Auto insurance firms, officials debate scope of industry reform

Hundreds of drivers with excellent records would lose the ability to choose their auto insurers under a proposal being considered by state Insurance Commissioner Julianne Bowler.

The proposal, put forward by insurers, would assign so-called "high risk" drivers to insurance companies based on the companies' share of the market.

Insurers say the change is needed to force companies such as Commerce Insurance, which pays less than its share of the high risk market, to pay their share.

But opponents say that such a balance could be achieved within the current system.

"You'd have very good drivers who happened to live in what the insurance industry calls bad …