American community. While insurance companies do not intentionally charge black people more for car insurance, African-Americans do, on average pay more for auto insurance than whites and Asians.
“Statistics do show that African-Americans pay more for auto insurance than Caucasians and Asians,” 4AutoInsuranceQuote.org says, “this does not mean, however, that you will pay more for auto insurance just because you are black.”