It would appear that your change of address within San Diego has placed you into a different zip code with a higher risk factor according to your insurance company's underwriting calculations.

California Proposition 103, which was enacted in 1988, established uniform guidelines upon which your CA auto rates would be determined. The primary factors are as follows:

• The operator’s driving safety record;
• The number of miles driven annually;
• The number of years of driving experience.

There are 16 secondary rating factors which may be used in any combination to determine your specific rates and calculate your individual premium based on an insurance company’s filing with the California Department of Insurance (CDI).

The secondary factors must not be weighted as heavily as the primary factors in the rate premium calculation. These secondary rating factors may include marital status, frequency and severity of claims in the geographic area where your car is garaged, gender, vehicle type, etc.

In 2006 the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) has approved Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi’s regulations requiring insurers to place more weight on how safely you drive than on where you live when setting rates. The current Insurance Commissioner believes this was the hope of voters who passed the Proposition 103 back in 1988.

The former Insurance Commissioner, Chuck Quackenbush, allowed insurers to place greater importance upon other factors, such as marital status, gender, and most frequently, ZIP code. This system permitted insurers to charge widely varying rates to similarly situated drivers who live across the street from one another, based solely on their respective ZIP Codes.

Insurers have a two-year phase-in period to fully implement their plans to conform with these new regulations, though they must show significant progress during the first year. Until now, insurers have been able to set rates based primarily on Zip codes or other optional factors, rather than on the three mandatory factors of Prop. 103: driving record, annual miles driven and driving experience.

If you are being charged higher rates due to your new zip code this should change within the next 2 years so that your rate is based more upon your driving then the location of your house. In the meantime if you are unhappy with your current rates then you can comparison shop for auto insurance quotes online here with us.