Insurance companies spend gobs of money trying to identify driver characteristics that will predict how likely someone is to have an accident. For example, young males tend to be involved in more accidents and are generally charged higher auto insurance premia.
But until it was pointed out to me, I hadn't considered the possibility that a person's credit score could provide an indication of how likely they are to have an accident (see this, but the link might be expired by now):
Credit-related scores used by insurance companies are variations of those used by banks and other lenders. Many insurers have proprietary versions that use selected elements from credit histories.
The studies have indicated that credit-based insurance scores are predictive of the number of claims consumers file and the cost of those claims. Among other explanations, insurance executives and regulators say consumers with better scores tend to be able to absorb some minor claims out of their own pockets.
It seems to me there must be more to it than just that. People who pay their bills on time indicate they are reasonably careful people, whereas those who miss a few payments or who don't pay their bills are likely to be less careful.
The wsjonline story in the above link, though, raises some serious concerns. People who have low credit scores are complaining, arguing that credit scores have nothing to do with the proclivity to be in an accident. What's worse, there are calls for the gubmnt to ban or seriously over-regulate the practice.
Tell you what: if credit scores are not good predictors of accident rates (and claims), then some companies will stop using them. Competition in the auto insurance industry constantly induces firms to tweak their models some more.