Hi my fellow Daily Kosers,
What a story I have today! In February 2008 I read an interesting story in the (dreaded) New York Times about insurance premiums in the inner-city compared with the suburbs and yuppie-parts of cities. Anyway...
I used to live in a yuppier, whiter, and richer area of Chicago (Wicker Park). I recently moved to another part of town, Logan Square. This neighborhood is a little less gentrified and has more non-corporate charm. The people are great. I like it. But, my car insurance company doesn't. I use Geico because it's the cheapest. Before 2007, I went five years without car insurance because 1) I'm an awesome driver; 2) I'm a bad ass; and 3) I didn't want to pay greedy corporations.
I'm 26. I have a decent job. I have a clean driving record. Why does this matter? Because luckily, I can afford to pay the large premium rates that living in my neighborhood entails. It costs more than $200 more to have car insurance in Logan Square than Wicker Park. That is crazy.
My new apartment is only about 1.5 miles northwest of my old one. The only difference between living in Wicker Park and living in Logan Square is that now I'm living around more Hispanics and more African-Americans. There's less white people in my neighborhood, so Geico bumps the rates. Ridiculous. This is institutional racism. Geico is a racist company.