In comments to the Texas Department of Insurance, the Consumer Federation of America supported the Department’s proposed new regulation amending the Texas Administrative Code, Title 28, Chapter 21, Section 21.008, prohibiting individuals and insurers from tying together the sale of personal automobile policies and residential property policies.

The rule will help protect consumer choice in the insurance market and require insurance companies to compete for Texans’ business rather than tie the hands of customers in order to get their business. Tying, where an insurance company sells a policy to a consumer only if the consumer buys another product from the company, is an unfair and anti-competitive practice that raises consumer prices by conditioning access of one insurance policy on the purchase of another.

Texas law protects a consumer’s right to seek out the best rate and best company on each coverage separately, and this rule will ensure that basic right to shop freely