Thanks Gordon

In the US it's called Anti Trust. It's also illegal, but insurance companies are exempt because they have nothing but money and a strong lobby and they've basically paid certain people so that they can be exempted from the law. It's not really obvious because there's an insurance commissioner who is supposed to regulate the industry, but it's a safe bet he's a multi-millionaire by now :P

A few years ago, when I moved, my rates were raised because I was getting "closer to the city". In March I moved back out to the "boonies", but guess what? You don't get a discount for moving away from the city, you just get an increase for moving closer to it. It's kind of like a ratchet. Of course, I pointed out that if I moved to and from every month, I would eventually pay millions of dollars for insurance.

The phrase "absolute power leads to absolute corruption" comes to mind.

Paul