Driving records and vehicle-safety records are reasonable factors for insurers to consider when pricing insurance; A person’s income, education level and credit score are not.

With our economy in recession and unemployment in Washington at 9.5 percent, there is absolutely no reason we should allow insurers to squeeze already-vulnerable families on a discriminatory basis.

The insurance commissioner is probably right: Insurers are in the business of collecting premiums and they will defend any basis for doing so with whatever tactics at their disposal. Lawmakers should ignore their smokescreens and enact this legislation. This is a matter of basic fairness.

For these reasons, insurers will look at the statistics, and try to identify any factor which influences the likelihood of you making a claim, or the size of the claim.

This is why the cost of the vehicle is a major consideration, along with obvious variables like your driving record, and the ages of the regular drivers of the vehicle. If you vehicle has safety features, which make a personal injury claim less likely, or reduce the likely size of a claim, it will reduce your new car insurance premium accordingly. And if your new vehicle is a make or model which is particularly likely to be stolen or damaged, you will, unfortunately, be paying a whole lot more for your new auto insurance.

Some insurers consider credit score, hopefully on the basis of statistics, although it is not immediately obvious that there is a direct connection.

There are also factors which you can control to some extent. Many insurers will allow you to choose the amount of your deductible, or excess – this is the contribution payment you make when you make a claim. Some insurers charge you the deductible for every claim, while others will only charge you if you are at fault. The higher the deductible, the less the claim costs the insurer, so choosing a higher deductible can reduce your new car insurance premium.